TXPaladin on Live: Demo Reviews

Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One demo

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:52:30 GMT

Penny Arcade creators Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins have joined with legendary game designer Ron Gilbert and veteran producers Hothead Games to bring you Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One. This first installment of the episodic role-playing adventure game series is set in the highly stylized 1920s universe of New Arcadia filled with bizarre characters, outrageous combat, and adult humor.

So if I can try something out first before I buy it, as well as give something a look before I pass judgement or opinion on it, I prefer to do that. So I gave the demo a try and have to say that its very interesting and feels like a comic book coming to life for starters.

At the start of the game you can create your own character and I had the most fun with this portion and found it really cool. I like how you can do stuff like this in games and find your creation show up with in the games you play. Lets move on to the game and the type of play then.

The story has adult humor for sure and all though most of the action and what goes on is not as drastic, its the little things that will cause kids to ask, what's that robot doing? If your little ones know how to read, then you might have a hard time explaining what a certain word is too. Thankfully this is something I tried out after they went to bed and I avoided all of this.

Game play, is simple and turn based action. Move your character along and then mash a button. Repeat and progress along. You run into parts where you can interact and make choices, in the end your still going to reach the same result and progress the story along. The story is funny and I like the setting, colors, and comic feel of the game.

Bad news for me and not being a huge fan of Penny Arcade or having read much of their work is the cost of this title. Coming in at 1600 pts ($20) is a bit steep if you ask me. That is a lot to spend on an interactive comic from a couple guys that I haven't really read much. Maybe I'm in a minority here, but I need to be a bigger fan to even think about that kind of price point.

In the end, the demo is well made and presents you with what your to expect from the full game. Its not my type of game though. I'm more of an FPS and do what I want type of player in most cases. I'm not a fan of mashing buttons and you have to go here to progress the game. Yes most games have you do an objective, but I prefer to select which paths I want to take and how I want to accomplish that goal in most of the games I play at least. This doesn't take away from what Penny Arcade is, its an interactive story, but one you have to stick with to get to the ending.

Everybody was Kung Fu Panda fighting

Sun, 25 May 2008 16:08:48 GMT

Love that song... Fun, Fun demo for me. My oldest loved watching me play this game and had quite a few Hi-yas to throw in as I took on the enemies with my best Panda style Kung Fu. The game from Luxoflux and Activision is based on Dreamworks upcoming Kung Fu Panda film. I'll be taking my daughter to see the flick for her birthday when it comes out.

As for the demo and the game, its a lot of fun to say the least. My only draw back is I'm afraid it might hype my daughters up some and get their aggressions going a bit. This is something I need to work on with my oldest and sit her down with a few games to see how she really does and talk about them. I'd tried another game earlier for kids and found her telling me, "Kill em Daddy, Kill em.." I just want to make sure she doesn't get too wound up and pretends to go Panda style on lil sister after playing.

But back to the demo and what I think of the game. A blast and very well made in my opinion. Its a third person and my Panda only looked goofy a few times getting turned around. I think that helped confuse my attackers and added to me finally beating them. There's a limited selection in games geared really for kids these days and most seem to be tied to a movie or TV show of some sort. Talk about the money machines for stuff like this.

Anyway give the demo a try for yourself and go check out the movie too. Yes you'll see the same things in the movie, the thing with a game is your pushing the buttons and a part of the action more and for little ones they can get sucked into that a lot more. Like I said, my only concern is what effects the fighting will have on my kids in the end.

Demo: Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy™

Sun, 25 May 2008 15:45:42 GMT

Finally gave Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy™ a look last night for a bit. The term button masher has been kicked around quite a bit in the reviews I've seen for this game and most people felt its just an ok game and demo.

Just ok... Yeah I'm one of those people as well on this one. Graphics look pretty cool and most of the fighting action is pretty cool. But its a story and direction they are trying to push you into here. How do you progress that story? You mash buttons and move along a path of the story.

Ok, most games tell a story and have a path for you, in general. But this game has a sure fire and fast paced clear cut path. At least from the demo and what I've seen that is the case with this one. What I like is the chance to try it, but from what I've seen and for me personally, this game doesn't do enough to make me want to play it. I'm not a huge fan of mashing button combos in the end I guess. But hey, its a demo and you should at least download it and give it a try for yourself and see what you think or take a look at the game trailer.

F:FOW demo is set up to hook you

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:12:41 GMT

The Beta for CoD4 was the last game that hooked me and had me coming back for more and more. I'm still a huge CoD4 fan, so don't get me wrong now. What I'm talking about is Betas and Demos and the parts they release to get you hooked and show off their titles.

Betas help promote the title and provide feedback to the producers on how things are going. It helps end users get a feel of what its all about before its released. Its a feature I love from Xbox Live, the whole try before you buy aspect is just great.

So I've only made it into one Beta so far... at least I hope I'm lucky enough to get into other betas. But I've done my share of demos and some give you a good taste and you can tell if your going to like the game or not. Some give you just enough of the game play and end with you wanting more.

Frontlines: Fule of War is the latest demo that I've tried and I'm hooked, its just like CoD4 all over and has me wanting to fire it up and play every time. It has a cool story line and I love the team based game play. I'm not sure how long they'll keep this demo going after the games actual release, but I'll be playing this demo a lot over the next few days and weeks before that day comes.

So what can you do in the demo you might ask? Well as you can see above, you can do just about all of this and more. You can select from more than 60 futuristic vehicles & weapons, remote controlled drones, gun cams, and elaborate countermeasure systems, all of these inspired by many of the weapons of today. All you have to do is create your soldier and select your weapon loadout and specialized role and then deploy.

With a focus on heavy team play, the multiplayer drops players on the front lines or near to help move the your line forward and on to victory. With the use high-tech Intel systems for the gathering and the sharing of relay recon, targeting the enemy, and providing threat information between your teammates, your able to help in winning the war or at least this battle.

If your into team based games and working as a unit, then you should give Frontlines: Fuel of War and look. The release game will has single player and I missed that demo, but from what I've seen of the 32 player multiplayer action available out of the demo, I'm really pleased in this game.

Download the demo and join up while you have the chance. Your needed on the front lines and you never know how long this war/demo will last. Besides, you can look at this a basic training for the actual release on February 25th 2008.

Demo - Kingdom Under Fire™ Circle of Doom

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:37:42 GMT

Wow, looks like my answer to Diablo II and my childhood days of playing Dungeon's & Dragons perhaps has been answered. I've slowed down on some of the demos lately and a co-worker told me about KUF and I decided to give the demo a try.

I love the demos from the Marketplace by the way and glad I can do the try before buy on a lot of games. So KUF is a third person RPG game and I have to say I love the look and feel of the demo. They give you a taste as to how the controls work and then your off to do battle. It's hard to think back to the days of Diablo II compared to the graphics and play available here now.

I'm not normally a fan of third person games, but this one I really loved and felt comfortable with it. A huge plus in the full version is it has 4 person Co-Op. Looks like this could very well be a must buy in 2008 and I might have to think twice on looking at Elder Scrolls now. Not to mention listening to all my friends playing this title now, it could be only a matter of time before I'm drawn into the world of KUF. Oh and it has a Paladin class... Love it!

Word Puzzle from the Arcade

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:56:01 GMT

"Daddy you need to buy this game!" Do I need to even say more here... If my daughter was to review this game in just two words, it would be, "Buy This!" I downloaded the demo last night and she ate this game up. It was a quick little 3 boards for the demo that we worked through, but it gives you a clear taste of what the game is all about and we just tried the free play mode.

With my daughter learning to read & write now, I can't help but feel this game would help encourage a little more of this. The secret words will be a huge challenge for her and that is where Mom & Dad playing can help her out. In fact we helped each other, last night I was about to throw in the towel and my daughter comes back with, "If at first you don't succeed Daddy, try, try again!" and sure enough the word came to me.

I'm sure the full version of this game will be a blast and provide a lot of entertainment. If you haven't tried the demo, then I recommend you download it and give it a try for yourself. If your looking for a game that is great for young kids and fun for the whole family, then you can't go wrong with this and I really feel the word search can only help them learn. Seeing my daughter have this much fun, I think the 800 points is a very small price to pay for the amount of fun and entertainment value.

I got to Bee Me

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 19:44:16 GMT

DreamWorks and Activision have a pretty cool, kid friendly title on their hands with Bee Movie the Game for the Xbox 360. The demo showed up on the Marketplace and in my quest to find ultra kid friendly titles, I decided to give this one a try.

My daughter tends to be more of a watch first an try later, so I'll have to see if she wants to give the controls a try. I have to say this, its a bit of a challenge. I'm not sure if the controls were just off a bit, but I did my best and at times I did not see the next clue to proceed. I felt like I was a bit stuck and my daughter was about to throw in the towel at one point.

Lucky for me I kept at it and passed the few obstacles that got in my way. In the end I beat the demo and a code for something flashed on the screen for an offer and then went away. The game is fun and puts you into the movie for the most part. Its fairly straight forward, just follow on screen clues and cross your fingers that you'll make it along. Might be a tad hard for the very young gamer still.

Lights, Camera, Action... demo reviews

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 22:43:46 GMT

Stuntman®: Ignition™, is first up on the demo review list for today. Now its been sometime on reviewing this game, but I still wanted to touch along the movie/game theme in todays reviews. Your thrown right into the driver seat and in front of the cameras here, so when the director says action, you better be ready to come through with the goods. This demo was really fun and I love when the AI talks smack to you. You have all the fun of being behind the wheel and screaming through a scene and trying to hit the perfect mark with out wrecking out or spinning off camera. Oh did I mention all from the safety of your home. Take the time and see what this game has to offer and download it while you have the chance.

John Woo presents Stranglehold™ is next on my list here for reviews. Now this is not the same as taking directions for the screen, but this has all the flair of a John Woo film. Chow Yun-Fat is back as Inspector Tequila and you control his every move. The dual wielding cinematic gun battles and stunts are all available in the extensive demo. Hard to believe this is just a demo and free for you to try out. Ever wanted to see what its like to dive and slide across a bar table as you blast away your enemies? I wasn't sure at first if I would like this title or not, but I quickly found myself addicted and this is a demo I'll play over and over for now.

Bioshock demo

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:10:42 GMT

Simply shocking to say the least. When someone talks about upcoming games worth playing, this is a title that seems to rise near the top of lists at times. This week the demo was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and slowly downloaded by the masses, eager to play and see what this game can do.

I'm amazed with the graphics on my low def TV, I mean this thing looks great as a lot of my games do and I can only imagine what it must look like in HD 1080p. I have to say this, I'm clearly not a fan of horror & gore titles, that's not to say this is not a great game, I just don't think I can stomach playing this type of game for very long.

Intense from the start as you watch gore before your eyes and suddenly they close in on you for the next victim. With a little guidance, your directed on where to move and what you should do next.

The only problem is you need to find a weapon or some sort to protect yourself. That's when the freakish people begin to attack and its either you or them. Filled with a fair amount of blood and gore, you'll make your way through a vast areas and search for anything that might help you survive.

This game demo hits the mark dead on and people dying to play this will want more. I don't think its one that I can play for that long personally, just not a fan of this genre of games. I might think about renting it at some point, but thankfully I have many titles on my list to spend time on.

Overlord demo review

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:35:09 GMT

Medieval Thugs Run Rampant... pretty much sums this game up. Don't get me wrong, I really love the graphics here and I'm trying to get use to the idea of being a bad guy and wrecking havoc in this fantasy world. It's a game I say... so let me send these little minons out to kill some sheep and smash up pumpkins (not the rock group), after all I'm trying to rebuild an evil empire and can't very well ask the town for an extreme makeover. I have to up hold an image and keep the faith, for these little evil dudes that look up to me.

All in all, I like Overlord a lot... just not enough to buy it. I look back at the years and where things have gone and with so many games coming out and the high costs, I have to draw the line somewhere. Check out this demo, in my opinion its a cool game and a great demo, I enjoyed it more than Kameo at least. For some of you, it might be worth buying, but I'll have it on a list to rent and play hard before returning.

The Darkness demo

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:43:58 GMT

The Darkness as a demo puts you right in control of Jackie Estacado, a Mafia hit-man who becomes the latest bearer of the Darkness, an ancient demonic force passed through the generations, on his twenty-first birthday.

This first-person action/horror shooter is as Dark and Twisted as I remember from the Gamer Score Blog Road Tour. Very visual graphically, your thrown right into the action, taking out members of the Franchetti crime family.

With your assortment of both earthly and otherworldly guns, as well as powers that allow you to conjure demons and manifest the Darkness into a variety of lethal elements, The Darkness demo gives you a real feel of what is capable in this game.

Step into the role of the bad guy and get even with members of the family who have done you wrong. I'm not sure how much blood and gore I can take from this horror genre and thankfully the demo does a great job at giving me a taste of what is in store and perhaps I'll give this one a rental look and play it late one night, when the Darkness is at its best.

Project Sylpheed™ Demo

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 14:03:30 GMT

Project Sylpheed™ brings you to the wonderful world of a Star Fighter pilot and is developed exclusively for Xbox 360™and produced by famed game publisher Square Enix (Final Fantasy).

The game and demo is very visual and has a lot of stuff going on. The only downside that I had in the demo was the third person view of play. I have a hard time playing games where I'm not immersed into the cockpit of the fighter. I'm not sure if you can change this at all, but aside from that and so much going on during the game play. The demo gives you a good idea as to what your able to do. You even have extreme customization of your Star Fighter to help you bring just what you need to survive. If your a fan of flying games, give this Star Fighter game a try, you'll be surprised in the demo I think.

UEFA Champions League™ 2006-2007 Demo

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:54:34 GMT

This is the first Sports title that I've tried out for the Xbox 360 and comes from Electronic Arts. Being a huge soccer fan, I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised in my findings.

UEFA Champions League™ 2006-2007 allows you to collect virtual cards of your favorites out of the Union of European Football Associations and build the super team and work your way to the Championship game. You can select between Barcelona or Arsenal and take part in the action for the first half of the game.

I found the game played really well, at times I thought the players were really small, but I was impressed at how real the game play looked and will keep this on my watch list of possible sports titles to purchase. You don't get to really try out the trading/collecting of players in the demo, but other that I think it was a really good demo.

Blue Dragon Demo

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 13:42:01 GMT

The highly anticipated Xbox 360™ exclusive title, Blue Dragon, from game producer Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker and developer Artoon is expected to be a huge hit next month, but for now you can work the magic in the free Demo from the marketplace.

Featuring the character design of Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z and music by Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon, This epic role-playing game centers around a young boy named Shu and several of his friends, who call upon magical powers to defeat the forces that attack them.

It's a really good demo and gives you a excellent feel of the games play. This was the first RPG title that I've played in a very long time, I'm talking back to the days before consoles and when you used paper. I'm not sure how much of a fan of these styles of games for the consoles I'll become. Still its worth a very hard look and I expect it to do really well.

Phantasy Star Universe Demo

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:10:21 GMT

It started out as a single-player console RPG and then branched out into Massive Multiplayer Online game, bringing you the best of both worlds. Um... I don't see it, at least from a Demo stand point. Man, have I told you how cool it is to get all of the Demos from Xbox Live Marketplace?

Well the beauty of the demo for Phantasy Star Universe is it didn't cost me at all, just some of my time is all. I created my character and looked around a very empty room, I made my way down to what appeared to be a very empty space mall. I saw someone run by at one point and then disappear all of a sudden.

I later searched around and found out that you could travel to different worlds and that the full version also costs an extra $10 a month to play. Ouch! I decided to give it another try and found out how to get to other space ports and people, but I still couldn't figure out how to get out to the worlds and the adventures. All I found was a bunch or Horn Dogs, trying to pick up Cyber Chicks.

I'm sorry, the demo really didn't do much for me and the fact you have to pay an extra $10 to play is a huge strike from the start. So far I just see a 3D Space World and people with only one thing on their minds. Thankful it was a free Demo, just sorry I couldn't do more with it. Beware if you decide to check it out.

E3 Demo - Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:40:33 GMT

Namco Bandai’s latest, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation turned up on the Marketplace for demo and I snatched this one up as soon as I saw it. DeaconBlade 360 first pointed this title out to me on the Unscripted 360 site and I had it on my watch list, being someone that's always been a fan of flying and fighter pilot arcade games.

I mentioned earlier that I gave Blazing Angels a try and it was a really fun demo to play. Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is more than just a fun demo, its a Blast to play, the game play feels really incredible, and its extremely visual on the screen and very photo realistic. This is an excellent demo and one I'll keep and play over and over. If your looking for a really tight fighter pilot game, then this is a must demo and one to buy when it releases.

Blazing Angels from Ubisoft

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:19:19 GMT

This is the first Fighter Pilot game that I've ever tried out on a Console and I have to say I just love that XBL has demos available and I decided to give this one a try. Once again, this is purely a review of the Demo available and my thoughts on the demo.

As a WWII fighter pilot you take to the skies in a Bi-plane fighter, the game starts you off with a little training and sets you up with a Co-pilot. So from take off and learning how to maneuver your plane, your not alone and get a good feel of how the game will play out. The graphics are pretty cool for the most part, its not a super hi-def game, but I still enjoyed the look and feel of flying around and learning all the controls. I've always been a fan of flight simulator games and I guess I've had a love of flying and this is the closest I get to that. The only thing I wish is a cockpit view instead of seeing my plane on the screen all the time and I'm not sure if that's available in the full version or not.

After completing your training exercises a message comes in about an enemy target heading on in. Time to put your training to the test and see what you can do for real. The demo has plenty to offer and I can tell when I really love a demo by how much I want to try it over and over. If your a fan of Flight Simulators and Combat games, give this WWII title a try. I plan on checking out lots of the other period pieces like Battle of Midway and some of the Call of Duty titles later on and will report back on my thoughts of these demos.

Surfs Up, Dude... rad demo for 360

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:51:34 GMT

Here's another kids movie called Surf's Up and its hitting the game scene for the Xbox 360. This is a great demo and plays great for kids. You have two sets of waves to carve up and can select from 3 of the movies characters to play. In my search for games that I can play with my daughter, this has come up a favorite, she loves the demo and doesn't realize that its only a test and limited game so far. I'll have to keep this on my short list of games to buy for her. But in the meantime, this is another one of those demos that is great to play over an over. Download it and catch a wave Dudes.

Cars demo for the 360

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:41:05 GMT

Disney & Pixars Cars Demo is really awesome and plays great. I had a blast racing through various parts that make up the movie. This is sure to be a great title for kids and parents to enjoy together.

My daughters are both very young, in fact only one is just starting out and I don't think she has much interest in the racing games so far. I imagine in a couple years she'll have an easier time playing something like this. If you love racing games and loved the Cars movie, then give this demo a try or buy the full version. Great demo, but feel its for the slightly older gamer perhaps.

Shrek the Third demo review

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 12:31:50 GMT

Another free demo from the Marketplace, for the Xbox 360, is Dreamworks Shrek the Third. In this game you are either Shrek or Puss in Boots for the demo and you will embark on a quest to save Donkey and the land of Far Far Away.

The demo begins with a mini recap of the movie, as told through a Puppet Show. You'll then start off as Shrek and before you know it, you'll be in the heat of battle with the evil pirates. The game play switches the mode on you and allows you to play as Puss in Boots for a bit and then switches back to Shrek.

Visually speaking this is a cool game and it plays well as a Demo. But on the other hand and as a family type of game, I'm looking for games that my daughters can play and I'll need to pass on this title, based on their current age and the mild violent content involved with the game. In playing I quickly found myself slugging away and pounding on the bad guys and turning them into dust. I'm sure my thoughts will change as my oldest gets a little older, but I'm looking for games that don't promote violence. All in all this was a good demo and it gave you a good taste of the game and its playability.

Mad Tracks in the House

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:31:42 GMT

I'm Kicking off a new section for Xbox Demo reviews and I've selected Mad Tracks as my first title. Now I saw a little of this at the Gamerscore Blog Road tour in Dallas, but I didn't actually give it a try at the event. I spent to much of my time checking the other games out. So I downloaded the demo and I can say that this is going to be the first Arcade Title I plan on buying. So here's my review of the games demo from Xbox Live Arcade.

So what is Mad Tracks exactly then? Well it's an arcade-style racing game that has all the flavor of those crazy car tracks you would set up as a kid around the house. The toy-car style racing game has tracks setup in places like restaurants, toy stores, and miniature golf courses for that extra level of racing difficulty and fun.

With the demo you get two styles of tracks to choose from with quite a bit of racing fun. One of the tracks is set in a restaurant, where you'll dodge Wine Glasses and Candle Sticks as you race like mad around the track. If your not careful, you'll find your car flying off the table. The other track is set in a round pit, where you race around dodging marbles and other cars. From a demo stand point, this game is a blast, I could see playing the demo over and over and what the demo does is make me want to purchase the game for sure and experience more game play in the world of Mad Tracks. If you haven't checked out this demo, then I recommend you give it a try, its a clear winner in my book. They will also have additional tracks available for download later as well for even more racing fun. Hope you enjoyed the review and please check back as I give me spin on other demos from Xbox Live.