A couple of demos.

Yesterday I tried out two demos, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts demo, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Both were very visually impressive. And both were more interesting that I might have given them credit for.

Nuts and Bolts revolves around collecting bits and pieces and assembling them to create crazy vehicles to navigate the levels. I had fun building and testing my creations, like a one-winged plane that flew in dangerously chaotic circles.

But the collect-a-thon platforming combined with my general distaste for the main characters means I'm not likely to buy the game. It is amazing looking though, and it does play really well, too. I'd be tempted if there wasn't a glut of games on my plate.

I loved the first Tomb Raider on the Playstation. Since then, the series hasn't done much for me. Underworld might change that.

It's pretty gorgeous, the controls are much, much improved, and ever since Uncharted re-ignited my interest in cave exploration based action/adventure games, a really well-made Tomb Raider game has sounded great.

But the best part was the puzzles. Specifically, the last puzzle in the demo. It's long, complex and not super obvious or easy. Good puzzles are one thing I thought Uncharted was missing.

So given the time, I'd love to find the time to pick that one up. I probably won't have time for a while, though...