Marketplace Round-up

A few more items from the Marketplace that I have checked out recently:

Sega Rally Technology interviews - These videos were pretty entertaining. The track deformation technology developed for the game does look intriguing. Unfortunately it looks like it might go to waste on a title that tends to gear towards an arcade racing experience, but maybe the engine will be used for other, sim-rally titles.

Soul Calibur IV Trailer - I've lost track of the Soul Calibur games after II. Soul Blade for the PS1 was fantastic (still one of my favorite intros to any game ever) and the Dreamcast port of Soul Calibur II is practically legendary. This trailer did little to impress me. The video quality looked washed out and I am pretty much over fighting games at this point.

Team Fortress 2 Soldier Video - Awesome. Simply awesome. The animation and overall look of this game is amazing. The production quality in this trailer is damn impressive. I think I can watch a full length movie done all in-game. Thanks to the CoD4 Beta, I am actually looking forward to trying this on-line fragfest. Should be a riot.

NBA Live 08 Demo - I played about 2 quarters. I can't really give an opinion. I just don't like basketball. I know so little of the sport in fact, that I can't even tell if the game is good or not. I heard last year's game was crap, but I have no way of knowing if this one fixed those problems.

NHL 08 Demo - I probably watch hockey even less than basketball, yet I enjoy the sport much more. This demo was actually a lot of fun. Sure, I was pretty lost most of the time (I'm no hockey expert by any stretch of the imagination), but the graphics were great, the animations smooth, the controls very tight and it was pretty exciting overall. I don't see myself buying a hockey game ever, but I did enjoy the demo.

Tiger Woods 2008 - I haven't gotten into a golf game for many, many years, and the ones I used to play have been of the more cartoony variety. I have never played (aside from demos) any version of the Tiger Woods games. It was Hot Shots or nothing for me. Actually, my favorite golf game ever was Swing Away Golf for the PS2. That game was fantastic!! At least it was to this semi-not-really-hardcore golf fan. I still own it and I think I am going to try it again on my PS3 . . .

. . . oh, as to the Tiger Woods demo, umm, it did nothing for me. Swing Away Golf here I come!

Call of Juarez Demo - This demo seems to be many months too late, since this game came and went many moons ago. That being said, I really enjoyed this demo. I've noticed lately that I am not very impressed with most demos and it takes a lot for me to sit through one, but this one had me entertained the whole time. I think it was the western theme. I hope more games come out with a old west theme to them.

The game itself definitely does appear flawed. It plays well enough, but there is never that extra level of polish to really "wow" you. Graphically, the lighting effects are very good and the blurring, out-of-focus effect when aiming is very well done, but the character models don't look as good and you can just tell that this is not a AAA title. It is not ugly, but it is not showcasing the 360's power either (doesn't help that I've been only playing Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock for the last few weeks).

I would actually consider picking this title up if I see it for a discount price. I still have this demo in my HDD and will probably play through one more time before I delete it (that says something right there).