Demo Rundown March '09 part 1

Currently Listening to:
Sex Pistols
Holidays in the Sun
Album: Never Mind the Bollocks

March 2009 has been a big month for demos on Xbox Live. Games from all different kinds of genres have been released this month and i'm gonna take a look at them.

WWE : Legends of Wrestlemania



As the name implies, Legends of Wrestlemania features wrestlers who have been in infamous matches for Wrestlemania, the industry's biggest event of the year. Wrestling fans will appreciate the "Re-live the moment" match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. The Demo Also features a match which mirrors the Wrestlemania 3 bout between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan. The demo itself features arcade style gameplay, which seemed dumbed down more than anything. Personally, I'm not a big wrestling fan, but I found a lot of fun in Smackdown vs Raw '06 and '07. Ever since I've wanted nothing to do with wrestling games and this demo really didn't change that for me.

On-screen buttons take up most of the display for QTE like button press sequences and really take you out of the game. Also, god forbid you leave the ring. The camera switches to a behind the audience angle which is awful and extremely distracting. Previous titles were intuitive and were bursting with variety. This, however, stank of rotten fish and sweaty old men. Legends of Wrestlemania hits the Streets March 24th.


Wheelman



Okay, So I'll only be reviewing one Vin Diesel related game this blog, I went the easy route and decided it would be Wheelman. The demo looks impressive. The game is fun enough. Driving is pretty straight forward, combat functions such as ramming have to added to help take cops and other enemies out easier. while shooting, its very reminiscent of the 10 dollar Starsky and Hutch game that came out on the PS2. The special moves are neat such as concentrated shots and the "cyclone" (handbrake 180 turn to shoot enemies behind you) don't seem like they'll be repeated to death in the real game. the Air Jacking feature shown in the demo's side mission is also a neat, albeit impossible trick.

The game is very Hollywood, as seen in random explosions and the numerous slo-mo's throughout. While the fluff is fun for awhile, I dont think it'll make for a toally substantial game. Midway really knows how to pay homage to their classic titles. Many of the license plates feature names of class games "MRTL KMBT" (Mortal Kombat) "RMP 8GE" (Rampage)
"DF3 NDR" (Defender) and "ROBO TRN" (Robotron). Wheelman comes out March 24th

Wanted : Weapons of Fate



I heard news of this movie based game a while ago, then absolutely nothing between then and the release of the demo. I wasn't a fan, so I didn't expect anything from this game. The first thing you'll notice is their attempt at quirky (and slightly referential) difficulty names : "Pussy ", "Assassin" and "The Killer". The demo itself was painfully mediocre. The settings was an airplane, so it was extremely claustrophobic. It gives me the feeling a lot of the game will be this way.

The shooting is not at all accurate, you just sort of shoot in the general direction of your crosshairs. The cover system is very sticky, making it not very functional. The specials aren't very helpful. One is an extremely slow motion dash for the next cover spot, leaving you enough time to take out one, maybe two enemies. The other is bullet curving, which is just a tacked on gimmick. It takes forever to aim a proper shot, and useless if the enemy doesn't die in one hit because you'll he to wait for him to poke out of cover to finish him off. I also feel the need to point out that the Tutorial is far more interesting than the demo level... That's just awfully sad.

I'll be posting part 2 before the end of march which will feature: Guitar Hero: Metallica, Ninja Blade and The Chronicles of Riddick : Assault on Dark Athena. Look out for that!

ERRR