Dark Messiah Demo Released

The Dark Messiah Demo took me 4 hours to download (on ADSL) and I must have finished playing it in 15 mins. It seems the anticipation of the download is much higher than the satisfaction of actually playing the game. While the demo is excellent the insignificant time you get to play it compared to the 4 weeks or so we are going to have to wait for the game release may kill some of the expectation for the game. Why release such a short demo with the game release so far away? Don't get me wrong I do want to play the game some more, but the demo was hardly worth the 4 hour download time and the 1.4gig that it has bitten in to my download limit. Dark Messiah is like one of those prostitutes you see in Full Metal Jacket who say, "Love you long time," and then take five minutes to pleasure you. Basically, they promise the world and deliver not much.

The other things that I am asking myself now that I have played the demo is what will the game release be like now. There are a few things that I can factor in to the equation of considering whether this will be a worthwhile game to purchase or not. Firstly, it is utilising the Half Life 2 engine. What this is telling me that it will look awesome (and it does) but leave me feeling with a completely unsatisfied experience once I have completed playing it (just as the demo has). Considering this is a level based game and considering it does utilise the Half Life 2 engine the levels will probably be very short (While Half Life 2 was supposed to be seamless the 30 seconds of play/30 seconds of load time killed the experience for me).

Otherwise the demo is pretty good fun to play. Being able to impale enemies with a kick of your foot is excellent. The HDR is fairly well implemented. I have also run the demo on my single core desktop (7900GS 256mb) and a dual core notebook (7600 256mb) and it runs extremely well on both with detail set to high. There is a roleplay element with the ability to set skill points to different areas, however, this system does not seem to be as involved as other dedicated Role Playing Games. The graphics are excellent, and considering it is utilizing the Half Life 2 engine you would be extremely disappointed if they weren't.

The game is due out in the next month or so and, I will have to say, that I will be buying it. I just hope that it can break the precedent which Half Life 2 has set for me. Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is another game which uses the Half Life 2 engine and creates a much more satisfying game experience than Half Life 2.

I'd better start saving my money cause there are some good games coming out in the next couple of months. Gothic 3 is another one that I am looking out for and will hopefully challenge Oblivion for the RPG (Game of the Year) crown this year.