When we lat met I complained that EA’s PS3 demos of NHL 08 and FIFA 08 were rather bland, short, and overall did not really help me make a purchasing decision. To me that is the purpose of these demos, and you would think the developers would do everything they can to hook you in and close the sale. Not so much with EA.
Thursday and Friday night I spent some quality time with the Sega Rally Revo and DiRT demos. Unlike NHL 08 and FIFA 08, these are really demos, not some crippled, watered down version of the game. I understand that developers cannot give too much away or they risk everyone playing the free version instead of going after the full retail copy. With that said, sports games are tricky because the developer needs to give players more than 4-5 minutes to “get into” the game.
Sega Rally Revo was just what I was expected; slip, sliding, on dirt. It has been a while since my Sega Rally days, but this is fine arcade racing. Sega gives us a couple of different tracks to try out (3 lap races) which was more than enough for me to think “nice and pretty, but I am not buying it for $59.99.” I keep writing about the prices of PS3 titles, but to me they are no longer impulse purchases. I cannot be the only one that feels this way, and if I am, I guess I should just quit my bitching. This one seems like a good way to waste a weekend (fun in small doses), but it is not going to hold me captive for very long.
DiRT is the complete opposite of Sega Rally Revo; no point in comparing the two, so I am not going to try to embarrass myself. The DiRT demo lets you try several styles of racing including some crazy ass fun in mud buggies (I forget the technical term), rally, and rally cross. The sense of speed is fantastic, and the wrecks are rather wicked. The mud buggy and rally cars handled differently, and the rally cars responded different depending upon the terrain. I do not like using shoulder buttons for racing (Sega Rally also required L2/R2 triggers), so hopefully the retail version allows you to configure the right analog stick for gas/brake responses.
I will pick up DiRT at some point. I have read a few reviews, seen the ads on TV, and watched plenty of videos, but playing the demo was enough to finally put me over the edge. My problem is going to be timing a purchase to line up with free time (it would suck if I do not actually have time to play).
I am running out of steam. It is 4AM, so hopefully I have represented myself well, without too many type-o’s (at least not more than you are accustomed to reading in my typically ramblings). I guess I could have simplified things by summarizing this post into a simple two line review. Sega Rally Revo and DiRT demos available for download at the Playstation Store. If you have not already done so, download them today!
