The Video Game Critic

Ever buy a game that far exceeded your expectations?

One example for me was NBA Jam (SNES) back in 1993.  I remember my friends and I scoffed at the screen shots in EGM with the players soaring 10 feet over the rim.  Then when I saw it got great reviews I decided to give it a try.

Wow.  This game knocked my socks off.  Unless previous basketball video games (EA's Bulls Vs Celtics for example), this was break-neck, arcade-style, non-stop action.  My friends Tuan and Eric came over and played it for 6 hours straight.  6 hours!!

Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth for the 360 (and PC).

That game was in development for so long I thought there was no earthly way it could turn out well.  For so long we got very skimpy information, pictures that looked subpar, etc.  I was excited when it was first announced, but after about five or six years of waiting, I was sure it was going to be a flop.

When it came out it was fantastic.  It was actually better than I ever expected.  It's one of the few games that really captures that uniquely Lovecraftian brand of horror.

Mozart-
Are you sure that game was released for the Xbox?  I can't find it anywhere.

[QUOTE=videogamecritic]Mozart-
Are you sure that game was released for the Xbox?  I can't find it anywhere.

[/QUOTE]

I meant to say XBOX, not 360.  I get them mixed up sometimes.  It was a game for the original XBOX.

http://smile.amazon.com/Call-Cthulhu-Dark-Corners-Earth-Xbox/dp/B0007ZD794

I didn't end up hating Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, it's not that good, but after reading all the negative reviews, I was surprised that it was actually playable for the most part.

I don't play many RPGs but I'm so in love with the game Dragon Warrior VII for ps1. I'm only about 10 hours in but I'm loving the characters and world. It's rare an RPG sucks me in like this.

I was very surprised with how well the port of Mortal Kombat II turned out on the Super Nintendo. Not only did it have the blood this time (unlike the SNES port of MK1), but it also had all the Fatality's, Friendship's, and Babality's. Plus, the graphics and sound seemed very close to the arcade. It was an outstanding port!  

[QUOTE=m0zart][QUOTE=videogamecritic]Mozart-
Are you sure that game was released for the Xbox?  I can't find it anywhere.

[/QUOTE]

I meant to say XBOX, not 360.  I get them mixed up sometimes.  It was a game for the original XBOX.

http://smile.amazon.com/Call-Cthulhu-Dark-Corners-Earth-Xbox/dp/B0007ZD794[/QUOTE]
A good game.  Though it is rather hard.

Shadow Dancer on the Sega Master System, it's a game the system is struggling to handle (it's a port of the arcade game, not the Genesis version) levels have been cut, some enemies have green skin, the sprites sometimes rip. And worst of all the dog only appears when you use the dog attack and doesn't follow you.
But despite all this it plays like a Shinobi game should and I actually enjoyed and managed to play through the whole game.

[QUOTE=Astrosmasher]A good game.  Though it is rather hard.[/QUOTE]

Yeah no kidding!

***SPOILER BELOW***

When you are out on that boat and you have to fight Dagon, that's a pretty seriously tough section of the game.

That boat battle makes it nearly impossible to get the complete ending, which explains what happened to the main character when he had blacked out for many years after the prelude episode of the game (before the Innsmouth portion).  The game keeps track of several metrics throughout to determine if you can get that ending, and that boat battle is the real bottleneck of those metrics.