Games that you're surprised that you like

[The 1 2 P]

The original Spyro and Crash Team Racing on the PS1. I only played them because my niece owned them. So one day I played them and Spyro is surprisingly fun. I liked running around bonking enemies. As for CTR, I loved that game so much that upon beating it I bought the Japanese import version so that I had another excuse to play thru the whole thing again.

[poloplayr]

The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse (SNES).

Serious platformer material. A bit short but surprisingly solid game.

One of my all-time favourite games. Such a polished Class A title.

[Maxx]

Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics for Xbox. So crappy graphics, but I can't stop playing... I liked it so much I bought the PS2 factory sealed just to have.

I have tried and tried to get friends to like this game so I can have someone else to play besides the computer. I have even given away copies just to get oponents. Alas, I'm the only one I know to like the game.

[HyruleHero]

For me, one game as a kid I never thought would be any good is Princess Tomato for the NES.. I was never an RPG guy, but this story was kind of fun...The finger wars were a little much...but for a quirky idea and title it worked. Koodos to Princess Tomato!!

[SpaceHarrier]

Bullet Witch (Xbox 360)

I read how 'broken' the game was ahead of time but something about its design intrigued me anyway. Had a blast playing it, despite the glitchy lighting and kind of straight-forward progression (kill brain, open gate). Loved the car hurling mayhem of it all.

[Graham Mitchell]

Portals. I knew it would be a cool puzzle game, but I couldn't have predicted the Cube-meets-2001-with-a-sadistic-HAL-9000 ambience, which really is the reason I love it so much.

I guess you can add Bioshock to that list for the same reason. I really couldn't get into FPS prior to this generation, but I think they've gotten so good that they're quickly becoming some of my favorite games of this generation. Not all of them, mind you (I wasn't so into the Resistance 2 beta) but a lot of them really hit me.

[Frica89]

Clayfighter 63 1/3 (N64) - after this got critically savaged I decided to pick it up to indulge my love of awful games. It was only a couple of quid. I don't know if it's just that the expectations were set so low, but I thought it was at least moderately enjoyable in short bursts.
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I also liked that game. Critics crapped all over it, but I thought it was a pretty fun fighting game. I really liked the characters too.

Another game that comes to mind is WWE Crush Hour. It's a car-combat game featuring wrestlers, and its pretty damn fun if you're playing with somebody else. I think I'd seen it get scores of 2 out of 10 in magazines.

[j_factor]

Shooter: Space Shot. I believe its original retail price was $9.99, which generally means it's not even worth thinking of playing. And it has the absolute most generic name ever (not to mention redundant). Eventually I happened to get it as part of a lot, and figured I'd give it a quick spin. I found myself strangely hooked. Not exactly the best game ever, but it's a fun diversion.

[Simply Dave]

Puzzle Quest on NDS

This game had me hooked forever.

[Julio III]

Sonic Unleashed
The reviews all slate but I have really enjoyed it so far. Also, the reviews kept complaining about the werehog levels but I quite like them, bear in mind that I haven't played any of the games they compare the werehog levels to such as God of War

Call of Duty 4
I bought this because everyone raves about it but was very dubious because I don't like first person shooters in general, absolutely hate Halo. In fact, I don't really like 3D shooting games that much at all, apart from the odd one like Goldeneye/TimeSplitters2. I also was very dubious about the real life setting, especially as it was Modern day, I would have preferred WW2. Note that I've never played this game multi-player, only single-player but its been utterly fantastic. It very much feels horrible, like you are *in* a war, and it integrates the story/cut-scenes excellently. However, the checkpoint/respawning system is far too videogamey.