It's still demo time.

11 Oct 05

Sorry about the delay getting yesterday's update up. I'm sure some of you just assumed that I was taking Columbus Day off. No, not a big event here in Texas. We were having some technical difficulties on the administration side of the news section. I think it's worked out now and we should be resuming normal activities. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be caught up.

Today, nothing too exciting. I just have another demo review for you. This time it's our game of the week. Yes, I played through the Earned in Blood demo. It chalks in at over 600MB so this might be helpful to even more people out there. Is it worth such a hefty download?

I should start off with the feel of the game. The design, as reflected by the demo, seems to shooting for a feel somewhere between a History Channel special and a World War II movie. It's clearly a tactical shooter in feel. Movement is slower. While you can absorb a lot of damage, charging into the enemy will get you killed. Enemies can be suppressed and flanked as advertised. Weapons do seem mostly realistic in accuracy and firing. Hand signals, team chatter (both yours and enemy units), background explosions, bombed out buildings and wrecked vehicles add to the feel of the game.

The sound and graphics are the quality you'd expect from a high production value game. Some of the texture detail was a bit low, but I didn't crank all the details so I can't complain. I liked the sound across the board with the slight exception of the main character. He didn't seem to fit quite right. Overall it was quite an immersive experience.

The single player story section of the demo was a mixed bag. After a brief tutorial, you're asked to clear a town. You've just been given instructions on how to suppress, flank and clear. Strangely the demo doesn't start off with action that can use that. You're funneled immediately into a corridor with a bunch of Germans at the end behind cover. Initially it looks like there's a way to flank them, but the game won't allow you to get to that area even preventing you from jumping over a two foot wall. So you still run into the problem of developers forcing you to play the way they want you to.

On the plus side, the AI seems to work as advertised. I don't think anyone will be swearing they're real people, but since you have only a limited command list (go there, shoot there, assault there, etc.), it's good that they try to do so intelligently. They use cover, move under cover fire, if you're exposed they'll tell you to get down. They're not crack shots, but they do pretty well. The enemy AI responds in a like manner. If they find themselves exposed, they'll try to run to cover. They'll flee grenades. Suppression fire isn't the unbearable torrent that it was in Full Spectrum Warrior, but it works, making partially exposed maneuver possible. Overall the AI manages to make the battles feel intense.

One other downside is that the demo only uses a checkpoint save system obviously showing it's console roots. Hopefully that will change in retail. Saves seemed to occur after each major encounter. They may be more annoying in more open missions.

The demo also came with a skirmish map. It allowed you to play all five modes, but only as the Americans. It supports single player and LAN play.

If you're looking for a good WWII tactical shooter, check out the Earned In Blood demo. Recommended.

Jason