Best Demo of a Game You've Ever Played

[DarkMemories]

Title lays out it out: what's the best video game demo you've ever played?

For me, and I know I sound like a broken record, it was the RE4 demo. I'd watched the IGN footage from E3 beforehand, but I still wasn't prepared for how mesmerized I'd be while actually playing it.

Honorable Mentions:

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Left 4 Dead 2

[fujin78]

its was resident evil chronicles
the new game on wii
on micromania game show 2009 in Paris

[Canas Renvall]

For me it has to be the FFX-2 demo from a Playstation magazine way back when. I forgot it, but it was when I was first starting FF (I had beaten FFX, and was looking for FFVII-IX), about 5 or so years ago. I just played through it over and over, I dunno why, but the ATB and visuals and everything about it just made me want the game so bad.

Good thing the rest of the game held up, too.

[YamiYumes]

The one that I really truly remember is the original DMC. The gameplay and atmosphere sucked me in. Plus that magma spider fight was badass xD

[Stu]

Crackdown.

Didn't know anything about it beforehand other than it was the game that was going to include a Halo 3 beta. Tried the demo for the sake of it, demos on downloadable demand was still relatively new to me then so i'd pretty much download anything.

Incredibly fun game though, basically GTA on crack. Loved that the demos upgrading had been speeded up so you could get an idea of the sort of fun you'd have in the game.

its was resident evil chronicles
the new game on wii
on micromania game show 2009 in Paris

Play more demos. I don't doubt it was good, but best ever?

You could at least give some reasons as to why as well.

[Carnivol]

Have a couple of friends who were addicted to the Crackdown demo. So good.

I see people have mentioned the two solid Capcom demos - Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry.

Got the DMC demo with Code: Veronica... mind blown. Got the Japanese Famitsu demo for BH4... mind blown again. Gotta say, I also love the Lost Planet 2 demo, but I haven't given it nearly as much love as those two previous ones... + the trailers for the game already sold me.


However - Silent Hill 1, I've never replayed that demo again, but when I played the demo that was packed in with Metal Gear Solid - I knew I just had to have that game. The demo wasn't really anything special, but at the time it was like just sealing the deal on something I at the time hadn't given any attention at all. The OPSM demos for Silent Hill 2 and 3 had the same result. I never really replayed them, but I knew from the demos that I'd be going to town! (Har har)


I'd like to point out something, though - demos in this day and age have suddenly become this creepy thing. Now you often get exclusive access to a demo for a specific game by pre-ordering the full version of it. The whole deal there is "hype". Why else give a demo exclusively to someone who's practically already committed themselves to purchasing the game? They will brag about how they've got early access to the demo and they will play the demo and unconditionally love it ('cause they are totally hyped for it and blindly willing to ignore and all flaws of it). Clever... Clever... So instead of releasing a demo to everyone, so they may try it and make up their own mind - you release a demo to those who already were buying the game, in an attempt to pretty much encourage those people to convince more people to buy the game. ('cause at the end of the day, a lot of games suck and/or are as generic as they can be and people's standards are on the same level. So it doesn't really matter to them which game they pick, but they need someone to make the decision for them.)

[randomwab]

Metal Gear Solid 2 is the best example of a demo I can think of. Mind blown over and over again. Other notable ones would be Crackdown, Resident Evil 2 and BioShock. Recently both Red Faction Guerilla and Torchlight's demos pushed me from "Don't care" to "Instabuy". Just great examples of why demos are still a great tool in marketing a game.

[BadWolfX]

Good thing the rest of the game held up, too.

I'm so glad you said that, I've a tiny bit tired of seeing people shit all over X-2 for shoddy reasons.

[Dark_Chris]

Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted Drake's Fortune

[I_Am_Nemesis]

For me its a tie between the RE5 Demo which i played non stop for weeks or the L4D Demo which i also played for weeks. You know what im going to have to say that the L4D demo is my faveourite becaus ei just had so much fuin playing it online with my friends

[Branden_Lucero]

DMC1 - 3 levels (altered with some changes)

and that one demo where all you have to do is enter the code and, BOOM, you unlock the full game instead.

[Beanovsky Durst]

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2... First one was priceless as a zombie fanatic. Second one gave me a fangasm when I saw the magnum.

Honorable mentions:
Resident Evil 5, not about the game itself but how difficult was to get it (I got it when the japan demo was released hehehe, months before the official North American release).

Quake 4 - That demo made me buy the game. I think it was a pretty great game which took everything Doom 3 and improved on it.

Doom: The shareware version was my first game on a PC. It really changed the way I saw gaming...

[Carnivol]

Doom: The shareware version was my first game on a PC. It really changed the way I saw gaming...

Oh my. You just opened up a world I'd almost forgotten... the days of Shareware. The Shareware version of Doom (had back then) pretty much just as much content as a lot of full games do these days (scaled).

Demos back in the days sure were generous with the content. Containing full "episodes". I guess that's more or less what they're experimenting with in with the whole "episodes" thingy for Fable 2.

Metal Gear Solid 2 is the best example of a demo I can think of. ... Recently ... Red Faction Guerilla ... pushed me from "Don't care" to "Instabuy".

Metal Gear Solid 2 was insane. That demo also INSTANTLY proved that the internet really is mainly for porn (joke vid Metal Pr0n Solid 2 says hi) and everything else is just a bonus. Red Faction: Guerrilla was also pretty insane. Probably just repeating what others have said before now - but after the moment when you've driven your first armored truck through a building... there's just no turning back. Blowing up shit just never gets old, especially when there are physics involved. The demo is absolutely perfect and the full game offered so much more of the same and with way less restrictions and plenty of extra modes (we've had way too many hours spent on taking turns in Wrecking Crew mode at my place)

[GuardhouseMusic]

Oh good lord Metal Gear Solid 2. I had been up and down the tanker (well, of course the areas prior to the Olga fight), used my M9 to break and shift around every piece of environment and pinhead guards, and then my best friend and I learned that you could hold up guards. What a showcase.

[TheSelfishGene]

Uncharted 2 was a fantastic demo.

Carn's right about Sharewares too. I remember playing Doom and Duke Nukem 3D demos, for a long time before getting the full release. The Quake demo was great too - it had the entire first (of 4) chapter! I got alot of milage out of that one too.