Demos are weird things. We wait with baited breath for a quick shot at an upcoming game. In the bad old days we had to wait for a disc on the front of a magazine to give us a glimpse of what our most anticipated title had in store.  These days with Xbox Live we can download in 10 minutes or so any demo that’s on the Marketplace. At first there weren’t a lot of demos appearing, but since then the trickle has turned into a wave of demo after demo. I say demos are weird because despite our desperate desire for them, they can put us off games as often as they increase our excitement for upcoming titles.

Take for example the Chromehounds demo. Never had a demo so woefully failed to get across the excitement and brilliance of the full game. It was slow and soulless and probably turned a lot of people off. Equally with Test Drive Unlimited an under whelming demo has detracted from a really great game. As for Sonic the Hedgehog… well, that is one sorry hedgehog! Even a real hedgehog could stay on a rope longer without falling to its death. With this kind of feedback, it‘s a wonder games developers put up demos at all, huh?

But when a demo is done well it’s a truly beautiful thing. There’s nothing like having your view turned around on a game by a truly brilliant demo. One of the most stunning examples of this must be the recent appearance of the F.E.A.R. demo on Marketplace. In the space of five minutes you have a great feel for the weaponry, the physics and the level of, well… fear you’ll have to put up with through the game. Suddenly a year old PC title with a slightly worn ‘scary curtain hair girl’ motif is looking pretty sweet.

The ultimate demo though is the Live Arcade Demo. Not sure you want to spend 3 quid for the months of joy Uno will give you? Try playing the demo first!

And thanks to the recent Tokyo Game Show, we’ve seen a glut of demos released under the ‘Bringing it Home’ folder on Marketplace. So don’t delay - go check them all out!