Most Surprisingly Good Game

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Special Achievement

Have you ever read about an upcoming game and just knew in your heart that it was going to be awful? And what about the games that you don't see coming, the games you don't even know about until you happen to stumble upon them? These games have something in common: the potential to surprise us. Whether they made us wince every time we heard about them, or flew under our radar entirely, we were delighted to find that these games not only surpassed our expectations, but turned out to be the most surprisingly good games of 2009.

Editors' Choice Winner

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Editors' Choice Winner

And the winner is…

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Swordfish Studios

GameSpot's Best Games of 2009 Editors' Choice Winner

While 50 Cent may have been a smash hit in other forms of media, his 2005 video game debut was a dud. Though its critical reception seemed to doom it to obscurity, 50 Cent: Bulletproof sold remarkably well, all but guaranteeing a sequel. When the sequel was announced in 2008, it was received with a massive groan from the gaming public, and the revelation that a jewel-encrusted skull, of all things, was to be featured prominently in the game seemed to confirm suspicions that Blood on the Sand was going to be a whole lot of ridiculous nonsense.

What a pleasant surprise, then, when that ridiculous nonsense turned out to be pretty darn good. The inaccurate, unsatisfying gunplay of Bulletproof has been replaced by responsive controls and a variety of fun-to-shoot weapons; the bright, detailed Middle Eastern environments are a big improvement over the dreary cityscapes of the first game; and the music is much more competently integrated.

But 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand isn't just a vast improvement over a poor game; it's an entertaining third-person shooter in its own right. The arcade-style scoring system is surprisingly engaging, keeping the pace lively and rewarding players for their death-dealing skills. Though the action and environments can get a bit repetitive, there is enough brash, vulgar attitude to keep things entertaining, and the drop-in/drop-out cooperative play makes it easy to enjoy with a friend. Running through ruined streets, blasting anything that moves, and earning big points while a great selection of 50 Cent and G-Unit tracks play in the background is a whole lot of fun regardless of what your expectations were, which is why 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is the most surprisingly good game of 2009.

Readers' Choice Voting

Info	Title	Vote
	Comet Crash	Vote
	Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason	Vote
	DJ Hero	Vote
	G-Force	Vote
	50 Cent: Blood on the Sand	Vote
	Ghostbusters The Video Game	Vote
	X-Men Origins: Wolverine	Vote
	Ninja Blade	Vote
	Stoked	Vote
	Velvet Assassin	Vote

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kwloy
Posted Jan 1, 2010 11:59 am PT

Do you guys even know what "surprisingly good" means? It means a game that everyone thought would suck that turned out good. By looking at these id say everyone just voted for their favorite.
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derk4
Posted Dec 27, 2009 10:30 pm PT

I never heard of that 50 cent game....lol
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Sins-of-Mosin
Posted Dec 27, 2009 11:02 am PT

Wolverine easily for solo play but 50cent wasn't bad for co-op.
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zovice
Posted Dec 27, 2009 1:29 am PT

There are really lots of unexpected good games.
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guyxeno
Posted Dec 26, 2009 5:50 pm PT

for the record wolverine was a good game but it wasnt all that. to me i think ghostbusters was the big shocker.
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guyxeno
Posted Dec 26, 2009 5:48 pm PT

to all the haters......if you never played the game then you really have nothing to say. this game is not only a surprisingly great game it just so happens to be a very fun one as well. i thought the 1st game was atrocious and when i heard about this sequel i read about it in a april edition of a gaming magazine (possibly gameinformer) i actually thought it was a april fools joke. but the joke was people instantly believing this game was gonna be total crap when it actually became the opposite. so egg on all your faces.
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guyxeno
Posted Dec 26, 2009 5:48 pm PT

to all the haters......if you never played the game then you really have nothing to say. this game is not only a surprisingly great game it just so happens to be a very fun one as well. i thought the 1st game was atrocious and when i heard about this sequel i read about it in a april edition of a gaming magazine (possibly gameinformer) i actually thought it was a april fools joke. but the joke was people instantly believing this game was gonna be total crap when it actually became the opposite. so egg on all your faces.
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DredWulf
Posted Dec 26, 2009 8:14 am PT

ok now I am convinced GS was paid off by G-Unit...because my time playing this garbage was anything but entertaining Wolverine deserved this title a bit more
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Deykalionas
Posted Dec 25, 2009 11:38 pm PT

it's unbielevable,the grafics,gameplay,realistic dissmembers and the good expresing of logans tember ,the movement of wolverine's one of the bigest final,the sentinel,awsome game i wish more video games of super hero's was like xmen origins
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LordAndrew
Posted Dec 25, 2009 8:01 pm PT

@Quinzark: Readers' Choice Voting only affects the Readers' Choice winner. The Editors' Choice Winner was chosen before voting even started.
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shadowhawk749
Posted Dec 25, 2009 5:27 pm PT

My vote would have been Red Faction: Guerrilla ... but I'll go Wolverine.
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Darkdesires
Posted Dec 25, 2009 4:26 pm PT

same here, wouldn't touch it even if it was game of the year ahah, anyway cryostasis really deserved this, not this piece of crap game wich isn't even worth 50cents.
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Ladiesman17
Posted Dec 25, 2009 11:54 am PT

4 Cryostasis,, give your vote!!
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ViralPlayer
Posted Dec 24, 2009 8:36 pm PT

I admit, this 50 Cent game was actually fun to play than the previous one.
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djyenn
Posted Dec 24, 2009 6:12 pm PT

50 cent...for a game
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LiquidBullet
Posted Dec 24, 2009 4:14 pm PT

Those percentages are for the reader's choice awards, not the editor's awards.
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Quinzark
Posted Dec 24, 2009 10:35 am PT

it only got 11% of the vote how did it win? LAME
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DrEvilKoala
Posted Dec 24, 2009 8:29 am PT

It may be better than the first game, but that doesn't say much. Cryostasis should have won this.
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SillySkeleton
Posted Dec 24, 2009 12:40 am PT

You could give it the game of the year award and I still wouldn't touch 50 Cents game with a 10ft pole.
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suomalainen_66
Posted Dec 23, 2009 8:32 pm PT

Loved 50 cent blood on the sand. Although i only played it one sitting it was great fun. LOL so much. Also comet crash is a very addictive game.
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