PC Gamer - October 2011

POS TAL 2
SINGLE-PLAYER GO TO THE STORE, BUY SOME
MILK. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

When you’ve had a bad day, there’s nothing like picking up a can of gas and a pack of matches and doing what comes naturally. Try that in reality and you’re going to jail for a long time. Do it in Postal 2 and you’re just scraping the surface of its sadistic little sandbox. The full game quickly descends into chaos, with terrorists and other enemies just getting in your way. Here, the world has nothing to fear but you yourself—for seven minutes at a time, anyway. Break into houses, grab anything that’s not nailed down, and cut loose. Or, if you prefer, calmly walk to the store and buy a bottle of milk. Your choice.

Game release date: April 2003

Download URL: http://bit.ly/e TAh WG

File Size: 123MB

It’s a PC game. Unless you mean “Politically Correct,” in which case...

TRON 2.0
MULTIPLAYER THE USERS HAVE GONE. THIS TIME, YOU’RE
FIGHTING FOR YOURSELF

Quick! Name the two most awesome parts of Tron. Did you say the disc-throwing game and lightcycles? Correct! Now guess what the Tron 2.0 demo lets you play as much as you like. The single-player game is largely tedious, and the snippet of it here isn’t even worth looking at. Grab a friend or three, though, and you can race and hurl magic Frisbees at collapsing floors as much as you want. You’ll need to be on the same LAN—the internet servers have long since shut down—but a wireless connection will be fine, and almost any modern laptop, netbook, or wristwatch can handle the game. Think of the blockiness as a bit of added retro charm.

Game release date: August 2003

Download URL: http://bit.ly/gc7tJM

File Size: 207MB

Not included: Scary, unconvincing CG Jeff Bridges.

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It’s like StarCraft II, but without the II.

STARCRAFT
SINGLE-/MULTI-PLAYER A TERRAN, A PROTOSS,
AND A ZERG WALK BACK INTO YOUR HEART

Finished StarCraft II Want more, but don’t dare go online and have the illusion of competence forever shattered? Original StarCraft may not be as shiny, but Blizzard was so hesitant to deviate from its winning formula in the sequel that going back is surprisingly easy. Where better to start than with this special demo-exclusive campaign, featuring three Terran missions (plus a quick tutorial) that set up the main game’s storyline? There’s even multiplayer included, though you can be grateful that the lobby will inevitably be empty. You don’t want to fight anyone who’s still playing the first game after all this time—they’ve likely evolved into some kind of Zerg-rushing energy being by now. Definitely stick to LAN play with a similarly inexperienced friend, or StarCraft II and its matchmaking.

Game release date: March 1998

Download URL: http://bit.ly/f TcloX

File Size: 28MB

HOMEWORLD
AN Y VOYAGE THROUGH SPACE
BEGINS WITH A SINGLE JUMP—OF MANY LIGHT YEARS

Shock science update: space is three dimensional. You wouldn’t think it from most space games, or most shows like Star Trek, where everyone seems to think the universe is flat. Homeworld is the first great game to understand that (and one of the last), with its Battlestar Galactica-inspired race through the stars, and ships streaming spaghetti-style engine trails in one of the most beautiful depictions of space ever. This demo contains a quick tutorial to show you the ropes, then two full missions to let you witness the awe-inspiring scale of real space strategy. Alternatively, look for the Homeworld: Cataclysm demo ( http://bit.ly/hmwrldcata), which also gives you a cutdown version of the AI skirmish mode.