It’s Super Bowl Sunday 2010. This is the first NFL season which I’ve paid significant attention to, but it’s still superficial compared to the dedicated fans out there. Nevertheless, I do have a preference and want the Indianapolis Colts to achieve victory.
Yes, I’m going to against the impressive Madden NFL prediction.
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.
What do I know about Dark Void? Let’s see.
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.
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.
I purchased Left4Dead when it was $29.99 on Steam. I enjoyed it for its co-operative element and frantic nature. Hundreds of fast moving zombies swarming four survivors who are armed with barely enough firepower was a winning formula — especially for that price. However, I’ve only played through the co-op campaign once and I haven’t returned to it since.
Today, the Left4Dead 2 campaign demo is out for public consumption and I decided gauge my zombie fatigue level and try it out. My current PC with its Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and GeForce 7900 GT may not be a top of the line rig anymore, but it should be able to run a Source Engine game like this. And it somewhat succeeded.
Regardless of the less than ideal performance, it was clear that this was more Left4Dead. New weapons such as the AK 47 and newly added melee weapons were nice and so were the new enemy types. But the fundamental idea remains unchanged: fight hordes of zombies while moving to the next safe room or evacuation point. I don’t think I can justify a full price purchase based on all of that.
Perhaps its just the demo though. Perhaps they’re saving the real game changers for the final release. As for what else they included in the demo? They showed off the fact that zombies can roam around in the day time. That was new, different and an ideal setting to show off the new dismemberment and gore additions. I didn’t see gameplay differences with it, so I’m thinking it was added to simply gross people out. And let me tell you, It was disgusting, but in a good way.
If I’m sounding like I’m down on Left4Dead 2, it’s because I am. I’ve had my fill of zombies for the year and thus I don’t see myself getting near Left4Dead 2 until probably sometime after I get my new PC built. If you’re not like me and are still hungry for zombie blood, I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be picking up Left4Dead 2. It seems to be everything you wanted and then some.
Left4Dead 2 will be released on November 17, 2009 for Xbox 360 and PC. For more information, visit the official website.
When the creator of Devil May Cry announced a new action game, I took note. No matter how ridiculous, cheesy or down right awful Bayonetta looked in video, I had to try the demo for myself. I chose the Xbox 360 demo after hearing unfavorable things concerning the PlayStation 3 build. If there’s any genre which requires steady framerate, it’s the action genre. Shame on Sega & Platinum games for letting their PlayStation 3 version falter.
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.
