Demo Day: BlackSite, DiRT, Hour of Victory, Project Sylpheed

BlackSite: Area 51: The demo is extremely short. One area, a hand full of stupid A.I., and graphics that just touch on the high quality of Gears of War. The first thing I noticed was that you can only run in the game, which makes moving and shooting difficult. I guess the military doesn't know how to do things slowly. Must be present day military. The graphics engine was barely keeping up with the speed, sometimes clipping the image as you turn around fast. The one-button command interface was nice, though hardly required any thought. Can't open a door? Tell your men to go to it and they dialogue about it like they are solving the problem. If I'm a squad commander, that sounds about right: I don't have a clue about anything, make them figure it out. I checked out the options for the game. The different control schemes were labeled "Guns & Rain" and "Suburbacide". Someone didn't get their Mountain Dew at Midway that morning. Going to pass on this one. Not even rent it.

DiRT: I never played any rally racing games until this. There were always tracks in Gran Turismo...wait, Travis Pastrana just asked me to "Press Start" to help me through the demo. Thanks Trav. But where is the game's namesake, Colin McRae? There's a "Legal" menu option. I'll read that later. There are three cars each with different paint schemes. Sadly none of them add HP. The menus are very animated and gorgeous. Travis interjects some snarky lines every time you choose something. I hope that's just for the demo. I wrecked trying to read the 2 inch map display, but that's rally racing, only prompting the next turn ahead. When I wrecked, I hit a wall and it prompted to restart. No crash scene at all, but the environment is destructable. Including the other cars. This is next gen arcade racer. The simulation elements are pieced in with duct tape. But I am coming off of Forza to play this. My expectations of two wheels hanging off the drop side of a mountain might be a little more fatal than yours. I went back and played all the races from the cockpit view...that is how this game is meant to be played. It's awesome. I would buy it if it came out for $30. Maybe $40.

Hour of Victory: The Unreal physics engine really gets around in games. I really think walking should be a staple in games that involve humans. It really ruins the whole experience. I chose the covert ops guy for the first mission. Looking for padlocks and wire gates to cut through isn't really that exciting. And with the stuck-in-tar movement controls (slow at first, super quick when your finally moving) stabbing someone with your knife is really hard. I'm not going to play the other two characters. The Commando's tactic is to "look for heavy objects that he may be able to lift" and the Ranger is a sniper. I've played this game before. It's called The Lost Vikings. Except you can't switch between characters.

Project Silpheed: Never played any of the other Silpheed games (singular?). Whatever. I have no idea what this game is about. I like the anime styles they put in the game. It's from Square-Enix. That makes sense. The tutorial is huge. I love the control to match enemy speed. It works just like cruise control on a car where speeding up doesn't loose the match speed. I don't live the firing weapons on the left and right bumpers, but it seems to work well with the gas and break on the triggers. But the game is pretty wired. Lots of action. Lots of lights. Lots of characters talking in the radio. Not my kind of space shooter. There seems to be some sort of organization in the strategy of gameplay, but I can't figure it out.

And I'm spent. DiRT wins this round. That dashboard camera view (though clearly on the driver's chest), is the piece that makes the game work. It's an arcade/sim hybrid is fun and not technical. I would have like to have seen more drifting on the dirt tracks, but I'm sure that lies in more powerful cars that aren't in the demo. The other games will be in the bargain bin/used shelves in three months. DiRT might too, but I would pull it out and save it.