The other day I downloaded the demos for Overlord and Dragonball Z Burst Limit. I also pulled out the PSP which I haven’t touched since I finished the oh-so-awesome Warhammer 40000: Squad Command to play the Harvey Birdman demo I downloaded ages ago. Overlord has been out for a while on Xbox 360, but it’s only just been thrown up on the PS online store. I was also a huge fan of the Dragonball Budokai series up until, I think it was Tenkachi, when the game turned into 3rd person view instead of the side on view that ALL fighting games should use. Am I being too old fashioned? Probably, but I can’t think of a decent fighter that’s gone against the grain. And I’m talking fighters, so Fight Night fans can back off.

After looking through the demos, I’m kinda looking forward to things. Overlord looks like a really simple game, and it plays that way. Summoning little gremlins, commanding them to kill things and bring you stuff. Hell, thats easy, its also pretty entertaining. Having not bothered to read anything about it on the 360, I don’t know much about it, I’m expecting it to be simplistic to the point I’d lose interest, but only time will tell. First thought after the demo - Awesome.

Dragonball Z games always appeal to me. I’m a huge fan of the cartoon, I have every DVD(bar the movies) from Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT. I also have a crapload of the toys. It’s very geeky but I love them. Re-enacting the scenes from the cartoon is always great. Looking at the demo it looks like they went back the the old Budokai games with the view, the struggles, and added in some really great looking cell shading. Unfortunately there is no real tutorial to speak of so I had to fudge my way through the Kamehameha’s and basic blasts. The game plays pretty fast, but without a tutorial it’s hard to get the hang of. First thought after the demo - Must Buy(fan reasons, the demo is pretty lame).

The last demo was a huge surprise. I haven’t really been a fan of the Harvey Birdman tv show, other than when I have seen it after South Park. Anything that follows South Park is usually neglected in my eyes, but it did get a few laughs. After discussing the basics of the demo with some mates, we decided the game plays very similar to Carmen Sandiego, and I’m a sucker for puzzle games. Searching areas for clues, building cases, and eventually prosecuting them. The demo played very much like an interactive episode, with hilarious dialogue, random characters and very light-hearted. These are the kinds of games I love to play on portable systems. As much as I like action games, if it has a level of complexity I tend to prefer to play it on a tv and big console, PSPs are much more casual so to see games like this come out makes me happy. The game itself had a breakthrough moment with me when I was interviewing Secret Squirrel and Magilla Gorilla in jail about a break in of my(Birdman’s) office, where I also saw Dhalsim in a gratuitous but somewhat relevant cameo. Thoughts after the demo - Depending on price, this could be a go-er. With only a limited amount of cases, I can’t see this being a game I will play forever, but if it’s around the cost of a DVD or Blu-ray, I might just do it.

And of course, it’s Thursday again today, so as the night goes on I will HOPEFULLY find a few more things to try before I buy.

Already in posession of a PS2 and PS3, I went out and grabbed a PSP bundle at Target on the weekend and I have been playing it on and off since then. I didn’t even remember to get a memory stick to save games, but I have been playing nonetheless. I actually thought it was a stupid idea of me to get one, but I am actually playing it more than I thought. I actually think its the style of gameplay that Squad Command uses.

Even as a kid I have been into wargaming and I still am. I might be letting a few skeletons out of closets, but I have been wargaming for quite some time. I wont justify or get into it, but it’s also another reason why I like Squad Command and Dawn of War. I don’t really like Dawn of War as much just because it plays like an insane game of Starcraft. Not that it wasn’t an awesome game, but I haven’t really mastered the idea of looking after everything at once, raiding areas, only to have your base razed by units the computer has just built in barely any time in the only tiny, unexplored area on the map. I like Squad Command because it plays more like the tabletop game, and well.. chess. Turn based games are great cos I tend to get sidetracked very easily and like to go get a drink, or go out and pick up where I left off, whereas a game of Dawn of War can’t be left alone.

There have been other turn based Warhammer games such as Final Liberation and Rites of War and I have played them both through. Not that they have had great reviews, or even been good, but hey, I’m a sucker for turn based games, and I’m sad to see them disappearing. I may even start hunting them down.