Was thinking the other day about how much I miss game Demos that were entirely satisfying.
Phantasy Star Universe Demo on Xbox 360 is probably the best demo to ever exist. In some ways it surpassed the full game (resetting characters >>> White Beast spam) since the beginning part of levelling up in an RPG is usually the best but it made everyone do it. It was also very difficult in a Dragon Quest sort of way at the beginning and the in-game economy had... peculiar uses to say the least. It also introduced online multiplayer RPGs to many people who would never in their right mind play one. It was great to just sign in whenever and never worry about being under levelled for your friends or any sense of FOMO.
As a runner up, I have to say (as much as I dislike the version of the game) Ninja Gaiden Sigma Demo on PS3 was very generous. You got the entire first stage and each time you cleared it, you got a harder difficulty (including Master Ninja Mode). For the average user, this meant that the demo had almost the entire game's difficulty curve for you to learn when it came to the standard ninja enemies.
Over time there have numerous, memorable game demos that I've played, but if there was a third to part of my Top 3... It would have to be Rainbow Six 3 Xbox Live Demo. This was one of the first online experiences where most people had voice chat. I think I was 13 and made a bunch of friends. As for the game itself, it was an interesting version of the game because it had this broken PSG-1 which turned an otherwise tactical shooter into Arcadey silliness. It was a great introduction to Xbox Live and online voice chat in general. It was also insanely replayable to the point that I think I put more time in it than all CoD MP combined.
So, what do you say GAF?
Phantasy Star Universe Demo on Xbox 360 is probably the best demo to ever exist. In some ways it surpassed the full game (resetting characters >>> White Beast spam) since the beginning part of levelling up in an RPG is usually the best but it made everyone do it. It was also very difficult in a Dragon Quest sort of way at the beginning and the in-game economy had... peculiar uses to say the least. It also introduced online multiplayer RPGs to many people who would never in their right mind play one. It was great to just sign in whenever and never worry about being under levelled for your friends or any sense of FOMO.
As a runner up, I have to say (as much as I dislike the version of the game) Ninja Gaiden Sigma Demo on PS3 was very generous. You got the entire first stage and each time you cleared it, you got a harder difficulty (including Master Ninja Mode). For the average user, this meant that the demo had almost the entire game's difficulty curve for you to learn when it came to the standard ninja enemies.
Over time there have numerous, memorable game demos that I've played, but if there was a third to part of my Top 3... It would have to be Rainbow Six 3 Xbox Live Demo. This was one of the first online experiences where most people had voice chat. I think I was 13 and made a bunch of friends. As for the game itself, it was an interesting version of the game because it had this broken PSG-1 which turned an otherwise tactical shooter into Arcadey silliness. It was a great introduction to Xbox Live and online voice chat in general. It was also insanely replayable to the point that I think I put more time in it than all CoD MP combined.
So, what do you say GAF?