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Xbox Live Demo roundup


There's been a lot of new demos out on Xbox Live Marketplace lately, some good, some bad. Some of them might end up saving you $60, since the demo could be craptacular, but you could also find yourself desperate for the full version. That's the whole mystery of the marketplace. Roll the dice and see what you think.

Eragon: (415.28MB) This game is only going to appeal to fans of the book and the upcoming film. The graphics are not what you'd call "pretty," and it feels as if the game was tossed together over a drunken weekend using old code found on a floppy disk in a dumpster outside of Electronic Arts. It plays like Lord of the Rings meets Knights of the Old Republic. You have a sword, a bow, Jedi-like magic powers, and face an onslaught of identical foes. You can call in a dragon for air support every now and then, almost like having a special Dragon-whistle. *TWEET* "Hey! Take out that SUV in front of me! Thanks, girl!" Now that would come in handy.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent: (702.31MB) No surprises here. It's the same old Splinter Cell that you've come to love or hate. Ubisoft could just start calling these games Splinter Cell: The Sequel and you'd get the drift -- although this one has some big changes to the multiplayer, new plot, still fun ... if you're into that sort of thing. Fire it up and and see what you think of the latest installment. Then go try out the next one down and see which one knocks your socks off. Double Agent is the biggest download of the group, so get one of the smaller ones first and let this load in the background while you get some game on.

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas: (477.57MB) Can they make the titles to these games any longer, please? Soon it'll be crossover time and you'll have Tom Clancy's Rainbow Cell Splinter Six of the Old Republic Theft Auto to deal with. This is the second smallest download, barely ahead of Eragon, but it really manages to put the money where the megabytes are. This demo alone makes us want to pony up the money for the real things. Plus come on, Vegas, baby, Vegas.

F.E.A.R.: (542.72MB) And then there was F.E.A.R -- an explosive ballet of destruction, clone commandos and kicking evil little girls in the head. In slow-mo. What more can you ask for in a free demo?

What demos have you been checking out? We wanna hear about it.