Surprise! That Game Was Awesome

Most of us know whats on the shelves at your average game shop but that's not always the case. Have you ever bought a game simply because you picked it up off the shelf and liked what you saw? What's your best experience with that?

For me it was Syphon Filter. I bought it at my local EB back in the PSX era simply because the cover art was interesting and I'm so happy I did, I was blown away by his awful running animation but fantastic action sequences.

My answer for everything.

Ghooooooost Maaaaaster

Edit: Also, I was surprised to discover that Toonstruck (a point-and-click adventure starring a digitized Christopher Lloyd) is somehow an astonishingly well written and mechanically solid adventure game.

I bought R-Type DX purely for what my 11-year-old brain thought was bitchin' cover art, and you know what? R-Type is pretty good.

For me it was Urban Chaos: Riot Response. That game was way more fun than it deserved to be.

I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma way more than I ever expected to. I already knew about the game so it's not quite the same thing you're talking about, but the extent to which I enjoyed it definitely surprised me.

Evil Zone! I had no idea what the hell it was, but it was the game I played the most on the PS1, if I had to guess. I spent hours and hours fighting my brothers and my cousin on that game until the thing had finally had enough and the disc cracked. Then I bought another copy, because man that game is a lot of fun.

DmC: Devil May Cry.

Expected to only kinda like it, turned out to be right behind Saints Row IV for my game of the year last year.

Also Cryostasis.

hell fucking yes. That game is bloody awesome.

Defender's Quest. an entirely enjoyable tower defense with limited "towers" that has a heavy RPG element. So surprisingly good.

I remember doing that with Mega Man- went out to rent a game and couldn't decide on what, finally gave up and picked up with one with the weird blue guy on a disc with a gun.

Most recent one would probably be Matt @rorie's Alpha Protocol, I actually enjoyed that game quite a bit.

When I was a kid I bought Donkey Kong Jungle Beat on a complete whim with my birthday money. I actually expected the game to suck but I purchased it anyway, can't remember why, and I ended up really enjoying it.

It would have to be this game for me, I remember walking into gamestop and buying this just based off the box. It actually ended up being a very memorable experience. The game had a surprisingly enjoyable online multiplayer community, this game was in some ways my foot in the door to the idea of clans and guilds. I remember we had only about 4 or 5 people. I don't think I would try playing this game now, I doubt it would hold up and I am sure the online element was shut down long ago. But still nice memories on a risky gaming purchase that turned out well.

I bought Okami when it had first came out on PS2. I thought the art style looked really cool and it turned out to be an incredible game.

I've actually never picked a game up off the shelf blind without doing some research on it. This thread made me realize this.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance was a huge surprise for me. I really thought that game was going to be hot garbage, but it ended up being one of my favorite of the year.

First PS2 game I bought because it was cheaper than everything else on the shelf, Eternal Ring. Really enjoyed that game.

I was about to say that I can't remember if that's ever happened to me, but then I had a flashback to Company of Heroes. I saw that box, opened it (one of those old PC game boxes with like, a book cover thing on the front of the box with more info in it), looked at the back, and decided to get it.

I put hundreds of hours into that game. I eventually got the expansions (and the game itself again) on Steam due to the old THQ pack a few years ago. God, that game is still so good.

Final Fantasy X easily.

It's weird how I didn't know anything about the game. I only vaguely remembered a TV commercial about it. To this day it's still the best JRPG I've ever played.

Runner ups would be Syphon Filter 2, MGS2 (didn't play the first game and got a copy with my PS2 purchase) and to some degree The Secret World. I bought it on sale, not expecting much, but it became the first MMO I ever got into seriously.

I got that a few years ago from a steam sale for like $1. I haven't played it yet though.

Most recently it's probably been Binary Domain.

Wolfenstein: The New Order, having never played any of the previous games. It was fantastic. I played it twice in 3 days and even went for all of the trophies just because.

This for sure. I remember thinking it was a pretty good game, although I felt that they ever fully explained how the ring creation really worked.

I'm like Jeff with Marvel Heroes, I though 'ehh playing as Dr. Strange for a bit might be cool' now I'm 40+ hours in and still want more.

I saw Jade Cocoon in a shop when I was little and knew nothing about it, and to this day I have no idea why I randomly decided to persuade my parents to get it for me. Flash forward to today and it's one of my favourite games.

An honourable mention goes to Final Fantasy IX, which I got from a library of all places (did you know there was a brief window of time where UK libraries stocked PS1 games?) And so went my introduction to the Final Fantasy series. It shows how ignorant I was of games back then that my first thought was "hey - this game controls just like Jade Cocoon!"

I bought Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne in Gamestop on a whim and it was the best game that I played in 2013 (it actually came out in 2003).

Sakura Taisen. I just needed a game for Japanese practice, but it turned out to be pretty cool. I just wish hanafuda didn't make the game hang.

I rented Xenogears from a Hollywood Video because it had a mech and an anime dude on the cover and I was really into Dragonball Z/Gundam Wing at the time.

Bulletstorm is the first one I can think of. Got a code for it with something, I think it was a new GPU, and decided I could just as well try it. Loved it. The juvenile humor is awesome, the different mechanics great. Would buy a sequel in a heartbeat.

If I flip the question to a game that I thought I would like but I ended up hating: Metal Gear Revengeance. Luckily I didn't buy it, I got it for free on PS Plus.

@humanity said:

I did it a lot more back when the internet wasn't ubiquitous, since once I did have internet access I would at least check some reviews. My family had a computer but didn't get dial-up for a while, so did you just read a lot of game magazines/know a lot of well informed gamer friends, pre-you-having-internet?

I played the fuck out of that game. I feel that its attempt at making a cinematic fighting game was the prototype for the DBZ Budokai titles on PS2.

I did it a lot pre 1996-97. (when I got broadband)

But I think my best 'blind buy' was Final Fantasy Tactics PS1.

I bought the original castlevania lords of shadow knowing it didn't review super well but it had a sotn download code And was on sale for $15. Ended up loving every minute of it.

Viewtiful Joe was what got me into Toku and made me a massive fan of everything Clover/Platinum does, and I just picked it off a shelf at EB because it looked cool. Actually most of my videogame purchases pre 2005 were uninformed and off the cuff.

I bought this on a whim back in 99. Without having heard of the game, I bought it desperately wanting any FPS to play. I'm sure glad it turned out great! The atmosphere, presentation, and music were memorable and hearing Nazi soldiers' voices echoing around me for the first time and was a bit frightening.

Since then, however, I've been methodical about doing research before buying a game. Except, well, this because how can you not buy that?

Edit: I neglected to mention that I made the decision when I saw it for the first time in the PS1 glass case at Walmart. The artwork made me request to see it and when I saw that it was a FPS, I instantly purchased it.

Shadow of the Colossus. Had no clue what the game was... little did I know that it would become my favorite game of all time!

Fallout 3. I went to the game store and saw it on the shelf, I think it just released, and decided to buy it. I didn't have any clue what it was when I bought it so it was a 'blind' purchase. Before I started it, I saw that it said Bethesda on the box and that made me very weary of it because the only other Bethesda game I had played up to that point was Oblivion and I hated that game with a passion. I ended up loving the game and it's probably my most favorite game of all time.

The Great Circus Mystery, starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse

@kedi2: word..I picked this up not knowing anything and it blew me away with its fighting and leveling system.

It was a mixture of friends and magazines. I remember for the longest time I had a subscription to this terrible gaming magazine that my parents got for free because of VISA points or something. In those days I would mostly judge games for their screenshots and spreads. This game looks neat, it's a guy with a blaster! This game looks dumb. Sort of like that.

I remember getting Shadowrun for 360 just because my friends and some of my LIVE friends were getting it. Too my sunrise, I had a blast with it.

Max payne 3! Sad there wont be a 4 anytime soon :/

@jjor64 said:

Great moments in autocorrect history.

PRAISE THE SUN

I picked up Kid Icarus 2 for Game Boy at a church fundraiser when I was around 10, and played that game more than just about any other Game Boy game I had. I think the church thought that Kid Icarus was an angel.

I also made some great discoveries at Electronics Boutique as a poor kid, in their "$10 and under" PC games section where all the cheapy PC jewel case games were stuffed. Carmageddon 2 would become one of my favorite games of all-time, as would Worms 2, both of which I played to death with my friends. Worms Armageddon is still one of my top three favorite games thanks to that discovery. Other ridiculous games I found there include Die By the Sword (the game where your sword is bound to 1:1 mouse movement, and you can get your limbs cut off and still hop around), and the original Postal when it was an isometric shooter. Turns out all the really fucked up PC games go cheap, apparently.

Ahhhhahahah

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy. Bought it on a whim when I first got the PS2.

That game was DOPE. AS. ALL. HELL.

For me it was probably Extreme-G. Was looking for anything like Wipeout on my Nintendo system (i was around 11-12 years old). Got what I was after and then some.

Star Ocean: Last Hope. I heard of the Star Ocean series on psx back in the day but at the time with parents only buying you a handful games a year I never was able to play it. flash forward to 2005 and now having a job in high school and seeing that game on sale for 20 bucks I grabbed it on a whim thinking I'd give it a shot since I've always heard great things about the franchise from the jrpg community on the internet back in the day. Game was truly an epic ride and introduced me to probably my first jrpg that goes real time arena instead of turn based strategy.

@wolfgame said:

It would have to be this game for me, I remember walking into gamestop and buying this just based off the box. It actually ended up being a very memorable experience. The game had a surprisingly enjoyable online multiplayer community, this game was in some ways my foot in the door to the idea of clans and guilds. I remember we had only about 4 or 5 people. I don't think I would try playing this game now, I doubt it would hold up and I am sure the online element was shut down long ago. But still nice memories on a risky gaming purchase that turned out well.

I shadow every one of these sentiments.

Just picked it up one day in the bargain bin of EB Games (this was back in like, 2005) and played the ever-loving shit out of it. To this day there's nothing quite like it. It's got atmosphere out the ass, great characters, a rather unique leveling/experience system, and unlike most "play how you want" RPGs I can actually get through 98% of this game without initiating combat at all.

It's probably the first RPG about role playing I ever played. Up until I played VTMB I thought RPGs were just about numbers and leveling stats. This shit right here spoiled me and it really grates on me that there hasn't been anything else like it since.