Xbox Marketplace Demos Do Not Impress

Maybe I'm getting more selective in my old age, or perhaps I've grown jaded as a gamer going on 20 years now. I just couldn't get excited for any of the recent demos gracing our beloved Xbox Live Marketplace. I've even been looking forward to the full releases for a couple of these titles and the demos have failed miserably in their sales pitch.

Let's start with Turok, a 21st century reboot of the 2nd-tier shooter franchise that started with the N64. As the first shooter of 2008, I think it'll make a decent splash but from what I gathered from the demo, it really is an unremarkable experience. The feel of the controls is solid, although not quite there when it comes to movement speed and camera look sensitivity. The weapons feel almost deadly enough to be satisfying, but do not feel fun to shoot, with the exception of bow and the hunting knife. The graphics in the outdoor areas can also be breathtaking (and the interactive, swaying grass is the best I've seen in a game) but has a crudeness to it that really detracts from the game's overall polish. I also thought the introduction of dinosaurs mixed in with human opponents would be a refreshing change. When I can dispatch velociraptors with a single knife kill, however, I quickly got the sense that the dinos were more window dressing and a way to take your attention away from the weak enemy AI of the humans. The Turok demo is an experience of "almosts" and "not quites", and that's not enough for me to go out and buy it.

Next up, is Devil May Cry 4. This demo was pretty fun, except the first level offered to you is timed to end after 10 minutes, while the second level consists of a boring trek through a snowy wasteland, followed by a semi-interesting dual boss battle.

Let me come clean and confess that I've never understood the appeal of the DMC series. I've tried out previous installments on the PS2 and really didn't appreciate the typically Japanese storyline (convoluted, opaque and long winded all at once) and really didn't get sucked in by the combat system. What we have here is a guy with some very cool moves and a gun. At the end of the day, however, all he's really doing is excecuting all his fancy moves on a horde of inert, brainless enemies. And that's the exact same impression I got from the DMC4 demo. The gun is an absolute pee shooter, so it's worthless when you can just engage enemies up close and have your way with them. Enemies seem programmed to attack exactly once every 15 seconds and are more than happy to idly watch as you unleash a 20 hit combo on their friends. Some other niggling gameplay quirks involve using the jump button to open doors and the constant switching between free camera and fixed camera controls, depending on the area you've entered. Please, just pick one or the other... and when I say that, pick the free camera controls (you've demonstrated that you can implement it, so why not stick with it through the entire game?).

This is an okay premise to base a game on, mind you and I'm a fan of button mashers. I just get rubbed the wrong way when a game like this gets all this undue hype. Yes, the graphics are very pretty and the attack moves are very hypnotic to watch. Frankly, I'd rather just play some more Conan, which really is the same type of game. Oddly enough, Conan was savaged by reviewers, earning 6 or 7's, while I see that DMC4 is getting many 8's and 9's. Meh, to each his own, I suppose. The demo was fun for a quick play through but it failed to convert me over to the flock.


Burnout Paradise was also disappointing (see a trend here?). I admire developer Criterion's efforts to evolve their racing series. I just think they're missing the point. Racing games are for racing... beating the time, winning the race or, in Burnout's case, smashing up vehicles in glorious slow-motion. Personally, the last thing I want to do is put the pedal to the metal, only to peer at a mini-map every 5 seconds or slow down looking at street signs. I know it's a popular move now to create an open-world environment but let's match the genres to the proper design theories, okay? Open world works when you actually have a world worth exploring, a world with its own story and filled with unique interactions. Burnout Paradise is simply Burnout without menus. The whole concept seems cribbed straight out of Crackdown which also required players to hunt down race markers littered around an open-world city in order to actually start a race. Guess what? Despite its limitations, Crackdown let you do a lot more than just race cars. Burnout Paradise is just the same old racing goodness that's packaged incorrectly.

I would keep going with my impressions of The Club and Turning Point demos, but I think I'm spent for this morning. That, and I need to get ready for work.

Happy Gaming!