Undead…again: Left 4 Dead 2 demo impressions

While some people may have had a chance to try the Left 4 Dead 2 demo early due to it being a pre-order bonus, today was the release of the demo to the public (well, for Xbox Live Gold subscribers anyway). Many people are still concerned it will be just “more of the same” or even that a sequel isn’t necessary. Based on the short time the demo gives with the game, I can safely say any concerns I had are gone.

What could go right and what could go horribly wrong in Arkham Asylum

Last week saw the release of the demo for Batman: Arkham Asylum. It was a large download, yet the actual demo only lasted about 15 minutes tops. So it was just one giant waste of hard drive space. But it definitely gave the player a good idea of what to expect in the much anticipated release. My impressions? Well, I enjoyed the demo, but there are a couple of things I am worried about. Time to look at the good and the bad!

Juarez calls ahead (and a quick note on Battlefield 1943)

I went against my better judgment recently and bought Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Keep in mind, I hated the original. The game just felt clunky, had unnecessary stealth sections, and it all just looked kind of ugly. The story was the best part, but it fell flat near the end, and overall never felt like a true western experience. To me, while flawed, a game like Gun was the best game to capture the look and feel of that time in history. Red Dead Revolver did a decent job of it as well. But with all of the positive reviews, is Bound in Blood a superior game?

A quick Uncharted 2 co-op beta post

Yesterday I talked briefly about the competitive multiplayer portion of the Uncharted 2 beta, now let me talk about the co-op. I’m not impressed with the competitive multiplayer really. I mean, it works fine, it’s a perfectly playable and enjoyable experience, but for someone like me who plays a lot of shooters, it doesn’t set itself apart from the rest. And the multiplayer kind of ruins the charm that I remember from the single player. But there is also co-op, which has up to three players playing in areas similar to the single player experience and it’s pretty much awesome.

A quick Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta post

Lazy post time, just because I can. Now I’ll admit, I haven’t had a chance to try the Uncharted 2 co-op yet, but I have spent a good amount of time with the regular multiplayer; this entire post is strictly about that. I’ll start by saying that I am pretty excited about Uncharted 2, although I thought the original wasn’t nearly as good as everyone claimed it to be. The shooting was fun, but it tended to get a bit old after a while. I loved the Tomb Raider style jumping and climbing mechanics, but I don’t think there were nearly enough times when they were used appropriately. With that said, I think Uncharted 2 will improve upon a lot of that, and the added co-op will be nice.

But, the multiplayer, from what I have played, is something that does not impress me at all. It feels like a generic third person shooter, with nothing that really sets it apart from the rest. When I think of a good third person shooter online, I instantly think of Gears of War, or even the recently released Red Faction: Guerrilla. All of the personality from the main game in Uncharted seems to be sucked right out of the multiplayer. I mean, it looks good, there weren’t any real problems with it, but it just didn’t feel like anything special.

Maybe when the full game is released, I will come around to enjoy it more, but at this point I’m not really seeing myself playing it as much as other online PS3 games like Killzone 2 or Resistance 2. Of course, it doesn’t make me any less excited about Uncharted 2 (especially after the amazing demo shown at Sony’s E3 press conference), and I never really had any high expectations for the multiplayer anyway.

I’ll definitely have some quick impressions of the co-op when I get a chance to try it, but otherwise, multiplayer is basically pretty…average. Not bad, not great, just decent enough to get some enjoyment out of, not great enough to set it apart from other shooters.

inFamous demo impressions

The inFamous demo was released for those who haven’t pre-ordered the game. Demos are released generally to gain the interest in the everyday gamer, and get them to rent or even buy the game the demo is for. And the inFamous demo, for many people, has convinced them that the game is definitely a worthy game to add to their collection. But why is that? What does inFamous bring to the table that other sandbox games don’t? A guy with lightning powers. Hell yeah.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine demo impressions

You could probably count all of the movie games that don’t suck on one hand, but how many of them are actually better than the movie they are based on? The Chronicles of Riddick game(s), and what else…? X-Men Origins: Wolverine looks to be the second game to attempt this (it’s not really difficult to pull off, since the movie was pretty mediocre), and based on the demo released late last week, it may just be the next great movie based game.

Bionic Commando: Hot Dogs

Today saw the release of the multiplayer demo of the new Bionic Commando. No, not the remake of the original. This is the re-imagining of the series, as it were. A brand new, fully 3D game, complete with hot dogs on the bionic arm. First, a multiplayer demo? You should have some kind of single player level included. I doubt people are seriously drooling over the game’s multiplayer. Not to say it’s bad, but not many people really care. It’s all about the single player. But hey, it gave players the chance to try out the controls and get (somewhat) familiar with the mechanics of the game. Did I like it? I’m still not sure on that one.

I guess it’s national game demo week! (Sponsored by Vin Diesel)

That’s right, another post about game demos. What’s on the agenda for today? Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Wheelman, both of which I didn’t have high expectations for, but both of which were surprisingly fun. Neither strike me as “game of the year” material, but they aren’t trying to be. Wanted is a movie tie-in that may actually turn out pretty good, and Wheelman is yet another Vin Diesel game that seems like a combination of Burnout, Driver, and Pursuit Force. I played both on the Xbox 360, to avoid some potential confusion. The question is, which did I like better?

The Chronicles of Riddick is good…in game form!

Today we saw the release of the demo for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena on the Xbox Live Marketplace. For those who are unaware, this game contains a remake of the original Xbox game, Escape from Butcher Bay, and a brand new 10-12 hour adventure, Assault on Dark Athena. The demo contains a small portion of the Assault on Dark Athena content, and it was just as I expected: pretty amazing.