Fox's Gaming Rant: Demos

[Fusion]

Demos, Shareware, Trials, you name it, it's a sample of the full product.  But is it really a sample of the full product or is it just a cut-down and crippled version of the full product you can't get any kind of enjoyment out of?

So I took some time to reflect back on my younger days and checked the demo disc that came with my old PSX (first gen model, even.  It was not called the PSone back then).  It had 11 Demos, 10 right in your face and 1 hidden, as well as 14 videos.  Quite packy for a demo disc.  These games all had something in common: They were samples of the full game, you know you'd get a good taste of a game you want to play.  You'd get a whole level, or even two, a mission, or something.  For example, the Raystorm demo I had started you off on the 4th stage, you got to choose what R-Gray you flew and the control scheme.  Basically what you're allowed to do to just play the game.  It also had a demo of Armored Core, which had 2 missions from the full game, complete parts customization, shop system with additional parts and all of that.  It was a nice big slice of the full game.

Now, I wonder, where the hell did this go?  Getting a slice of the good part of the game just seems to have vanished.  Some games' trials vary differently: Some are a time-limited demo that has all the features of the full program, others are crippled freeware versions with additional features if you register.  Wait, time-limited?  I can only play this game for 30 minutes and that's it?  What a load of bullshit.  You give me the full version, but only 30 minutes to tinker around?  That's not even enough time to get a good feel for everything!  That's like, if you get into the program it'll just randomly close out and say "BUY THE FULL THING TO KEEP PLAYING, WE WANT YOUR MONEY AND WE WANT IT NOW SO FORK IT OVER DUMBASS" without even so much as a little bit of respect.

Then there's the other kinds of trials that only give you a slice of the training portion of the game, and that's it.  We just get to play the tutorial over, and over, and over, and over again.  Whatever happened to sticking us in the meat of the action, tempting us with plot to come while waving that "buy the full game, it has these features!" flag?  Seems like that's a luxury these days, since a lot of game demos don't seem to even care about the user end of the deal.  TimeShift's old PC Demo only had 1 level, it had all the basic time powers but it only had 2, maybe 3 weapons total and you didn't even really need to use the time powers beyond their required (and rather forced) use!

Games like Dragonball Z: Burst Limit have a demo that puts you in the thick of the action, letting you take control of a character and giving you a sample of the most important features of the game, as well as allowing you to experience the full features of the in-battle combat system.  This is what more demos need to be like, instead of these crippled trial versions that let you play for only like 60 minutes then make you buy the full version if you ever want to give it a second thought if you hated it.  60 Minutes isn't enough for me when I want to play a game, but not even letting me judge a game by a piece of it's content...

And that's what I hate about video games right now: Demos that have barely any content whatsoever.

[Jesuszilla]

I rarely ever play demos these days, so I find it to be no problem. After a few years I know my taste and If something catches my eye that I think might be interesting, I pick it up. If it's good, then more fun for me. If it's bad, then now I have something to bitch about!

[Fusion]

I want to add something:  Remember when demos didn't reflect the quality of the final product?  Nowadays you just get the demo + A few additional levels.  Exactly how it happened with Jedi Power Battles:  I played the demo, and the full game didn't feel complete.  At all.

[Fusion]

I want to add something:  Remember when demos didn't reflect the quality of the final product?  Nowadays you just get the demo + A few additional levels as the final product.  Exactly how it happened with Jedi Power Battles.  I played the demo, and the full game didn't feel complete.  At all.