Dead Space 3 Xbox 360 Demo Review 10/10

Preface: This is the second article of our special dual review series. Be sure to not only check out this review by Skye, but also the review below by lvl 99. Two perspectives. One demo. Enjoy!

First off, if you haven’t played the Dead Space series, stop reading now and go play them. They are fantastic. I have never been so terrified playing a video game since Resident Evil 4. But if you need a little current Dead Space action to hook you on the series, this demo is also fantastic, so go ahead and play it even if you’re not quite caught up on the franchise. For spoilers and Dead Space veterans sake, I’ll skip explaining the story so far. Suffice to say, Isaac Clarke is back and I hope this time things don’t go so terribly for him.

That can't be good...

This demo features three things from the full game: the single player level, a level where you can try out the new weapon crafting system, and a co-op level (which I’ll get to later). First I tackled the single player mode, which takes place on a snow covered planet on which Isaac has crash landed. With many demos of big titles such as this, their choice of which level to present you with can either teasingly entice you or ruin elements of the plot. This is especially perilous for me as I am rarely surprised by any plot twist since the movie Fight Club. This demo level was excellent in that regard since, for me, it raised more questions than it answered. What is this place? Why did he come here? Why does poor Isaac always end up bloody and unconscious? I discovered none of these things during the course of the demo, which was fine by me.

After Isaac regains his consciousness, you have to brave the violent blizzard to get to shelter, which is frightening enough without the horrific creatures that you surely will come across. As you press forward through the demo you have to fight newly-necromorphed humans swinging ice picks at you, regular humans who shoot at you, and a mini-boss with tons of regenerating appendages to blow off with your plasma cutter. You also get to try out the new weapon crafting system when you get to your first upgrade bench and suit station. In this you get to upgrade and craft your own unique weapons from a variety of interchangeable parts and statistic modding circuits. You can also just load the weapons testing level and craft to your hearts content and then try out your new guns by spawning Necromorphs.

The demo continues on with indoor and outdoor environments. You also run into some light puzzle action that then builds up to a huge firefight where a giant hideous creature levels the battlefield. It charges toward you just before the demo cuts to the Dead Space logo. A perfect edge-of-your-seat finale.

After we both played it single player, lvl 99 and I got together to try out the co-op. Dead Space 3 features a new drop-in/drop-out co-op mode that puts the second player in control of Sergeant John Carver. The co-op mode adds this character to the same level as single player, only now with added dialog between Isaac and John. This almost felt like a different game with the added exchange between the characters revealing plot details and taking away the loneliness you might feel with just Isaac.

The co-op in Dead Space does a great job of making both player’s characters equally important to the plot. There were conversations between the characters that did not take place in the single player game and John Carver feels like a real, independent character instead of just a second gun. A great thing I noticed as well was that you don’t have to share items with your partner since the items drop for each player independently. The co-op was great, but I’m a little concerned that it might take away from the terror of the game. But, like I said, the co-op mode felt very different from the single player experience so it may not be an issue at all.

For me, this demo comes in at a perfect 10. It’s an enticing and thrilling excerpt that leaves you wanting more.The demo shows off some new enemies, features, and the new co-op mode all in a well polished package. I didn’t get into Dead Space 1 and 2 until far after they came out, but playing this demo has put this game up to a day-one purchase. I’ll be picking up this game on February 5th, and I can’t wait to be terrified once more.

- Skye

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo Review 9.5/10

    It’s getting dark. I was told that monsters come in the night. I don’t know what kind and I don’t want to know. I’ve decided my best option is to add a combination of dirt and wood to what looks to be a broken house. Half of the walls are there and if I can just build them up and enclose myself, I should be ok. My blood pressure rises as I realize that I don’t have enough blocks to fully enclose this house. I then decide to stagger the blocks (every other) so that nothing will be able to get inside. Whatever is out there will be able to see me and smell me, but hopefully not eat me.

    It’s now dark. Correction. It is now pitch black. I’m hiding in a corner of my ceiling-less house. I hear something. It sounds like faint hissing. I look out the makeshift window to see the only light in the area right now. What was that?! Something just walked past the two torches in the distance. It was too fast for my eyes to discern.

    I’m being attacked. I can’t see. The hissing is now immediate. I’m trapped and my hearts are quickly dwindling. I have to get out. I have to run...

    This is my second playthrough. I hope this one goes better. I’m not wasting any time so instead of waiting around in the tutorial area, I run to the small town I’ve been promised. It consists of a church, a well, and a couple of houses dotting a very short cement road. I’m impressed. There’s a person. Maybe one of the people who built and lives in this place? Something seems to be wrong with him. Trying to play it safe, I run inside one of the well built houses and shut the door behind me. This one has a ceiling. Sure enough, as this person walks up to the door, I can see that he seems to be a zombie and therefore a threat. It begins to rain. A tarantula is now also knocking on the door. But I’m safe. And there’s a bed here. I’ve been taught that if I sleep, then in the morning all my problems will go away. I hope the door holds.

    In the morning my guests are still waiting to get in. I’m trapped yet again. I don’t seem to have many options. I can’t go out the door. If I break down one of the walls, then I’ll just continue to be running. I could try to dig my way out, but that didn’t work last time. Then it dawns on me. I can run up. I can build myself steps leading out of the ceiling. I do this and escape as the zombie and tarantula miss my exit. I’m now standing on the roof of a house three doors down. I’m looking out on the vast landscape ahead of me wondering what other adventures await. This is Minecraft.

    The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo perfectly represents the full game experience in a bite size trial. This game had a timer, but it was done in such a discreet way, not showing on screen until I had 3 minutes left. I have no idea how long I had played before that. This is a good sign that the game is fun and the timed trial was done right.

    The graphics and sound work incredibly well together. They’re both conducive to imagination and creativity which is what this game is about. Everything is made out of blocks, and though this may seem simple, it allows the player to think of something and build it just like that, one block at a time. There’s no need to plan out your project before you begin unless, of course, you want to.

The sound reminds me of the background music you would hear right before a light bulb appears over the head of your favorite Looney Toons character. Like the graphics and art style, it feels as though it’s aiding you in your creative thought processes. And when you're in danger, the music ups the ante, creating a sense of urgency that’s at both times fun and scary.

Throughout the demo I was asked If I wanted to purchase the game because I kept unlocking achievements. Usually this would happen after I crafted something for the first time. The game wouldn’t pause, but I lost control of my character until I essentially answered yes or no. It wasn’t annoying the first time, but the 5 or so times after that began to upset me. It would have been better if the demo would have just told me the first time that subsequent achievements would not be saved. That would have been enough. Minecraft doesn’t need help selling itself. The achievement reminders weren’t necessary.

The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo has a robust tutorial that gives you options the entire way through. It starts you off with the basics of building and steadily works it’s way up. In fact, in the tutorial area of the demo the night and day cycle seemed to be drastically slowed down, if there at all. This allows you to experiment without feeling the rush of danger the night brings. The tutorial pops up when you begin to do something new, and if at any time you’d like to skip it, it gives you that option too.

One negative about the tutorial is that it does take out some of what makes Minecraft special. Instead of letting the player figure out all the inventions they can create, one at a time, the demo shows you everything from the start. I believe that in the PC version you had to think of everything and then actually create it. In the demo, and probably the full game, you’re given most every recipe you need. I understand that Minecraft on Xbox 360 is being marketed to a different audience than on PC, but still. It does detract from the overall experience, but for the demo it makes sense.

I played the demo twice and each time had a very different experience. I can’t say exactly how long those sessions lasted, but I never felt like it wasn’t enough. Not to say that I was tired of it, on the contrary, I wanted to play again. That’s one of the reasons this trial shines over others. The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo boasts one of the most replayable demos ever and I didn’t even get a taste of the easily accessible split screen multiplayer.

I hope you liked the stories I told at the beginning of this review. I certainly enjoyed sharing them. I decided to start the Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo Review in this way because that’s what this game is about. Some of the best game experiences I’ve ever had are the ones that lend themselves to easily sharing with other people. The game does this and it does it better than any game I’ve played since Grand Theft Auto III.

The Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition Demo receives a 9.5/10. It’s a near perfect demo that gives you so much freedom that even if you didn’t buy the game, you could be entertained for hours.

    If our resident Lord of the Rings expert, Skye, didn’t already purchase a copy of Minecraft for me, I would be buying this game at full price. Thanks dude!

One thing to note if you’re going to buy it, consider whether you would like to have a more original Minecraft experience. I believe you would find that in the PC version. It’s a trade-off though because the Xbox 360 Edition has split screen and Xbox Live co-op. With all this said, I assure you that even if you don’t do your research, you’re going to have a great time.

- lvl 99