Suprising games?

Adagio · April 4, 2003, 08:10

Have you ever had a game, that you wasn't sure if it was any good or not, or you actually thought was a boring game, but as you tried it, you was pleasently suprised?

I know, I have once (maybe also several times, but only remember one time):

Back in the days... the good ol' Amiga days... I bought The Settlers... Well, actually I ordered it, so it took a few days before I got the game... Shortly after I ordered it, I started regretting ever ordering it... At that time, the only Strategy game I had ever played was Civ(1)... and I sucked at it... What made me choose to buy it, was the fact that in a review they mentioned it was a mixture of Civ and SimCity... and I loved SimCity (and still do

), but I wasn't much for wargames, and I had never played any RTS game before... As the days went by, my doubt went strong... then finally I got the game, and from my first game I played, I wasn't in doubt anymore... that was the best game I have ever played on the good ol' Amiga...

DrSpike · April 4, 2003, 08:35

The first time I played Civ it didn't immediately sink its hooks into me (gasps from audience). It was probably my age, since I was around 13 when Civ1 came out.

Needless to say a couple of weeks later I tried again and the rest is history, and my life is effectively a couple of thousand hours shorter.

Alex · April 4, 2003, 10:01

Wolfenstein 3D. It came to me in a disk borrowed from a friend, and I was more interested in the other game he had borrowed me (a chess game).

Then one day I decided to install that game, which my friend had described to me as being "oh, it is just a small action game, you shoot some enemies and open a lot of doors"

I wasn't very excited, but it turned to be so addictive when I started to play it... I remember playing it for hours and hours non-stop, trying to find those damn secrets...

Maquiladora · April 4, 2003, 10:45

I thought Tribes was going to be a great game, but it was shite, whereas Hostile Waters, was a pleasantly surprising game, for such little hype, and addictive.

BustaMike · April 4, 2003, 17:55

Ever seen Gitaroo Man for the PS2? It's one of those stupid rhythm games like Parappa the Rappa, but it's actually good. It's seriously an amazingly fun game, the soundtrack is catchy, and in the later levels it's freakin hard. The game also supports 4 player head to head action.

As far as I can tell, this game is impossible to find. Somehow my friends and I managed to get a copy from a guy who got it from a guy, etc.

RGBVideo · April 4, 2003, 18:47

Operation Flashpoint. I thought it would've been just another bad 3D-FPS...

Smash · April 4, 2003, 22:57

SimGolf.Huge surprise for me.Still fire it up from time to time.

aaglo · April 7, 2003, 04:40

Tetris.

At first I thought:"what a silly game - this is so boring"
After a while I couldn't stop playing it.

Alex · April 7, 2003, 08:40

aaglo: it happened to me too! Who would guess that such a little game could be so addictive?

FlameFlash · April 7, 2003, 12:10

My mother was addicted by Tetris and Dr. Mario... big surprise there.

For consecutive birthdays I've gotten her the Gameboy versions off of half.com and the like.

No clue what I'll get her this year.

My dad was hooked on Centipede.

I was surprised by Pokemon... I expected it to be a sucky kids game... I got hooked (and eventually went out, bought a gameshark, and finished it quickly since I was too impatient to train my creatures to Lv 100.)

Urban Ranger · April 7, 2003, 12:36

Tetris surely is one of them. The biggest surprise is rogue though. You wouldn't believe how addictive an ASCII text game on a dumb terminal can be.

Carolus Rex · April 7, 2003, 12:44

Medal of Honour: Allied Assault

I've played mostly strategy and puzzle solving games, and never was a big FPS fan. Then one day, maybe 8-10 weeks ago, I bought MOHAA on impulse.

I had no expectations whatsoever and got hooked immediately at the training mission...

Storming Omaha beach was tough, I found myself sitting with my shoulders up near my ears as I was literally crouching for cover in the chair...

And the sniper forrest... Played it about 3 in the morning... Walking around in the winter wonderland, only hearing howling watch dogs, the wind and the swaying trees... Five or ten minutes of almost no sound as you look for the snipers... Then BANG!, you're suddenly being shot at by an invisible enemy... Made me

in the chair...

Carolus

Traianvs · April 7, 2003, 14:06

Mohaa was one of the biggest diappointments I've had in a long time... It was hyped and praised etc, but in the end it just sucked.

The amount of available weapons was very poor (you can't use the pistol as it is useless..), the system requirements were so high that even with everything turned to minimum detail it lagged me pretty hard, especially the first mission...

I kept fragging, thinkin omaha beach will make the effort worthwhile, but when i got there i was so pissed off... Omaha beach was just a "luck level" run out of the boar, get fragged by an invisible and invincible turret, try again, repeat process 20 times, and ten finally get to the barbed wire, return once more to pickup some artillery pieces and get fragged another 10 times, then try to grenade the bunker, but you walk on the mines so you're dead once again, repeat process another 10 times and then I ****ing gave up, there was no skill involved, just luck

Adagio · April 7, 2003, 14:13

Talking about fps games:

Serious Sam was suprising... The humour used in the game was very great, and the maps where extremely large... but still it ran almost perfect on a low-end machine... I was expecting Just another "shoot-first, shoot some more, then forget to ask the questions" game, but in the end, this became the best fps game, since Duke Nukem 3D

Carolus Rex · April 7, 2003, 14:34

Originally posted by Trajanus
Mohaa was one of the biggest diappointments I've had in a long time... It was hyped and praised etc, but in the end it just sucked.

I missed out on the hype, and I don't have much experience with FPS so I can't say how it is compared to other games in the genre. If this game sucks, I have to look more into FPS for sure!

Originally posted by Trajanus
The amount of available weapons was very poor (you can't use the pistol as it is useless..), the system requirements were so high that even with everything turned to minimum detail it lagged me pretty hard, especially the first mission...

Yes, I have a low end computer too, and sometimes the game crashed, but only a few times in the beginning. And since I've never been much of a graphics fetischist, playing with minimum detail didn't bother me. But I must admit that it would be fun to replay it with full detail...

Originally posted by Trajanus
I kept fragging, thinkin omaha beach will make the effort worthwhile, but when i got there i was so pissed off... Omaha beach was just a "luck level" run out of the boar, get fragged by an invisible and invincible turret, try again, repeat process 20 times, and ten finally get to the barbed wire, return once more to pickup some artillery pieces and get fragged another 10 times, then try to grenade the bunker, but you walk on the mines so you're dead once again, repeat process another 10 times and then I ****ing gave up, there was no skill involved, just luck

Yes, I think I died at least 30-40 times before getting through and the first times it really is luck. There are a couple of ways to get through, but the problem with games like these is that (in SP) they have little replay value. Once you learn where the bad guys are you know what to do etc.

I admit that it is very frustrating when you get stuck in a mission. Then I put the game aside for a few days and come back later. This never happens with Civ2, where only hunger, fatigue or external pressure can drag me away...

Carolus

Nikolai · April 7, 2003, 14:42

First time I played Civ, it was Civ2, and I was so young that I didn't understand english very well. A family member played with me, and I thought it was very interesting.(and I seem to remember it being more alive than it was... Must be my childish imagination...

)
However, as soon as I was left alone, I lost the interest, and didn't try any Civ game before SMAC, when I was hoocked, and soon found myself sitting with first Civ1, then Civ2 for HOURS!

Skanky Burns · April 7, 2003, 19:45

I bought a combined cd that had MoO and XCom on it. I didn't expect much from XCom, but after finally figuring it out, it became one of my all-time favourite games.

Nikolai · April 8, 2003, 09:18

Might be a dumb question, but what type of game is Xcom?

I've heard of it, but never tried it.

RGBVideo · April 8, 2003, 09:32

X-Com 1 is also known as UFO : Enemy unknown. A bit like Jagged Alliance, if you haven't heard of it. The game was published... IIRC... 1992, and it was big leap forwards in gaming.

I think it's abandonware, but I can't name any places where you could get it.

DrSpike · April 8, 2003, 09:39

X-Com1 on my Amiga, and X-Com3 on my pc are two of my all time favourite games. X-Com1 was a particularly innovative addition to the growing TBS market at the time.

Urban Ranger · April 9, 2003, 06:30

Originally posted by Nikolai
Might be a dumb question, but what type of game is Xcom?

I've heard of it, but never tried it.

There's a real time strategy segment where you monitor UFO activities and wait for your bases to build things. You can send troops to retrieve equipment and aliens from downed UFOs and attack terror sites. These combat missions take place in a turned based tactical segment.

The night terror missions are the best. You can actually feel the fear.

Father Beast · April 9, 2003, 07:50

I also bought the double pack with Xcom and Moo. I had heard Xcom was great, but Master Of Orion became a quick allnighter, almost as soon as I installed it and got it working

Boris Godunov · April 12, 2003, 13:43

SMAC, actually. I didn't buy it and had no interest in it for years, but I finally picked it up for $10 at a local store. Lo and behold, it was a fantastic, addictive game. It had so many mechanics I wish were part of the civ games.

Zkribbler · April 13, 2003, 22:43

My most surprising game was "Emperor of the Fading Suns." I found it in the bargain bin for a mere $6, so I figured it might be fun for a little while and if it wasn't, I was only out the $6.

Wow, imagine Civ. played across three dozen worlds simultaneously...with everything from space ships to air wings to ground legions to ocean fleets, with aliens, ancient artifacts, an unholy Inquistion and interstellar diplomacy.

FlameFlash · April 30, 2003, 12:01

World Destruction League: ThunderTanks...

Really, this is a great battle game to just grab some friends and blow stuff up.

I was amazed at not how great the graphics were (not super-impressive, but not sucky either) but on how well the game worked as a 4-player melee.

Alex · April 30, 2003, 15:51

I could also add "Constructor"... a friend gave it to me because he didn't like it, and since we had basically the same taste for gaming, I thought that I wouldn't like it either. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Adagio · April 30, 2003, 16:22

Yeah, Constructor was a great game, though I had "high" expectations for it also, so it didn't come as a supprise... the only "supprise" I had with this game, was the fact that hard/medium was easier than easy, because when playing easy, you couldn't use 75% of all options in the game, while the computer player could use them...

thinkingamer · May 2, 2003, 00:34

Anybody here plays yahoo games? My brother plays Yahoo pool at least once a week (and believe it or not he doesn't like games; the only game that he actually liked was monkey island series and revolt; and once finishes the game, he never comes back, ever).

And i love yahoo chess, its so addictive that i already played 1500 games so far..

Frankychan · May 2, 2003, 04:43

Mine are Bust a Groove for the PS1...Hiro is the man!

and Dark Cloud 2. I thought is was gonna suck cause it was cellshaded and the main characters are children, but the game is kick a**

Jamski · May 2, 2003, 04:56

Originally posted by Zkribbler
My most surprising game was "Emperor of the Fading Suns." I found it in the bargain bin for a mere $6, so I figured it might be fun for a little while and if it wasn't, I was only out the $6.

Wow, imagine Civ. played across three dozen worlds simultaneously...with everything from space ships to air wings to ground legions to ocean fleets, with aliens, ancient artifacts, an unholy Inquistion and interstellar diplomacy.

Yeah I have this on my HD still, but I never finished a game - I get so lost trying to fight wars against 3 opponents at once across a dozen planets. Maybe I should dig it out again, if I can tear myself away from GalCiv.

-Jam