What game(s) this gen literally "shocked" you?

[Kantor]

inFamous (did anybody beat me to that one?)

Seriously, though, there are a few:

1) Braid. Yes, I'd heard about it being artistic and beautiful and all of that, but...wow. I could never have imagined what an incredible experience Braid is. My favourite game on the PS Network by a LONG way.

2) Assassin's Creed II. I didn't really like the original, and I thought "Meh, ACII is probably the same game, but in Italy". How wrong I was. Fantastic game; probably the biggest improvement I've seen this gen.

3) Resistance: Fall of Man. Now, this is an odd one. I played Resistance 2 first, and I thought it was repetitive, derivative and generally extremely dull. Then I saw RFOM on sale (Very few games don't warrant £5), and bought it. I am now convinced that R2 is the biggest series-ruiner this gen. The original had its fair share of flaws, but it dared to be slightly innovative, to challenge FPS norms- a weapon wheel instead of two weapons. Non-regenerating health. A different control scheme. On top of that, the story made some sort of sense. Not a fantastic game, but far better than I ever expected it to be.

4) Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I wasn't really an FPS gamer before this gen, and I wondered what all the fuss with CoD4 was about. I found out the moment I started to play the game. Probably the best pure FPS I've ever played.

5) LittleBigPlanet. Yes, I had more faith in this than most people, but I still underestimated it. In fact, even after I'd started playing, I thought it was decent at best. It was only an hour or so into the game, when it started to pick up, that I began to love it.

6) Prince of Persia (2008): This looked over-simplistic and ridiculous. But while it was a bit shallow, it was certainly enjoyable.

7) Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty. The reviews for this were pretty lackluster, and I can't figure out why. Yes, it was short, but it's a PSN game! The focus on platforming was a nice break from traditional R&C games, and it came together very well, even if it was over too quickly.

8) Prototype. Again, pretty average reviews. Looked one-dimensional and repetitive. Finally received it as a gift, and loved it. There are some joys in gaming- ninja-kicking helicopters, slashing pedestrians in half with a blade, soaring over rooftops before landing on the ground and shooting spikes everywhere, that are all too rare in gaming. I'll admit, this had some pretty terrible design, but the fun factor more than made up for it.

EDIT: These aren't my favourite games of the gen, not by a long shot (well, some of them are, but not all). But games like Uncharted 1 and 2, MGS4, GoW3 and BioShock, I knew would be fantastic, and they didn't disappoint, but I expected nothing less.