The games industry is heavily reliant on blockbuster titles, massive, unrestrained marketing campaigns and wall-to-wall preview and review cycles. Big titles such as Metal Gear Solid 2, Halo 2 and especially 3, Call of Duty Modern Warfare series, Skyrim, Gears of War and countless others are all readily proclaimed as "the best thing ever" before release. 

This leads to untempered expectations in the novice, and great letdowns from time to time. 

In the spirit of Listmas, this got me thinking about the various outcomes of such a cycle and what games fell in what category for you. I suggest the following as a guide, with people listing one or two games per category.

Games that Delivered - the hype was real, and the end product met all expectations

Games that Broke Your Heart - games that failed to live up to your expectations and perhaps killed your interest in the series

Games that Came from Out of Nowhere - no previews, no hype, blind purchase and one of the best games you ever played.

Kicking it off

Games that Delivered 

1. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword - I had high expectations based on my preference for motion controls hinted at in Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports Resort, and the dream of a 3D sword fighting adventure in Zelda was likely to be good as any place to find it. I have played Zelda before, but never completed one until this game. I loved the structure and the finale (battle) was a phenomenally cathartic experience. I appreciate it didn't click for many, but for me it did. 

2. Soul Calibur - daydreaming about Dreamcast severely impacted my studies. If I went back to look through my notes I'd probably find prospective launch day lists running at 1:1 with lectures. Soul Calibur topped them all. Once it came out I spent months in that master mode, would spend hours beating the arcade mode on top difficulty with Mitsurugi, first to five rounds. A year later I met my now wife who would readily kick my arse with Maxi so I probably wasn't that good. But I had fun.


Games that Broke Your Heart 

1. Halo 3 - I watched that desert CGI clip hundreds of times, speculated wildly about time travel plots with other enabling fans, bought Crackdown, went to midnight launch and came home with a Cat Helmet. I finished it, but I hated it. Crow's Nest, Tsavo Highway, Cortana, the ending remix of CE. @AJ I think has been talking in the thread on The Last Guardian about seeing the strings behind the stage. This was my experience with Halo 3. It was cheap, frustrating, poorly deisgned check points and choke points and could never live up to the marketing hype. 

2. Metal Gear Solid V - Disappointment is proportional to amount spent. Fucking stupid replica arm is now permanently posed in a bird-flipping pose as a reminder not to buy CEs. This game is a true Janus. Absolutely phenomenal gameplay, control fluidity, visual clarity and technical proficiency with a butter smooth framerate. But the story, mission structure, unlocks gated behind timers, Ghosts, lack of resolution, redux missions with Ghosts, Ghosts with armour, Ghosts with camoflaugue, and seventeen missions of mine clearing or resource gathering deployments sour the experience. I turn it on wanting to experience the gameplay, but equally wanting to avoid those unavoidable elements. 

Games that Came from Out of Nowhere


1. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath - bought this based on the back of the box. One of my top ten games ever. The MGS2-like option to go stealth or guns blazing during the bounty hunting missions opens up a load of possibilities: setting traps, stunning, rushing in for a risky take-down, or sending them into a meat-grinder or explosion is equally satisfying. The enemy dialogue is hillarious, the enemies on outposts in particular outdo the comments you hear from Grunts in Halo CE. Then when you get good at it, the game changes. Everything is dialled up to eleven, and the game thrives on anger, revenge and decimation of enemy swathes. Eleven years later I would still call this my favourite FPS. 

2. Rez - Bought a PS2 on launch, got a demo disc not long after (memory is a bit hazy here - maybe it was a year later). In my graphics whore mode of Tekken Tag Tournament's "real bades of garss" this game should have stood no chance but I remember trying the demo and catching the bus into town to pre-order it the same afternoon. Before pre-orders were really a thing in my town (no game-specific retail chains existed there, then). It's possibly the videogame equivalent of 2001, the soundtrack is still in my regular play list, it introduced me to Adam Freeland, it hasn't quite got me to buy a PSVR but it's probably one game I will never forget. Running Man is where it gets real.

3. Super Monkey Ball - bought it with my GameCube for reasons I forget. Barely touched single player as I am rubbish in intermediate mode. Monkey Target was worth $99 alone and has *never* been bettered.