Must Download Xbox 360 Demos

It’s been a while since we’ve done a feature on Xbox 360 demos and no, this isn’t because we’ve become lazy; it’s because there wasn’t anything worth downloading in recent times. But now there’s a small rush of pretty good titles on Live and it’s time once again to help you decide what you should be wasting your precious bandwidth on.

Forza Motorsport 2

If fast paced arcade racers aren’t your thing and you’d rather drive around in expensive cars at 5 KPH, Forza Motorsport is just the game for you. Boasting of over hundreds of real world licensed vehicles from Ferraris to Jaguars to Maseratis to McLarens and much much more, Forza 2 has it all… and besides offering players such a wide and diverse variety of vehicles, the game even boasts of some of the most detailed car customizations till date. In fact developer Turn 10 claims that each car can sport up to 4,100 layers of graphics. You can play the game with your standard 360 controller or (if you’re feeling really rich) you can even hook up a very nifty Wireless Racing wheel (that’ll set you back by anything from Rs. 5500 to Rs. 10,000) designed keeping this game (and future racing sims) in mind. If all the above mentioned stuff appeals to you you’re in luck since the game’s already available at stores all over India for Rs. 1800.

__PAGEBREAK__

Shadowrun

It’s the year 2011 and ancient magic has been re-awakened in Santos, Brazil. The greedy RNA Corporation plan on harnessing it and using it as an “economic tool” while the local resistance called the Lineage strive to prevent this from happening. The demo offers you a small taste of the action to come in the form of two races (Humans and Elves), one map and one game mode (Raid). Now even though this is a multiplayer only game (you can play with bots or undertake training missions but that’s about it), I highly recommend downloading this demo since it is one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had on Xbox Live (right up there with Vegas in my books) in a while. The game will not be launched officially in India (since Live hasn’t been launched here yet) but if you like what you see, you can score your copy from various sites like play-asia, and digimart online.
__PAGEBREAK__

Collin McRae’s DiRT

Missed out on Motorstorm? Crave for some next gen off road racing? Well there isn’t anything that fits that particular criterion but if you don’t mind a more sim-ish approach to that genre, there’s Codemaster’s latest Collin McRae game that goes by the name of DiRT. Now even though I haven’t played Collin McRae games (nor am I really interested in playing any of them), I caught someone playing the demo and was absolutely bowled over by the game’s visuals; in fact it is one of the best looking racers I’ve seen on the Xbox 360 and watching your buggy spew dirt all over the place is a real treat to the eyes. The DiRT demo that’s up on Live right now (not for Asian regions) includes three modes: Hill Climb, C.O.R.R. (Championship Off-Road Racing) and Crossover which takes place in Germany that has players take on Collin McRae himself.
__PAGEBREAK__

Overlord

There’s a time in everyone’s life when they wished they could give in to that nagging voice deep down and unleash the evil within (be honest; how many times have you felt like strangling your neighbours pet?). Now if you’re too much of a pussy to do so in real life, you could hop onto Xbox Live and wreak some havoc on innocent villagers and their sheep in Codemaster’s latest offering, Overlord. In the game you’ll step into the boots of an evil Overlord (duh!) who commands a battalion of dedicated goblin-like minions to do his bidding so if you plan on pillaging a village, killing some sheep, or just indulging in random dastardly deeds, it’s all good since you have at your beck and call a brain-dead army that isn’t afraid to die for your noble cause.
__PAGEBREAK__

Vampire Rain

Ever wondered what you’d get if Sam Fisher and Blade had an illegitimate child (hypothetically speaking)? Well, I haven’t; but apparently the creative minds at Artoon (Blink 1 and 2) have, and this, ladies and gentlemen is what Vampire’s Rain is all about; sneaking around in the shadows while hunting down and killing the Children of the Night. The game takes place in a rain soaked suburban locale where vampires are in the process of taking over the whole goddamn place and you are a secret agent of sorts who must use stealth and modern weaponry (no garlic?) to put an end to this horrific plan. Unfortunately you don’t possess the powers of the Daywalker so you can’t go around slaughtering them vampires; through most of the game you’ll have to rely on stealth since a confrontation with even a single vampire may result in a most unpleasant death.