Don't worry, I just lost my appetite too.
Baseball/food puns aside, not every demo is going to have that “wow” (or JWoWW) factor that causes your adrenal glands to go into overdrive. Just like when, after eating, you aren’t hungry anymore but also don’t quite feel satisfied. I guess it mostly comes down to personal opinion. Try not to take it personally.
Darksiders (out now)
This game has been out for over a month. But I guess it didn’t sell enough copies because late last week, THQ released a new demo for it. A demo that contains about 90 minutes of gameplay.
It’s not as great as it sounds.
Darksiders is what happens when God of War has inappropriate relations with World of Warcraft and whichever of them is the girl in this ridiculous scenario gives birth. It’s an action game instead of a really boring MMORPG. And there are no quests that involve gathering herbs and flying them five hours across an entire island for low amounts of experience and a few pieces of gold, so it has that going for it. But the art reminded me a lot of when I played WoW for about a week before I realized what a huge waste of time and money it was.
The battle system is much more fluid than GoW or Dante’s Inferno. You can easily dispatch air enemies by jumping and pressing B (XBOX 360). It’s way easier than trying to hit them. Land enemies aren’t much harder. A few solid hits and you can hit B to finish them off without any quick time events. This is disappointing because I find killing enemies much more satisfying with quick time events. There aren’t as many combos as either.
Pretty much everything in this game is easy. There are no impossible puzzles and all the enemies (and bosses) fight like they secretly want to die. Essentially, this is a game designed for people who want to play God of War III but don’t want to be challenged in the process.
If you’re a casual gamer who has up until this point been intimidated by the learning curve of GoW or Dante, this game is much more accessible. Hardcore fans will probably find Darksiders a bit on the easy side. It plays quickly, and is pretty entertaining, but it I didn’t feel like it was as rewarding as it could have been in the end.
Still, it’s better than World of Warcraft.
MLB 2K10 (March 2)
Do you love baseball? I sure don’t. The MLB 2k10 demo didn’t help much.
Growing up, I really enjoyed baseball games for the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis. They were easy to learn and play, and gave baseball a much needed “fun” factor. Those were simpler times.
The demo drops you into a quick game (3 innings) between two teams. You play as one of the teams. My team was in the field first. I had to pitch, which as it turns out, is very hard to do. Who knew?
Pitching requires you to not only select a pitch, but to aim it, and then properly perform movements with the joystick or it’s wild. It took me a while to get used to it, and once I did, it took me another while to get good at it. After several batters the ball started shaking in the strike zone. I found out I had to make the manager talk to the pitcher and then had to choose if my pep talk was going to give him more stamina or better composure. Isn’t baseball slow enough as it is without making us take the time to talk with the pitcher?
Perhaps this sort of intricate play appeals to the baseball obsessed, but if you love baseball that much, why not just go outside and play it? It seems like the arcade version of baseball is much better suited to video games. But, I guess if having insane amounts of control over every insignificant aspect of the game is your thing, then hooray!
Batting is much simpler, but still requires you to flick the joystick at the proper time. I would prefer to just hit A.
I don’t think this game is bad, it’s just too complicated to be very fun if you aren’t really into baseball. Plus, I hear the PS3 exclusive “MLB: The Show” is better in every way.
Still, it’s better than World of Warcraft.
Final Thought
Although I didn’t particularly enjoy either of these demos, I can easily see how they would appeal to other gamers. Anyone with any affinity toward either genre should check them out. Also, I would much rather play them over World of Warcraft any day.
Seriously, I don’t get why people love spending hours getting their pouch-making, bandage-making, or mining skills to a high rank. WTF?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I do not understand the appeal of either WoW or Denny’s, so I appreciate this article a great deal. I was intrigued by Darksiders when it came out though. I guess now I can find out if there’s any basis to my interest.
Oh crap, I forgot I downloaded the darksiders demo. I gotta get on that.
Oh, I get it. Grand Slam, Baseball Demo.
Well Played Haughey…Well played
I love Jwow (of Jersey Shore) & Dennys. That looks good.