What games are you glad you took a risk on?

Topic basically says it all. If you've bought a game that you weren't sure on and were pleasantly surprised, share it here. 
 
For me, it'd be Shadowrun. I wasn't totally sold on the whole idea of the "no single player" thing, but it turned out to be pretty much my favorite online FPS.

Bayonetta is the only recent one I can think of. 
 
Maybe Def Jam: Icon too. That was surprisingly fun.

Borderlands, Fire Emblem, Skies of Arcadia Legends.

Unfortunately it's always the opposite for me.

Darksiders comes to mind.

Mirror's Edge, despite all the bad reviews I loved it!

StarCraft. I was in the airport waiting for my next flight on my way home from vacation and I decided to give it a shot. I was originally very weary of it mostly because of the obvious decade-old visual quality, but the gameplay was way more than enough to make up for it. Played it for around a week after that non-stop with my brother and then, needless to say, bought StarCraft II, which has become extremely addicting. I wonder what I'd be playing now if I had never clicked on Torchlight, which had kept me occupied for the majority of the trip back home, instead of StarCraft.

Fallen Earth!

Jeanne d'Arc 

BlazBlue:CS,I wanted to return it after a few days because I sucked online.I gave it a few more days and now I loved it.
I still suck online though.

" Dead rising 2. "

The Saboteur, which is a really underappreciated game

Also, Silent Hill 2. Found it in an EB games when I was about 10. Changed my life.

Well, one time I had a gift card for an EB Games, and I had no idea what to get, for no reason I asked the guy what was the best DS game he could think of, he pointed to Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow, and bought it on a whim. Boy was that game awesome, I was totally glad I bought it, that's one of my favorite DS games still. 

WET, Ninety-Nine Nights, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders and Circle of Doom come to mind off the top of my head.

Quantum Redshift on Xbox 1
Culdcept Saga on Xbox 360
Dirt 2 on PC (completely wrote it off after Dirt 1)
Left 4 Dead 2 (actually had a fair amount of fun with it)
Valkyria Chronicles on PS3 (almost didn't buy it after the demo)
Plants vs Zombies (talking about the original PC version)
Pinball Hall of Fame William's Collection (back when the 360 and PS3 versions weren't out yet, heard it was good, bought it on Wii)
Gears of War 2 (almost didn't buy it after Gears 1)

To be perfectly honest, the biggest risk I ever took was Call of Duty 4. At the time I thought the game looks like another "generic shooter" judging from the screenshots and shit, but everyone was all hyped and excited about it. So I was "meh, okay" and bought the game.  
 
Holy. Crap. Best game I've ever played and completely revolutionized how I view shooters. It was also my first purchased game for the 360; so it was pretty critical that I buy a good game for it. Before getting my 360; I would constantly buy shitty or mediocre games for my PS2 since I never bothered going to review sites. But this was the best risk I ever took.

Global Agenda (what? It's fun now...), Blur, Borderlands, Gyromancer, and Zeno Clash.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts comes to mind. I know Brad raved about this game at length, but I still had my doubts from reading reviews and watching video footage. I ended up having a blast with it. 
  
My more potent answer would have to be World of Warcraft. Having never played an MMO before, my friends and I took a chance with WoW. Oh, the hours and hours lost....still, that game was spectacular for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am glad to have played an MMO at length.

The Saboteur turns out to be way better than the glitchy, uninspired mess Giant Bomb implied it to be. I'm just sorry I waited until I found it in a six-dollar bargain bin to pick it up!

Guild Wars. I didn't quite understand what it was until I had spent a few weeks on it. I was expecting a cheap MMO and got something so much more.

" Guild Wars. I didn't quite understand what it was until I had spent a few weeks on it. I was expecting a cheap MMO and got something so much more. "

The Witcher.

This is gonna sound silly now, but GTA III. My boss and I had been following it for a while before it came out, and the day of release we used our lunch break to go purchase it without reading a single word of any review. The next day saw us using up way too much productive time rabbiting on about the range of shenanigans we got up to overnight, both of us still with a twinkle in our itchy, sleep-deprived eyes.
 
Also, EDF 2017!

darksiders. that game absolutely went above and beyond for me. i had no expectations for it and went in blind to it but it really is one of the few real standout games i've played all year.

Persona 4, tried it on an emulator and the glitches annoyed me so I went out and bought a PS2.
 
So worth it, now enjoying Persona 3 and Okami.

NHL'11.  Now to clarify, the last hockey game I played was NHL 01 on my stepdads PS2.  Really glad I bought it, it's been a blast and is really helping tide me over until Reach.

Prototype was one of my favorites of that year out of nowhere.

Fable II. Played the first one and didn't really like it. Then David Ellis on 1Up Yours just absolutely gushed over it. I was listening to the show on a Saturday morning while going to town and because he wouldn't shut up about it, I bought it. Was my 08 GotY, so I'm happy about it, and looking forward to FIII. 

Otherwise, with games costing the way they do, I just Lovefilm (ie. Netflix/GameFly for you guys across the pond) the games and if I like them, I likely end up purchasing them afterward, when they're on sale. Happened wirth Bayonetta, The Saboteur, AC2 and Bioshock 2 in recent months.

I was always tempted into playing Guild Wars, alas. Guild Wars 2 looks interesting enough, perhaps I'll give it a shot. "

For me it's Fallout 3. I figured I wouldn't like it cus I wasn't really into Oblivion IV. However, the fact that I have spent over 80 hours paying Fallout 3 shows how much I was into that game.

Endwar, Kane and Lynch, Earth Defence Force 2017

I bought Halo 3 ODST without being sure if I would really like it, but actually ended up really enjoying how they switched up the pacing of the campaign.  

I was never sure about Bayonetta, but I've bought it and it's a great game.

Definitely Just Cause and KoTOR.

The Orange Box.

I took a leap on Trine back when it was PC only and 30 dollars I'm glad I did.

'splosion man

Lost Planet 2. Brad had some points but he was largely on the wrong page when reviewing the game. That game is pretty damn bad single player but AMAZING with 4 player co-op.
 
Same thing with Castlevania HD. Great co-op, not so great single player.
 
Seriously, it's on the same crutch as Resident Evil 5, Borderlands, and Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Yet they loved those. If It's meant and built around co-op, then review it based on that. Jeff played like 3 hours of co-op and brad hardly played any just to get the review out before the game ships. No offense, just saying I spent 40 hours on Castlevanaia HD and still am no where near getting everything done and Lost Planet I spent 30 hours and it was some of the most heart pounding action running along side a group and when the team pulls together like a well oiled engine.
 
 
Also Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts. AMAZING. Holy shit was Brad right on that one.

Definitely Borderlands. That game was so silky-smooth, played it for months. What a romance.

I like how half these titles are grade A critically acclaimed games. What type of risk is that!? Can't think of any games that have really been a stretch. Maybe Dynasty warriors or something.

Actually, Bioshock. I figured I wouldn't like it when it came out, because I hate having the crap scared out of me while playing games, but I played it a year or two later and loved it. I'm a big fan of it now.

" Topic basically says it all. If you've bought a game that you weren't sure on and were pleasantly surprised, share it here.   For me, it'd be Shadowrun. I wasn't totally sold on the whole idea of the "no single player" thing, but it turned out to be pretty much my favorite online FPS. "

Call of Duty 4. I mean sure it may be a pandering choice, but I remember thinking about it cause a friend who was a WWII COD player really despised the change in scenery. On top of that I only had my 360 for about 3 months and was wondering if I should take the chance. Well thanks to COD4 it pretty much settled any lingering thoughts about my 360 going to waste and what-not...
 
...then it RROD'd when I played Rainbow 6 Vegas. lol