Showing posts with label demo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label demo. Show all posts

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Demo: Wolverine

I didn't get to spend too much time with the Wolverine demo on Xbox Live this week, but from the half an hour I played it, I was pretty impressed. Movie games usually don't do anything for me, but Wolverine is a brawler with a deep moveset, animal-like carnage, and sadly, shotty physics and enviornment modeling.

As you move through the game, beating up bad guys with your claws, you gain experience points and open up new moves. Some of the moves I opened up were the ability to lunge on a target from over 50ft away, which is soooo satisfying to do, especially if you can do it quickly to a small number of people. Another was a rage move, where Wolverine just starts going Edward-Scissor hands and takes out everything around him.

But you could tell pretty quickly that moving around in the game didn't quite feel right. The animation was a little light, making Wolverine feel like a paper doll instead of a man with a metal skeleton. And the geometry of the level was very apparent. You could see where Wolverine would hit edges of objects in the map without actually touching them.

But the animations and sound were really good. It's a fun game that I would recommend and is probably going to end up being the movie game of the year. Which really isn't saying too much for that genre of games.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Demo: Wheelman w/ Vin Diesel

Here's the thing, if you're putting your name and face in a movie-video game, I want to actually hear you speak. The demo at least didn't have it, but searches on the interwebs says it's supposed to be in there.

I've been waiting for details to surface about Wheelman; I wanted a new Driver game to show up without it's predecessors on-foot missions. Turns out it's just like Driver but with interesting car combat. Push a stick to the side and your car slides horizontally across the street a few feet into whatever your trying to take out. Target an enemy for shooting and the camera locks in, pointing to wherever the enemy is, making it almost impossible to drive and shoot at the same time. Hell, even turning the car feels slot car-ish.

Just another reason I'm glad demos exist. My dream of a Driver reincarnation on a next-gen system is still just that, a dream.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Halo Wars Demo


Microsoft just posted the Halo Wars demo on Live.
Here’s the link if you want to queue it from the web.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Demo: Mirror's Edge

I've seen the car ads with those guys running on roof tops, flipping off cars and shimmying up tight hallways and running out at full speed. It's pretty popular as far as underground sports go.

Well it didn't take long before EA snapped up the idea and turned it into a game. It's kind of crazy to watch someone else play, but I downloaded the demo and played the tutorial and first mission (the one in the video) myself.

The game takes free running and gives it a purpose: smuggling information and packages through runners, bypassing a new age of government security and control. There's the ability to steal guns and shoot enemies, but your probably better off blowing by them and scaling the closest sky scraper or sliding off the edge of one. It's aimed to be intense and fast pasted with a bit of calculated risk.

It looks gorgeous and sounds great. Your character's footsteps speed up as she runs faster. Every time she runs and jumps and lands, you can see or hear her limbs react to the movement and the environment. It's pretty enveloping.

I couldn't have imagined how fluid the running and jumping all felt. I felt perfectly in control and not like I was controlling a video game. With the camera swaying around like the head of the character your playing, it really makes the game more steady. And I'm awful with in-game vertical heights.

This one is definitely going on my Christmas list.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Call of Duty 5 Beta

Well I got an email last night from the people who make Call of Duty and the sent me a key to play the beta of the multiplayer of the newest game.

I've never played in a beta before. There was no questionaire to fill out or forms to sign. You just download the game to your Xbox and away you go.

A cookie cutter review of the beta is posted here.

Personally, I was really amazed at the new sound work and graphics. Since this is based off of World War II, guns and explosions more mirror older weapon technology and the game does just such a great job with the feel of clackety weapons, fizzing Japanese flares and map landscapes of old world architecture.

The one thing I'm not interested in at all is doing all the challenges and perks that carried over from CoD4. It was a neat role-playing structure to a first-person shooter game, but in a second game it feels pasted in for content. I would have liked to have seem them completely change the challenges and started with a clean slate.

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy the 4 or so maps, opening new weapons and releasing dogs on my enemy foes on the battle grounds.

P.S. Keifer Sutherland sounds so awesome in the game. With Jack Bauer commanding me around the field, I can do anything!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Demo: TOCA - The Grid

I haven't played any other TOCA Race Driver games and I've now seen the reason why I haven't.

The newest TOCA racer, The Grid, is like more like how I think I dream about racing cars at night: everything is sped, the cars feel like their being controlled by a broken VCR motor, and the graphics are super glossy and suspended in a morning mist.

The one feature I do think is neat are the instant replay continues. If got tapped by a driver going into a turn and crashed because of it, the game will let you "flashback" to a previous point where you could better avoid the turn. Gimicky? A helpful tutor? Who knows.

The full on body damage is pretty nice, albeit a bit on the arcade side. This is no Gran Tursimo/Forza simulation game.

I tried all three sections of the demo: tuner racing, competition drifting, and muscle car race. I did the best at the muscle car race because my car was so much more powerful that the rest of the grid. I loved hearing the crowd lining the streets clap an avoiding a crash or "awww!!" and slamming into the walls. They fade in and out quickly as you drive by.

You could probably have a lot of fun racing a game like this. It's easy. It's made for twitchy trigger fingers and "Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!" kind of simul-action.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Demo: The Club

I just finished a single play through of The Club demo this early Saturday morning. There's nothing better than a feeling like a kid again.

Wake up late. Eat a bowl of cereal while watching SuperBikes!. Then pick up the controller and fight for a high score. And that really hearkens back to simpler days of gaming. No campaign to go through. No long, drawn out levels.

Memorize a map. Shoot the targets. Rinse. Repeat.

I could see all of us getting this game and comparing notes and high scores. We used to do that with other games, but over the years "high score" has turned into stars or achievements. TimeSplitters 2 comes to mind. I don't think I've taxed my brain and reflexes so much since that game's challenge/arcade mode. This is the cardboard cutout mode from that. But they move and shoot back. And there aren't monkeys.

I miss those monkeys.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Demo: Burnout Paradise

More like Burned Out.

This is one my favorite franchises. Burnout. Incredibly fast cars. Amazingly devastating crashes. Really fun online gaming. So when I heard it was going to be put in an online world, people coming and going as they please as if to live in a real city, my hopes shot sky high for what could be the best Burnout ever.

But now, Burnout is a marriage of two games that is teetering on the edge of failure: SSX (collecting stuff, EA Radio) and Test Drive (mapped events to drive to).

The core enjoyment of Burnout was a fight to the finish, kill-them-all-let-God-sort-them-out themed race game. It was simple. Easy to understand. And a hell of a lot of fun. But now you have to find all billboards and gates to crash through and find all the big jumps. Seriously, I'm so tired of games that involve collecting stuff. Why does every game seem to have that these days?

The EA Radio...it was turned off in 5 minutes. I don't care if you turn a hint system or game updates into a radio station. I don't need it.

And sadly, my dreams of the game being a completely open playground for crash scores and races were crushed. You have to drive to all the events on the map to initiate them. This idea was copied from Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Test Drive: Unlimited. Well, everything was copied except for the ability to warp around the map. So if you fail that race that took you 4 miles away from the start, you have to drive your sorry ass back to do it again. That isn't what I call fun. That's rubbing alcohol into the wound.

In the end, this game lacks any imagination on the developers part. There's no reinventing the wheel here, they just took off the stock 15" rims and put on chrome 22" spinners. It still rolls down the road, there's just more flash. When you see it, your only impressed the amount of money the idiot spent on them.

Hey EA, I want my next car to fly. Understand me? FLY! In the air!

This is a typical EA screwup. They make games more intricate, more complicated, and reuse features from other games until they're all the same. Maybe I had too high of hopes for the game since Burnout 1-3 have such a high regard in my mind. People are going to have fun with the game, I'm sure. But I'm tired of the same mechanics that other games have already beat to death.

Paradise? Maybe Spring break in Florida. And there are hardly any virgins there.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Demo Review: Puzzle Quest

Wow. What a surprise this game turned out to be.

Take lame idea like a make-3-in-a-row puzzle game (that's been done to death!), mix in a role playing game, a dash of table-top card game "mana" and you have yourself a fresh new hybrid experience.

The game works like this: swap two items around on the grid to make rows of three or more. Rows of colored mana gems give you power to cast spells (attack, defense, mana multiplying, etc). Rows of coins give you money to buy swords and armor and more spells. Rows of purple stars give you experience points to be more powerfull and "learn" new spells.

But the fun part is making rows of skulls. Make a row of these and an attack is dealt to your opponent, decreasing his health points.

If you can get four or more in a row, you get an extra turn. If there are no moves available, the computer will wipe the screen and refresh it with a new board.

I love games based on mana (expendable resources) to be able to do things. I'm a fan of Magic: The Gathering card game, so it was nice to learn that is how the game functions.

Having a text based story to follow isn't idea, but other elements like the music and sound effects are really well done. Not to cheesy or annoying. Things like the drums in the music sound good on my surround sound, but probably not something people notice on the DS or PSP (on which it's also available).

There is a lot going on the screen at times though. If one of your moves triggers two or three row creations, the graphic effects of attacks and rows disappearing makes a hard background to read the text that also pops up on.

Nicole got the bug and is playing through the demo now. I'm pretty sure we're going to buy the Xbox Live version. It's cheaper than a retail box for the DS ($15 vs $30), but it would be pretty nice to take this on the road or to..*cough*work*cough*.

I'm also assuming that since it's on Xbox Live, you can play with any of your friends and talk trash at the same time. I've only seen one other person playing it, but he's a good friend whom I'm sure wouldn't mind getting his butt handed to him.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Demo: Fatal Inertia

In a the futuristic, combat, floating race game genre, there are two kings: F-Zero and Wipeout. These games are based on fast moving ships, floating feet from the ground, hurling along at hundreds of miles an hour, all while in competition with each other.

Before these games had all been a test of hand/eye coordination and concentration. Fatal Inertia is here to tear that iron wall down and build up one made of mud and straw.

What Fatal Inertia does bring to the table is combat and weapons that don't just destroy your competitions vehicles, but introduce new ways of hampering them. Magnets and grappling hooks are the futuristic, sci-fi brethern of Mario Kart's Koopa shells and ghosts. While they add a very interesting twist to genre, it just might not be enough to make up for the games other features.

In games like this, it's crucial to go fast. But in FI there are so many canyon walls and obstacles, that you'll easily lose a 3 lap race just by smacking into a pylon or plowing through the course's holographic barriers ("barriers" being a loosely used terminology).

If you just focus on driving, the physics of the racing feel really solid. But you start throwing in flying over weapon pick-ups and shooting vehicles and the enviornment and it quickly builds up into a nervous, hectic racing game.

I'm not saying you couldn't get used to it and become really tuned into the courses and the weapons and do really well. But there are games that look better and are more artistic. There are games that have better music. There are games that don't need weapons.

There is better out there. And for much less that $60.

Demo: Stranglehold

Just because a famous director decides to work with digital actors instead of flesh and bone ones doesn't mean a game with them is going to be any good. John Woo is taking a stab and a genre I'm going to call film gaming and so far I'm not really impressed.

John Woo's action films are part of a genre that are getting a little old for me though. So I'm a bit biased. Slow-mo, Matrix effects are in almost every action film now. Spilling into games just sort of feels like there's no imagination. I played the Matrix game and had an absolute ball with it. But it's called the Matrix-effect for a reason. It reminds everyone of the Matrix.

Here's what the game does well though. It introduces seamless movement. There's not a button for jumping over a counter or table. You run towards it and you automatically slide, Duke's of Hazzard-style, over almost any flat surface, guns level and still shooting. It's so fluid. It feels just like a John Woo/Japanese action film.

There's a time-limited slo-motion button that you can pair with a few special moves. The moves themselves work well. They feel natural in the game and they don't feel cheap. My favorite was the aiming move, allowing you to pinpoint an enemy, follow the bullet to it's target and watch, satisfyingly as the perp grabs his hand or leg...or pulls a Michael Jackson crotch grab. Sans flair.

The game feels mechanical though. There's no weight to the character as he runs around. It seems like the use of the Unreal Engine was directed physics for enemies and objects in the game. You, on the other hand, defy the law of inertia; turning on a dime and at the smallest twitch of the joystick.

Also, the game is about 12 hours long. The levels are pretty open, so you can take longer to complete it if you like jumping around railings and slo-moing everything. One play through a level I waited to shoot every single person that came out of a door. The second time through the demo I ran right to the checkpoint with no consequences (and a hell of a lot more life). So I bet a low 8 hours is even possible.

I don't like multiplayer online very much, but the ability to use the slow motion stuff over a live connection sounds interesting. I'd like to see how it was handled with you slowing down time a bit and the target your shooting at, well, not.

I'm sure this game will sell a few copies, but ultimately it will be on the $39.99 shelf in a couple of months.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Demo: Stuntman: Ignition

I remember playing a bit of the first Stuntman game for the PS2. The idea of recreating action scenes in a movie as a stuntdriver is absolute testosterone on a disc.

This year, around E3 time, a bunch of demos have been popping up on Xbox Live. I love demos. It's a free way to spend 15 minutes with a game, which for all games except RPGs is usually enough time to tell if you like it or hate it.

I like Stuntman.

Being a car-based game, I'm immediately biased. I should get the Burnout game logo tattooed on my arm. I love action driving games that blow up stuff or make you smash into things. Stuntman is full of that stuff.

The one thing that was bad about the previous game, and fortunately is gone in this iteration, was the disc loading times. In a game where you are constantly failing levels (which is part of the fun), the last thing you want to do is wait. It's like fireworks that only go off every 5 minutes. Each one may look pretty on it's own, but stringing them together just gets your blood pumping.

And that's a big deal in this game. Stringing stunts together in a time-oriented fashion gives you more points. What I don't like about that is in today's generation of games are sandbox style. They give you a playground and tell you to go have fun. Obviously in a movie film set the camera waits for no one. So it makes sense here that it isn't open-ended gameplay. I think being to slow in this game is going to frustrate a lot of people. Get a little off the timing, make too many mistakes and you start over.

Luckily, for some of us, starting over is fun. Stuntman feeds off of anal retentive people and rewards them. This isn't the type of game thats fun to make it through each level without dying or losing.

Friday, June 15, 2007

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.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Demo: Overlord

I played a game way-back-when called Dungeon Keeper. It was a PC, RTS game that had you doing evil, fighting off good-doers and stealing treasure. It was awesome (makes mental note to find a copy somewhere).

Overlord is a awful, awful concept of an evil-doing game. I knew it was going to suck when the first mission was to save Bob's farm from some creatures growing evil pumpkins. WTF? Shouldn't I be killing Bob because his pumpkins aren't evil? Well, I showed Bob. He died right after I saved his farm. Stupid Bob.

So instead of a pure evil game, Overlord invokes elements of Fable, choosing to kill or not to kill stupid people like Bob. It's like the Hero's yin to the Overlord's yang. In Fable, you were always a hero throughout the game no matter how many bad things you did. Humans are corruptible though. I'm a minion Sire. I'm bred from evil. My eyes glow. There should be no question as to whether or not Bob lives and his evil pumpkins die.

Whoever made this game must have been human. I bet in Fable their character had a halo over their scarred up face.

I'm going on eBay to see if they've made Dungeon Keeper for the Mac yet.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Demo: Forza Motorsport 2

I'm floored. Honestly, I've never played a racing sim that was so good. Of course, I'm only talking about the demo here, so I have no idea what the structure of the game is like or how any of the insides work. I'm like a doctor pre-X-Ray. I'm the consultant for plastic surgery.

The demo is pure driving. 20-some-odd cars. 1 track. No setup. No futzing around. All you get is to choose whether or not you want ABS, TC, Stability and driving lines. That's it. Bare bones, take-it-for-a-spin, set aside $60. Your owned. That's pretty much what they had planned for you. But this could very well mean that once you make the first incision, that's when you find the cancer.

But since I can't see inside, all I can say is that the driving is phenomenal. At first, it felt pretty much like the old Forza and GT. Very sim. Technical sim even. Forza 1 has a bit more arcade soft of feel to it, but you knew what you were getting into.

This time around though, it's a bit different. I decided to race a few races without any assistance turned on. I thought the race would be over before it started. That's usually how that stuff goes: uncover the true sim hidden within and never make it past turn 2. But, surprisingly, Forza 2 only got better.

I obviously had to change my driving styles from pedal to the metal and mashing the brakes to full of grace and charm. I cradled both triggers in the first knuckle of my index fingers and used my finger tips to judge the depth. All of the sudden I wasn't spinning out and sliding around turns. I made the 1-to-1 correlation like a real car and it was like I was in another world. Another video game world where simulation doesn't mean impossible and isn't talked about between friends by saying, "Betcha can't drive it like this."

Now I'm at a crossroads. That place where you've been promised the moon and the stars. If the game were house for sale, it's the one with all the great landscaping. The trees are perfect. The driveway is paved. It's in the right neighborhood. It's even the color you want. But you haven't seen the kitchen from the seventies with wood paneling and laminate floors. And whether or not you like shag carpets, it just doesn't go with rest of the house.

Please, please don't let there be shag carpet.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Don't You Demo?

A new poll on GameFAQs (hardly scientific?) revealed something that completely shocked me as a trend in gaming: no one really likes downloadable demos.

Of the 40,000 votes on the subject, a huge 60% said they wanted nothing to do with demos.

I, on the other hand, download any demo that peaks my interest. I'm a picky gamer. I don't like to waste money, especially $60+ on a game that I might find annoying or unplayable. Plus, it also lets me try games that I normally would never glance at twice in the game store.

This must mean that gamers as a breed feed off a different high from games. Do they want an experience that is delivered to them like a movie? They are in it from the beginning and don't leave 'till it's over. Does that make the games they play more of an experience than, say with me, a collectible item that is supposed reflect my identity as a gamer?

The last 40% percent of gamers were more likely to download the demos of games, mostly because they want to try them out first. That makes sense. It's nice to know that not all gamers are craving mad gaming loonies.

The smallest percentage of people download every demo there is. Free games! Free levels! Try it all for nothing! They truly benefit from the fits that developers drop on our disks. Small, well chosen portions of their games to sample hoping to gain an extra $60 for a small bit of work.

I think demos are an indespensible part of gaming and I hope the results of this poll to ruin the fun for the rest of us cheap-ass gamers.

Monday, November 20, 2006

PS3 Demo at Target

My first question when sales associated asked if I needed any help was, "Do you have any Wiis?" I knew his answer would be "no", but when he said, "Of course, and we're not even supposed to talk to you guys." I had no idea what he meant.

There was no Wii demo unit in the store, but there was a cheap PS3 setup: huge monitor mounted on the glass game cages with a controller mounted on a vertical swing arm. To reach the controller your face was about 15 inches away from the 20" flat screen. I could see the pixels in the LCD. And Motor Storm is not a game you want to face kissing a monitor on.

The game was weak. Having just played Excite Truck an hour before, I was expecting something more realistic, which Motor Storm was, but it kept all the same goofy gameplay elements intact as well: falling off the sides of the map, turbo and over heated engines and crashing (which was kind of pretty and very cinematic). Why does a rally truck need a horn?

Whatever.

So once I stretched my arms forward far enough, I kind of started to enjoy the environment of the game; I got a better sense of it's purpose. I got the good graphics (up my nose). I got the speed. It's Wave Race: Blue Storm set in a dessert. It'll be popular because it's the only unique racing game on launch day.

I also realized that the L2 and R2 buttons were now more trigger-like. So much so that they moved the L1 and R1 buttons up a few centimeters, which quite uncomfortable to get to. Doable of course, but awkward. And since the controller was mounted to the case by a swing arm, there was no testing out the motion sensors in the de-rumbled controller.

Also disappointing was the lone demo in the console. Just like the Wii.

WTF.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Wii Like

While passing the time to go to the movies, Nicole wanted to shop for a dress. That means I went to GameStop. And played the Wii.

After what seemed like an eternity for a mother to tear her jerky-Wii-Excite-Truck-driving son away from the console, they finally went over and turned in the Wiimote for her driver's license back. I handed mine over and went back to check it out.

I was so happy to see that using the Wiimote (is that even it's real name?) was not as hard as the kid who was playing it made it seem to be. It was like using a mouse and I had no problems hitting even the smallest buttons on the Wii's dashboard. I played around with some of the system controls for a minute or two and then went straight into the only game in the demo unit: Excite Truck.

At first I had a hard time figuring out which way to turn the controller to steer the truck. Like a steering wheel? No. Like a semi-truck? No. Like a toy airplane in my hands? Yep. Holding it in two hands flat to the ground, lifting up on either side is what turns the vehicles. Not at all like I was expecting. So if anyone makes a steering wheel peripheral like Ubisoft is going to do, everyone better pick a standard motion to use. Or let us customize the controls, though I can't imagine the interface for doing that.

Once I started getting the hang of it, I attracted a bunch of frat boys. Having already told the kid before me how to hold the controller, I really didn't want to have to explain to these bruts how it worked, so I told them to how to get the controller and I turned it back in.

One by one they traded it off exclaiming, "Oh, you do that to turn it? Sweet!".

Meanwhile, the PS3 demo unit across the door had it's own crowd. Some basketball game. I think you had to press a button to pass the ball. How lame.

Marty McFly: [showing the two boys how to play the shoot 'em up video game] Let me show you. I'm a crack shot at this.
[shoots a perfect score with the electronic gun]
Video Game Boy #1: You mean you have to use your hands?
Video Game Boy #2: That's like a baby's toy!
- Back to the Future II

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Demo: Superman Returns

How sweet it is. Finally, a Superman game that actually delivers the goods. Goods in a cardboard box with no wrapping paper and a greeting card written on a napkin.

It's too bad this didn't come out for the orginial Xbox, because this game would kick some major ass on that platform. Having this on the 360, however, is just a let down.

My only grips in the demo were the awful voice acting and voice effects, the spare landscape (giving it that real N64 w/ ram cartidge feel), and the weird transition from flying to walking. The first two problems are harder to fix, but the flying really should get changed. Pressing Y to either land or take-off sounds good, but when your in the mix and want to land quickly, you don't want to have to press a button. And you have to fly to jump over traffic and benches. There is no leaping in single bounds in this game.

It seems more intuitive to just fly into the ground to land. I found myself doing just that and while locked onto an enemy (which is a real smart move to have) I'd wisk myself over too far because I was in the air already.

Not a big grip, but a grip still.

And why can't I pick up four or five injured people to take them to the ambulance. Or bring an ambulance to them. Or go underwater. Or crash through the streets into the sewers. Or pierce through a building at Mach 1? Is that really too much to ask?

You can, though, totally throw a truck up into the air and zoom up and catch it! That sorta makes up for all that other stuff I just complained about.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Demo: Rainbow Six: Las Vegas

I've never played a Rainbow Six game on a console until this evening. I always thought they were quick and dirty first person games with difficult controls. I played one Rainbow Six a long time ago on a PC and hated it.

But this...this is good.

The controls are super easy, and while I may be on a Gears of War kick, this cover thing is getting really good in games. You basically hold the left trigger down and you've got all your cover controls mapped to the controller. Let go and your free to move ahead. It's blindingly simple. And twice as effective as the Gears of War scheme.

I still haven't figured out what the deal is with the d-pad and working your team. I'm sure I just need to spend more time with it though.

I think this is a demo I'll be coming back to over and over. If I don't get the one of the first models of the Wii and Zelda (oh I'm sooo glad I waited on the 360), then this could be a contender for the next 360 game.

Or I'll wait and save up for that HD DVD drive.