How many games can you think of these days that give you that old, nostalgic feeling of wonder?  I’m not just talking about wondering what’s going to happen next.  I’m talking about the feeling of wonderment you get when you are faced with many discrete options to choose from and you have to stop and analyze the consequences of your actions before proceeding.  And you know you have to choose carefully because you can’t go back, you don’t even know if the decision you are about to make is a drastic, life changing decision, or simply an insignificant forgettable gesture.

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What do I know about Dark Void? Let’s see.

• It’s developed by a western studio and published by Capcom.
• The protagonist resembles The Rocketeer and is voiced by the incredibly prolific Nolan North.
• It’s a third person shooter.

And that’s about it. Needless to say, I don’t know very much about it. It was interesting enough to warrant a download of the 700MB demo and after going through it, I can see why Capcom isn’t too fond of the idea of having western studios develop new franchises for them.

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First impressions mean a lot and after spending a half hour or so with the MAG open beta and let me tell you, it’s not worth the 1.8GB download.

I get what it’s trying to do. In fact, I think the tri-faction, character creation and somewhat persistent nature of the online play is awesome. But what MAG fails to do is establishing the basics; the feel and look of the game just doesn’t measure up to the competition of today. Hell, I would go as far as to say that feel of the gunplay doesn’t even measure up to 2003’s Call of Duty. I’m playing Call of Duty: Classic right now and that game — that six year old game — has more reload animations than MAG.

The gunplay just doesn’t feel right either. It works, I can mow down people, but it doesn’t feel remotely satisfying or modern. Going back to Call of Duty: Classic and its inventory selection of grenades is understandable, but doing that in a 2009 modern day shooter? I don’t understand it. And why do these grenades sound like firecrackers?

It just isn’t right and that’s how I feel about MAG as a whole. It has a lot of great ideas, but when even the basics don’t feel right, what’s the point? Thanks for offering the beta, Sony. Now I know I can safely pass on MAG.

I was checking up on the last demo I shared impressions on and it turns out that it was another character action game. As you can see, worthwhile demos have become a rarity for the past several months.

So EA and Visceral Games (Dead Space) decided to give PS3 owners two week’s worth of alone time with the Dante’s Inferno demo. I don’t see why they would give the PlayStation 3 version such special treatment with Kratos looming in the shadows, but kudos to EA for showing the Sony camp some love I guess.

I had to give Dante’s Inferno a try based on the fact that it’s a God of War clone made from the guys who brought us the Resident Evil 4 influenced Dead Space. Most of the ideas may not be original, but you can still create a worthwhile experience based on established mechanics. Or so I thought. The results were all over the place.

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The Lost Planet demos were amongst the first ever Xbox 360 demos I’ve ever tried; they served as my first single player and multiplayer experience for this generation. Since snow settings are by far my favorite, Lost Planet felt like an ideal game made for me. Then the reviews hit and convinced me to hold off for more attractive pricing.

I have yet to pick it up.

Now we have Lost Planet 2. Screenshots and video reveal a gorgeous looking game while previews say it’s a blast to play. Well, I’ve tried both demos and came away with rather mixed feelings.

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I thought I was going to be writing up some Brutal Legend demo impressions today, but it turns out the demo is only for those who’ve pre-ordered the game. Bored and disappointed by the North American offerings, I switched over to Japan’s store which held one juicy demo for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. Thankfully, it was in English and since I’m not a bloody thirsty sadist who needs to see oodles of blood, I was willing to give the Japanese demo a try.

On a technical level, Ninja Gaiden 2 was rough around the edges. And after trying the demo, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is still rough around the edges. To Team Ninja’s credit, the PlayStation 3 release did bump up the resolution to 720p with 2x MSAA, touched up numerous assets and improved the lighting model. The only thing they didn’t iron out is the screen tearing and the frame rate drops. I’m hoping it’s simply the fact that this is an early demo. If these technical issues are still present in the final build, it’ll be tough to warrant a purchase in the near future — even with all the added content.

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This week’s North American PlayStation Network store update was tame. So tame that I decided to take a peek in the European store for new content. To my surprise, stashed away in the Euro store were four demos and a plethora of trailers from Gamescom 2009. I spent time with three of the four demos including Wet, Dirt 2 and some game called Mini Ninjas.

I didn’t plan on buying any of these games this year (or ever, in some cases) and after trying out the demos, my stance remains relatively the same. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t entertained with what I tried.

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