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There have been so many demos and betas out recently that I thought I'd give my opinions on the ones I've played as a mini review:
Call of Duty 5 (360 Beta)
The multiplayer Beta of Call of Duty 5 can be summed up as: Same game, different setting. It feels like COD4 but without the modern day weapons and with a more gritty WWII feel. That’s no bad thing as far as the game engine goes and it’s still fun to play, but will players feel like they’ve seen it all before?
I’m not sure that the WWII setting is enough to warrant a purchase if you already own the previous game. It will all depend on the single player and whether the muti-player to throw up some surprises.
Little Big Planet (PS3 Beta)
Probably the most talked about game this year, this could well have been a case of being over-hyped but, after playing the beta, it’s easy to see why so much praise is being dished out for this game. From the narration from Stephen Fry to the ease in which you can design whole new worlds, this really is one of the games of the year.
The Beta gave us the chance to try out the tutorial levels and swap some of our own levels over PSN. This worked really well and the best part is when someone drops in to play with you on a level, making for some great interaction. Some of the levels being designed in the short space that the beta was available were amazing. This has to be a must for any PS3 owner on its November 5th release.
Mirror’s Edge (PS3 and 360 Demo)
I think Mirror’s Edge is going to be one of those games that you won’t be sure about till you’ve played it. Just as well that there’s a good demo out now on 360 and PS3 to try it out.
The demo consists of a training run through the city and then a small part of the first level. I was impressed by both the graphics, which are beautifully stylish, and the handling. While it takes a little while to get to grips with the control system, once you do there will be no turning back. Flying over frighteningly high gaps between rooftops is really quite breathtaking and I only found the claustrophobic inside parts where you have to climb on boxes to be a bit disappointing.
Overall, this is a really refreshing change from the standard FPS with little or no combat and lots of heart-in-mouth moments as you just make a jump and cling on to a railing. Before playing the demo I wasn’t convinced by the idea of free-running in first person, but now I’m signed up!
Resistance 2 (PS3 beta)
I’ve read the review of the full game, which mention the massive 30 player online and vast levels. Playing the beta you really don’t get much of a sense of this scale, but you do get to see what a great multiplayer game this has turned out to be. Starting off feeling generic and with no redeeming features of it’s own to separate it from the pack, I soon realised that it’s strengths lay in smaller additions to the genre and the effort that has gone into tweeking the multi-player experience. I’m pretty sure the team building this have been taking ideas from the best FPS games to incorporate in to their own.
That said, it still doesn’t feel quite as good as COD4 at the moment, but that might change in the full game.
Endwar (360 and PS3 Demo)
The 360 demo has been out for a while now and the PS3 one was release yesterday. I’ve played both and can say that they feel almost the same, with the Xbox headset making it a little more comfortable than my PS3 bluetooth earpiece, but then that’s just my setup.
Endwar is different in that it uses voice commands to move and order your troops. Holding down the trigger button you say the phrases in parts as the options come up on screen. I started off slowly but soon found it really quick to deploy my ground and air forces in the right direction.
The game works surprisingly well. The comments are all understood, even when I used terrible comedy accents (Irish and Mexican if you really want to know!) and the troops are so easy to order around. The only thing I found annoying was the lack of movement in the camera when I wanted a clearer view of the enemy. Whether it can keep up the pace and interest through the whole game remains to be seen though.
Red Faction (360 Beta)
Red Faction was one of the first great PS2 FPS games, some great ideas and environments made it a classic, this new game doesn’t feel anything like the 2 that went before it, but then it’s not surprising as this is a multi-player beta.
The main idea here is the destructible environments, but even these felt a bit shallow after playing games that have already done it better (Bad Company) and the mars setting isn’t really the best looking game environment. Still, it’s early days and the game might be improved yet. As it stands, I just didn’t get the feeling that there was anything there to recommend it above all the other multi-player shooters around at the moment.
Call of Duty 5 (360 Beta)
The multiplayer Beta of Call of Duty 5 can be summed up as: Same game, different setting. It feels like COD4 but without the modern day weapons and with a more gritty WWII feel. That’s no bad thing as far as the game engine goes and it’s still fun to play, but will players feel like they’ve seen it all before?
I’m not sure that the WWII setting is enough to warrant a purchase if you already own the previous game. It will all depend on the single player and whether the muti-player to throw up some surprises.
Little Big Planet (PS3 Beta)
Probably the most talked about game this year, this could well have been a case of being over-hyped but, after playing the beta, it’s easy to see why so much praise is being dished out for this game. From the narration from Stephen Fry to the ease in which you can design whole new worlds, this really is one of the games of the year.
The Beta gave us the chance to try out the tutorial levels and swap some of our own levels over PSN. This worked really well and the best part is when someone drops in to play with you on a level, making for some great interaction. Some of the levels being designed in the short space that the beta was available were amazing. This has to be a must for any PS3 owner on its November 5th release.
Mirror’s Edge (PS3 and 360 Demo)
I think Mirror’s Edge is going to be one of those games that you won’t be sure about till you’ve played it. Just as well that there’s a good demo out now on 360 and PS3 to try it out.
The demo consists of a training run through the city and then a small part of the first level. I was impressed by both the graphics, which are beautifully stylish, and the handling. While it takes a little while to get to grips with the control system, once you do there will be no turning back. Flying over frighteningly high gaps between rooftops is really quite breathtaking and I only found the claustrophobic inside parts where you have to climb on boxes to be a bit disappointing.
Overall, this is a really refreshing change from the standard FPS with little or no combat and lots of heart-in-mouth moments as you just make a jump and cling on to a railing. Before playing the demo I wasn’t convinced by the idea of free-running in first person, but now I’m signed up!
Resistance 2 (PS3 beta)
I’ve read the review of the full game, which mention the massive 30 player online and vast levels. Playing the beta you really don’t get much of a sense of this scale, but you do get to see what a great multiplayer game this has turned out to be. Starting off feeling generic and with no redeeming features of it’s own to separate it from the pack, I soon realised that it’s strengths lay in smaller additions to the genre and the effort that has gone into tweeking the multi-player experience. I’m pretty sure the team building this have been taking ideas from the best FPS games to incorporate in to their own.
That said, it still doesn’t feel quite as good as COD4 at the moment, but that might change in the full game.
Endwar (360 and PS3 Demo)
The 360 demo has been out for a while now and the PS3 one was release yesterday. I’ve played both and can say that they feel almost the same, with the Xbox headset making it a little more comfortable than my PS3 bluetooth earpiece, but then that’s just my setup.
Endwar is different in that it uses voice commands to move and order your troops. Holding down the trigger button you say the phrases in parts as the options come up on screen. I started off slowly but soon found it really quick to deploy my ground and air forces in the right direction.
The game works surprisingly well. The comments are all understood, even when I used terrible comedy accents (Irish and Mexican if you really want to know!) and the troops are so easy to order around. The only thing I found annoying was the lack of movement in the camera when I wanted a clearer view of the enemy. Whether it can keep up the pace and interest through the whole game remains to be seen though.
Red Faction (360 Beta)
Red Faction was one of the first great PS2 FPS games, some great ideas and environments made it a classic, this new game doesn’t feel anything like the 2 that went before it, but then it’s not surprising as this is a multi-player beta.
The main idea here is the destructible environments, but even these felt a bit shallow after playing games that have already done it better (Bad Company) and the mars setting isn’t really the best looking game environment. Still, it’s early days and the game might be improved yet. As it stands, I just didn’t get the feeling that there was anything there to recommend it above all the other multi-player shooters around at the moment.
Ooh! Cheers for reminding me about the Mirror's Edge demo, I'll download it later on. I've been kinda wrapped up in Fable II to really notice anything new on the dashboard!
Personally I found the End War demo too complicated to be fun, the voice control worked great but the gameplay involved too much multi-tasking for my tastes, and that was just with 2 units onscreen.
Personally I found the End War demo too complicated to be fun, the voice control worked great but the gameplay involved too much multi-tasking for my tastes, and that was just with 2 units onscreen.
There have been so many demos and betas out recently that I thought I'd give my opinions on the ones I've played as a mini review:
Call of Duty 5 (360 Beta)
The multiplayer Beta of Call of Duty 5 can be summed up as: Same game, different setting. It feels like COD4 but without the modern day weapons and with a more gritty WWII feel. That’s no bad thing as far as the game engine goes and it’s still fun to play, but will players feel like they’ve seen it all before?
I’m not sure that the WWII setting is enough to warrant a purchase if you already own the previous game. It will all depend on the single player and whether the muti-player to throw up some surprises.
Little Big Planet (PS3 Beta)
Probably the most talked about game this year, this could well have been a case of being over-hyped but, after playing the beta, it’s easy to see why so much praise is being dished out for this game. From the narration from Stephen Fry to the ease in which you can design whole new worlds, this really is one of the games of the year.
The Beta gave us the chance to try out the tutorial levels and swap some of our own levels over PSN. This worked really well and the best part is when someone drops in to play with you on a level, making for some great interaction. Some of the levels being designed in the short space that the beta was available were amazing. This has to be a must for any PS3 owner on its November 5th release.
Mirror’s Edge (PS3 and 360 Demo)
I think Mirror’s Edge is going to be one of those games that you won’t be sure about till you’ve played it. Just as well that there’s a good demo out now on 360 and PS3 to try it out.
The demo consists of a training run through the city and then a small part of the first level. I was impressed by both the graphics, which are beautifully stylish, and the handling. While it takes a little while to get to grips with the control system, once you do there will be no turning back. Flying over frighteningly high gaps between rooftops is really quite breathtaking and I only found the claustrophobic inside parts where you have to climb on boxes to be a bit disappointing.
Overall, this is a really refreshing change from the standard FPS with little or no combat and lots of heart-in-mouth moments as you just make a jump and cling on to a railing. Before playing the demo I wasn’t convinced by the idea of free-running in first person, but now I’m signed up!
Resistance 2 (PS3 beta)
I’ve read the review of the full game, which mention the massive 30 player online and vast levels. Playing the beta you really don’t get much of a sense of this scale, but you do get to see what a great multiplayer game this has turned out to be. Starting off feeling generic and with no redeeming features of it’s own to separate it from the pack, I soon realised that it’s strengths lay in smaller additions to the genre and the effort that has gone into tweeking the multi-player experience. I’m pretty sure the team building this have been taking ideas from the best FPS games to incorporate in to their own.
That said, it still doesn’t feel quite as good as COD4 at the moment, but that might change in the full game.
Endwar (360 and PS3 Demo)
The 360 demo has been out for a while now and the PS3 one was release yesterday. I’ve played both and can say that they feel almost the same, with the Xbox headset making it a little more comfortable than my PS3 bluetooth earpiece, but then that’s just my setup.
Endwar is different in that it uses voice commands to move and order your troops. Holding down the trigger button you say the phrases in parts as the options come up on screen. I started off slowly but soon found it really quick to deploy my ground and air forces in the right direction.
The game works surprisingly well. The comments are all understood, even when I used terrible comedy accents (Irish and Mexican if you really want to know!) and the troops are so easy to order around. The only thing I found annoying was the lack of movement in the camera when I wanted a clearer view of the enemy. Whether it can keep up the pace and interest through the whole game remains to be seen though.
Red Faction (360 Beta)
Red Faction was one of the first great PS2 FPS games, some great ideas and environments made it a classic, this new game doesn’t feel anything like the 2 that went before it, but then it’s not surprising as this is a multi-player beta.
The main idea here is the destructible environments, but even these felt a bit shallow after playing games that have already done it better (Bad Company) and the mars setting isn’t really the best looking game environment. Still, it’s early days and the game might be improved yet. As it stands, I just didn’t get the feeling that there was anything there to recommend it above all the other multi-player shooters around at the moment.
Call of Duty 5 (360 Beta)
The multiplayer Beta of Call of Duty 5 can be summed up as: Same game, different setting. It feels like COD4 but without the modern day weapons and with a more gritty WWII feel. That’s no bad thing as far as the game engine goes and it’s still fun to play, but will players feel like they’ve seen it all before?
I’m not sure that the WWII setting is enough to warrant a purchase if you already own the previous game. It will all depend on the single player and whether the muti-player to throw up some surprises.
Little Big Planet (PS3 Beta)
Probably the most talked about game this year, this could well have been a case of being over-hyped but, after playing the beta, it’s easy to see why so much praise is being dished out for this game. From the narration from Stephen Fry to the ease in which you can design whole new worlds, this really is one of the games of the year.
The Beta gave us the chance to try out the tutorial levels and swap some of our own levels over PSN. This worked really well and the best part is when someone drops in to play with you on a level, making for some great interaction. Some of the levels being designed in the short space that the beta was available were amazing. This has to be a must for any PS3 owner on its November 5th release.
Mirror’s Edge (PS3 and 360 Demo)
I think Mirror’s Edge is going to be one of those games that you won’t be sure about till you’ve played it. Just as well that there’s a good demo out now on 360 and PS3 to try it out.
The demo consists of a training run through the city and then a small part of the first level. I was impressed by both the graphics, which are beautifully stylish, and the handling. While it takes a little while to get to grips with the control system, once you do there will be no turning back. Flying over frighteningly high gaps between rooftops is really quite breathtaking and I only found the claustrophobic inside parts where you have to climb on boxes to be a bit disappointing.
Overall, this is a really refreshing change from the standard FPS with little or no combat and lots of heart-in-mouth moments as you just make a jump and cling on to a railing. Before playing the demo I wasn’t convinced by the idea of free-running in first person, but now I’m signed up!
Resistance 2 (PS3 beta)
I’ve read the review of the full game, which mention the massive 30 player online and vast levels. Playing the beta you really don’t get much of a sense of this scale, but you do get to see what a great multiplayer game this has turned out to be. Starting off feeling generic and with no redeeming features of it’s own to separate it from the pack, I soon realised that it’s strengths lay in smaller additions to the genre and the effort that has gone into tweeking the multi-player experience. I’m pretty sure the team building this have been taking ideas from the best FPS games to incorporate in to their own.
That said, it still doesn’t feel quite as good as COD4 at the moment, but that might change in the full game.
Endwar (360 and PS3 Demo)
The 360 demo has been out for a while now and the PS3 one was release yesterday. I’ve played both and can say that they feel almost the same, with the Xbox headset making it a little more comfortable than my PS3 bluetooth earpiece, but then that’s just my setup.
Endwar is different in that it uses voice commands to move and order your troops. Holding down the trigger button you say the phrases in parts as the options come up on screen. I started off slowly but soon found it really quick to deploy my ground and air forces in the right direction.
The game works surprisingly well. The comments are all understood, even when I used terrible comedy accents (Irish and Mexican if you really want to know!) and the troops are so easy to order around. The only thing I found annoying was the lack of movement in the camera when I wanted a clearer view of the enemy. Whether it can keep up the pace and interest through the whole game remains to be seen though.
Red Faction (360 Beta)
Red Faction was one of the first great PS2 FPS games, some great ideas and environments made it a classic, this new game doesn’t feel anything like the 2 that went before it, but then it’s not surprising as this is a multi-player beta.
The main idea here is the destructible environments, but even these felt a bit shallow after playing games that have already done it better (Bad Company) and the mars setting isn’t really the best looking game environment. Still, it’s early days and the game might be improved yet. As it stands, I just didn’t get the feeling that there was anything there to recommend it above all the other multi-player shooters around at the moment.