Motorstorm 2 Demo

[JP]

Had quite a few goes on this now and I know it's only a demo but they seem to have made this far easier than the first game as with the bike and Jeep I was able start finishing first after just a couple of plays with each.

Although the driving itself seems easier in this I got the feeling that the other racers are far more aggressive a few times they've driven over from the other side of the track to attack me. I thought it was a nice touch.

I'm hoping that as this is the E3 demo and because demos at shows like that tend to be easy that it will put up more of a challenge in the full game.

I wasn't sure if I liked the changes at first but the more I've played it the more they make sense.

The monster truck probably took about 5 or 6 tries before I was able to finish first most times. It took a bit of getting used due to the extra bounce in them but as soon as you work out how to play the bounces it just clicks and seems just about perfect and it's now my favourite of the 3 included vehicles.

The bikes feel far tighter than the original as I really struggled with them in that but the handling is just about perfect in this. Being able to duck under branches and bunny hop over things has given you more options for getting out of difficult areas too.

I didn't like the sound of the new attacks available in the vehicles but after a bit of play they actually work well. They're a bit like the old punch that you had as a biker but your car will boost and shift very slightly to the left or right depending on which button you press.

One of the best improvements in this demo over the first for me is that gravity is used more when your not actually jumping now. This track has a steeply banked curve above a cliff like the original did in the Rain God Mesa but unlike that one gravity will now effect your driving as your vehicle is pulled down the gradient. Things like the weight of your vehicle, the increased friction added by going faster and the direction of your driving in relation to the gradient effect how much pull it has on you.

I quite like the bonnet cam as well but I'm guessing that we're not going to get a full driver cam in the game.

I'm not really sure why Evolution used this track (Rain God Spire) for the demo as it feels far too short for a one track demo and as they've said, it's heavily influenced by Rain God Mesa from the first game so does have a very similar feel the demo from the first game.

I really don't understand why they would just use the E3 demo which they labelled as 40% complete when they were showing an 80% complete demo earlier in the month with loads or tracks and vehicles available. I suppose it's just quicker for them to just ship the older demo with less in it than spending time redoing the newer one and removing most of the content from it. It's still bloody annoying though.

I'm really hoping that the full demo will be from the more complete version as I'd like to try one of other courses.

Something that is reassuring is that when I think back to how much the original Motorstorm improved over the PSN demo which for me was pretty bland and just felt cold in some way, when I compare that to the full game it makes me feel pretty optimistic about changes in this one.

If you didn't like the original then this probably isn't going to change your mind at all so you'll be better of looking elsewhere for off-road racing.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

To echo what a few have said - I really wasn't too impressed with this and thought it was felt too much like the first one with a visual makeover. The layout of the track even seemed very familar. I'm just not feeling this unfortunately, I think Pure is the better game and frankly I expected more from Motorstorm 2. Can't see me buying this.

[ezee ryder]

Hmm not played it myself but gauging from the opinions so far it seems like people were expecting more but what more were you guys actually expecting? Is it because it is too similar to the original?

[merf]

the original was a launch title and delivered the pretty but hollow gameplay I expect from such a title

wind the clock on 2 yrs though and the sequel should not only improve on the graphics (which this doesn't) but more importantly significantly improve on the actual play mechanic and deliver a deeper experience (which this doesn't)

still feels like a launch game to me, which isn't good enough now to get my cash.

if they have released a very old build and the actual game is better then what a huge cock up.

[ezee ryder]

How much deeper can an off-road racer get though? The original offered tonnes of races, decent selection of vehicles and a pretty good challenge too. I haven't tried the demo of course so I can't really in a position to judge like you guys but I am still looking forward to this.

[mmcg]

Just had a go of the demo. The gameplay is pretty solid, but one thing that did annoy me was that the textures on the ground are very low-res, but the vehicles and riders are high-res, so it kinda looks wierd. In the little bit before the race it looked like my bike was floating because of it.

[TheBlackLodge]

but one thing that did annoy me was that the textures on the ground are very low-res

Noticed that as well when I watched the video on Gamersyde. Could be wrong but I think the same thing happened in the first one as well.

[mmcg]

And also the loading times. They were pretty long, which is worrying.

[JP]

Timed it a couple of times and I'm getting around 15 seconds from the loading screen to when I start moving and that includes a 3 second countdown at the beginning of the race as well as selecting a vehicle.

That doesn't seem to bad as it's loading the track and 16 vehicles. You are aware that you don't have to wait for the camera sweep as it can be skipped?

[Matt]

It would appear the demo you guys have is actually pretty old. Someone has compared it to the IGN 80% build and the difference in graphics is huge. There's a lack of foliage in the demo, which could be put down to different map variations , but the much improved lighting would indicated the demo is pretty old.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12788849&postcount=478

[MonkeyWrench]

That is a pretty big difference. Makes you wonder which retard decided to release this demo as it's caused nothing but a bad reaction. First impressions stick.

[Matt]

I'm getting concerned there's an idiot in charge of demos at Sony. First SOCOM, a brilliant game with such a long connection time most people have given up, and now this.

Just how hard is it to release a more recent of a racing game like this? Seriously. Take the latest stable build (doesn't even need to be 100%, but needs to be no more than a month old), asset strip maps, textures and models that are not needed on the one map you're showing. Add the word "Demo" to the title screen, comment out any non-relevant menu items, set a 1 race 2 lap limit and off you go.

[JP]

The main difference I noticed between the E3 demo that we got (40% complete according to Evolution) and the 80% complete version that's doing the rounds at the moment was the difference in the lighting more than anything else. The lack of it really stands out when playing this demo.

If you ignore everything else then the HUD is a big give away as to which version videos are taken from as it's only the 80% build that has the newer HUD where as all older builds have the same HUD as the first game.

As I said earlier, it's a bit of a shame that they decided to release such an early version but that seems to be standard practice for games. A good example is the demo of the first game which just felt sort lifeless because it felt like something was missing, it's a similar feeling with this demo although I've played it loads and I have really enjoyed it.

[eastyy]

Seems a bit to of a early build to release as a demo.....i know they often say in demos that it does not represent the final version....but probably about 90% of the Time it really will be little different in the full game

[JP]

This isn't actually the full demo though as that's almost a month away and remember this isn't a public demo. Hopefully the public demo will be a little more representative of the final game.

With the first game there was 2 demos released at the same time, one on the PSN and the other for retail display and although they were the same track and apparently from the same build there were some fairly obvious graphical differences between the two.

The retail version as possibly more of an eye catcher due to including lighting, more vehicles and a fully functioning damage model whereas the PSN model dropped a lot of stuff but had a much smoother frame rate as people would probably spend more time playing it rather than watching it.

Hopefully we'll get a different demo once it goes public.

Out of interest, would people rather have the chance of playing a demo like this which is quite obviously quite a way from release or rather wait another few weeks to get a more polished version? I'd rather they did it this way but it's probably best to restrict the number of people who get it to avoid confusion.

I've spent loads of time on it and it's not perfect but as it was the E3 demo rather than the later version I didn't mind that wasn't as shiny as it could have been.