GamerNode: Columns - RE5 Demo Dated: Helpful or Hurtful?

RE5 Demo Dated: Helpful or Hurtful?

Category: Industry, Posted: 01/20/2009 at 03:57PM EST by Tyler Cameron, Columnist

Man, I loves me some Resident Evil. Just think, all of the above and then some can be yours on March 13.

While Japanese gamers have had their mits on the RE5 demo for some time now, we will finally be getting our RE5 demo very soon, and with three playable levels instead of two. Take that, Japanese gamers!

But let's take a moment to consider the impact this demo will have, and the impact of demos in general. Digitalspy.com is reporting that Xbox 360 owners will get to sink their undead teeth into the demo on Jan. 26, followed by the PS3 demo on PSN a week later on Feb. 2. According to the article, the three levels from the game can be played with an AI buddy, with a real buddy via splitscreen, or over Xbox Live or PSN. That's a pretty decent chunk of demo to have access to more than a full month prior to the game's release.

Could Capcom be shooting themselves in the foot here? Could they be cannibalizing their potential game sales by releasing so much of the demo so early?

After all, there have been reports (Eddie touches on it in his hands-on preview) that RE5 plays very similarly to RE4. So say the demo comes out, thousands of people download it over a month's time and decide that "damn, it's exactly the same as RE4 but with amazing graphics," and that's not enough to justify a $60 purchase. Say that people download it and play the crap out of it for a month and decide they've had enough, and don't need to buy the whole game.

But on the other hand, how would fans feel if a demo was never released and the game ended up being less than expected? Kind of a bummer situation I guess. I know that personally I will probably buy RE5 on day one no matter what, but that's me; I'm a sucker for anything Resident Evil. My collection of anything Resident Evil exceeds all common reason, but not all you guys out there feel the same way.

After reading a thread in our community related to this, I would like to know from those reading, how do demos affect your purchasing decisions? Is an early, longer demo better or worse in your opinion? Is a demo of a popular game expected, and if it is, how much of that game should be revealed in the demo?

I'm going to come out and say that in my opinion, I think a game should absolutely have a demo before it's release, but a short demo is kind of a bad idea. I'm all for a longer demo about a week before a game's release. My reasoning here is that I bought Star Wars: The Force Unleashed based on the short demo because I thought it was incredibly fun and showed a lot of potential. Yeah, guess how that turned out for me...

What's for sure is that Capcom has a big year ahead of them. With RE5, Bionic Commando, Dark Void, and Street Fighter IV all coming out in the first half of the year, it seems they are set to dominate during the normal gaming drought. So Capcom, if you're reading, bring on the demos!

Posted by Tankcommander on 01/20/2009 at 05:31PM

I agree demos should be longer in general...but of course, not too long. If it is made too long, then it can become a substitute for the game until it drops in price.

RA3's demo is a good example...it provided only two short levels, one Soviet, one Allied. While the Allied mission lasts a hour and a half, the Soviet mission is really short, so combined you only get about 2 hours of gameplay. They didn't include half of the units for either faction, and even left out the Japanese entirely (which was the faction I wanted to try out the most). I've really liked the gameplay in the demo, but it hasn't been enough to hook me into a buy...had they provided a long Jap misson, I probably would have ended up buying it before it dropped down below $30.

Crytek and EA did a good job with the Crysis demo as far as length goes...they gave one level, but it was long, and with the open-ended gameplay allowed me to go through it around 10 times before it started getting remotely repetitive, while allowing me to experience enough of the game to decide that I loved it and become hooked. I bought the special edition on release day (true, I was planning to do so anyway, but still).

I still don't understand why all PC games don't have a demo release at least a week beforehand...demos are the perfect way to hook an audience, and by not releasing one you could lose sells because a person on the edge doesn't get to try out the game before he buys it.

Posted by lskennedy on 01/21/2009 at 12:17AM

Resident Evil 4 went down as one of the greatest games of all time. If it plays like RE4, It's not a bad thing at all. I also think its a good thing they have alot available because games like L4D had alot of content for a demo.

Posted by Cobra951 on 01/23/2009 at 06:12PM

I have yet to love a demo, and then think it's good enough to substitute for the full game. The more I like a demo, the more enjoyable time I get to put into a demo, the more likely it is I will buy the full product. Conversely, demos that nag and give me next to nothing are likely to turn me away from something I was already considering buying. They say something negative about the philosophy and tactics of the people responsible for the full product. If they are afraid to let me see anything of significance in a demo, maybe it's because there isn't much of it in the full game.