Random game buy that you weren't sure of, but then loved...

You know those games that you just buy, not because you have heard of them, but totally random buys because it looked good. I think we all have one of these type of game buys that we totally loved after being unsure if it was good or not.
The one game that stands out to me is Ace Combat 5. I was blown away by how good it was when all I wanted was to fly a jet I got a great story, great soundtrack in A FREAKING JET SIMULATOR! (Not accurate, but still amazingly good.) I was beyond blown away by how well it worked, hell, I bought most of the soundtrack on Itunes it was so damn good.

What was your favorite random buy from a store?

i was looking for a different star wars game but they didn't have it so i picked up kotor.

The XBLA Shadow Complex, had heard a few thing about it but never watched the gameplay or anything. Was bored one night and decided to buy it since it had one of the best ratings and I really enjoyed it from start to the end.

Fallout 3. Saw one video of a slow motion crab shot and head it was a rpg game. I didn't like Elder Scrolls, but I said what the hell with it and bought it. LOVED IT TO DEATH.

red faction guerilla.

Dark Sector. I grabbed if off Target clearance for around $12. The boss characters seemed dumb and I couldn't figure out how they fit the story but I enjoyed the game. Actually played it 3 times back to back.

This happened when I was a young kid, still looking for games for my new PlayStation 1. I saw this demo for a weird, block puzzle game named Intelligent Qube. Figured I'd buy it with my saved allowance. Loved it and to this day, I still find it as compelling and crazy addictive as it was some 13 years ago.

inFamous, I bought it for the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta and ended up liking inFamous a whole lot.  

Mass Effect

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. Didn't know anything about that game except that it didn't sell that well. I decided to give it a chance and i was pleasantly surprised.

red faction guerilla.

Terraria. A whimsical and then magical purchasing-decision.

Darksiders. Wasn't really looking forward to it and the QL didn't do much for me, but I bought it out of boredom one day. Grrrrrrrreat Game.

Fallout 3, back when I worked at Best Buy and used games were crazy cheap for employees I picked it up simply because I had heard it was good and because it was cheap.  It's easily became one of my favourite games this gen.
Borderlands was also a bit of a whim, and I loved it.

inFamous. I bought it last summer when their was a game drought on. At most i was expecting a decent TPS, but it turned out to be one of my favourite games for the PS3. Can not wait for inFamous 2.

It's exceptionally hard to not know what you are getting into anymore with all the information PR dumps onto the internet now.

I guess SMT: Strange Journey? Maybe AC: Brotherhood too.

I know this is going to sound a bit silly since its such a well known, well loved game but Team Fortress 2 is totally the one for me. I bought it with the knowledge that i'll probably play it once then never touch it again like most cheap steam games. Cut to a year later thats my most played game on steam.

Okami

red faction guerilla.

Infamous. I didn't like the demo at all but saw it for £15 in HMV so picked it up. Probably one of my favourite PS3 games.

Vanquish.

mass effect, kotor

When I bought my original x-box it came with some mech game and KOTOR in the box. The first thing I did was throw KOTOR back in the box and jumped right into the mech game thinking KOTOR looked dumb and the mech game was going to be awesome. Oh boy was I wrong. Now KOTOR is one of my all time favourite games, and I can't even remember the name of that other game.

X-Squad for the PS2. I got it for like $4 or something at a GameStop sale. It wasn't very good but I still had quite a bit of fun playing it.

Demon's Souls. I was sure I was going to be baffled by it and not know where to start learning how to play, but it was a lot less convoluted than I thought.
Getting it for $12 was a nice bonus.

Nier. My brother bought it from Amazon when it was like 10 pounds or sth and i ended up loving it even though most critics bashed it.

Knew nothing about Shadowrun.  Got it day one and loved it.

F1 2010 is awesome

Tales of the Abyss

i was looking for a different star wars game but they didn't have it so i picked up kotor.

Mine has to be Need For Speed: Most Wanted.

Demon's Souls.

This game has ugly music, ugly art style and ugly name. Hell, I loved it.

I rarely buy games that I don't know anything about.  I usually read reviews, listen to podcasts and check the internet for the general opinion of a game before buying it.  When I was younger I used to buy games that looked cool but I didn't know much about and wound up with some real stinkers, so I always investigate first these days.  However, it's been a while and the last one I can recall that I really liked but wasn't familiar with is Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System.  I only had an original Xbox at the time and wanted a action-platformer like the PS2's Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter and Sly Cooper games.  Metal Arms looked like R&C, and it turned out to be pretty awesome.  I still wish someone would pick up the license so we can get a current-gen (or next-gen soon) update. 

Darksiders. A friend basically had to staple it to my chest because I really thought it wouldn't be my cup of tea. But it really was.

The Warriors. I didn't even know it was based on a movie when I bought it. I loved the game, and after watching the movie, I loved it even more. Still one of my favorite Rockstar games.

Civilization Revolution. Randomly downloaded the demo, loved it, and decided to buy the game.

Also Soul Calibur 4. I had never played a SC game before, but I was interested in trying the game out and I ended up loving it.

SSX 3. I was expecting a snow-filled game to keep my mind off the summer heat, what I got instead was my favorite extreme sports game ever created.

Xenogears  - I was looking for a mech-game and saw the crazy cover art and had to go for it. Still my most nostalgic and most loved old console game.

A long time ago I walked into a Gamestop , and on a whim picked up this...

Persona 4. I saw it as the last copy at Best Buy a long time ago, and grabbed it only on briefly hearing that "shin megami tensei" games were worth checking out. Boy was I in for a surprise.

Puzzle Quest 1. It was on sale for 400 MS points and I had some left over. That game was amazing. Puzzle Quest 2, on the other hand, I could have lived without.

Valkyria Chronicles

Alpha Protocol.

Got the darkness for a ludicrous amount of money (I think it was like 3 euros, brand new) and loved every second of it. Great game.

Darksiders. Wasn't really looking forward to it and the QL didn't do much for me, but I bought it out of boredom one day. Grrrrrrrreat Game.

Earth Defense Force 2017.

I cannot stand JRPGs, but decided to give Lost Odyssey a chance and ended up liking it.

Demon's Souls, Shadow Complex, RUSH, about half of the stuff that I got when I bought the Square Enix collection on Steam last holiday season (most notably Yosumin), Alien Breed, Darksiders, and Puzzle Agent. There are loads more, but that's all I can remember right now.