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Perfect Dark Zero Review for Xbox 360 |
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| Wednesday, November 23, 2005 |
| | Title:
Perfect Dark Zero
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
First Person Shooter
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Publisher:
Microsoft
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Developer:
Rare
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Release:
11/22/2005
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Mature (M)
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First, let’s get a few things out of the way. No, Perfect Dark Zero isn’t the “Halo killer.” And no, it isn’t as good as the original Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64 (but to be fair, I can count the games that were on my fingers). Despite that, though, Perfect Dark Zero is still the best game of the Xbox 360 launch, and one everyone who bought a 360 should own. It’s just not the second-coming of Perfect Dark or Goldeneye.
Perfect Dark Zero is the sequel to Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64. However, the game takes place before the events Joanna Dark finds herself in in the original game. In PDZ, Joanna—along with her father, Jack—are bounty hunters. To those who loved the original and the “spy-movie” feel it had, don’t worry; there’s still plenty of high-tech gadgetry and futuristic weapons.
Curbs are your worst enemy…
The biggest complaint I’ve heard from the people emailing me to ask my thoughts on this game so far, or from people who frequent some of my message boards, is that there’s no jump button. So let’s get that out of the way, first. There is no jump button. There. Instead of the jump button, you get a button which causes your character to perform a quick roll in whatever direction you push the left analog stick towards. While a good idea, the roll could have been implemented better. For example, when you’re rolling, you take more damage if you’re hit. For a primarily defensive maneuver, this seems like an odd combination of factors.
However, there is a good reason Rare took out jumping: online play. Anyone who has played Halo, Halo 2, or any other FPS games online knows that there are always ways jumping can cheapen the match through bugs or jump-hacks. Does the lack of a jump make it harder to play, and frustrate you at points when you fall off of a three-foot high box and can’t get back on? Yes. But is it something that needed to be done, especially on a launch title when the developers aren’t sure yet how extensive bugs will be on Xbox Live? Definitely.
Mission Mode
The gameplay in PDZ is nothing revolutionizing. However, the first Perfect Dark game didn’t change the way the genre was played, either. Instead, where the game impresses is at how well it integrates so many features from other series in one game, and the little details put into it.
At first, you’ll most likely start up in the single player mission mode, or the mission mode with a friend. While the same story, the two variants do provide different results, and change the gameplay.
The story, sadly, is lacking greatly—I’ve seen better penned ones from high-school kids. You’ll find yourself trying to piece together just what happened in the last mission, and why you’re suddenly across the globe doing something completely against your last mission’s goals.
You also won’t find yourself attached to any characters but Joanna, and that’s just because of her role in the previous Perfect Dark game. If you never played Perfect Dark, you won’t even find yourself caring about her. The story is that abysmal. However, the action and gameplay more than makes up for it.
There are two mission modes: single player, and cooperative. You can play co-op on the same system, via LAN, or on Xbox Live. So if you have no friends to play with, don’t worry—you can find someone. The story is essentially the same between both single player and multiplayer modes; the difference comes in how the game plays.
For example, in one mission if you’re playing single player, you have to cover Jack as he runs along the ground. Snipers are everywhere, and it’s up to you to keep them off Jack’s back so he can take out the ground troops. In multiplayer mode, though, the second person controls Jack himself. It doesn’t greatly change the game, but it makes it more fun having an actual person controlling him, and really adds something when you either have a headset or can talk to the person next to you, telling them to take out so-and-so for you.
The cooperative multiplayer also adds more of a puzzle element to the FPS game. There are points when you can’t get beyond a door or area unless both players do something simultaneously, and points where player one can’t get through an area until player two opens a door for them, and vice versa.
The single player mode severely pales in comparison to the co-op missions. With a jumpy story and lack of character building, it’s more of an excuse to shoot people than it is to play through a mission. But shoot people you will!
The Guns and Gadgets
The original Perfect Dark was so great because of the number of weapons and gadgets you had in the game. PDZ doesn’t disappoint in that regard. The ever-popular laptop gun is back, as well as several others such as the RP90. In PDZ, there is a use for every gun, and no single gun is “weak.” Even the pistol you start out with has a scope and a silencer, making it extremely valuable in those missions where you have to be sneaky.
As of now, there are 25 weapons in Perfect Dark Zero ranging from grenades to MP-60s. Of course, the original Perfect Dark was renowned for its unlockables, so whether there are more remains to be seen at this point. Updates via Xbox Live offering new weapons are also entirely possible thanks to the 20-gig hard drive if you bought the premium package for the Xbox 360.
The weapons each have a primary and secondary firing function, offering a much higher variety of weapons than appears on paper. For some of the guns, the secondary is as mundane as screwing in a silencer. Others, though, perform very useful functions. One of the guns shoots caltrops on the ground, one throws out an automatic sentry, and one enables you to have a radar system (which sounds more like sonar). Some of the guns come equipped with flashlights, as well, which helps in some of the darker areas, or if the lights happen to be shot out in the middle of a battle.
There is also a variety of gadgets in the game. From lockpicking to hacking into computers, each gadget is unique and many of them require a very short mini-game to activate, making it so that you may even have a favorite gadget to use, along with the guns.
The way you store the guns in PDZ is new to the series. Unlike other games where you may be able to hold X amount of guns, PDZ runs more off of a grid-based system. You have a total of four spaces dedicated towards weapons, which you can see at the beginning of each game. Some guns such as pistols take one space, meaning you can have four pistols. Others such as machine guns may take all four spaces. This adds a unique element to the game, forcing you to pick not only what gun you like the most, but what combination is most useful.
Cover mode
The cover mode is another new feature to the franchise. Like the Playstation game Killzone, you can take cover behind objects. When you enter cover, the game switches to a third-person perspective. From there, you can aim at targets, and when you fire you hop up from behind cover. Halting your fire enters back into the cover.
While it’s nothing revolutionizing, the cover is extremely essential in this game, especially in harder difficulties. When you play on the highest difficulties, the enemies can easily kill you in a few shots, making good cover almost as important as having ammo.
Multiplayer!
Anyone who remembers the first Perfect Dark knows this: Goldeneye was the game for people playing alone, and Perfect Dark was the one to play with friends. That’s true here between Perfect Dark and Call of Duty 2, as well. In PDZ, there are several multiplayer modes.
The first and most played mode will be the standard deathmatch. In the game, there are only 6 maps—but they’re huge, and more maps via Xbox Live is a nearly assured thing. The maps range from several locales, and each one has advantages and disadvantages for different weapons. One thing Perfect Dark perfected that many were hoping would be in PDZ was the customizable bot AI. Sadly, it’s not in here at its fullest. You will see bots have unique AI, but unlike Perfect Dark the level of customization just isn’t there.
Besides deathmatch (and the other standards such as capture the flag) the new mode is Dark-Ops. Dark-Ops is, for lack of better terms, Counter-Strike. You play in round-based combat, and after each round can purchase new weapons, upgrade your armor, buy ammo, etc. In the Dark-Ops mode, Eradication is the simplest, making it basically team vs team combat. The other mode, Onslaught, is slightly different. In it, one team is offense and one is defense. Offensive players have unlimited lives and respawn, but defensive players can only die once. To offset that, defensive players can purchase weaponry, but offensive players cannot.
Another, Infection, is some of the most hectic fun you’ll have playing a shooting game. In it, players are trying to stay away from the infected players, who appear as skeletons. How does it work? Anyone who has seen a zombie movie should know—when the infected kills someone, they turn into the infected. The key to win? Be the last remaining fleshy. Humans can purchase weapons, but infected can only use what they find. Fight on, zombie brethren. Fight on.
The last dark-op variant is sabotage. In it, one team tries to cause as much collateral damage as they can, while the other team tries to stop them. Sadly, you can’t play the dark-op modes with bots (which doesn’t make sense; it seems their AI could have handled it). However, playing online is better, anyway, so hopefully you have a broadband connection.
Sights and Sounds
Whether you have an HDTV or not, Perfect Dark Zero is one of the most impressive games you have ever seen. On a standard television, it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of any current-gen visuals. And on an HDTV…well, you just have to play it to see it yourself. The textures in the game are impressive, with water moving realistically, bricks and other scenery chipping, and clothing wrinkling or blowing in the wind.
Sadly, the character models didn’t get as much work put into them. They still look slightly cartoonish, and the physics leave some to be desired. In some cases, it works great; people slump as they die, and weapons fall from their hands. In others though, it looks absurd…such as when you shoot a guy in the leg with a shotgun and he flies backwards fifteen feet.
And yes, there are some framerate issues. In large multiplayer games, or intense firefights in missions, you’ll notice the framerate drop dramatically. It’s not enough to make the game unplayable, but it is enough to notice even if you weren’t looking for it. To truly appreciate the graphics, though, you’ll need an HDTV. Otherwise, the difference between them and current gen may not be as big as you expected.
The sound in PDZ is done extremely well, save a few voice acting flops. The guns sound good, the environment sounds good, and the music fits the atmosphere. There’s no soundtrack during the multiplayer matches, however, so remember to rip a CD or two to your 360 if you want background music to go along with your partners’ cursing and sounds of death.
Overall
Overall, Perfect Dark Zero is easily the best game of the launch for the Xbox 360. It doesn’t quite live up to the hype (another couple of months would have really helped it), but it doesn’t flop, either. It’s an extremely enjoyable game, and one that every 360 owner should have. If you can’t play games online, you won’t take quite as much out of it as someone who can. But, if you have four controllers and three friends, you’ll have just as much fun shooting each other as you did when Halo came out for the first Xbox.
Is this the game the 360 needed? Yes, and no. It’s easily the one that most people will own and play online, but it’s nothing you NEED to buy a 360 for. If you were on the fence and undecided, buy one and get this game. If you didn’t want a 360 though, this game won’t be the one to change your mind to buy it. It’s an incredibly well done game; it’s just nothing legendary like the first Perfect Dark was.
| The Core Score |
Overall
9 |
| Fun |
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9.4 |
| Gameplay |
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9 |
| Graphics |
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9.2 |
| Audio |
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8.7 |
| Replay |
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9.2 |
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