Most Surprisingly Good Game

At GameSpot we make every effort to approach each new game without any preconceptions about its quality. But in some cases, a game will surprise us with how good it is, which makes us realize that we weren't really expecting much from it, for one reason or another. Maybe the game seemed generic at first glance, or maybe the concept seemed too gimmicky. Oftentimes, the odds are stacked against a game from the outset. Movie-licensed games, for instance, have a long tradition of being, well, garbage. Some genres simply have a reputation for being too unwieldy for or inaccessible to the average gamer. The sleeper is the one that rises above any preconceived limitations and proves itself to be truly great, which is exactly what these five games have done.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
	Developer: Headfirst Productions Platform: Xbox ESRB: Mature Check Prices After a development cycle that was nearing infinity, it's hard to imagine a world where this H.P. Lovecraft-based horror game turned out all right. Luckily for us, we don't have to imagine it.
Mercenaries
	Developer: Pandemic Studios Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation 2 ESRB: Teen Check Prices It started out looking like Grand Theft Auto on a battlefield--hardly inspiring stuff. But Pandemic turned in a funny and exciting action game that uses its open world really well.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
	Developer: Midway Studios - Los Angeles Platforms: PlayStation 2, Xbox ESRB: Mature Check Prices Considering that every other Mortal Kombat game that didn't focus solely on one-on-one fighting absolutely tanked, and the developer's previous work included duds like Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style and Backyard Wrestling, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks was a real long shot.
Racing Gears Advance
	Developer: Orbital Media, Inc. Platform: Game Boy Advance ESRB: Everyone Check Prices Unknown developer turns out a great little combat racing game on the GBA. Film at 11.
Star Wars Republic Commando
	Developer: LucasArts Platform: PC ESRB: Teen Check Prices A well-paced, albeit brief, single-player campaign will keep adrenaline junkies thrilled from the first dropship landing to the final dust-off.
Star Wars: Republic Commando
	Developer: LucasArts Platform: Xbox ESRB: Teen Check Prices You might play as a clone, but Republic Commando's squad-based first-person shooting made for a quality product that's much better because it made good on the Star Wars theme.

And the winner is... Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Platform: PlayStation 2
ESRB: Mature

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Shaolin Monks isn't nearly the best game of the year. Heck, it's not even the best game on this list. But it's a good game, and when you compare that fact against the towering, mountainous odds set forth by its pedigree, you can't help but be impressed. To explain this contrast, we have to look all the way back to late 1997, starting with the Mortal Kombat series' first foray into action gaming with a middling side-scroller called Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, which was followed up in 2000 with the absolutely horrid MK Special Forces. Needless to say, prospects for future Mortal Kombat action games were not good.

So when Shaolin Monks was announced earlier this year, we feared the worst--not least of all because Paradox, the developer of the abysmal Backyard Wrestling series, was behind it. But Paradox proved us wrong by delivering an entirely solid two-player beat-'em-up with nostalgic hooks, a bunch of playable characters, and even Mortal Kombat II as an unlockable. Kudos, Paradox.

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