10 Demos BETTER Than The Actual Game

10. Duke Nukem 3D

The early 90's were a golden time for game demos. Publishers and game developers released huge swathes of their games with reckless abandon, confident that the the 30% of the game they gave away was so good gamers would fall over themselves to buy the remaining 70%. DOOM was undoubtedly the most famous example of this marketing technique, but Duke Nukem 3D was another exemplar of the form.

Unfortunately, it was also an exemplar of the problem that came with it - a tendency to frontload the demo with the best parts of the game.

Duke Nukem 3D's first episode is by far and away the best, immersing the player in an (at the time) mind-blowingly interactive first person environment. Flushable toilets! Openable cupboards! Pixelated strippers! (Look, we said it was impressive "at the time", i.e. when we were younger and even more immature).

Duke's follow-up episodes, while decent enough, failed to match the impact of its opening set of levels - especially episode two, which swapped the streets of LA for a generic sci-fi setting. Players who forked out for the full game were essentially getting "The same, but slightly worse" - a double helping of diet soda that, while palatable, paled in comparison to the full-flavoured sugar rush offered by the demo.