Epic Demo Fail

It's been awhile since I mentioned demo design, but I came across one that was particularly perplexing this last week. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix not only has the longest name ever, but it also has the distinction of having the shortest demo ever, if you only have one controller. I downloaded the demo on Xbox Live and fired up the trial version only to find out that only two-player local matches were available. I didn't have a second controller so, for me, the demo was over.

I imagine most gamers have a good idea of what the game play is going to be about in a Street Fighter title but one of SSF2THR's draw was the updated in game sprites. If I don't get to see them, how can I make a purchase decision? If the game is going to force me to play two-player, at least give me online in case I don't have anyone to play with. I count Street Fighter 2 as one of my favorite games of all time and this was almost an automatic purchase, but the demo totally floored me and I lost interest. Oh well, Street Fighter IV will be out soon enough.

Turning Point Demo

Speaking of demos, the Turning Point: Fall of Liberty hit Xbox Live the other day and failed nearly every aspect of David Edery’s suggestions for successful demos. I had limited awareness of the game play (I actually thought it would be a strategy game based on the title) and was only vaguely aware of the alternate timeline, Nazi invasion of the United States storyline prior to playing the demo. Needless to say, I will be skipping this game when it hits store shelves.

Edery’s first point is that a demo does not need to be the opening level or the tutorial, but that’s where Turning Point places the player. The game opens with the Statue of Liberty be blown to pieces and then the player finds himself in control of an iron worker on the top of building that is also being bombed. So not only is the tutorial level chosen for the demo, but this first-person shooter game starts with a platforming and balance beam section. It’s quite odd.

He continues to emphasize that the demo should not confuse the player. Unfortunately, and everyone’s experience may differ, but my first encounter with a Nazi soldier was thoroughly confusing. In an attempt to demonstrate the game’s close quarters combat, tutorial text quickly appears on screen leaving me to mash buttons in an attempt to figure out what I was supposed to do. I wrestled with the Nazi for a couple of seconds and then let go, only for the Nazi to stand as still as a statue totally oblivious to the person behind him who just grabbed him. I then ran a circle around him and then he turned around and shot me in the face. After reloading the last checkpoint, I trained my eyes on the small text and finally figured out what I needed to do (press any direction on the D-pad).

The next point, making the player wait for the fun, was the killing blow for this demo for me. It only took about fifteen to twenty minutes to get to the end of the demo and not once did I feel like I was having fun.

This brings me to the next feature of a successful demo: length. Edery suggests that the demo should find a happy balance between being too short and too long. Since it was over before I was having any fun, I would say it was too short. But since I was not impressed by the graphics (which frankly resembled an Xbox title), boring and weak weapons, and silly enemy AI (I don’t think they teach soldiers to run straight at the enemy, do they?), I don’t any length of time would have swayed my opinion of this game.

When it was all over, I was left with a very empty feeling. As Edery suggests, there was no suspense, no curiosity. Why should I care about this iron worker that the player takes control of? Does he have an interesting back story? Is his family in immediate danger? With no motivation, I feel no compelling reason to experience more of this game.

Edery then points to the upsell screen as possibly the last image of your game the player will be left and should highlight what sets your game apart. I don’t know, being an American, I was a bit put off by the constant reminder on this screen that I get to experience the Nazi destruction of US cities and landmarks. This is not a really compelling feature, especially with the final images of the demo in which people are running from a collapsing building in New York. And while I enjoyed Cloverfield, at least it was a fictional monster that allows us to deal with some of these fears, not terrorists or invaders attacking our country.

Trial By Fire

This week saw the topic of game demos pop up in several places. Most notably, David Edery the Portfolio Planner for Xbox Live Arcade, shared some wisdom on the Game Tycoon blog about creating better demos.

A downloadable game's trial is everything. It doesn't matter if you licensed the three greatest IP of all time and fused them into the holy trinity of game design itself.

If the trial stinks, most people won't bother to lift the curtain on the full experience.

Demos have become one of the most important features of Live for me and there have been several games that I wished I had a demo before I made a purchase (I'm looking at you Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell). These games weren't bad but they weren't for me and I suffered some buyer's remorse. Demos has also saved me the trouble of each and every racing game that has hit the market over the last couple of years. No matter how many demos I play, I just can't get into racing games.

The article got me thinking about the demos I have played on Live and how they have influenced my buying habits.


FIFA Street, NFL Tour, Def Jam: Icon, NBA Street – Each of these games throws you into the mix with little to no introduction. Since these games are about pulling off some over the top, in-your-face moves, they should how me how to do some and then let me pull them off against the AI. Don’t let me get pummeled by the AI’s obviously perfection of them. Frustration ensued and quickly led to deleting the demo. NBA Street was an exception as it was a lot easier to pull off the special moves. In the end however, it wasn’t enough to warrant a purchase.

THP8 vs. THPG – After skipping THUG2 and American Wasteland for delving far too deep into the Jackass/Margera nonsense, Project 8 felt like a return to form that made me fall in love with Pro Skater 2 through 4. They give a small area from the final game and showed the player the new additions to skating. The game then lets the player loose to shred to your hearts content. Proving Ground gave me the exact opposite feeling. It felt like they took the things that worked from Project 8 and reworked them for all moves and then compounded those elements with more new features. All in all, it evoked the bad taste left in my mouth from Underground. By throwing everything in, including the kitchen sink, it becomes overwhelming and the fun was lost on me. It made me long for a simpler game where the player can just concentrate on skating. I bought Project 8, not Proving Ground.

Skate. – Did I enjoy the demo? Yes. Did I find the simple controls and return to earth game play refreshing? Yes. Did I buy the game? No. Although I still might some day, I think the fact that setting up a line in Skate is a lot a work and less improvised turned me off. That and it was a full line-up of releases this season. In the same way that FIFA lost me, Skate was far to simulation and less like fun. Maybe Skate 2 will alleviate these concerns.

Bioshock – The demo drops the player into the tutorial section but is slightly altered from the final version, giving you access to some different weapons, powers and enemies from the final version. The atmosphere and tone was set perfectly, leaving the player absolutely salivating with a nail-biting cliffhanger. 2k Boston has said that they spent a lot of time on their demos and it showed.

Dead Rising – Capcom boiled the demo down to the game’s purist mechanic: hacking, slashing and bludgeoning your way through a zombie infested mall. Awesome. It was pure gold.

Overlord - Gave me just enough to see what the game was about: wild minions, witty sense of humor and fun hack-and-slash game play. I was on the fence about this game and after the demo, I was swayed. I wanted to see how evil you could play and explore the strategy behind the different types of minions.

Fun Fridays: Two For One

First up is a Penny Arcade comic from Monday. This was absolutely hilarious to me on many levels. Firstly, it caters to my insatiable appetite for achievements. Secondly, in one week's time I'll be at the Penny Arcade Expo so I probably won't be able to post next Friday.

The comic is influenced by last weeks Stranglehold demo. I downloaded it and played through it once. Then I deleted it. A lot of people I talked too really enjoyed it. They pointed out that it really fits John Woo's style (flying pigeons and all) and it was a lot of fun. I agree for the most part on both points. However, I had a really hard time suspending my disbelief as Chow Yun Fat's character's stiff animations slid awkwardly across every surface like Hong Kong was covered in a thin layer of very slippery ice. The graphics had that really shiny 'next-gen' look that really creeps me out. And the action was so loose, the aiming reticule flew all over the screen looking for enemies that seemed to pop out of every nook and cranny imaginable. I did like the concentrated aiming bits, but the rest just ruined it for me. Thankfully I will pass when this game comes out.

The second offering is a video clip from Yahtzee Crowshaw. His pointed and uproarious commentary was first brought to my attention on Game|Life and he has been quickly snatched up by the Escapist Magazine to do a weekly show, called Zero Punctuation. The first video explores the Heavenly Sword demo and the Resident Evil 5 trailer. Do your self a favor and watch his other videos as well. Below he lambastes Fable but the Darkness video is great as well.

Bioshock: Sweet, Sweet Demo Action

I took just over thirteen hours to download the demo (7PM last night to 9AM this morning) but it was definitely worth the wait. The game looks like awesome cherry cheesecake: sweet. It is evident that a lot of love went into the entire process. Water has never looked so hot. It is most definitely not "just another just another f**king PC FPS." The action is smooth and frantic. It took me only about forty-five minutes to get through the demo but it had a lot to offer. The game has drama, suspense, atmosphere, intrigue, sheer heebie-jeebie moments... my thesaurus has run out of adjectives. It's cliche, but I had two distinct games come to mind while I was playing the demo: Condemned and Oblivion. Since these have been two of my favorite games on the 360, this is a very, very good thing. Especially since the best elements of these two games are ratcheted up, like they're hopped up on Eve. My insatiable desire to get my hands on this game is now at a breaking point. Thankfully, we only have a week or so longer to wait.