Interscription

Over the past several days, there has been an avalanche of fairly high-profile demos on Xbox Live.  The DLB10000 and I have discussed this at length: demos and firmware updates are two of the most wonderful things about this generation of consoles.  With the holiday season fast approaching, I am glad some companies are taking time to demonstrate their wares to the masses before we all go broke trying to purchase games for our friends and loved ones…and maybe one or two for ourselves.

I had an opportunity to download four demos and take them for a spin: Mirror’s Edge, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Naruto: The Broken Bond, and Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts ‘n Bolts (that’s an obscene amount of colons…)

Mirror’s Edge was the first one I checked out, a completely stylized FPR (first-person “runner”) experience.  The basic premise is that in the relatively near future, information will be oppresively monitored, and the only way to secretly pass information without this scary version of the Patriot Act pissing all over it, “runners” are hired to physically bring information from one point to another.  These runners are in essence super “street climbers” that take to the rooftops of the city (not sure which city, actually) to bring that information to/from their clients.

Overall I’d say this demo was a really successful one.  The graphics are beautiful (if a bit minimalist) and the framerate stays quite solid during the demo.  The whole package is also fairly well built, from the “wow, I can do that?” tutorial to the demo level that had my heart racing as I ran away from a hail of gunfire with my recently-learnred acrobatic prowess.  The important thing to remember is that, while this is technically an action game, this is not The Matrix.  You will NOT be doing too much in the way of hand-to-hand combat or gunplay (although there is a small smattering).  The point is to run, plain and simple.  There is a subtle (and yet quite pronounced…it’ll make sense when you play it) effect where the most efficient path is highlighted blood red, and this serves as your HUD to let you know where to go next.  It works in the overall presentation, and I never felt like it was beating me over the head with instructions (although the guy in your ear yelling at you to get to the next location could’ve been cooled down a bit).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DEMO TO YOUR XBOX 360

Next up is the Naruto: The Broken Bond demo.  Cel-shading certainly has come a long way (that screenshot should prove it to you).  The presentation is just amazing for this title!  I’m actually shocked that they have so faithfully recreated a cartoon’s look and feel and made it interactive (the battle sequences in particular are ripped right out of a kid’s Saturday morning dreams).  I am in no way a Naruto fan (never seen an episode), but this is one of the most intensely accurate renderings of a cartoon I’ve seen.

Unfortunately the controls are not quite what I’d like them to be.  Many times during the demo, the controls were just a little too floaty and unpredictable.  Since this is basically just a mash-up of third person 3D platforming and a “2-and-a-half D” fighter, the controls shouldn’t feel so loose (in other words, people have done both of those things flawlessly before).  I still had fun with the demo, and I’m sure I’d play through the full retail game if I were a Naruto fan, but as it stands I’ll probably only rent it if I’m out of other games to play (not looking too likely with Gears 2 and the rest of the holiday onslaught right around the corner).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DEMO TO YOUR XBOX 360

Banjo & Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.  Where to begin on this one.  I’ll refrain from commenting on the trippy visuals and kiddie-friendly characters, and simply talk about the jam-packed world that Rare has created.  The game at first glance seems to be a standard 3D platformer, but in actuality, the meat of the game is a fairly robust vehicle creation toolkit.  Every level has a certain amount of challenges that need to be completed, and these can only be completed by utilizing the correct type of vehicle.  The workshop looks to be endless amounts of fun, and really has the almost limitless potential for creativity within the confines of the game world’s rules.  Of course, different types of vehicles are suited for different types of activities (i.e. - A tank-like vehicle is much better for offense/defense missions than races, etc.).  Overall I’d say this is probably one to rent, and maybe keep if I find I have it for too long (gotta love Gamefly!).

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DEMO TO YOUR XBOX 360

I remember playing the original pixel-ey version of Tomb Raider on the PC (my PC at the time predated the proliferation of 3D accelerators, so the animation and…”3D-ness” of the engine were incredible).  According to Wikipedia, the original was released in late 1996, almost exactly 12 years ago (a few lifetimes in development years).  It’s amazing how similar this title feels.  The graphics are much sharper (and in some cases breathtaking, which I’ll get to in a minute), there are lots more physics effects at work, and the movement is somewhat more flexible than the original Tomb Raider.

But this is still.   DEFINITELY.  Tomb Raider.

That doesn’t stop the game from being impressive, though.  This demo takes place in Thailand, fairly early on in the full game from what I understand, and it is a looker.  The game starts you off on your mini-yacht, and the water around you swells and splashes against a mountain face that you’ll have to climb as part of the demo’s intro.  After going through the tutorial motions (this wasn’t quite as intuitive or flowing as I had hoped for a tutorial), you are dumped out in front of one hell of a vista, with billowing clouds, lush vegetation, authentic-feeling ruins, and even the requisite birds soaring in the distance.  And the music?  Chillingly beautiful, almost haunting.  Khidr would most likely describe it as “Generic World Music”, but this particular dose hit me hard.  Beautifully arranged, appropriately ambient, and with an excellent audio engine to back it up that organically faded in the stronger portion of the arrangement when I reached the peak I mentioned above.  It was a great example of superb production, and it is a model for other games to follow.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE DEMO TO YOUR XBOX 360

In summary?  Go download them all, of course!  They’re free!  And in this terrible economic climate, free is most definitely good.