The Life of an Ex-Hardcore Gamer

After getting some feedback from some readers I’ve been told I should review some demos of games. I do not see the point in reviewing a demo for a game that is already out, but for something like WET, which the full version has yet to be released, I figured it’d be worth doing as a way of saying whether or not a game is something you should keep your eye on. So let’s get to it.

To start, right at the main menu the game uses a filter to make it look like it has dust and scratches like an old movie print. If you wait too long at the menu, it makes it look like the film melted and broken and was ruined. This made me feel two things: 1- OK, they are going for a “grindhouse” feel like so many games these days… I’m sick of grain filters and such, so I’m annoyed. But also 2 – Well, maybe it’ll be over the top and ridiculous and I’ll still like it despite using the “filter of the month.”

The only thing available is story mode, it shows you the controls during loading, and then it goes right to a cut scene and you don’t know who you are or why you are there. Some stuff goes down at a deal long story short you have to kill a lot of people. This also so happens to be the tutorial of the game. Not a bad way to start, but at the same time I didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing. I’m sure the story won’t be the strongest point of a game like this, but I felt like I should have a bit more information given before jumping right in. Maybe because it’s a demo too they just wanted you to be able to get right back into the action.

Once the game starts though, it’s just non-stop action, and despite something as uncreative as a game where you run around shooting and killing people with a sword it is just plain fun. The more you play, the more you learn how things work, and they work well. The game is your rather standard 3^rd person action game that has you control a character with the left stick and aim with the right, pull the trigger to shoot and press a button to swing a sword. There are cool twists like being able to have the game aim for one enemy while you aim at a 2^nd with the analog stick so you can shoot two people at the same time. You can do moves that slow time down like Max Payne and a million other games, but unlike those games this can be done as much as you want, for better or worse. You get more points for more stylish kills and it keeps you doing those a lot. Then right at the end of the demo there is a car chase scene that works really well and is really fun to play with you just needing to worry about aiming with a few QTEs (Quick Time Events) similar to the airplane level I mentioned in my Wanted review. Just as things really start clicking with you though, the demo is over. It leaves you wanting more, but in the end, that’s what a demo should do.

So in the end, you know the game is fun and that you want more, making you want to play the game. This is a game I will be keeping my eye on, and will obviously post a review for as soon as I can. Unfortunately, with me behind on so many games, and there are so many other great games coming out it may be a while. I checked it out for both PS3 and Xbox 360 and they seemed pretty much identical to me. I recommend checking it out and seeing what you think as well. Feel free to leave comments on what you thought of the demo as well.