Five Games You Probably Bought Because They Came With Demos For Other Games

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is coming packaged with a demo for Final Fantasy XV, and it's likely many will buy the PSP remake just to get a taste of what's coming next for Square Enix's most popular franchise. This isn't the first time a publisher has used the incentive of a demo for a highly anticipated game to help sell another title. Here are a few games that used the same tactic.

Brave Fencer Musashi for Final Fantasy VIII
After the incredible success of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix knew anticipation for Final Fantasy VIII would be high. Players were excited for the next entry in the 3D RPG, so in North America it attached a demo of the game to a new IP, Brave Fencer Mushashi. It must have helped sales for the game because a sequel did release in 2005.

We gave the game a 7.75 when it released in 1998 and we played the game in a episode of Replay. We also, appropriately, checked out the Final Fantasy VIII demo to see how it holds up.

Zone of the Enders for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Hideo Kojima likes to put his stamp on more than just Metal Gear Solid games, and sometimes he likes to use Metal Gear Solid as the stamp itself. Kojima was a producer on Zone of the Enders and the game came with a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which was hugely anticipated after impressive showings at E3. The game's sequel, Zone of the Enders 2, sold poorly in comparison. The demo was also an appropriate inclusion as Zone of the Enders was the first showcase of the engine that was used to create Sons of Liberty, even if the game played much differently than Metal Gear.

The demo became even more infamous after the release of Metal Gear Solid 2 because of the way it helped hide the twist that you played as Raiden for the majority of the game instead of Solid Snake. It also featured a few differences from the final game, which is something you rarely got to see in 2001 before the days of early access.

Crackdown for Halo 3
It wasn't actually a demo for Halo 3. It was a beta, but it got gamers excited in the same way. Players were incredibly excited for first Halo on Xbox 360, especially after the cliffhanger ending of Halo 2. Many joked online that Crackdown was a free game that came included with the purchase of the Halo 3 beta.

Thankfully, Crackdown turned out to be a lot of fun, so the Halo 3 beta access ended up being an extra bonus. Unfortunately, the sequel didn't fare as well as it was developed by an entirely different team, and didn't include the opportunity to play one of the most anticipated games ever released.

You can find our review of Crackdown 2 here, and at E3 2014 Microsoft announced a new entry in the series.

Bulletstorm for Gears of War 3
Epic put a lot of marketing weight behind Bulletstorm. It was an unknown IP that may have looked like a familiar shooter, but it had some interesting mechanics that had the potential to turn off the typical shooter fan. One of the ways it tried to get the attention of fans of its other IP, Gears of War, was to give them Gears of War 3.

The Epic Edition of the game, which cost a little more, included a pass to play the Gears of War 3 beta, something Epic had refused to do for the first two Gears of War games making it extra special. Bulletstorm hasn't seen a sequel, but the developer, People Can Fly, did go on to make Gears of War: Judgment.

You can check out our very positive review of Bulletstorm by heading here.

Dragon's Dogma for Resident Evil 6
In many ways, Dragons Dogma became more of a success than the Resident Evil sequel it came included with. Resident Evil 6 reviewed poorly and Dragon's Dogma has become a cult hit.

You can find our review of Dragon's Dogma by heading here. You can also find our review of Resident Evil 6 by heading here.