I sure do miss the days of getting demo discs in the mail with a magazine subscription, but it is awfully nice to be able to pick and choose the interesting ones and then just download them directly to your system. Here’s what I tried this week:
Avatar Drop
A simple concept, but surprisingly fun. You are in control of your falling Xbox avatar, and the goal is to get through different colored rings and collect points. It’s silly and enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to trying the trial run again with a second player.
Darkest of Days
Hmm. Honestly, I had no idea what this was, but I had a moment of free time and so I checked it out. I guess it’s a time-traveling shooter, where you are someone sort of important and your job is to hop to and fro to key places/moments in time and protect individuals much more important than you. The set pieces were neat and well-executed (Custer’s Last Stand and the Battle of Antietam, particulary, if my history knowledge is correct), but the graphics seemed unpolished and last-gen. Although I appreciated the usage of “clusterfuck.”
Bioshock
Yes, I know. I know. It’s almost 2010, and this is the first time I’m playing Bioshock. Call me what you will. Anyways, the demo opens up with a plane crash and then, rather quickly, you are in the magical underwater city that is steampunk and retro and dystopian at the same time. It’s a mix of shooting/hitting creepy people dubbed Splicers and zapping them with magic from your left hand. The atmosphere of the place is beyond creepy, and I liked a lot of the tiny details. If anything, this demo made me realize that I’d probably enjoy this game (though I played it on easy and still had some trouble, but that’s just me).
Grinding Down 