WithinMorgan

This evening I finally got around to playing through the Dead Space 2 demo. I quite enjoyed the original game and have been looking forward to getting my hands on the demo (and full game when it releases) to the second installment of the Dead Space series. The demo starts off with a nice synopsis of what’s happened previously and what’s going on currently.

In the demo, you fight against some of the enemies featured in the first game as well as I was able to find two new types of enemies, one of them quite creepy! The demo itself only plays for about 20-30 minutes, but it was a lot of fun, and definitely left me wanting more. It appears the overall objective in Dead Space 2 will be to locate and use this ‘marker’ which can send all these demons and monsters back to where they came from or rid the universe from them.

Only one month left and I’ll have my hands on the full game, I can’t wait!

After highly enjoying the original Lost Planet, I was expecting good things for the follow up. Even the demo they released was fun, however Lost Planet 2 is one of the worst games I’ve played all year. Poor controls, a terrible storyline and camera angles that get you killed more often then not make Lost Planet 2 a downright frustrating and bad game.

The only thing that I thought this game had going for itself was the graphics and even at times they really weren’t anything special. I must admit, the jungle worlds, deserts and other environments do look very good and polished. It’s too bad all of the other elements in the game bring it down.

The one thing I enjoyed about the first Lost Planet was the story. While nothing unique it did have one and it worked. I can honestly say I have no idea what the story in Lost Planet 2 was (if there was one) except that there were some guys who were trying to kill the Over G akrid and possibly save the planet, but that’s about it. At one point they took over some big cannon but I have no idea why or what for really.

Getting into a single player game/campaign also seemed a lot more difficult then it should be. Instead of simply going to Single Player or Resume Campaign you had to traverse through multiple menu systems, select levels, maps, missions, etc. Way to much. In fact their whole, chapters, missions, episodes setup was a complete disaster. Basically each episode has chapters and each chapter has missions, confused yet?! You can’t save the game between missions either, so prepare to be sitting down for a while (or to leave your Xbox on pause).

Controls in the game were also confusing. It felt like the ‘B’ button was used 80% of the time, running, melee, as an action button, etc. At time I found myself throwing grenades or shooting my grapple onto things or bashing the data points because of the confusing control scheme.

This is one game I would probably just avoid all together. You’re not missing out on anything and you’ll save yourself the $60. It’s really to bad because Capcom did well, in my opinion, on the first Lost Planet. Everything the first game had going for it was swiftly removed from the second game. I really hope if they decide to develop a third in the series that they review these points and refine them or make major changes if necessary. Even having had a decent storyline would have made Lost Planet 2 much better. While I haven’t played multi-player or co-op mode on single player, I am not sure if they would make a difference at this point. This game has to many fundamental flaws to be anything more then a one or two night rental. Sorry Capcom, you’re going to have to try harder.

The Crackdown 2 demo is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for users to download. I grabbed my copy last night. I really enjoyed Crackdown which came out back in 2007 so I’ve been quite excited to see the next version of the game. The one thing I really enjoyed about Crackdown was it was very similar to the Grand Theft Auto series, but to me, it was even better. There are co-ops modes as well as the you can increase the strengths and abilities of your characters throughout the game.

The demo is time-limited which I did not like. Crackdown is something you cannot put a limit on. It’s far to large and expansive. However, even in the 30 minutes I did manage to get a lot done. I was able to complete a bunch of the objectives and explore a fair amount of the city. Basically you’re dropped into a hot zone which you need to take back from the Cell operatives. Other missions include activating power sources and reclaiming other sections of the city. The game plays very similarly to the first, however I did notice the HUD seems to have received an update. I am not sure I quite understood how the agents abilities are displayed/calculated in the new HUD, but it may be I just need to spend some more time reviewing it.

Before being dropped into the game I was able to customize my agent (looks and such) which was cool. The agents also seem to dawn different attire from the first game. They seem to have a look that has a bit of a mech-ish feel, or maybe even something from Gears of War. The game includes various weapons you can pick up and use against the Cell. The game also introduces the “Freaks” which are mutant zombies that appear in the game during the night. The game includes agility orbs as well as the orbs attained from defeating enemies. One thing I found to be a bit frustrating (which could actually be my controller) is the trouble I get when switching to a different gun. Your agent seems to be able to carry 2 weapons at a time (someone correct me if I’m wrong), and when I hit the ‘X’ button (for xBox360) it doesn’t always seem to switch guns.

Overall, I am impressed with the demo and cannot wait to get my hands on the final version. The release date is only about a week away, so I should be able to complete a couple of these demo achievements before the actual game comes out!

Resources:
Crackdown 2 on Wikipedia.
Crackdown 2 at IGN.