Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A single-mission demo for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising has been released, and it can apparently be played single player and online with chums. Codies explain: “As part of a Special Forces squad inserting behind Chinese PLA lines, players must eliminate a strategically critical radar station and missile sites to allow the USS Iwo Jima, carrying the main USMC battalion, to safely approach the island of Skira.” The full details for the demo including mirrors and systems specs can be found here. My thoughts about the game on release can be read here.

With the conscious recklessness of talking about another game on Left 4 Dead 2 launch day, here’s something else you could play. It’s the demo of the game of big Jim Cameron’s film. Y’know, the film that’s supposed to be make everyone believe 3D is the future of cinema and, to steal Kieron’s line, looks like Braveheart with furries. The film and the game (which is akin to a slightly more open world third-person Halo if you play the humans, or rather more platformy if you play the elves Na’vi) both aren’t due out until December, but a demo has mysteriously appeared on the German Coke Zero site. English Demo, German website, American sugarfree fizzy beverage. Huh. Oh, and it’s only available until November 30. The 1.6Gb demo’s still downloading here, but I’ll update this post once I’ve given it a whirl.

Man, I pick my moments. If I’d have waited just one more day, just one more measly day, I could have ended my post about King’s Bounty: Armored Princess yesterday with a link to the just-released English demo. I didn’t. I got too excited. I have failed you. I’m sorry. You won’t ever hear from me again.

…At least not until my Armored Princess diaries, starting next week. (There will be a conclusion to the Risen ones at some point during the coming weeks, by the way – I’ve just been waylaid by Too Many Games.) Meantime, try the 470MB demo and see what you make of it. Too similar? Too cute? Too wordy? Too wonderful? I’ll admit I’m approaching it with some trepidation – you can have too much of a good thing, especially when it comes to games – but I’ll be very surprised if I don’t enjoy myself.

I enjoy posting this immediately after Jim’s last post on the future of modding. Paradox have just released the For The Glory demo, based on their Europa Universalis game. Which is expected. Except despite them having released Europa Universalis III, this is a standalone game covering 400 (Count ‘em!) years of history based on the Europa Universalis II engine. Crikey. The mod link is that it’s based on the AGCEEP mod, which I’ll admit I have even less experience with than Europa Universalis itself. And when I’ve never played Europa Universalis, I’m not even sure that’s possible. Still – 10,000 historical events. Crikey! Crikey! Anyway – demo’s here and the full version can be bought here. Oh – and a video!
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The delicately-named Mangled Eye Studios have gone and made an “old school FPS” from id Tech 3, and that means guns, demons, evil monsters, and lashings of neo-gothic architecture. You’ll be able to sample all these delights for yourselves, thanks to a 480mb demo, which is now up on the Mangled Eye site. I expect it’ll be mirrored elsewhere in due course, so do mention in the comments if you spot alternate sources. The full game is available for purchase on Direct2Drive, should you be so inclined. I’ve not had a chance to play this yet, thanks to yet more accursed connection troubles, so let us know what you make of it if you take the time to have a play. Does it match up to obvious rival, Painkiller Resurrection?

In case you hadn’t spotted, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo is now open to all, whether you’ve pre-ordered the game or not. Which you could well argue is the point of a demo. It’s the first two levels of one campaign, so while not offering a big finish, will give you a taste for the new special infected, the melee weapons, and of course what it’s like to play L4D in the sunshine. They say to go to the official site for more details, but I can’t find any there. So instead open Steam. (Oh, and in exceedingly stupid news, if you pre-ordered L4D2 you will now also have a new hat in TF2. I feel like I’m writing news about a Barbie game.)

Always good to see a developer who knows exactly what they’re doing. I’ve clicked on the link to play the flash demo of Rocketbirds Revolution, and come away thinking “a modern Flashback, but with Chickens”. Going back to the mail and I discover that the Delphine-classic is the top of their list of influences. In other words, it’s in the line of the original Prince of Persia of slower-paced, “adult” 2D platform adventures. But with – er – chickens and assorted other fowl. The other thing to note is that it’s what I’ll describe as a premier flash game – in that while there’s a demo to play, you have to pay to unlock the full adventure, which you play on their site by logging in. The advantage is being able to play wherever in the world there’s a net connection. The disadvantage is requiring a net connection to play. I’ve only played the demo so far, and plan to go back soon, but this is an enormously slick and stylish experience so far. With chickens. Footage follows…
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The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is go. If you pre-loaded it on Steam, it should have unlocked now. (If it isn’t showing up for you, quit out of Steam and restart.) If not, get downloading. And then let us know what you think below.

Er… by which, I don’t mean giving a sort of guide to what it’s like to date Agatha Christie. But… well, I saw there was a demo of Agatha Christie: Dead Man’s Folly. Being unfamiliar with period detective dramas, I realised it was time to call in an expert to see whether it lived up to the legacy of mustachioed Belgians. Hence, I turned once again to expert Christie-ian, Delightful Girlfriend who spent some time with the game. And then I interviewed her on what she made of it. Find the results below…
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Well, not really. While John and Alec play the Torchlight demo, I try and up my indie-cred by playing this comedy-WW1 action-RPG instead. More fool me. To be fair, it’s a hyper-lo-fi thing, and does feature a three features I really like. Firstly, that there appears to be some hit-location elements, so if you head-shot, the comedy-Hun go down quicker and you save ammo. Secondly, when you get shot, occasionally your trousers fall down in an International-Karate-Plus fashion. And thirdly… well, the unusual setting married to more traditional mechanics. I’ve love to see more Indie RPG push in this direction – the Lovecraftian Cyclopean will be great, but I’d love to see a whole lot more. The rest… well, it’s not enormously good. I wouldn’t recommend someone buying it even if I could work out how to buy it. The demo doesn’t include any mention of it. Its website doesn’t either. And neither does its documentation. I highlight this, because it’s worrying Indie Marketing fail. Releasing a demo is the first and possibly last burst of publicity your indie game gets – even if the full version isn’t available, you should have explained that. Man!