Game Demo Round-up Extra Extravaganza

The picture has nothing to do with the article, I’m sure Tom will agree.

Good evening all and welcome to another round-up of stuff that we’ve somehow been involved in recently. This week’s round-up is a bit different as it’s entirely composed of reviews of various demos that have graced the Xbox Live service over the past few weeks and months. As far as I can remember there hasn’t been a time where so many good, no, great games have been released in such quick succession. The final quarter of 2007 has seen the release of some truly amazing titles, especially on the Xbox 360 (apologies, Sony fans, this site is not for you) and any game on the market at the moment faces some truly stiff competition from the likes of Halo 3, Half Life: The Orange Box, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty 4, my personal favourite Bioshock and many more to come.

So therein lies the problem for the following demos, cursed with being released at the same time as the afore-mentioned leviathans of the gaming industry. How will each one fare? I guess by logical deduction based on the existing content of this site that the answer will lie beyond the jump…

Rate this vehicular atrocity *Star Review*

Rate This Day Star Reviews are a little bit more special than our normal reviews (because they’re longer), read on for a more detailed look at the featured item…

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

 

There comes a game every once in a while that just offends me on almost every level. I’ve never particularly been in to sports games as such, exceptions can be made here and there for things like the Project Gotham series, Sensible Soccer and Wii Sports (I think that counts). Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights picks up (presumably) from a game I haven’t played. So preconceptions are out the window and I’m fresh in to the experience with no expectations whatsoever; who cares that the last game sucked? I certainly don’t know if it did. I really wish I had played it now just so I could brace myself for the numbing onslaught of digital disappointment which the game thusly rendered for me.

Rate this shiny bit of rubbish

Halo 3

Bungie have truly excelled themselves with this highly polished and incredibly playable third and final iteration of the Halo franchise. It’s a Swiss army knife of a game, offering a host of impressive features such as Saved Films, Forge (a quasi-map editor), a comprehensive multiplayer suite and an ‘epic’ campaign. The online aspects have recently taken over our house and there’s nothing better than dishing out some redneck justice on Sand Trap, my colleague Tom in the driving seat and myself laying the hammer down on the warthog turret. It really is a lot of fun and Bungie seem to have finally mastered the balancing in online games. Gone are the days of spawning then hastily tracking down a better weapon, the weapon balance is such that you can simply spawn then jump right back into the fray. Bravo, Bungie, this really was a long time coming.With the addition of a slew of medals, stats and a new RPG-style experience meter (which only serves to satisfy my dormant lust for the World of Warcraft ‘ding’) I really cannot recommend Halo 3 enough on this basis alone. It’s fast, furious and so much better than Halo 2.

The one aspect of the game that really dents the overall experience is, rather sadly, the campaign. Halo 3 is the conclusion of a huge story arc spread across 2 other games, a handful of novels and a few comics. The thing is, Bungie need to hire some better writers. They are not good writers. Not even close. Never have I heard dialogue so pain-inducing and at one point the line “I will beat the prophet’s barricade like a drum” actually reduced me to tears. It’s set piece after set piece badly tied together with lacklustre cut-scenes which feature frankly inaudible dialogue (thankfully there are subtitles) until eventually the game just kind of stops. The climax has all the emotional impact of discovering that you accidentally left a ten pound note in your trousers when they went through the wash. Ah well, never mind. At least there’s still the impressive online component… Sand Trap, anyone?

Story: 1 out of 7

Multiplayer: 6 out of 7

Rated: 5 out of 7