Good Demo/ Bad Demo for the week of March 1st

For the first week of march we have Baseball, bike racing and- extreme ass-kicking? I guess there's not really a theme here.

So, here is my first good demo, the aforementioned Just Cause 2

This is my first time playing a game in the Just Cause series, and I think that if you've played the game before, Mercenaries and Mercenaries 2 immediately come to mind. Why? Well, because they share an awful lot in common. You play a mercenary who is so good at his job that he can take on whole armies by himself.

He can call upon weapons or vehicles at any time through the black market feature and hijack any vehicle that comes his way. What sets Just Cause apart from Mercenaries and any other similar games is that Rico Rodriguez has a grappling hook and a parachute, which leads to some very interesting gameplay.

With the grappling hook and parachute combo, you can basically make your way up any building or elevated object, jump off, deploy your parachute and get the drop on your foes.

Just Cause 2 is a great, fun, blow-stuff-up game. With all the things you are allowed to do, your experience will be totally different each time you play it. Don't expect a deep and involving story here, but who needs that all the time?

Next up is my bad demo, Major League Baseball 2K10.

Never mind that I don't watch or participate in any sports whatsoever (not even pro wrestling). Even if I knew the starting lineup of the NY Yankees by heart, I still don't think that I would enjoy MLB 2K10.

I didn't think that the game looks that good overall, the crowd noise didn't take that long to bother me, and I think there could have been a better control scheme for pitching; batting is just fine.

Major League Baseball is not exclusive to one company, so I think there might be a superior product out there. For me, this MLB game is not that product.

Don't leave yet, sports fans! Here is another good demo, Moto GP 09/10.

Again, I don't know a damn thing about sports, but I do enjoy racing games from time to time.

I played the Gran Turismo 5 demo, and it feels like more of the same in a prettier package. I still have GT4 sitting unfinished as well.

I might, then, take a chance on motorcycle racing. It's time for a change of pace! Racing in a car is enough of a challenge, but bike racing is even more of a hassle because you have to keep your bike steady and level, and pray that you don't wipe out.

This is not a Burnout style game where your bike will blow up, nor is it a crazy chase game like the Need for Speed series.  It's a simulator, so the focus is heavy on tweaking and customization, from what your bike looks like to what your rider wears.

If I played the full game, one thing I would hope for is that the voice of the disembodied guy (is he a trainer or something?) to be shut off. If you play the demo, you will either laugh or be irritated at this guy who sounds like a cousin of Mario and Luigi. Just a note: I don't need to have the choices of rider and mode to be announced to me.

So that's what's on the PlayStation Network for this week. I have no idea what's up next week, but it better be good!