Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has topped a poll of 20,000 gamers by IGN UK to be named the ‘biggest gaming surprise’ of 2010.

Train2Game students who’ve read the previous Train2Game blog coverage of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – a game that reached Number 2 in the UK Charts – may not see as a surprise hit but it’s what IGN readers voted for out of the choices available.

UK Editor–in-Chief of IGN, Alex Simmons, explained the process:

“After the IGN UK team picked their ten biggest surprises of 2010, our readers wanted to have their say, and voted in their thousands.  With so many games, formats and ways to play, it’s increasingly easy to miss some potentially classic titles, eclipsed by hyped games with massive marketing budgets.

“Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has taken both IGN’s experts and our readers by surprise.  We all shared a concern about its rapid development period, but it’s expertly honed and refined, with a fantastic multiplayer option.  This is an exceptionally crafted package, which deserves to feature highly on 2010 Christmas lists.”

So rest assured Train2Game students, people haven’t voted for Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood as a surprise in itself, but more about the impressively short time in which the game was developed following Assassin’s Creed 2.

Other titles that made the list of biggest gaming surprises of 2010 include Vanquish and Joe Danger – which was released digitally by independent developers Hello Games. An iPhone game that every Train2Game student should really play was also named as one the biggest surprises of the year, with Game Dev Story making the top ten.

Of course, Train2Game students are already aware of how important iPhone games can be, and developing and publishing a game on Apple’s platform was discussed in the Train2Game interview with games industry consultant Nicholas Lovell.

So that’s IGN’s biggest surprises of the year, but how about yours? What games do Train2Game students believe are the best surprise games of the year? Which game impressed you when you really had no idea that it would?

Train2Game forum users are also voting in their own poll to decide the best games of 2010. You can find out how to get involved here.

You can leave your thoughts here on the Train2Game blog, or on the Train2Game forum.