How did this 180-degree shift come about? Well, enlighten me as I recount the demo -- which I will once again state was in real time and on Xbox. That's the first one, not 360. One of the first things to mention is the demo was totally void of a HUD. Nothing was cluttering the screen except raw jungle action.
At the start, main character Jack Driscoll is watching a nubile girl being sacrificed to that big ape we know and love. He's next on the menu, so tension runs high. Before being served up, however, Carl Denham, Jack Black's character, and his companion make the save -- but Driscoll's far from out of hot water. The natives aren't too happy at their insolence, and start chucking flaming spears at them. It's possible to pick them up and retaliate, but the better idea is getting the heck out of Dodge -- even if the fire effect is quite alluring.
The next scene has the crew still trying to escape, but they find themselves cut off by some prehistoric creatures. Both a raptor-type lizard and a gigantic centipede are stalking them with the worst of intentions. Driscoll uses a degraded corpse's rib bones as a weapon, and chucks it at the raptor's hindquarters. It falls down, but quickly gets back up, more pissed off than before.
When it attacks, the screen goes red, followed by a blurring, disorienting visual effect that says, "That hurt. Don't do it again." With no health bar, you can't tell how much trouble your in -- which heightens the sense of urgency. Unfortunately, the same thing happens a second time and Driscoll dies. Too bad Carl is too busy filming everything to be of much help -- a running theme throughout the presentation. On the second try, the developer controlling the demo pits the two beasts against each other, doing most of the work for him. This proves much more successful, and the three live to run another day.
The group ends up at a bridge area, where they see a few comrades. This is the first wide-open area we've seen, and it looks breathtaking. This reunion is broken up by a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex, who proceeds to eat one of the allies and destroy the bridge. The T-rex is horrifying -- both due to some sharpness of the Xbox graphics and the size of the screen we were viewing it on.
From there, it's a mad dash with the behemoth hot on their heels. Driscoll has a pistol, but it obviously doesn't do much damage to the dino. Even still, he has no choice but to make himself a target while the other two spin columns to open the door to presumed safety. Driscoll runs around pillars and other objects, but often the T-Rex just plows right through them, lessening the player's options of survival.
