A couple new demos hit Xbox Live this week and I've braved the excruciatingly long downloads to give you my first-hand impressions. It's a thankless job, really.
First up is Forza Motorsport 2 — a "driving sim" with lots of licensed cars and what I assume are excellent physics. I didn't learn to drive until I turned 18 and I strictly adhere to all posted speed limits so this is really not my kind of game. There aren't even any power-ups to hurl at your enemies! I'm sure there's an audience for this kind of game but all I seem to be able to do is crash into walls. I think that I'll be sticking with mario kart DS thankyouverymuch.
The other demo is Blacksite: Area 51, a pretty FPS with an alien-blasting theme. The game looks nice but there just isn't much to judge from this demo — it's only (literally) six minutes long. You shoot some aliens at a gas station, shoot a few more in a ditch, and then it's over. There's some cool visual effects as a giant alien something crashes into an outdoor strip mall but before you know it you're back at the title screen. Not exactly a game-selling demo.