View Single Post
Old 09-10-2004, 10:27 AM   #1
maladroid
self-distracted
 
maladroid's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Groundhog Day
Posts: 198
Send a message via MSN to maladroid
Default Demos: What do you think of them?

Fishcube asked in her thread where to download demos which gave me the idea:
What makes a good demo, especially when talking about adventure games?

I recently played the PoP:The Sands of time demo which was really fascinating! You get to try all the moves in both combat and climbing/jumping conditions, plus there are 2 big cinematics (one of them is probably the intro) for the gamer to see what the story is about.

Sands of time is not an adventure though so I guess it is easier to make a good demo out of it. Some people said in another thread that Beyond Good and Evil had a mediocre demo that didn't arouse tha gamer's interest. I haven't played the demo but I agree with the opinion that BG&E unfolds it's true beauty only when experienced as a whole.

Well I seem to have got a lillte off topic here (how did I manage to do that when I set the topic myself? :eek: )
I rarely play adventure demos and usually rely on the reviews but in the rare occasions that I do, I am usually persuaded to buy the game. At least that happened with Syberia, Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island, as I can recollect. I don't remember being discouraged to buy a game after playing it's demo, but then again I don't play many of them (demos that is) so I guess that doesn't say much.


Oh well, anyway I mostly wanted to hear your opinions on demos. What, in your opinion should or shouldn't be included in a demo? Should adventure games (and story-driven games in general) unleash demos or not? I particularly think adventures, action-adventures and survival-horror games to be story driven allthough more and more games seem to fall into this category.
Also what was the best demo you ever played? What made it so good and did the actual game fulfill the promises? Now that I think of it, should a demo just try to be enjoyable no matter what or representative of the whole game?

Ok I'll just shut up now and let you tell me what you think
__________________
"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
-Albert Einstein-

Proud supporter of Tex Murphy - Project Fedora
maladroid is offline