2010 has been a great year for "surprises." What I mean buy a surprise game are those titles that totally come out of nowhere, smacking you on the face, and saying, "hey, I'm badass!" Here are my biggest surprise games of 2010, 
 
Splatterhouse 
  I think most of us are familiar with Splatterhouse, a "classic?" series released on several systems years ago. I'd heard of the re-make/re-invention of Splatterhouse at some point in time but I never expecting anything from it other than probably boring gameplay and lots of gore. The latter was definitely correct but I was also treated to fun gameplay, visually interesting design level and character design, and a hilarious and campy set of characters. It's not an amazing game, but I got through the game in two days without being bored once.
 
Nier 
  Square-Enix. . . Ugh, what have you done to yourselves? At one point in time, the announcement of a new game coming from the company would have resulted in my eyes being lit up with excitement. Now however, I tend to just not care. Fortunately, Nier turned out to be a fantastic game. Interesting characters, stories, and locales coupled with fun combat and great level design turned Nier into something special.
 
Metro 2033 
  Like one Mr. Snider, I have a thing for eastern block games. Why? Well, the eastern block tends to still hold by the old standard that gamers aren't "stupid." They develop games for the true  "core" gamer, not the guys and gals that just play ME2 and COD. Metro 2033 while not difficult, is definitely a niche title. It brought to the table a fascinating world and story, along with some amazing visuals and some fantastic gameplay systems.
 
 Other suprises, 
 
Darksiders
3D Dot Game Heroes 
Resonance of Fate 
Deadly Premonition 
Amnesia 
VVVVVV