Hey, with the recent influx of demos on the marketplace we decided to give you our thoughts on the demos. We take a look at Riddick, Legends of Wrestlemania, Wheelman and Wanted. Enjoy!

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

A bunch of amazing demos have hit the marketplace, and the highly anticipated Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena was at the top of my must-play list. I must admit, I wasn’t an original Xbox gamer, so I had no prior experience with the first game, and was going into this one not even knowing what the premise of the game was. All I knew was that the movies were cool as hell, and it meant the chance to play as badass Vin Diesel.

At first glance, the game was simply beautiful. The first game was said to have some of the best graphics of its generation, and this game pulls of the feat once again on the next generation of consoles. The environments, player models, and even the blood look great. Although great aesthetics is a plus, they also cause the game to lag out every so often. The framerate will stutter, and it’s fairly noticeable. But it’s a demo for a reason, and this will most likely be fixed.

On to the gameplay. The game runs pretty smooth, but I felt that the weapon select made for a lot of stalling in the action. I had three baddies running at me and I was stuck trying to pull out my shotgun with the sometimes unresponsive (i.e. Choosing the wrong weapon when I was obviously pointing the dot at another one). The controls are laid out as you would expect a shooter to be. RT shoots, LT aims, etc., but since stealth is a factor against tougher enemies, there is the addition of actions to use in stealth or close combat moments. X will enter a stealth mode, which is basically crouching. LB is used to lean in and out of cover. And for melee weapons, holding RT to attack will unleash very cool execution moves.

As for the weapons, I was extremely impressed at the awesomeness, but not so thrilled about the lack of variety. The player begins with the Ulaks, two very cool scythe-like knives. The executions for these include cutting an enemies throat or stabbing them in the back. The next available weapon is the combat knife, but there isn’t anything very special about. It jabs, it slices, you get the idea. As for the guns, I really enjoyed my time with the shotgun. It’s powerful, has some surprisingly good range, and it utilizes a strip clip so Riddick wastes no time reloading the gun shell by shell. Another cool thing to do is to pick up an enemies dead corpse, Gears 2 style, and use their assault rifle on their own comrades. The only downside is the inability to move while hoisting the body. I guess little ol’ Riddick needs to hit the gym some more. We also can use an assault rifle, which is just a generic gun.

I noted earlier that I noticed some framerate issues, but those aren’t the only thing I encountered in the demo. Several times I got stuck on the environment, once I was unable to advance because the door I had to go through wouldn’t open, and another time I encountered an invisible enemy. These will all be fixed in the retail version though.

Overall, I had a good experience with the demo. I have to say, I missed out on a lot when I passed up on playing Butcher Bay. Although the demo didn’t convince me that this is a day one purchase, I might have to borrow or rent it to get the full experience. In the end, I give the demo a score of 7/10, as it felt like an average shooter to me.

The Good

1. Great graphics
2. Awesome weapons
3. Sweet executions

The Bad

1. Framerate issues
2. Some clipping issues
3. Minor AI glitches

The Ugly

1. Why is it so badass to growl? Can’t you just talk like a normal person?

Wanted: Weapons of Fate

Wanted began as a comic book, went on to make great amounts of money at the box office, and it would only make sense to make a game for the title. Wanted: Weapons of Fate is set after the events of the movie, and will even feature voice actors from the actual movie. The demo recently hit the Marketplace, and I put it on my queue to check it out.

I decided to first check out the tutorial, as only a master can learn to curve bullets. I found it amusing to hear Wesley, the main character of the movie, insult the player, stating, “I was once like you. Sitting on the couch, playing video games, getting fat…”, but enough of that, lets get onto the gameplay. I was extremely impressed with the cover system. Taking some tips from Gears of War, your character moves fluidly between cover and it makes a great emphasis on the need to stay protected. Simply point in the direction you want to go, press A, and your character rolls, dives, and sprints to the nearest cover. Close combat also is a large part of this game. Is an enemy using the same piece of cover as you? Simply press B as he pops out to reach over and put a knife in his head.

Now for the trademark of the franchise: Bullet Curving. Press the RB and red line appears. Move the line out a bit to make it white, and release the bumper. You will then curve the bullet around the piece of cover, killing your target. The only catch is, you must gain adrenaline to pull off the stunt. This can be done by killing enemies.

We then learn that that we can enter a slow-motion form of combat, or Enhanced quick movements. This allows you to enter a sort of concentration mode as you move between cover. Your body moves so fast that the baddies seem as if they are standing still, letting you pop off the easy headshot. Now that I was experienced in the ways of the assassin, I entered the actual demo.

I must say that I expected more out of the graphics for this game. The movie had such great visuals, but the game features very mediocre environments and average character models. There definitely could have been some improvements made. The game does have a tendency to load environmental features, like blood splatters, rather poorly. They flicker a lot, and it gets annoying after a while.

I strongly enjoy the actual combat in this game. There is never a break in the action, and the player is constantly on the move to find better vantage points. The only problem I ever encountered in combat was when the camera would zoom in on the player as he was in cover. This completely negated the effect of blind-firing, as I could see where the enemy was without sticking out of cover.

This is hands down one of my favorite games of 2009. The demo has me sold. I have decided that Wanted: WOF earns a day one purchase, and I can’t be more excited about this game. Even with its flaws, I award the demo a 9/10.

The Good

1. Amazing combat
2. Fluid cover system
3. Curving bullets ftw!

The Bad

1. Average graphics
2. Some texture lagging
3. Awkward camera view when in cover

The Ugly

1. I wonder if the poo monster from the comic book (not joking, look it up) makes an appearance.

Wheelman

Vin Diesel has decided to add professional driver to his resume, and he does through Wheelman. The demo recently hit the Marketplace so I queued it up to take a look.

At first glance, the graphics aren’t so bad. Don’t expect Gran Turismo or anything, but they aren’t terrible to look at. Cars also take damage, but it doesn’t really affect the gameplay in any way. It takes a lot of beating to destroy a car. I was riding on rims with the engine steaming and my car didn’t lose any speed or handling. Where the game really hits the money are the action sequences. Throughout the first car chase, you steer the car through buildings, alleys, and interstates, and nearly every time you hit an enemy car or smash through a pane of glass, the camera shifts to a cinematic view of the action.

The gameplay is generic racing with a little gunplay thrown in. Think a less violent GTA, or maybe even Driver from back in the day. An odd addition to the driving is the ability to power slide sideways and forwards into other vehicles and to destroy roadblocks. Probably the coolest feature is the ability to perform first person actions, where you may have to destroy an oncoming Gas Truck, or spin the car in reverse and take out the baddies behind you, all in slow motion.

Unfortunately, this game isn’t a very strong racer. The mix of racing and action just aren’t pulled off as well as it should have been. In a mission from the demo, Diesel must get directly behind another vehicle and jump into it to hijack it. I found this extremely hard to do because he simply would not jump. I could not dodge other cars to get close enough for the action to be triggered. Maybe I just suck, but I felt that the sequence simply didn’t work.

Wheelman seemed like a smart idea. It’s basically a The Transporter in game form. Except with Vin Diesel. But the game just doesn’t deliver a worthwhile experience. 6/10 is my final judgment.

The Good

1. Neat environments and locations
2. Cool action sequences
3. Unbelievable stunts

The Bad

1. Average visuals
2. Action/Racing doesn’t work in this case
3. Just not much fun

The Ugly

1. Why did Vin Diesel feel so impelled to be in this game? Shouldn’t he be out making The Pacifier 2 or something?

WWE Legends of Wrestlemania

WWE: Legends of Wrestlemania lets us travel back in time to relive the greatest moments in wrestling history. Play as the Hulkamaniac Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and more. I begin this review saying that I am in fact a huge wrestling fan. Yes, I know it’s fake. And I understand that it involves grabbing a guy in tights. So let’s get past the gay jokes and see if this game is worth buying.

Available in the demo are the Single Match game mode, where we can choose to be either Hulk Hogan or Andre the Giant. The second mode, Relive, lets the player reenact famous moments in wrestling history. I began with Relive.

We are introduced to the infamous Rock vs. Steve Austin with the video that depicts the moments that led up to the fight. We are then shown the objectives of the match. If these are completed, then Gold is earned, presumably to purchase unlockables in the retail game. I then entered the ring as Steve Austin, ready to beat The Rock into submission.

The matches begin with the familiar facedowns, seen in past WWE Smackdown vs. Raw games, where a button press will decide how the match begins. The gameplay runs rather smoothly. Different variations of mashing X cause certain punches, while A grapples the opponent. There are also some sequences that involve quickly pressing the button that appears on-screen to put your opponent into a submission. Also, pressing all face buttons at once until the yellow circle fills up is how to get up and defend pins. I must admit that I lost my first match, and the controls take some time to get used to.

Next I ventured over to Single Match. I chose to use Hulk Hogan over Andre because I favor speed over power. Plus, Hulk has a hot daughter. But that’s another story. With a little experience under my belt, I easily disposed of the giant. Without having to worry about the odd controls helped me enjoy the game a bit more.

The graphics of this game don’t impress me any more than all the other 360 wrestling titles. Although the motions seem a bit smoother, I still encountered a lot of jumping and popping into place by the characters. It would take a lot of work to make the graphics of this game impress me.

The premise of this game is still pretty cool. Taking all the best wrestlers from the past and throw them all into the ring sounds like a lot of fun. The only problem is its presentation. I still find the gameplay fun, but it’s a bit complex. I honestly wanted a decent wrestling game, but Legends follow the same generic trend of most other WWE games. For that, I award it a 6/10.

The Good

1. Amazing roster full of memorable wrestlers
2. Relive is a nice feature
3. Slightly better motion graphics than past WWE games

The Bad

1. Too much jumping and popping in of characters
2. Unimpressive visuals
3. Complex control scheme

The Ugly

1. How many steroids did Hogan take to be able to lift Andre over his head?

Review by: Brandon Van Landuyt

Gamertag, PSN, and G3 forum name: Thegreatest7884