YoshiM
05-11-2005, 10:54 AM
I guess this is almost becoming a monthly thing for me :) . Can't help it because the demos are gettin' really good these days. Anyway, here's a heads up on the latest demo disk of Official Xbox Magazine:
Destroy All Humans: finally we get a taste of what this game has to offer. You get to play a few mini-missions to give you an idea on how all the controls work. Controls need a bit of getting used to (left trigger to do a lock, Y to use mental powers, etc.) but I think that would be my issue: I was holding Y to execute telekinesis but I think it was toggle-able. You get to mentally pick up cows and fling them about or toss 'em, drop 'em or even just plow them into the ground like a lawn dart. You also get to play with vehicles and other objects-pick up the pickup truck and plop it onto an unsuspecting cow. You also get to take control of your saucer to deal out some death ray damage. Looks like it'll be a fun game. Hopefully some of the graphics tearing I saw will be polished up upon release.
Star Wars Legos: Cute game. Plays very similar to the old Playstation Episode 1 game with saber attacks and such but with Lego guys (coupled with humor revolving around the blocked toys). Your Force powers change depending on what is being "focused" on (which glow green). Seems to be a very easy game.
Flatout: one part demolition derby, one part racing with a dash of oddball "olympic" sports. I found the race controls really "loose": my car got whipped around quite a bit. But I think it takes practice as I'm used to Burnout 3's controls. You get a few races to play on which all seem to have shades of Beetle Adventure Racing where you can find short cuts (can't totally confirm yet). The last mode is a stunt/olympic style event: the high jump. Basically you drive your car down a ramp, up another, down another and then launch it off of a final ramp. The trick is you must launch the driver THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD at a certain angle before the car flies over the last ramp (marked by a couple box-like columns on either side of the ramp). The speed and angle will then propel your rag-doll driver higher and higher until he loses momentum or hits an object (like the measuring uprights that happen to have horzontal rungs from top to bottom). It's downright hilarious. I was able to get good enough to launch my guy up to 91 feet into the air, have him not hit a rung, and the stick to the chainlink fencing at the other end. I've also bombed a jump: my car hit a column and spun out of control, so I ejected only to do a faceplant on the pavement followed by my car landing on top of me.
Juiced: Looks to be "just another underground race game" and it shows. Very ho-hum in the demo.
Dead to Rights 2: All the stuff of Dead to Rights but with the added help of a dog. The camera was really wonky and for some odd reason I can't seem to cling to walls like I could in the last game (could be me not finding the right control) so I got shot up a lot. Could have potential for those who liked DtoR but for me it wasn't my cup o' tea.
Xbox Live Arcade Demo: Basically it gives you a bunch of titles you can play (like Galaga, Bejeweled and such) you can play for about 2 minutes before prompting for payment. I played a bit of Galaga and to be honest it looked and played better on my GBA SP. Plus it doesn't help to know they want $10 to $20 a pop for these games which are usually available free online or cheaper in a bundle set.
I'm thinking that's about it for actual demos. There are also a bunch of Halo 2 multiplayer maps, but since I don't have Halo 2 I have no idea how good they are or what they contain.
Destroy All Humans: finally we get a taste of what this game has to offer. You get to play a few mini-missions to give you an idea on how all the controls work. Controls need a bit of getting used to (left trigger to do a lock, Y to use mental powers, etc.) but I think that would be my issue: I was holding Y to execute telekinesis but I think it was toggle-able. You get to mentally pick up cows and fling them about or toss 'em, drop 'em or even just plow them into the ground like a lawn dart. You also get to play with vehicles and other objects-pick up the pickup truck and plop it onto an unsuspecting cow. You also get to take control of your saucer to deal out some death ray damage. Looks like it'll be a fun game. Hopefully some of the graphics tearing I saw will be polished up upon release.
Star Wars Legos: Cute game. Plays very similar to the old Playstation Episode 1 game with saber attacks and such but with Lego guys (coupled with humor revolving around the blocked toys). Your Force powers change depending on what is being "focused" on (which glow green). Seems to be a very easy game.
Flatout: one part demolition derby, one part racing with a dash of oddball "olympic" sports. I found the race controls really "loose": my car got whipped around quite a bit. But I think it takes practice as I'm used to Burnout 3's controls. You get a few races to play on which all seem to have shades of Beetle Adventure Racing where you can find short cuts (can't totally confirm yet). The last mode is a stunt/olympic style event: the high jump. Basically you drive your car down a ramp, up another, down another and then launch it off of a final ramp. The trick is you must launch the driver THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD at a certain angle before the car flies over the last ramp (marked by a couple box-like columns on either side of the ramp). The speed and angle will then propel your rag-doll driver higher and higher until he loses momentum or hits an object (like the measuring uprights that happen to have horzontal rungs from top to bottom). It's downright hilarious. I was able to get good enough to launch my guy up to 91 feet into the air, have him not hit a rung, and the stick to the chainlink fencing at the other end. I've also bombed a jump: my car hit a column and spun out of control, so I ejected only to do a faceplant on the pavement followed by my car landing on top of me.
Juiced: Looks to be "just another underground race game" and it shows. Very ho-hum in the demo.
Dead to Rights 2: All the stuff of Dead to Rights but with the added help of a dog. The camera was really wonky and for some odd reason I can't seem to cling to walls like I could in the last game (could be me not finding the right control) so I got shot up a lot. Could have potential for those who liked DtoR but for me it wasn't my cup o' tea.
Xbox Live Arcade Demo: Basically it gives you a bunch of titles you can play (like Galaga, Bejeweled and such) you can play for about 2 minutes before prompting for payment. I played a bit of Galaga and to be honest it looked and played better on my GBA SP. Plus it doesn't help to know they want $10 to $20 a pop for these games which are usually available free online or cheaper in a bundle set.
I'm thinking that's about it for actual demos. There are also a bunch of Halo 2 multiplayer maps, but since I don't have Halo 2 I have no idea how good they are or what they contain.