Demos are worthless.

I know that might sound stupid to a lot of people, if it weren't such a blatantly obvious shock statement made to keep you reading.  After all, the video game industry uses game demos all of the time to entice people into playing their games.  The thing is, for as good as they can be, demos aren't representative of the game experience as a whole and thus shouldn't be used as a make it/break it point in choosing what to buy.

Sonic the Hedgehog on the 360 is a prime example of why demos need to be viewed with caution.  As has been documented, first there there was this.  And then there was this.  What's the difference?  A large chunk of the game that wasn't included in the demo.  Namely the chunk that would have served as the deal breaker, the part that would have saved Donutta from dropping money on a certified POS.

On the flip side, a poor demo can make a game appear to be worse than it actually is.  The Final Fantasy XII demo that was included with Dragon Quest VIII was one of the worst demos I've ever played.  It included two fairly brief sections of gameplay pulled from their context, very little in the way of tutorials, and a head-first introduction to the most controversial Final Fantasy battle system since Final Fantasy VIII.  That's about it.  No discussion of the License Grid, no ability to adjust gambits, and nothing resembling a challenge in any way.  The demo was, at best, unappetizing and unpleasant.  If it weren't for reports about the rest of the game, ranging from GameSpot's review to intriguing word of mouth, I honestly wouldn't have even bothered with this game, but I bought it and it's far better than I thought it would be.

So take heed, fellow gamers, before you put your trust in a game demo.  They never paint a complete picture of what a game is like, and what the demos don't reveal may be far more important than what they do.  That download on XBL might have been pleasing, and that disc that came with that new game might have been crap, but don't make the mistake of assuming that they represent the full product.