GameCentral readers reveal what video game demos they’ve played the most, and whether they actually bought the game afterwards.
The subject for this week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Harmful dazmos, and was inspired by the recent clamour for the Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo 3DS demo. But it also took into account the fact that publishers increasingly don’t release demos for many of their games, since they’d discovered it actually makes people less likely to buy the final product.
Many people thought this strange, even though plenty of readers admitted to not buying a game despite spending hours on the demo. Of the most popular demos many came from the PS one and PlayStation 2 era, especially Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding and Metal Gear Solid. Although BioShock was a popular modern one.
Usual wait
This is going to sound like a bizarre choice but my most played demo goes to the first Fight Night released on the Xbox 360. I put hours and hours into it and it certainly sold the final game to me when it was finally released. The only thing is, is that I wasn’t playing it because I loved it so much it was just that there literally weren’t any other games being released during the launch period.
I think there was something like a six week gap where nothing was released other than this demo.
We complain currently about the lack of launch titles on the new gen but it’s always been like this – we just forget and at least now we have indie games to fill the gaps somewhat.
Most impressive demo was BioShock which let you have the first scene setting moments of the game. I was so excited by the idea of it all and it seemed very well realised. Unfortunately it turned out when the retail version launched I’d played by far the best part of the game – in fact the best part of any BioShock game. Most overrated series this past gen?
Matthew Hardcastle
Golden era
1995-2005, the decade of the demo disc. When I got my PS one back in ’96 it came with a disc containing many games. Ridge Racer Revolution, Tekken 2, and Alien Trilogy. All blew me away and that little black disc got played to the hilt.
But eclipsing that by a mile is the time me and my friend spent on the Tony Hawk’s demo on PS one. 14 hours in a row we spent in that warehouse level, and only stopped because we’d hit our target of 100,000 points in two minutes.
8bitOnwards (Steam ID)
Christmas every month
I know this one is going to get a lot of mentions… Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding on the PS one. My friend and I probably played that demo for longer than some full releases. It was the endless depth and discovery that came with the mechanics, it was essentially a whole new genre.
In a way keeping the game confined to one skate park helped with how addictive it was. It meant you had to explore every possible inch and find every gap. The big mistake skating games made was going too big with their play areas. By the last couple of Hawk’s games you barely touched the same spot twice which made it harder to be competitive with friends.
I also have lots of fond memories of demos on my Amiga. Getting a new magazine with a good demo disk was like Christmas to me back then.
@PjDonnelli
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Small games
Every year most of my friends run out and buy the newest FIFA gamem but me? I just go on PSN and download the demo and leave it at that. Like the regular GC staff I have little interest in sports simulators, but during frequent gaming gatherings at my house FIFA is demanded by everyone else after they’ve had a few beers and get to trash-talking.
Rather than spend 40- 50 quid to appease them or risk offending them by giving them an out of date version to play I keep the most recent demo there for small games to settle scores. It’s been 3-4 years now and I don’t think I’ve ever played any of them even once.
Jonny_Madrox (PSN ID)/JonnyMcGarrigle (NN ID)
Hungry for more
I played the Conflict: Desert Storm demo for ages. It was back in 2002 so I can’t remember the exact length of time between the demo release and the full game’s release, but I think it was roughly three months. During those three months the demo disc I got with a magazine was a permanent fixture inside my PlayStation 2.
The demo for the first Conflict game is the opening mission, in which team leader Bradley has to venture deep into enemy territory to rescue POW sniper Foley.
The problem was I don’t think I ever got as far as rescuing Foley, because the demo was timed. But that didn’t matter because the Conflict games boasted huge levels in which the player could attack various encampments and bases any way they wanted.
Some games just feel right from day one. I adored Conflict: Desert Storm before it even had a day one. I was like a dog watching a frying pan full of sausages waiting for the completed game. The three months it took to arrive on shop shelves seemed to last forever.
Demos can guarantee a sale if the player enjoys their gameplay. It’s up to the developer/publisher to put out a demo that’s compulsive yet leaves the customer hungry enough to want the finished product.
msv858 (Twitter)
Movie demo
I remember getting a demo of RoboCop on a Commodore 64 magazine, and playing it over and over again for months until I saved up for the full game. £9.99 was a lot of money back in them days and the demo just made me want the game more than anything.
Most of the demos back then were good, and sometimes you’d even get a full game. I remember getting Batman free with a mag. It wasn’t the movie game and I’m still trying to complete it over a quarter of a century later.
Mrhbk
Bad first impression
I have never really bothered with demos much as I generally find them quite disappointing and they often put me off the game. As an example Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts’ demo was terrible and probably put a lot of people off buying it. I eventually picked the full game up from a bargain bin and thought it was far better than the demo suggested.
I can remember playing a few demos of one-on-one fighters around a friend’s house on his PS one. We probably notched up a whole Saturday afternoon on one of the early Tekkens, which I think is easily the longest I have spent with a demo. He did eventually buy the full games too and I have bought later entries in the series myself.
As for alpha/betas, I have only played one and that was Destiny. Despite a few obvious flaws I notched up about 16 hours on that over the first weekend of the beta, it was just so addictive. I have now bought the special edition and have just reached level 21 over the course of 22 hours. Despite reaching the level cap I am still on Venus, as I have been easily distracted away from the ropey story.
PazJohnMitch
PS: Has GC had a bash at the raid yet?
GC: No, we don’t have the time or, to be honest, the inclination.
The best till first
I remember downloading the BioShock demo when I had my Xbox 360 and being extremely impressed with the intro/opening level so I purchased the game straight away, but unfortunately got bored with the game around four hours in due to the lack of fun and enjoyment.
I also enjoyed the Limbo demo therefore I purchased the game which was fantastic apart from the very brief ending.
adams6legend
Flash judgement
Although nowadays I don’t bother with demos, I used to spend hours playing the Sega Flash discs on the Saturn (does anyone remember that great menu music?). Although the demos were short they served their purpose and tempted you into buying the full version. I recall having hours of fun on Virtual On and Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island alone, but one demo stands out and it was so ambitious that it needed a full disc, included with the Official Sega Saturn Magazine for £4.99.
Yes, the demo I’m referring to is Panzer Dragoon Saga, one of the great, underrated RPG’s of the 90’s, if not of all time. The entire first disc of the finished game kept me busy for hours, thanks to its unique and addictive gameplay and sumptuous visuals fot a Saturn title. The musical score, art and visual style… no wonder those who played it (including myself) agree that it is a greater RPG than Final Fantasy VII.
I didn’t pick up the game until 15 years after its release, due to its price and rarity. I recently found a copy at a local retro store for a very fair sum, and I recommend to all Saturn fans and to those interested in getting one to hunt down the demo (it is fairly common and is cheap on eBay). You will not find a more unique RPG experience.
JustSlightlyMad (PSN ID)
Skies the limit
The demo I played the most was the Skies Of Arcadia demo from the Official Dreamcast Magazine (loved those days). It lasted for ages and was a decent play through of the early part of the game, and I went through it countless times until the game was released; and the main game was even better and is still one of my favourite games of all time.
Simon
Movie trailer syndrome
I remember receiving issue 31 of Sega Saturn Magazine back in April 1998 (yeah, remember the days of magazines and how they’d sometimes include cover-mounted demo discs?), and to my enormous surprise it had attached to its cover what remains the greatest demo I’ve ever played…
It was the entire first disc of Panzer Dragoon Saga, completely playable and entirely free. I’m not joking about this, and at first I thought it was some kind of twisted late April Fools prank. However, putting the disc in my Saturn, I soon found myself entranced by the fantastic (by Saturn standards) graphics, wonderful art design, stirring music and engrossing gameplay.
I hadn’t been a big follower of the Panzer Dragoon series to that point, but after finishing the first disc for what must have been at least ten times I knew I had to get the rest of the game, and it didn’t disappoint (thankfully you could even use your saves from the demo in the final game). The game’s still residing in my house, remaining to this day the best Japanese role-playing game I’ve ever played.
It’s such a shame Team Andromeda broke up a long time ago; I’d love to see those guys return to the Panzer Dragoon universe someday…
I’ve never understood why the industry has been so keen to phase out demos, as to me they’re the only method of at least gaining a good idea of how the final product will play. A movie-like trailer only gives you an idea of how it will look, and it’s too easy to engineer one to make even the worst-looking game seem like the Second Coming (after all, how many of us have been suckered into seeing a terrible movie because of an awesome trailer?).
Trailers, and by extension non-playable demos at special events, just feel dishonest to me (especially after the Aliens: Colonial Marines debacle). Games are an interactive medium, so I think demos are the only suitable means of gauging how a game will play before the final release. I understand they can’t be cheap to make, but surely it’s better to treat games as games and not movies?
Andrew Middlemas
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Demonstration time
For PlayStation 3, I think it has probably been the GRID demo, which I played for many months before the game was bought for me. I was quite happy just to get gradually better, especially on the Jarama track, and probably put more time into the demo than the full game. I still think the servers for GRID were turned off far too soon though, and have bought nothing from Codemasters since.
For PlayStation 2 it was probably the PES 3 demo, which I got on the day of release from GAME, and was linked to a competition. I played around 50 games before the competition end date but decided I didn’t like it as much as PES 2, which I’d spent a huge amount of time customising anyway. I didn’t get PES 3 until months later, after I picked up a copy from a colleague for a fiver, but in the meantime I regularly gave the demo a spin to see if the game would grow on me.
For PS one, and definitely the most memorable, it was the two demos for Metal Gear Solid, the first of which was released quite a while before the full game. I recall multiple failures before I got my (sadly, still rubbish) gaming self into the first lift, never mind finish the demo. The second demo, which extended to meeting the DARPA chief, really helped build the hype and it’s one of the few games which I’ve bought on day of release at full price.
Demos used to be far more prominent in my gaming life than they are now. I re-joined gaming in 1997, after a total break since the Commodore 64. With no idea what sort of games were available, I avidly read Official PlayStation Magazine and played the attached demos. With no gaming backlog at that time, I eagerly anticipated the disc arriving in the post; although I have to say it was often disappointing. I soon began to skip the ‘preview’ section of the magazine, as both demo and review often showed the game was much less interesting than promised – I still largely ignore previews.
I’m not surprised that there are fewer demos. In many cases demos have actually put me off the game. In others I found that playing the demo was enough, curiosity satisfied, especially if the developer provided one that was generous and easy to replay. These days I rarely play demos more than once, and sometimes delete without even playing at all.
They tend to serve as a quick distraction when I have just a little game time, or to confirm I like the feel of a game – they rarely make me think I have to rush out and buy it. With far too much competition for my time and money, I usually wait until it seems to be ‘a bargain’… although I do seem to have far too many little-played ‘bargains’, waiting in the drawer like extended demos.
David ‘Daley’ Thompson
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