As most of you know the Medal of Honor: Airborne Demo is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. After playing it for a little while I must say I am disappointed (hence the title). I know it is just a demo and I will be picking up the full copy next month, but even though they introduce some new gameplay elements (mainly dropping yourself into any part of the level) it still feels like the same old WWII shooters a lot of us have become bored of. Maybe I had too high expectations?

When I found out you could actually control the parachuting scenes, deciding where you land and thus changing how you play through the level, I was expecting something a lot cooler or even something that actually had more of an impact on the way you play, especially since it is the game’s most touted feature. I played the demo multiple times, and while where I landed and begun was different, shortly after taking out any nearby Nazis it felt the same as my other landings. One time I landed on a roof and was able to easily pick off the enemy soldiers below me. One time I landed in the middle of a large group of them and died before I even had a chance to get a shot off (you can actually botch your landing, causing yourself to be vulnerable for a few seconds as you recover). Another time I landed in the middle of a green flare (meaning safety) and joined up with my squad to complete our objectives without taking fire.

But that is part of the problem. No matter where I landed, I still had the same goals to complete and the same path to eventually follow, even if the first few minutes were a little different. In the demo, your main objective is to place demolition charges on four AA Guns and secure the town of Adanti. Sure, you can complete them in a different order, but it doesn’t make that much of a difference. Once you take out all four, a little cinematic plays and you are given a new objective, and regardless of where you’re at, you’ll need to arrive at the same location in the exact same situation. You can take little side paths and what not to get there, but there isn’t much point to doing so. On a side note, they could also have made the act of placing demolition charges more exciting, something like Call of Duty 3, as in this game all you need to do is press A and get your ass to safety.

Another problem I have with the game is that the environment isn’t destructible. Besides taking cover behind objects, there really isn’t any interaction you can do with it. When I melee a trash can lid, I expect it to move dammit! It would make the game more intense if objects all around you were being shattered and destroyed, or if that table you are taking cover behind could be damaged in any way other than a bullet hole here and there. Hell, even multiple exploding grenades in a room full of desks, tables and lamps has absolutely no effect, not even a scorch mark. The graphics are lacking and need polish. As far as we are into this generation of gaming, there is no excuse for the lack of detail implemented or the wide variety of muddy textures I come across. The AI isn’t very good either. I’ve had moments where an ally and enemy would stand right by each other and be shooting at someone far away, seemingly not even noticing each other, or where enemies would ignore my allies when shot by them and continue to stare off in the opposite direction.

I know I am sounding harsh (and rightly so), but there are some good parts. I like the Aim/Lean system, where you hold the L-Trigger and can duck, peek up, or lean out to the sides which works great behind cover. Some players may not like the fact this makes you stationary, but it is a feature that will be used often out of necessity. Being able to sprint is something I’m glad was put in, it gives off a neat effect, and you’re able to shoot (slowing you down), but once you cease fire you’ll be right back to sprinting without having to press any buttons. This is especially nice to have if you land in a fucked up situation in which you quickly need to escape. At the beginning of the mission, you can select your weapons, and each time you kill an enemy with your weapon, the icon for it in the bottom right-hand corner will fill up with a blue bar. Filling this bar to the top will increase that weapons ability. I did this with my MP40 a couple of times and earned upgrades such as faster reload and doubling my ammo capacity from 32 to 64. You can also earn these rewards by simply doing melee with said weapon. It is better than having the same crap throughout the entire game and instead being able to choose a favorite and have it become more powerful as a result.

Besides a few neat additions, Airborne feels and plays like any other generic WWII shooter released on the market. If you have a 360, you can download the demo and try it for yourself, but if you’re not able to do that, don’t worry, you’re not missing out on anything. I don’t know the back story of this demo or how close to the final game it is, but if this is how the final game is going to be, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. That won’t happen though unless it is delayed a few months. Hopefully the completed game will be more fun and have some truly exciting moments and objectives other than what I have played already. If not, I’ll happily stick to my Call of Duty.

Hironobu Sakaguchi’s highly anticipated RPG, Blue Dragon, has finally been released outside of Japan. Well, in demo form at least. The game that sold over 80,000 copies and around 30,000 Xbox 360’s in Japan in its first week alone is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace across the world. Coming in a little over 1.1 Gigs, the Blue Dragon demo was released on July 11th, nine days before what was originally announced. Those of you who want a preview of how it holds up to Famitsu’s score of 37/40 and have the available space on your hard drive should check it out now.

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