Games that livede up to they hype

  What video games do you believe not only met your expectations but in some cases exceeded them ?
 
1. Batman: Arkham Asylum - I think it lived up to the expectations of best Batman game ever but to be honest all it had to do was be slightly better then The Adventure of Batman and Robin for the SNES. I will go so far to say that it is in my top 10 favorite games of this console generation.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3 - You want to talk about hype how many of us sat through The Wizard just to see a glimpse of this game ? 
3. Resident Evil 4 - I followed every scrap of info I could get on this game and I even went so far as to buy a Gamecube just to shoot some Spanish peasants. I feel that the game was so good that it tainted RE5 for me.

Games that livede up to they hype

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Assassin's Creed 2 
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare  
Dragon Age: Origins 
Dead Space 
StarCraft 2 (debatable)

Uncharted 2 always comes to mind with such a question. <3

This is probably an infamously horrible answer but I was really hyped up for the original Fable and I ended up loving it.  The original Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion also come to mind.  For some reason I tend to only be really interested in RPG's pre-launch.

Fallout 3 fo' sho.

Mother fucker I can't believe I did a typo in the thread title. Is there anyway to fix thate?

Mass Effect 2

No game truly lives up to their hype or ridiculously high expectations. 

I was underwhelmed by RDR to be honest. 
 
I don't really get hyped for games, I just play them as they come by.
=(
I did hype A crack in time though, and deliver it did.

You can't live up to exaggerated expectations.

Red Dead Redemption. Then again that game had no hype when I played it.
 
The opposite example would be GTA4. The hype made that game much better in my imagination than in my hands.
 
STALKER Call of Pripyat surpassed any hype I had for it too. S2ALKER, however, will not.

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Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Starcraft 2, Dragon Age (pc), Borderlands

Oh, the hype for Mount and Blade: Warband was/is waaaay too low for the game. I will definitely hype the next one.

Of all time?  Seems like kind of a silly question.  Each year so many games are anticipated and turn out to be amazing.  Just off the top of my head:  Half Life 2,  Heavy Rain, Fallout 3, F.E.A.R. was pretty great,  Star Fox Adventures on GameCube..I remember being so excited about that game, and I'm sure lots of people would disagree, but I loved that game.  There was soooo much hype before WarCraft 3 came out, and that game delivered.  Pretty much anything from Blizzard actually.  Resident Evil 4 as well.  So many games... 
 
EDIT:  Can't forget Battlefield 2.

" Uncharted 2 always comes to mind with such a question. <3 "

I'm going to be a total douchebag and say Halo 3.

Every game I've ever played.

Uncharted 2 for sure.

Red Dead, Street fighter 4, and Starcraft II.

Read Dead Revolver 
Shadow of the Colossus 
Ico

Bayonetta?
 
Shit. I thought it was awesome based on what little hype that I've seen around it.

The original Fable. Holy shit. I'll also say Halo 3, even though it died down for me it was IMMENSE the first year. Also, World of Warcraft and Street Figther IV.

" Fallout 3 fo' sho. "

I guess World of Warcraft has to be there. Once you played it for a few hours, you knew why people hyped up this game like they did.

StarCraft II.

There's no way this won't receive a lot of crap but, FOR ME, it was Metal Gear Solid 4 I just had such an amazing time playing through that game for the first time. 
 I bought it with the PS3 bundle at midnight, played Act I until 3am, fell asleep, woke up a few hours later and kept playing.

Assassin's Creed 2. And Borderlands.

Uncharted 2 
GTA IV 
Batman Arkham Asylum 
Red Dead Redemption 
Modern Warfare 2 
 
And i really, really hope GT5 does aswell.

" The original Fable."

Hmmm, interesting question when based on the your own expectations vs how the game delivered. Adding in extra specifics like marketing hype, general mass expectations and the like, I think its rather interesting. Especially if you can look back years later and sorta be unbiased. 
 
Anyways, I think #1 is easy and it has been said already. 
 
- Half Life 2
 
Expectations were very high and not just from a marketing stand point but in a expectation of it had to be better than just a great game. To me it was that, It was a great game when it came out and I still think it's a great game many years later.

The Legend of Zelda: OoT

ME2.

I disagree with UC2, RDR and a few others. I loved both, but neither lived up to the 96+ or whatever on metacritic. 
  
Also, no matter how much I love SC2 MP, the SP is kind of... not so great.

"Uncharted 2 always comes to mind with such a question. <3 "

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RED 

DEAD 

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REDEMPTION

 
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Don't forget Big Rigs, though! "

" Uncharted 2 GTA IV Batman Arkham Asylum Red Dead Redemption Modern Warfare 2  And i really, really hope GT5 does aswell. "

Jesus Christ thats some bad spelling! 
 
GTA 4. Never has a game had so much hype and then delivered in so many ways.

" @habster3 said:

Don't forget Big Rigs, though! "

Definitely this. We weren't just talking about good games right? "

" Uncharted 2 always comes to mind with such a question. <3 "

SPORE!
 
 
Seriously though I would have to go with Borderlands. Loved that game all the way through.

Demon's Souls. I didn't even have hype for that game and it blew me away
 
Also, Final Fantasy XIII to some extent. I knew that game was going to have a shitty story (most FF games do IMO) but the visuals and gameplay were the best in the series.