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Perfect Dark Zero Review
Joanna Dark is back and boy has it been a long wait. Along with Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero has had a long journey throughout the years. The teaming of Rare with Microsoft almost seemed like a lost cause during most of the Xbox’s time and only now have we begun to see solid results. While the combination of Nintendo and Rare has always seemed like a fitting one artistically, (until Conker that is), their relationship with Microsoft is proving to be a much bolder one. Having two Rare games released on the same day is not a common occurrence and both PDZ and Kameo spearheaded Microsoft’s first party lineup at the 360 launch. Perfect Dark Zero has endured its fair share of criticism for not looking up to perceived “next-gen” standards at its earlier convention appearances and of course, for not being Halo 3 (calm down fanboys). Aside from looking a little too shiny and feeling a bit undercooked in places, Perfect Dark Zero is definitely a worthy successor to the Nintendo 64 original.
Joanna Dark isn’t exactly the full fledged super spy that we knew her to be in the original Perfect Dark. In this game, she’s a little inexperienced but well on her way to the top. The storyline isn’t exactly going to blow you away but it’s far from awful. Lust for power and parental squabbles (Joanna’s father) highlight the plot which does a good job of throwing you in the middle of explosive action sequences that span the globe. That’s basically what Perfect Dark Zero does best and there are no shortages of action to be found. The single player campaign pushes you through level after level with mission objectives that range from gathering information, to the age old escort jobs. The whole campaign is of great length for a console first person shooter. The game could last most people around fifteen to twenty hours to complete depending on their skill level and how often they keep up with it. In terms of difficulty the game has a few moments where you may be tempted to chuck the controller, but for the most part the difficulty scales up well mission after mission. That can also depend on how often you choose to take the stealth route, rather than running into every situation with your guns firing off on anything you can spot.
The enemies Joanna faces react well to their surroundings and will put up a good fight by trying to dodge your fire and make quick advances when the time is right. You will find the occasional situation where the AI does some really stupid things, but every game has its moments. What would competent AI be without a big sprawling arsenal to destroy them with? Well, there isn’t any need to ponder the thought because Perfect Dark Zero excels in the weapons department with its varied and useful arsenal of gadgets. Whereas a game could be content with providing you with one type of pistol or machine gun, this game goes out of its way to accommodate every situation with several variations on most weapon types. The most entertaining weapons from the original game like the guided missile and laptop gun make for fun shootouts while the futuristic weapons and traditional assault rifles and shotguns round out the package. Another tradition carried over from the original Perfect Dark into the next generation is that you can’t jump. This game definitely proves that the feature isn’t always necessary and it provides an interesting alternative in the roll move. By tapping the left shoulder button, Joanna will perform a roll animation that quickly shifts out into the third person to allow you’re to keep your view of the surroundings while you dodge incoming attacks. It’s a great move to use in situations where there’s a lot of cover to roll back and forth between when you’re picking off enemies. The last important feature to point out is the ability to lay down cover fire from behind walls. Joanna will once again shift into the third person and you will have your crosshair available to spray off ammo on enemies. The roll and cover fire moves aren’t vital additions to the game, but their appearance here is welcomed and adds a bit more strategy to the game, especially in multiplayer matches.
Speaking of multiplayer matches, Xbox Live is where Perfect Dark will gain its extended stay in your 360. To put it bluntly, Perfect Dark Zero is not the answer to Halo 2, its just not. The game is pretty much a dart board for the hardcore Halo players who are restlessly awaiting the third installment to that franchise. On the other side of things, Zero is definitely a great Xbox Live game that provides enough features to keep you occupied until Master Chief makes his inevitable return. The multiplayer modes featured include the typical deathmatch and capture the flag, but the newest addition is Dark Ops. Similar to Counter Strike in a way, you can play elimination matches where you earn money to purchase weapons to add to your arsenal. One interesting Dark Ops mode is a virus variant that has a group of infected players (who look a little more than “infected”) running around the map trying to infect the healthy players. In a way, the mode plays out like a survival of the fittest match as the person who stays uninfected the longest gains points.
A hovercraft and jet-pack (also part land walker) are the vehicles included in multiplayer for extra mayhem. While they are indeed fun to play around with, they don’t exactly do much to maintain balance from match to match as the vehicles are often used and abused too often and become tiring. Also, people online can become too cover happy and matches sink into a monotonous battle of who can roll around the environment the most. Putting player habits aside, the multiplayer aspect of the game can be extremely entertaining because of some excellent levels, a vast array of weaponry and a lot of options to play around with. For some, the most entertaining multiplayer mode of them all would be to play the single player missions cooperatively. This can be done both through split screen and over Xbox Live. The cooperative missions often end up being more fun than playing by yourself and it’s definitely a feature we should see in more games.
Visually and aurally, Perfect Dark Zero is a good example of what’s to come in this new generation of gaming. While its initial appearances through foggy trailers and internet screenshots have shown a rough side of the game, its final shape is no ugly duckling. The environments that Joanna finds herself in are varied and intricately detailed. This is the beginning of a new level for graphics and the detail, immersion and beauty of most parts of the game will only move beyond this. It must be said that “next-generation” does not mean we have to make absolutely every single object, character and surface shiny as if it had just been laminated. While the character models are sport some great details, they often look a bit plastic (once again referring to the "shine"). In addition their running animations (which you do a lot) are also pretty awful. Some textures in the environments aren’t as detailed as they could be and stand out among some really great ones but these are all just minor quibbles. The weapon models and animations are excellent and this more than anything in the game has impressed me the most (well, that and the awesome motion blur effects). As expected, the explosions and big bang sound effects are all present to please those with hefty surround sound setups and high definition televisions. Perfect Dark Zero looks great, if not as shockingly amazing as we had maybe hoped for. The game runs at a silky smooth framerate and most drops occur in multiplayer, but are sporadic at best. The soundtrack that powers Zero has an upbeat techno vibe that fits the game quite will, which is more than could be said about the voice acting. While it has a few bright spots, some of the key characters, namely Joanna sound particularly forced and sometimes cheesy. Lets not even discuss the headache inducing multiplayer announcer (seriously, it hurts).
The Xbox 360 is finally available and even though its not exactly the easiest piece of hardware to find in early 2006, those do find one will probably want to try this game out. As a first generation launch title, Perfect Dark Zero is a game that will probably be known most for what it didn’t do rather than for what it did. It’s a heavy burden because future titles will always be compared to the early efforts on the console and everything Zero did right and wrong will be picked apart. Luckily, Zero is a solid package with only a few minor complaints to go around. Its biggest sin is simply that while it did provide some shiny new visuals to glare it, it didn’t exactly reinvent the way we play first person shooters. It could have been more of course, but it’s still good game as is. Now, for the final question: Did I enjoy Perfect Dark Zero more than its Nintendo 64 original? No, those shoes are still just too big to be filled this time around. Better in every way or not, give Zero a look through the scope.
Written by Joseph Bennett. Posted year 2006.
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Released on
November 22, 2006
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