I've become a demo whore

[Erkki]

I've been ill now for almost a week and have not had much to do. I haven't even actually played games much, but during the last two days I downloaded 12 game demos (some old, some brand new), while I had about 3 demos already installed, but not played.

I doubt I'll play 1/3 of them though, usually it ends up that way. The last I downloaded was the Seven Kingdoms Demo, which is still amazingly fun 7 years later. I played the tutorial level for 4 hours after completing the tutorial tasks without even noticing that much time went by.

Next I think I'll play the Seven Kingdoms II demo, then Rise of Nations.

[manny_c44]

We all go through periods like that...I think 'IH' had a thread very similar to this one not but a few months ago.

In the end though I'm rarely impressed by demos, only a select few have been good enough to force me to buy the game...Metal Gear Solid, Grim Fandango, System Shock 2, and Metroid Prime. I think thats it.

[ThePope]

Rise of nations is a fun game, not my style though.

Some Demos i recommend:

rome: total war

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

tribes: vengeance

Evil Genius

[Erkki]

Rise of nations is a fun game, not my style though.

Yeah, I don't know if it's quite my style either. I mean, the graphics in the demo are gorgeous:

(screenshot of the main menu)

but not really my style. And I haven't got past the menu yet.

[edit]Nevermind, it was myATI's fault. The installation modified system files and required a restart, but after that I installed new ati drivers which made windows crash during start up etc jadajada. After reinstalling the demo it's fine.

[jokemaster]

I do go through periods like that too. Once I downloaded:

Grim Fandango

MGS

System Shock 2

Rise of Nations

Max Payne

Max Payne 2

Serious Sam

all at the same time.

[Simon]

Memorable demos from the past:

Doom - the first chapter of the full game was a blast and I think virtually everyone who owned a computer at that point played it to death.

Grand Theft Auto - for a demo, I got amazing mileage out of it.

Quake - I remember it chugging along on my 486, but still being quite fun.

Sam & Max: Hit The Road - the rolling demo that came on the Day Of The Tentacle CD remains one of the coolest trailers for anything ever somehow. It just made you think that all that mattered in life was getting to play this game.

The Curse Of Monkey Island - there was a movie then later a playable demo. Monkey Island with the music, voices, awesome art etc., and knowing there was a full game of it to come, was exciting.

Grim Fandango - there was no way I wouldn't have got my hands on the game, but the demo tided me over nicely. It probably took playing the game itself for me to really 'get it' as a premise, but the puzzling and dialogue in the demo was reassuringly brilliant.

Can't think of more but those are all top demos I vividly remember playing for the first time.

[Twilo]

I second:

Doom and Grim Fandango.

And also nominate:

Quake 2. A full episode (3 levels) and all the weapons apart from the BFG; as well as full multiplayer is pretty damn generous of id.

Half Life Uplink: A strange beast, not really a demo in the traditional sense, but it was the right decision. Any demo of ingame levels wouldn't make sense storywise, so it'd be hard to get involved.

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome: I got months of gameplay out of the multiplayer mode on this. Seemingly unique in that the demo had its own seperate gamer community to the full game, including specialised maps. MSN Zone's matchmaking facilities made good for once.

Thumbs: Perhaps a demos feature is in order?

[jokemaster]

I second:

Doom and Grim Fandango.

And also nominate:

Quake 2. A full episode (3 levels) and all the weapons apart from the BFG; as well as full multiplayer is pretty damn generous of id.

Half Life Uplink: A strange beast, not really a demo in the traditional sense, but it was the right decision. Any demo of ingame levels wouldn't make sense storywise, so it'd be hard to get involved.

Age of Empires: Rise of Rome: I got months of gameplay out of the multiplayer mode on this. Seemingly unique in that the demo had its own seperate gamer community to the full game, including specialised maps. MSN Zone's matchmaking facilities made good for once.

Thumbs: Perhaps a demos feature is in order?

Hmmm, a demo section would be cool

[MrHoatzin]

No it wouldn't.

[jokemaster]

Not an actual download section, but maybe recomendations, reviews, lists of cool demos, descriptions, walkthroughs, etc.

[Guest]

To be honest, I sometimes wish for a bit more from a demo.

It tantalises my interest, but sometimes they leave that liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit out, that could help me cross the border and actually purchase the title.

Although, as said, some demos have been fantabulous, including DOOM, Quake, Grim, Curse, Worms...etc. They really whet my appetite for the game.

But honestly - The Silver Earring demo did nothing for me. I've heard good things about the game, but gauging by my experience of the demo, I remain pessimistic. The voice acting, IMO, was awful, it sounded forced. Yet, some people on another forum (), have called it one of their top five adventure games. *shrug*.

And actually, although Kingz rated the game highly, I wasn't that fussed on Evil Genius. I could see the concept was good, and I was into the game, but I quickly lost interest. Perhaps that's my fault, and I just picked up and played. I will prolly try it again, but first impressions, weren't hot!

But back on topic, some demos, like the Rome:Total War demo were interesting, if a little easy. If I've had a bad experience with a demo, I rarely buy the title, unless I get serious recomendation from someone else.

[jokemaster]

Damn You All, Now I'm On A Demo Binge!

[Huz]

Carmageddon - Splat Pack demo. It was one of the first PC demos I ever played, but it was also GREAT. Unlimited time, as far as I remember, and a single car on a single medieval level - but what a level! The fun of Carmageddon for me was all in playing around with the physics and smashing up the opposition in new and amusing ways, so one car and one level was all I needed. When I got a full Carmageddon game (Carmageddon 2, actually), I didn't enjoy it as much. Best demo ever!

Closely followed, if it counts, by the shareware Quake. Attempting speedruns through the first episode, watching speedrun demos (as far as the end of the first episode...), playing online (as long as I stuck to maps in the first episode...) - great mileage. I only bought the full game because shareware Quake didn't work properly with my 3dfx card.

[manny_c44]

I think Idlethumbs should move a step ahead of a demo feature and just start ftping games!

Or maybe do some home of the underdog thing but not nearly as cluttered. Like offer up an old but awesome game every once in a while with review or summat and staff opinons....might as well be a wacky foto essay. But then again this would completely undermine the Thumbs purpose--nonsensical rants!!!

[Intrepid Homoludens]

I think Idlethumbs should move a step ahead of a demo feature and just start ftping games!

Show us the money.

In other words.....

[ragnar]

Here you go:

[Spaff]

pah! your dollars are worthless here! ¬

[RLacey]

The Curse Of Monkey Island - there was a movie then later a playable demo.

I remember watching that movie about 20 times. In a row. I couldn't believe that they had announced a sequel.