20 Video Games That DEFIED Expectations

get that filthy degenerate out of here Warden something's not right I'm going with him welcome to Mojo plays and today we're looking at games that were much better than anyone could have guessed whether the expectations came from lackluster pre-release footage troubled development periods or poor reception to previous entries thank you thank you thank you I I'll be here all week crap that thing freaked me out what was it Star Wars Jedi fall in order listen I don't want to upset your Rhythm Cal but the boss wants a word there were a handful of reasons not to get excited about a new Star Wars game in 2019 perhaps the biggest was that publisher EA had been squandering the license for years with 2017's Battlefront 2 being an all-around train W on screen Disney didn't seem to know what it was doing still doesn't as solo was a financial disappointment and the last Jedi divided the entire fan base yet somehow in all the disarray respawn developed a really solid single player experience prous OPD the team concocted a great blend of action adventure elements and told an engaging story tied to one of the franchise's most important events it received praise Awards and a sequel in 2023 is Jedi Survivor so like you're not too sure everything is going to work out I'm not that's why adaptation is important Watch Dogs 2 together we will carve off the streets wait did you just say a line from the movie The Original Watchdogs had players very excited when it was revealed at E3 2012 a new IP from Ubisoft that focused on hacking and stealth was something a lot of us wanted unfortunately that excitement was diminished when it seemed Ubisoft had downgraded the game's visual from the reveal to the final product additionally while gameplay was still solid the story and protagonists were criticized making for an overall mediocre game it still sold well leading to a sequel that we thought would only reach the same level of quality we were happy to be proved wrong you guys thought that movie was going to be good well yeah sure they're fun to laugh at with a change in setting came a much more engaging protagonist and with real hackers giving input the gameplay and plot were much stronger we are launching operation hacking run we'll show you what hackers can do we are dead spec Ops the Line we picked up this transmission this is col John Conrad United States Army evacuation Dubai complete failure military Shooters are a dime a dozen and they were even more common in 2012 when Spec Ops released gameplay didn't innovate on what came before it but anyone who thought they knew what they were getting into was dead wrong unlike many others in the genre the story took Center Stage detailing the disturbing horrors of War and the unsettling effects it can have on the Mind framed around a reconnaissance mission we were confronted by disturbing imagery and plenty of twists and turns you did this no you did while it has received plenty of Praise since Le it didn't Garner enough attention weak sales killed the franchise dead in its tracks and prevented the rise of what could have been a juggernaut in storytelling what now sir huh the men are asking what do we do now we complete our mission until dawn and tell me what you feel about it it is essential that you answer honestly in order to get the most out of this experience on until dawn is a horror Masterpiece which no one could have guessed based on its development period it was originally announced in 2012 as a PlayStation 3 game that would have used the move controllers we extremely grateful that didn't happen even when it moved to the PlayStation 4 and ditched the motion controls Sony barely marketed it instead pushing third party titles releasing around the same time and yet players came out in droves so tell me in this little game you're playing so diligently who is it that you most dislike until dawn far surpassed sales expectations and received well-deserved praise for its emphasis on player decision while being terrifying to boot the heart of the problem it all comes down to this can you really tell the difference anymore Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor your little mob stands no chance against us yes threaten me more oh I love hearing it before Shadow of Mordor games based on JRR toan's Middle Earth were Hit or Miss if they did hit they didn't necessarily set the world on fire it seemed like monoliths game would be about the same level of quality early comparisons to Assassin's Creed weren't kind with one Ubisoft employee even accusing monolith of stealing assets from Assassin's Creed 2 despite it looking very similar to other games in its genre naysayers were quickly shut up when the game was released sure combat was familiar but it was also incredibly fun and well balanced however it was the Nemesis system that really set it apart Shadow of Mordor became the most successful Lord of the Rings game at the time Ranger let's get one thing straight when I kill a man I expect him to stay game Wolfenstein the New Order BJ blaskovic I should have known only you would be dumb enough to do a daytime entry man glad to have you back by it Wolfenstein 3D may be credited as the grandfather of the FPS but the series did little to entice players afterwards most felt indifferent about 2009's forgettable Wolfenstein and the poor sales reflected that so when a reboot was announced in 2013 we didn't think much of it as we'd come to find out Bethesda and machine games had created one of the most glorious violent fpss of all time not only did the Fantastic Gore lend more weight to the gameplay but it also worked beautifully with the narrative set in an alternate timeline where the Nazis had won World War II we were enthralled by every scene all right let's get to work Fire Emblem Awakening I've got you what out you Fire Emblem had long been a Japan only Nintendo franchise until Super Smash BRS introduced The Wider world to its Heroes although this led to the series going worldwide Fire Emblem wasn't a strong seller in fact poor sales led to Awakening being a potential final entry during development with the 3DS still relatively new at the time it's seemed like that's exactly what would happen obviously it did not hold on I'm coming Awakening received a ton of Praise on release sold incredibly well due to newcomer friendly features and is thought to have helped the 3DS find its footing in the early years and now the franchise is stronger than ever no that I loved you Doom outside of some mobile entries the Doom series had been pretty quiet following 2004's Doom 3 however that's mostly because ID software began working on a fourth installment in 2007 and it had such a rough development period that it had to be scrapped and started over in 2014 a decade after the last major installment a new Doom was announced we couldn't help but wonder if this new entry in the Aged franchise could bring enough new to stand out in a sea of other FPS games as it turns out it did not need to 2016's Doom brought the same frantic never stop moving or shooting gameplay from the classic games just with quality of life changes and beautiful if not disgusting visuals golden eye [Music] 007 we get fewer movie tie-in games than we used to but if we did we'd question the quality of One released 2 years after its movie that's what happened with golden ey7 additionally most of the best FPS games were found on PC it's strange to think about the state of the genre had golden ey not been as good as it was it helped popularize the FPS on home consoles through a great [Music] campaign though it's more fondly remembered for the countless hours we all poured into its multiplayer the mode was actually added last minute yet became its defining feature to this day it's still one of the most most beloved releases in the n64's [Music] library Sleeping Dogs your concerns really moving you I appreciate that I'm suddenly realizing I should have never dropped out of art school I could have made it I could have been a real somebody Activision's true crime series was set to receive an installment set in Hong Kong with developer united front games unfortunately it was canceled in 2011 due to delays its budget and Activision's belief that it couldn't reach the heights of its competition like Grand Theft Auto despite it being nearly finished and united front disagreeing with Activision's belief there was nothing that could be done however Square Enix came to its rescue purchasing the publishing rights and renaming it Sleeping [Applause] Dogs I the LA the story combat and setting were so well received that it sold 1.5 million copies within a year it also received three expansion packs and a remastered Definitive Edition in 2014 not too shabby I knew I was right to trust you don't worry Tiffany I'll take care of it thanks way alien isolation how can I help you I need a compression cylinder components Warehouse Row one stack B follow me in 2013 one of the worst movie tie-in games ever was released in gearbox's Aliens colonial Marines although the following years's isolation had a completely different development team the debacle was more than enough for us not to get too excited thankfully isolation focused on everything we wanted it to both the plot and Thrills were closely linked to the 1979 original film and unlike colonial Marines the xenomorph AI was both intelligent and unbelievably frightened isolation went on to sell 2 million copies within a year receive ports to multiple other systems and earn a handful of awards for fans of the franchise and the horror genre in general this is not a game to be missed oh God Kingdom Hearts I'd like to see it too along with any other worlds out there I want to see them all on paper the pairing of Final Fantasy elements with Disney properties seems completely random actually it still does two decades later but an execution Square struck gold the first game in the series was much more than just a trip down Nostalgia Lane with worlds based on Aladdin and Hercules playing as the endlessly lovable Sora we took great pleasure in battling evil while exploring Disney's great hits if you believe you can do anything right I'll find Kyrie the action citran gameplay over turn-based mechanics helped further bring the magic to Life as we all know the idea more than paid off Kingdom Hearts is one of square enix's most cherished franchises which shows no signs of slowing [Music] down Resident Evil 4 the sorry to have bothered you work on a fourth main installment began the same year Resident Evil 3 was released but it would be quite some time before players got their hands on it Capcom scrapped four different versions of the game creating the Devil May Cry Series in the process the lengthy development period certainly caused hype to die down even with multiple spin-offs released over the years also news that it would launch exclusively on the familyfriendly GameCube the worst selling of the big three probably didn't instill the highest of hopes in the fan base even those who were still excited could never have guessed how phenomenal this game would be an incredible story revamped gameplay and genuine dread made it a standout in the long running series Guitar [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hero the amount of peripheral based games we've seen fail is too high to count they can't all be duck hunt after all so when Guitar Hero was announced we assumed it was another pricey gimmick most players wouldn't be interested in even with its impressive music catalog however developer harmonics managed to infatuate all of us through gameplay that was simple to pick up but tough to perfect with varying difficulty [Applause] [Music] levels everyone and we do mean everyone could find something to enjoy here it became extremely successful and earned multiple sequels some of which focused on a single band's work like Metallica and [Music] [Applause] Aerosmith The Legend of Zelda the Wind [Music] Waker we're eternally grateful Nintendo decided on the cell-shaded art style for Wind Waker but there were many others unhappy with it when it was revealed many players wanted and expected a darker more realistic presentation probably due to a tech demo at spaceworld 2000 the cartoony look was bashed for being too kid-friendly even series Creator shago mamoto reportedly asked for a redesign when we got our hands on it we found everything we loved about Zelda well intact from engaging puzzles to intriguing [Music] lore moreover the art style has helped it age better than most GameCube games let alone those in the Zelda series released before and [Music] after The Sims will Wright's Sim City series delighted players by letting them design and run entire civilizations so when that aspect was put under a magnifying glass producing a spin-off that seemed to only let us play house it's understandable that some saw it as a step backwards boy how wrong they were [Music] The Sims was the epitome of letting Gamers play God running the lives of their fictional neighborhoods inhabitants we all became incredibly invested in these digital lives leading the Sims to arguably overshadow the series it spawned from since the original game's release the franchise has seen several sequels all of which received expansions that have made it one of EA's most profitable Investments Mario plus Rabbids Kingdom [Music] battle there is absolutely no one on the planet who could have guessed this game would be as good as it was artwork for Kingdom battle leaked before its official reveal at E3 2017 causing a wave of backlash nobody wanted to see the rabbit's return let alone team up with Mario the developers found the negative reception very discouraging but were Vindicated when it launched later that year really we had nothing to worry [Music] [Applause] about the humor was actually spoton and the RTS gameplay was simple but exceptionally entertaining the team won multiple awards for its hard work and honestly it was welld deserved w Metroid Prime in between the release of prime and 1994's Super Metroid the world of gaming had taken some pretty big steps samus's first 3D Adventure shifted perspectives to first person over sidescroller which made some di hard fans think it would be more of an action game over previous entries additionally handing the keys to the kingdom to then relatively unknown American developer Retro Studios definitely seemed like an odd choice these days we know it couldn't have gone better Prime is still one of the best metroids having beautifully transitioned its elements into a new dimension we loved getting lost in its fascinating environments and soaking in that creepy atmosphere Pokemon red and [Music] green one of Nintendo's most well-known franchises has surprisingly humble beginnings game freak co-founder Satoshi Tajiri came up with the idea of Pokemon in 1990 based on his childhood hobby of bug collecting and The Game Boy Link cable but when he pitched it to Nintendo many were skeptical one who wasn't was Shero mamoto who mentored toiri throughout development it would take 6 years and the near bankruptcy of Game Freak before it was finally finished and even then Nintendo didn't Market it much as the Game Boy was already pretty old however positive word of mouth quickly led to it becoming immensely popular in Japan all before it hopped Westward starting the Pokey Revolution that has only continued to [Music] spike Batman Arkham Asylum hey Sharpie love what you've done with the place that's Warden shop to you Batman had received some decent games over the years and we wouldn't have been surprised if Arkham Asylum reached the same middling Heights even with voice actors from the '90s Animated Series like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamel Rock Steady only had one game under its belt and so we kept our expectations low it's a good thing we did as it completely blew everyone's Minds combat was so good it kept us itching for the next fight the environment was so haunting we couldn't wait to explore every dark corner we could go on and on gushing over the inventive gadgets and clever Easter eggs that showed the developers were DieHard fans but more importantly Arkham Asylum forced superhero games to evolve for the better is there a game that blew your expectations out of the water let us know about it in the comments and don't forget to subscribe to Mojo plays for more great gaming videos

Channel: MojoPlays

Views: 52,582

Keywords: Adventure Games, Video Games, Watchmojo video game, alien isolation, arkham asylum, batman, doom, fire emblem, games, games that defied expectations, gaming, goldeneye 007, guitar hero, kingdom hearts, list, mario, metroid prime, mojo, pokemon, rabbids, resident evil 4, shadow of mordor, sleeping dogs, spec ops the line, star wars, the sims, top 10, until dawn, watch dogs 2, watch mojo, watchmojo, wind waker, wolfenstein, zelda, watchmojo video games, resident evil

Id: mTxdpCKAgPE

Length: 22min 9sec (1329 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 16 2023