...and, what demo have previewers been playing?
Everything I've read about this game thus far talks about how deep the combat system is, and how much it has to offer, and how, since everything is deformable (re: blow-uppable), it makes the game a feast to the senses, et al.
Now, I've played through this thing about 10 times, trying to get to all the exciting bits where my mind is blown and I can't rave enough about it, yet I think I've still to find them. What I have found is a pretty weak demo, with semi-smart AI, pretty graphics for current-gen hardware (the demo is available on PS2), and some neat game mechanics (re: actually nice look deformable terrain, unlike Red Faction 1/2).
What else have I found? Slow control, bad (no) damage modelling on characters, generic weapons in a game where 'the guns are the main character', weapons that do very little actual damage to opponents (10-ish shots from an AK-47 seem reasonable to kill? How about 2 shotgun blasts at close range?), and the shortest demo I've ever played (2 minutes front to back is my current record).
Now, G R A N T E D, it is a demo, and I'm not going to pooh-pooh it on that alone, but come on; previewers have been wetting thier pants over THIS for the last 6 months? If this is the supposed "last hurrah" of the current gen, I'd like to give another 6 month window for a real hurrah. Once again, I don't want to shit all over the game itself because of a soft demo, but even the Riddick demo was better than this, and THAT was a shitty demo. I bring that up because THANKFULLY, Riddick was a fantastic game, bucking the stigmata of the ugly demo.
Let's hope Black can do that too, as it looks like it would be nice to play, from what all the previews tell me.[/b]