i'm kinda disappointed with this thread.

i didn't expect everyone to post so many blockbusters.
for me, the real "wow, this is much better than expected it to be" games are niche games no one knows about or games that everyone else hates, but i love.
like the baseball game mentioned before that i never heared about and will check out now!

super mario galaxy might be one of the best games this gen, but i was not at all shocked by its greatness... i kinda expected it to be brilliant anyway. other players, sales, even critics said so, why should i be shocked if its awesome?

if anything, blockbusters are usually the games i am shocked about in the opposite way because often they don't live up to the hype. and now i see all those overhyped games in this thread ;)

FERD, is a damn fine game, extremely good story to boot.

Oblivion. Shocked by how many things it got right like the realistic leveling system and the gameplay and physics.

Then I was shocked again because of how boring it got after I discovered that everything leveled up at the same rate as me :(

I guess the biggest shock for me is that Fragile was made. I've always been fascinated with the idea of nature's reclamation of abandoned buildings, and here was a game in which I could look around them? Yes, please! The fact that it's a fun game to boot just makes it all the better!

inFamous, MAG and Killzone 2. Everything else has been up to what I expected or disappointing.

why did this thread replies became a top ten list ? man i hate those , anyways i didn't find siren to be any scary at all.

zelda: twilight princess
as I wasn't a big fan of zelda, and wasn't expecting a lot from this game (it was pretty much just a fill in) I was amazed how supperb it was, I didn't have any hype and didn't watch any footage

super mario 64 ds: as I didn't like the original mario 64 that much, I also didn't feel hype for this game
I was wrong, the game was a supperb remake and and actually blew me away

super smash bros brawl: same as zelda

Left 4 Dead

The first Bioshock, for sure. It is an incredibly cohesive, stylish and poignant experience.

Oblivion and Heavy Rain