Demo Impressions

Some new demos hit the PSN recently, and I checked them out.

First up, Stuntman Ignition. The first Stuntman game had a great premise, but the execution was terrible. Playing levels over and over again until everything went perfectly is not a recipe for fun. When I heard about the sequel, I was excited because I figured they would fix the problems from the first game. My mistake. It must have taken me a dozen tries to get through the first demo level (the easiest of the three), and my only reward was a poorly cut-together video replay of my run. So not worth it. Stuntman Ignition is in stores now, if you can't help but waste your money.

Next, I played skate. This is EA's answer to the Tony Hawk franchise, which I was more than a little skeptical of. Let's face it, the TH franchise isn't exactly stellar, but EA? EA makes a football game every year that's hopelessly broken. Good thing I don't judge games based on their publisher. Within minutes of starting skate, I was hooked. EA made a very good decision with the Fight Night series by incorporating thumbstick control, and they did something similar with skate. Instead of the TH button mash frenzy, skate uses the thumbsticks and shoulder buttons to pull off all tricks. What's more, is that the crazy shit you can do in skate can be (and probably has been) done by real people in real world settings. skate seems like the perfect game to hop in for 30-45 minutes, screw around, and hop out again. skate hits the streets on 9/25, and I'm positive I'd be more excited about this game than that other notable 9/25 release, even if I had a 360.