Without a doubt, Gears of War 2.  And to me, it's weird that I answer with that.  I wasn't that big into the original game.  While all my friends got bit by the rush, I didn't.  I didn't even pick it up until a month after release.  Even then, I never played it as religiously as some of my friends did.  Eventually though, when the bloom came off the rose in about a month or two, they saw what I did.  Just a weekend ago, a buddy got on to play Gears of War multiplayer.  Another friend in the room, who was one of those that got bit by the Gears rush, after watching some sick host advantage and bullet lag, said, "I'll never understand what I saw in this game or why anyone still plays it."

I wasn't too gripped by the story of the campaign.  Multiplayer was a huge headache.  Using an archaic lobby system was a horrible decision for a 2006 game.  Preventing you from playing with your friends in a ranked match was insulting.  The sickening host advantage brought back nightmares of Halo 2.

But at the same time, I definitely saw a huge boat of potential.  Gears of War was certainly not a bad game at all.  It was a good game with potential to be great.  Epic Games is one of the few developers I trust to make better on a sequel.  The are the only AAA developer that won't try to spin earlier mistakes.  Instead of the Bungie line of, "This wasn't so bad, but we're making it better, golly!", Epic comes right out and says, "You know what? We screwed this up and we're fixing it."

I truly believe Gears of War 2 will realize that potential.