Turning Point: Fall of Liberty Demo

So, as embarrassing as it is to admit, I did not even know Xbox released a demo for "Turning Point: Fall of Liberty" until today. Actually I found out in, of all places, a Barnes and Noble. There was a demo disc attached to one of the Xbox magazines promoting the demo and I said to myself "Wait a minute... if there's a demo on this magazine, then must there be one on Xbox Live???"

Well, there is, so I just now downloaded the 1.2 gig demo, pulled myself away from "D2: The Mighty Ducks" on HBO (Ducks Fly Together!), and gave the game a whirl, in preparation for the game's release tomorrow (or for most of you readers, today... I stay up too late...)

And I noticed two things immediately about this game.

1) Even though the graphics are not quite what you would expect from a current first-person shooter, the game does a great job depicting the German invasion of New York City. Bombers, Hindenbergs, Nazis spouting off real live Nazi talk -- and you, as a lowly construction worker without a gun, are caught in the middle of this invasion. Its fantastic.

2) I was reminded of just how horrible I am at shooters. This demo can only be played on the Easy and Normal levels, and let me tell you, I struggled like hell to play the Normal level. In part, this is because of the game itself. While new enemies will more times than not appear in the same spots each time you play a scene, once they enter the fray they act unpredictably. You cannot take your time handling the enemies, because before you know it they will advance on you and gang up.

Now, is that enemy activity all that original? Nah. Are the graphics that hot? Not too much. Still, you have to love the storyline. And, generic shooter + great storyline = a good game in my book. I'm pretty excited for this title -- now if only I could improve above marginal skill at shooters in general, I'd be all set.

On a related note, I'm reminded right now of just why the "Halo" games are so damned popular -- because even talentless schmucks like me can muddle their way through a campaign and feel somewhat accomplished. I don't think the Nazis are going to be as forgiving to me.