Dead Space
Timeshift
Batman: AA
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
X-Blades

My top 5

1. Modern Warfare - Call of duty was getting stale with all the shitty WWII games (which we now know was Activision's decision) and although I bought MW day 1 I had my doubts. It turned out awesome.

2. Uncharted - There was like no hype at all for this game (besides maybe on gaming sites like this). I barely even had heard of it. I got it for my birthday in 2007 and it was amazing. My favourite single player game this gen.

3. Fallout 3 - I waited for months before playing this game because I had doubts. Damn was I wrong. Should have gotten it day 1. Better then Oblivion even.

4. Resistance - Didn't know what to expect of a FPS new IP that came out at launch. Its one of my top shooters this gen though.

5. Killzone 2 - I would be being nice saying the first one was average (more like it sucked ass) so I didn't know what to make of a second one. But Geurilla got it right. Its amazing.


Honorable Mentions: LittleBigPlanet, Assassin's Creed, Scribblenauts, Batman: AA, 2010 EA sports games (NHL, FIFA, NBA, Madden), Forza 3.

I didn't put down Mario, Zelda, etc because we all knew they'd be good. This is about surprisingly good games.

Good list.

Yeah, that was one of my favorite PSN games.

Tagged. I shall enjoy reading this thread.

For me:

Folklore
- one of my few 'on a whim' purchases. Actually very good, great atmosphere and music

Dead Space
- I thought it was going to suck, to be frank, and it didn't, at least IMO

Burnout Paradise
- cautious purchase but great game and some of the best after sales support ever

Batman AA
- really thought this was going to suck too! Instead it was brilliant

Flow
- another 'whim' purchase with low expectations, just loved the mood. After this I had high expectations for Flower, which were met thankfully

For me, very few games 'suprised' this gen. They were either as brilliant as I predicted or failed to meet my expectations. The few that come to my mind:

Flow: no expectations and rather enjoyed the building up of a 2D organism

Mount & Blade: So simple in terms of gameplay, yet so adictive.

The Witcher: Wasn't expecting much from the RPG coming from a relatively unknown developer, but ended up being a truly enjoyable RPG.

I bought Bulletwitch (360) for the boobs. I beat it twice because it was fun.....in 2007.

Earth Defense Force (360) has to be the most technically inferior game (for it's time) that I've ever loved. It's great fun.

Lego Indiana Jones (360). I got it for free and didn't want to play anything else until I beat it.

My kid picked out The Simpsons Game (360) when I told her I wanted a game we could play together. It was awesome, and one of my favorite co-op experiences in recent history.

The Maw (XBLA) rounds out the list. Very well made, despite being pretty short. Once again, my kid chose wisely.

Everything else, with a few exceptions, have been as good as or worse than I'd expected. It's awesome to be pleasantly surprised from time to time.

Flower
Pixel Junk Titles
Loco Roco
Batman AA Even though I only played the demo
Folklore

Batman AA
Chinatown Wars
Little King's Story

That's all I can think of from the games I've actually played.