OXM Demo #13

It seems as though it has been a while since OXM had a killer demo disc, but all that sure changed this month. Playable demos of BloodRayne, Chase, House of the Dead III, Panzer Dragoon Orta, ToeJam & Earl III, and Splinter Cell have me all fired up about the Xbox's holiday season once again.

My anticipation of PDO had begun to fade a bit, just because I knew I would have to import it in order to play it this year. I may end up doing that now. The demo gave me a feeing of glee almost matching that of when I fired up PD on the Saturn back in May of 1995.

I had not piad much attention to Splinter Cell up to this point. I had tried to play the earlier PS1 port of the Tom Clancy game (the name escapes me), and I hated it. I didn't realize that Splinter Cell was an entirely different type of game. It looks very, very promising based on the demo. I can now see why many of you are so excited about it.

Finally, I had chosen to pass on HotD3, because of the expense of the light gun. After playing the demo, I can honestly say that the game is very playable with the pad, although I would still prefer the gun. In fact, if you really think about it, playing HotD3 without the gun is not that different from playing PDO. Obviously you can't dodge or lock-on, but the idea is the same.

All of these demos just reenforce what a great time it is for gamers. GTA:VC aside, I am not sure that either the PS2 or GC can match the Xbox's fall lineup. If that's what we can get from the third place (worldwide) console, you know we are all very, very lucky this year.

So why isn't Splinter Cell in your sig??!! :p


J/k. :D

Brand new sig, just for you, Melf... smartass... :p

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Originally posted by Yoshi
In fact, if you really think about it, playing HotD3 without the gun is not that different from playing PDO.

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And so is REZ.
And so is Sewer Shark.

Makes one wonder, are games really all about graphics and what's
cool?

Also don't forget that House of the Dead 3 had HotD 2 on the same disc as well. The graphics in part 2 are beefed up slightly from the DC/Naomi version. But the frame rate takes a hit.

Oh, Yoshi finally got the demo disk :)

And WHAT FALL line up? Just Splinter Cell ? Right....


HOTD3 demo is pretty short though. Gives you some ideas about game controls(and they work very well), but then over right after 5 or so rooms. Still it was fun to try it.

What's the storyline on Splinter Cell? Or is it mostly gameplay with bits and pieces of story in it?

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Originally posted by Will
What's the storyline on Splinter Cell? Or is it mostly gameplay with bits and pieces of story in it?

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It wasn't clear from the demo. I'm sure someone here knows though.

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Originally posted by Yoshi

Finally, I had chosen to pass on HotD3, because of the expense of the light gun. After playing the demo, I can honestly say that the game is very playable with the pad, although I would still prefer the gun. In fact, if you really think about it, playing HotD3 without the gun is not that different from playing PDO. Obviously you can't dodge or lock-on, but the idea is the same.

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We share similar reactions to the HotD3 demo. I'm really tempted to pick the game up now, though logic tells me to hold off until it sees a price reduction (as almost all Sega Xbox games have seen). The parallels drawn to PDO (Rez, etc.) are duly noted as well.

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Originally posted by JefmcC

And so is REZ.
And so is Sewer Shark.

Makes one wonder, are games really all about graphics and what's
cool?

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For me at least, it's all about the fun, which the simplicity of these types of games allows me to concentrate on moreso than other distracting "gameplay elements". Sometimes gameplay depth can detract from my fun factor associated with a game. And yes, they're cool as fuck, too :)

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Originally posted by JefmcC
And so is REZ.
And so is Sewer Shark.

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Very true. I actually enjoyed Sewer Shark enough to play it until I finally finished it a couple times. There is no question that the theme of a game can make or break games with similar gameplay. Dragons are cooler than most other things.

I was pleasantly surprised by HOTD3 on the disc, I want to play more! PDO was fun, although it didn't really play any differently than the other games, which isn't a bad thing at all. Bloodrayne looked cool, but it's a letdown, you do all the cool stuff in the first minute of the fights, then you realize how generic and boring it is.

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Originally posted by JefmcC


Also don't forget that House of the Dead 3 had HotD 2 on the same disc as well. The graphics in part 2 are beefed up slightly from the DC/Naomi version. But the frame rate takes a hit.

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The graphics aren't beefed up in the slightest. You also forgot to mention the washed out colors compared to the DC/arcade versions, and the fact that the music doesn't constantly cycle in the levels anymore, it just restarts....



Also I've been meaning to ask, what level is on the HotD3 demo? If it's level 0, then your in for a treat since every other level is like 50x better than that one.

Yep. HOTD3 demo is Level 0 :)

Seriously Yoshi, it seems everything you bash you soon find out you like. Maybe you should take the hint and stop with the bashing of everything before playing them :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by Chojin

Also I've been meaning to ask, what level is on the HotD3 demo? If it's level 0, then your in for a treat since every other level is like 50x better than that one.

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Its a remixed version of Chapter Zero. Its about twice as long as the in-game Chapter Zero.
And yes, Chapters One to Five are a billion times better than Chapter Zero :)

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Originally posted by Yoshi

All of these demos just reenforce what a great time it is for gamers. GTA:VC aside, I am not sure that either the PS2 or GC can match the Xbox's fall lineup. If that's what we can get from the third place (worldwide) console, you know we are all very, very lucky this year.

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Damn straight, about time you recognized, Yoshi :)

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Originally posted by Chojin
Also I've been meaning to ask, what level is on the HotD3 demo? If it's level 0, then your in for a treat since every other level is like 50x better than that one.

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I agree. I picked this game up yesterday and my purchase has more than been justified. The demo was just but a taste of the excellence to follow.

OXM (and Microsoft, or whoever dictates the monthly disc contents) came through big time with the latest issue. It's one of the very few demo discs that I've gone back to over and over.

1. Splinter Cell -- Sweet. And apparently it only touches upon how cool the finished game is going to be.

2. Orta -- Also sweet. Also funny, because I can't wait to hear the groans from gamers who buy Orta, having never played the earlier Panzer titles, and will invariably wonder what all the hype was about. ("WTF? It's on rails?!? I beat it in a couple of hours. I'm trading it in for a deposit on High Heat 2004.")

3. HOTD3 -- didn't play it, since I bought the game. But as many of you have learned, it's a quality light gun game. Fun stuff, especially as an excuse to get your non-gamer friends(if you have any)to sit down and play a game with you.

4. Even a few of the videos (Halo 2 and Unreal) were worth watching.

5. I like Rez. I like Sewer Shark -- especially the part when you start getting called "Exterminator".

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Originally posted by Andy
Seriously Yoshi, it seems everything you bash you soon find out you like. Maybe you should take the hint and stop with the bashing of everything before playing them :rolleyes:

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Care to exlpain what of those three games I have ever "bashed"? My bashing of Sega games is rare, and I didn't know enough about Splinter Cell to bash it. Nice try though.

Good God. Please. Someone. Explain what is so great about Splinter Cell. Cuz I just played the demo, and all it did was irritate me to no end. My biggest problem is the camera. It's absolute puke. I could find no comfortable placement for it. If I set it behind the character I couldn't see what was in front of him cuz the Reed Richards-lookin' jerkoff took up half the screen. Setting it above the guy let me see all of 2 feet in front of him. A free camera in tight spaces is so very, very bad. So is binding the reset camera button to...whatever pushing in the right stick is called on the Xbox controller. I was never a big fan of MGS, but at least I could SEE what was happening in those games. Actually, if MGS2 had a camera like this I would've spared me from the horror of Raiden's heiney, which would've been nice.

Also, I've been lead to believe that a shot to the head equals instant death. I could be wrong, since I've never killed a man myself, but I DO have a subscription to Soldier of Fortune, which I'd say makes up for my lack of firsthand experience. It really shouldn't take three point blank shots to a guy's noggin for him to drop. What are Russsians skulls made out of?!

All I have to say about the gameplay is it plays like a PC game. That's not really a compliment.

Of course me hating it is really irrelevant, since there's already ONE BAZILLION PREORDERS!@# and it's going to outsell Vice City and it's game of the year and HYPE HYPE HYPE everyone's awaiting this game even though I've never heard ANYONE mention it outside of these boards. Still. GAME OF THE WILLENNIUM! (After Doom 3.) (And Blinx.)

Oh yeah, that Toe Jam & Earl demo is the ugliest ugliest thing I've ever seen. That cutscene was worse than anything in MASTER OF DISGUISE.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
Care to exlpain what of those three games I have ever "bashed"? My bashing of Sega games is rare, and I didn't know enough about Splinter Cell to bash it. Nice try though.

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I didn't mean the bashing of those individual games, but the Xbox in general :p

I bought it just to play the PDO demo. I'm still not sure what the point of the speed buttons is, because I didn't need to use them at all, nor did I find much use for the alternate dragon forms. It's just a demo, so I guess we'll see what the new gameplay features are really for once the game is released.

And am I the only one who's experienced brutally long load times on the demo discs? I thought my XBOX was gonna die, judging by the load times and the accompanying sounds.

Got mine today (finally). In regards to Splinter Cell headshots, he doesn't always shoot straight. I've noticed this in regards to shooting out lights, you can see the bullet holes a couple inches away from the center of the aiming reticle (yes, even when held completely still). That said, I got a near-perfect run my third time through where I only had to kill one guy, and that's because I missed when I tossed a pop can at his head.

Now, the bad: Smilebit, why the hell is PDO not running in high-res? Every XBox game runs in it, so this had better just be a demo thing! Sitting there scrolling through the demos, it made PDO look a lot worse then it should since it had to be run at a lower resolution.

Also, I played of TJ&E and had quite a bit of fun with it. Unfortunately, that ran out once my roomie found a glitch in which his respawn point was located over nothingness. Spawn, fall, die, repeat endlessly. Feh.

Well, Aiming is little bit off in the demo, but once you get the hang on controls, aiming and shooting right becomes second nature. ANd SC deserves all the praise it gets.

I also tried Toe Jam And Earl 3 demo, and while I never played original, nor I even knew what the game was about, it was pretty funny :)

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Originally posted by Yoshi
GTA:VC aside, I am not sure that either the PS2 or GC can match the Xbox's fall lineup. If that's what we can get from the third place (worldwide) console, you know we are all very, very lucky this year.

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Erm...

Is there something that I'm missing in xbox' lineup?

I asked the same question on the first page?

Other than Splinter Cell what else is on Xbox that makes it so hot?

Splinter Cell is pretty cool, I am not a huge fan of the MGS games, but SC is much better. Its so cool to sneak around in the complete darkness, or to watch a guy try to find you. As for the camera, its fine. If you can't manage a Free Control camera then you are an idiot. And hanging on pipes is very cool.

The Orta demo fucking rocks, I can't wait to get this game.

Hotd3, its just so empty! Hardly any suprises, all the enemys just come in a big pack. You hardly have to aim ever, you just get the crosshairs in the general area and pull the trigger, and since its a shot gun you will hit like 4 guys in one shot. This game looked cooler Cell Shaded.

Bloodraye, blah. Uninteresting storyline and character, and plays awkward. I don't like it when I want to jump to the left and I am forced to do a side cartwheel jump.

TJ&E3, other then the awful intro the game is pretty fun. I really like the graphics, I'll get it when its cheap.

CHase, stupid stupid game.

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Originally posted by Clash_Master

Hotd3, its just so empty! Hardly any suprises, all the enemys just come in a big pack. You hardly have to aim ever, you just get the crosshairs in the general area and pull the trigger, and since its a shot gun you will hit like 4 guys in one shot. This game looked cooler Cell Shaded.

TJ&E3, other then the awful intro the game is pretty fun. I really like the graphics, I'll get it when its cheap.

CHase, stupid stupid game.

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(1) The actual game is much cooler then the demo. The demo is just the intro bit.
(2) I'll buy it for $20 too :)
(3) That Chase demo made me dumber. Horrid, horrid "game."
- Kabuki

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Originally posted by Despair
Well, Aiming is little bit off in the demo, but once you get the hang on controls, aiming and shooting right becomes second nature.

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No, he's actually not a sniper-perfect shot. Stand at the end of a hallway and fire at a single point a few times, and then go check the bullet holes. You'll notice they're scattered about, as it should be considering what weapon he's using.

I tend to prefer gameplay over strict realism (it's annoying to try and snipe those small circle lights only to both miss by an inch and alert a guard), but I can deal with it. Especially since it's so easy to not kill anyone (at least in the demo).

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Originally posted by Clash_Master
As for the camera, its fine. If you can't manage a Free Control camera then you are an idiot. And hanging on pipes is very cool.

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Fine? OK. Maybe. But it is not "good". I can manage a free camera just fine, thank you, but in a game like this I think it really detracts from zee experience. Heck, I usually prefer a free camera, but when I am constantly tweaking it just so I can see what's 2 feet in front of me something's wrong. A scripted camera would be much, much better. Or at least a half assed one. How hard would it be for the camera to just switch behind me when I turn a damn corner? It doesn't seem to bother everyone, but this kind of thing annoys the hell outta me.

But with the free camera you can use it to look around corners and such. I like free camera better so I can make the best Angles for my self then having to rely on the ones they give me, plus after a while you get used to it and control it like you would a charcter, its almost zen like. Maybe thats streching it.

Some people never satisfied. If the game have fixed camera, they complain and if game has free camera they complain !

Just get used to it, and enjoy the damn game, and quit whining !