Quite a while ago (I just checked, it was early September 2014) I bought Wolfenstein: The New Order fairly cheap for my PS4. I tried it, and I just did not like it. I'm not sure now that I could put my finger on it, but I didn't rate it one bit. I even dished out advisory warnings when The Old Blood came out.

Over time I realised that most people seemed to have enjoyed it, some very much so. At the weekend, I listened to the Cane & Rinse podcast, and they positively gushed over it, and I got the feeling they liked it way more than the others in the series. So, yesterday, while I was in town, I popped into game and picked up a copy. I installed it late last night, I reckoned I would get past the annoying plane sequence at the start, ready to play properly today. Next thing I knew it was 3am, and a company of satisfyingly bullet-riddled Nazis lay in my wake. I've played a bit more tonight, and it has a gratifying crunching thwack to it.

On a similar note, I recently redownloaded Dragon's Dogma after a C&R podcast, where one of the contributors praised the feel of weapons striking their targets. I had felt the exact opposite when I'd tried it, one of the main things that led to me deleting it. Accepting that I may have missed something I gave it another shot and, yup, the feeling of sword striking flesh is rather pleasing.

Mirror's Edge and Patapon are two games I bought specifically because of this forum. On each occasion I formed the opinion prior to launch that they could not work or be fun. I was willing to fork out money (possibly even at launch, iirc) so that nobody could dismiss my well considered point as not based on experience. On both occasions I was very happily proved wrong, and had a great time playing them.

Conversely, I had high hopes for LA Noir, but the more I played, the more I realised what a sorry, broken mess it is. I completed the main story (and got the full 1000 gamer score) to be sure I was right, and that I wasn't missing something that was causing people to praise it.

While these are the examples that come to mind, for about the last twenty years of playing games I have spent not insignificant amounts of time and money in the pursuit of diligent open-mindedness to the quality of any game. I have played games, enjoyed them, and then on reassessment wondered what I saw in them. I have dismissed games after trying them, and gone back to find something I've loved. I've gone in expecting one thing, but have been receptive to confirming the opposite.

Are you willing to go to any lengths to challenge your own conceptions, or do you find that the first impression always lasts? Do you buy and trade-in the same title many times over, or do you see those who do as mentalists? What are your favourite examples of the games you're glad proved you wrong?