Surprising games

[Bongo Bill]

Think back, O Readers of the Escapist, and remember a game which surprised you.

I don't mean the kind of surprise that you get from a zombie jumping out from behind a corner, or the kind of surprise that comes from a dramatic plot twist halfway through the game. No, I ask about a game that brought you something that you did not expect to get. The more obscure, the better!

I, for one, was quite surprised to discover that ChessRogue [http://chessrogue.sourceforge.net/], despite being a bitterly difficult turn-based tactics game based on a board game for eggheads, delivered perhaps the most concentrated excitement I've ever had in a game. You get to the later stages of the game, and you have about fifteen moves available to you, and there are twenty guys closing in, but you stave off checkmate for long enough that you discover you've captured them all, and it's nothing short of exhilarating. You feel like a ninja.

Share.

 

[Kronopticon]

hmm, i'd have to say... Unreal Tournament, offline, jumping around levels blowing guys to smithereens with my flak cannon like a pro, it was spectactular, also, halo did as well, i though it was gonna be the usual first person shooter, with ridiculously hard levels, and very little else to do but shoot stuff, but i was there driving over grunts and banshee-kamikaze-bombing elites. Epic, if nothing more.

 

[Annom]

"World of pirates" I was a beta tester for this German made almost totally unknown game, it was a BLAST! It was at its core sid mire's pirates online and on crack in a much larger scale. Choose from the 3 nations and either choose to be the perfect captain hunting pirates and taking other nations town, or go the pirate way and sink any ship that moves. One thing I really liked about it was the open beta had its players who basically policed the game, they played more then anyone else and were much stronger, they stopped lower level people from getting killed (as their were no "safe zones"). When picking up the game I basically though "Another indie crappy mmo trying to squeeze wallets." I was blown away (although it was just sid mire's pirates, but online).

http://worldofpirates.4players.de/wop/script/home_en.html

 

[Sylocat]

Resident Evil 4, definitely.

The only thing really scary about every other RE game before it was that the play control was so awful you were afraid you wouldn't be able to tell your character to run properly when the zombies showed up. Then comes RE4, which not only revolutionized the play control style and introduced a new scheme that actually worked, but also did away with the nightmarishly boring zombies and presented us with some enemies that were genuinely scary. I was floored.

 

[dnv2]

Resident Evil 4, definitely.

The only thing really scary about every other RE game before it was that the play control was so awful you were afraid you wouldn't be able to tell your character to run properly when the zombies showed up. Then comes RE4, which not only revolutionized the play control style and introduced a new scheme that actually worked, but also did away with the nightmarishly boring zombies and presented us with some enemies that were genuinely scary. I was floored.

The bit I loved in RE4 and probably the part that took my breath the most was the first really big fight where you dont have a second to catch your breath. I'm talking about the one on the platforms, after you first encounter the merchant dude.

 

[Katana314]

Team Fortress 2. I really, really hated Team Fortress Classic and thought TF2 might be a nice multiplayer component to the orange box. I was wrong...it WAS the Orange Box. That and a bunch of great internet memes from Portal.
It's much more fun and a lot more balanced than I expected it to be, and in the first week of the beta I racked up quite a few kills. Even my brother, not much of an FPS guy, bought himself a copy and seems to be enjoying it.

 

[Dark Wingstalker]

Bioshock:
I was shocked at how much different it was to how i expected it, saying nothing of the quality of the game, i was expecting more RPG elements, Deeper customisation, and more of an "arcadey" shooter feel.

What i got on launch day, was a creepy, atmospheric "thinking" shooter, that was over to quick, and left a vague feeling of dissapoinment.

Oh also, Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion for the megadrive.

i was suprised how challenging it was, and how enjoyable it was, for a nonviolent platformer starring mickey the mouse.

 

[The Irrelevant Gamer]

Portal. I saw the videos showing off the portal gun, and thought that was pretty cool, but the gravity gun from HL2 didn't exactly revolutionize my life. I expected Portal to be a game with a fun gimmick. The dark humor, and just how good the game was overall blew me away.

 

[Kermi]

Like Irrelevant, I was amazed by Portal. Even after watching Yahtzee's review, I wasn't prepared for the increasingly sinister direction the plot took and the dark humour made the game an instant classic for me. The closing song capped it off perfectly and left me with the deepest sense of satisfaction of any game I've ever completed.

No other game has really surprised me in that way. Most games are either predictable, or the plot twists the developers introduced were massively underwhelming.

Oh, but I can't end this post without giving an honorable mention to bioshock.

Would you kindly...

 

[MrKeroChan]

Luke, I am your father... sorry...

Back in the days of yore... it has to be Super Mario Bros. ( kinda shameful i know ) but at the time it had NEVER occured to me that you could get ON TOP of those block at the top of the screen...and then TO WARP!!!!! WOW !!! ah youth..

 

[Hengst2404]

Portal certainly captivated me far more than I thought possible, to the point that I still fire it up once in a while to enjoy the game.

Guitar Hero 2 for the 360 was my first foray into rhythm/music based games and I surprisingly enjoyed the experience quite a bit, especially for somebody who isn't necessarily into those types of games.

Currently, Assassin's Creed has been consuming me and my time. Now whether this will hold true a week from now, who can say...then again Uncharted and Mass Effect are next week and I am still working on Mario Galaxy so its doubtful.

 

[xbeaker]

Star Control II. I got it along with my 3DO because I liked it on the Genesis and figured better graphics and more ships was a good enough reason to pick it up along side the other meager offerings for the system. 18 hours after I popped it in the tray, when I finally put the controller down from exhaustion, I had missed lunch, dinner and the 4th of July (seriously, that was the day I got my 3DO) and I didn?t care at all. It still ranks at one of my top 10 of all time.