In a time before broadband internet and the proliferation of online video streaming, the only way to see footage of games before they released was to find a web site hosting a file, then wait weeks for it to download over a dial-up connection. This is how it was when Unreal Tournament 2003 was due to be released, and I dutifully sourced a keynote speech from Cliff Bleszinski where he talked about and showed off the latest tech to feature in the game. I think it was only about a forty-five minute video, but seeing those rag-doll effects and new weapon models for the first time really blew my tiny little mind.
Let's not beat around the bush: last year's E3 stage demo for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands was a terrible way to market the game, and if I hadn't been able to get my hands on it through the recent open beta, I would never have given it a second thought. On paper, Wildlands is as generic as they come and barely offers anything unique, but it got its hooks in me… and I don't know why.
These days it's rare for any AAA game to come with a demo or trial version to play around with before deciding if you want to throw down the full price of purchase. For Honor is no different, but it offered up an 'open beta' a few days before the game launched, which served as a good demo for me, as I discovered why I won't be buying it.
