Jun 27th, 2003, 06:06 PM
PS2 Demo Reviews
I've been cleaning up my room, which basically consists of sorting piles of magazines, and throwing out ones I'm sure I don't want (which is impossible for me, I still have magazines from 10 years ago).
So I was sorting through my Official US Playstation Magazines (OPM), and I realized there was a handful of demos on the discs included I never bothered to play. So I did. Here are some opinions on the games based on the demos, because I'm bored.
Keep in mind, these are demos. Some things may be missing or changed from the final versions.
Def Jam Vendetta (Wrestling/Fighting): Rappers in the squared circle + fantasy characters + women = This. What "This" is, is a somewhat enjoyable game, but still lacking quite a bit. The pace of the action feels slow at times, and countering is handled poorly. Controls feel a little stiff as well, and there's no weapons other than your own fists and feet. As far as a wrestling game, this is missing quite a bit.
As far as fighting games go, it's the same. I know the full version has a somewhat interesting career mode of sorts, but I'd rather look toward a sequel that hopefully features improvements. Oh, and the whole rapper thing is just a gimmick that won't appeal to nonfans.
Splinter Cell (Action): Well, I'll admit the gameplay is deep. You have everything from a mini-cam you can slip under doorways to see into a room, to the ability to jump up and kick off a wall to reach higher areas. But there's just too much that just doesn't work. Trying to do the double-jump with any sort of usefulness is near-impossible. And most of the time, you'll land on the ground hard, and lose life.
Controls aside, the game is promising, and I can see why so many people like it. The stealth and shadow features are wonderful, and there are seemingly a couple different ways to approach a mission. But for me, I just know the minute a mission requires me to double-jump up a ledge, I'd be stuck.
Sly Cooper (Platformer): I usually hate Platformers. They usually lack the deep gameplay or story really required for me to get into a game. That's why I hate Mario games so much. But this game is by far the best demo I played out of all these. The toon-shaded graphics work incredibly well, the gameplay is smooth, and the skills are varied and enjoyable. Think of it like Metal Gear Solid meets Donkey Kong 64. The only problems lie in a lack of story, as is the case of all Platformers.
But it's fun. That's all there is to it. Oh, and in the levels, you find hidden message-in-a-bottles which eventually lead to discovering combinations for vaults, which unlock new skills for you to use. I'm definitely going to look into this game when it drops to $20. I imagine this title is easily overlooked. Don't do that.
Jak and Daxter (Platformer): Unlike Sly, this game feels more like you're running around with little agenda. It could just be the demo, but there was a lack of special skills and interactivity with the levels. You just run around and punch things, and jump across little chasms. The puzzles are few and simple. The word, "boring" comes to mind.
But this is most likely the fault of the demo. I recall seeing things like weapons and whatnot in the commercials, so I'm sure they're in there somewhere. I'm willing to give this game another shot, but only as a rental.
Hitman 2 (Action): Bleh. Some games are really great, but show signs of not being for everyone. This is one of them. The game has a lot of depth to it, but it's just so stupid. Nothing says action like WALKING. The game tries to act like there's a lot of freedom in how to complete each mission. Near as I can tell, the only freedom is how you kill the person you need to kill. How you get to that point is limited to one or two ways. All the other ways that pass as "freedom," lead to getting your ass kicked.
And that's a major problem. Unless you're using a walkthrough the whole way through, you are in for a ton of trial and error. To get into the building to kill the guy, I needed to kill a postman and steal his clothes and flowers. Then I dragged him to a place where I THOUGHT he wouldn't be found. He was. So I dragged him somewhere else, and went to the gate. They used a metal detector and found my guns. So I dropped my guns. I got in, and tried to sneak into the house instead of walking up the front door. I peeked around the corner and was spotted. And they also found the dead postman.
It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the game didn't have to load all over again when you restarted, but it just makes things so tedious. I finally got sick of this game and turned it off. Stupid game.
Then there was Wild Arms 3 and Suikoden 3. Wild Arms had some interesting concepts, but didn't hold my interest. And they had too much talk about wings and stuff, as a metaphor for being on your own.
Suikoden just sucked. I fought two battles and watched an assload of talking. Both battles only had one guy, and was killed in one hit. Then they wanted me to pick another character (the game features this perspective thing, where you see the game's story through the eyes of the character you choose). I just said "fuck that," and turned it off.
Oh, and in that boring time, one of my characters died in what was supposed to be dramatic. But since I only knew the guy's name and had only been actually playing for about 2 minutes, I didn't care. And the did the whole thing in slow motion. Christ, not even Aeris had as much time spent on her as this. And then the main character starts getting sad when he and his Sergeant (which is a giant talking duck) yells at him for it. I hate this game.
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