Perfect Dark Zero

"I can't throw a commsrider bug THAT high!"

The Xbox Live has been launched now, and one of the launch games is the long awaited Perfect Dark Zero.
Joanna Dark, the perfect secret agent working for the company Carrington Institute is back. However, she actually isn't quite as perfect this time around, as the new game, 'Perfect Dark Zero', takes place 4 years before the original, making this a prequel. Perfect Dark 64 for the Nintendo 64 arrived in 2000, following the same game engine as Goldeneye 007, also produced by the British gaming company Rareware. Rareware have since been brought by Microsoft, and it was a huge disappointment to Nintendo fans - they'd either have to by an Xbox to follow their favourite short red haired slinky secret agent, or go without. I, simply have been around at my friend's to check out the game. The outcome I feel....it is a mixed bag, so to speak.

Although there is a few reasons I feel the game has 'imperfections', the first thing I will begin with is, simply that, as the game takes place before the original - Joanna hasn't yet honed her skills 100%, nor granted her allegiance to the 'Carrington Institute'. In the prequel we get an insight in to Joanna's younger years, which we discover that her father is a bounty hunter, and he travels constantly around the globe. Joanna, due to accompanying her father, has pretty much learned the trade. The main plot however is this: It is the year 2020, and major corporations run everything - apart from Joanna and her father, Jack, of course. I don't want to ruin the storyline for potential buyers, but - I can say this. There are no visitations from aliens this time around. I can also reveal that the storyline this time around is a little frail. It didn't grip me at all, like I was thinking that it may have done, as I read information about the game prior to its release.

Cutting straight to the game play: There is a one player mode, co-op mode, in which a friend via the Xbox 360's live connection allows you and someone from the internet to venture through the 1 player missions - together. Of course, a human player say next to you can also be your co-op partner. There is also death match mode, were you and plenty of other people online can battle it out in various death match related scenarios. You are also able to compete against "Bots", computer AI (artificial intelligence) enemies, and have friends join in too. You can have yourself teamed with a bot, as well as your friend with a bot, and then, attack one another's teams. Weapons can also be selected, so your favourite items of combat can be incorporated in to battles. However I haven't had major experience with the death match scenarios, so I can not detail it too much. The fact that my friend, who is an avid gamer, and constantly plays games via the internet, claims that the death match scenarios are boring, and feel limited, especially when compared to the original, says something. Me and my friends spent hours on "Combat simulator" modes on the original, but not with this game.

Now, going back to the solo and co-op modes. The original game engine has been strayed from, and this is sometimes good and sometimes - bad. I loved the way the original game ran, I felt as if I was the agent present in the game. With PDZ (Perfect Dark Zero) I feel as if I am a player controlling a secret agent. Although, there are segments of the game were I do feel very immersed (mainly in co-op mode), but otherwise I feel as if I am playing a new game for Xbox. In fact, if the character of Joanna Dark (who has had a makeover, long red hair with blonde streaks, and now sounds American, not English) wasn't present, it could have just been a new shoot-em up serie altogther. The character if Joanna, due to the changes, mainly to her voice really detract from imagining PDZ is the same Joanna in the first game, which I felt had much more of her own "personality", than a much more "commercial" one.

Other problems that prevent me from immersing myself in the solo mode is the fact that Joanna can now roll to avoid bullets and climb ladders. Well, she could climb ladders in the original actually, but the problem is - when these actions occur the camera is no longer from a first person perspective, and I get to see the character performing these actions. Not good for me. As I say, that to me is me controlling a secret agent, not getting the chance to imagine I am one. Although ladder climbing on the original was less realistic (no hands present on the runs, whilst holding a rocket launcher..) due to keeping to Joanna's eye view, I could remain as the agent throughout the mission, and not be yanked from the immersion I have obtained. The same applies to the new "cover" tactic - when near a corner you can press A to peer around corners. Despite causing an atmospherically problem for me as a game, the function to roll is a good one.

This game, features a mix of stealth and all-out shooting, like the original. However, there are a few new stealth elements I really like on this game, not present in the original. See - it isn't all complaints! A new device is yours to command on various objectives, and with this, you can unlock doors, and even lock them, to prevent enemies walking in on you as you prepare yourself weapons wise, or are getting to work on a mission objective. What is good is that you do not simply press a button and that is it. You have to use the control stick and press buttons in a certain way in order to un/lock doors. When using your "demo kit" to plant an explosive, you must use the control stick and complete a small "puzzle" present on the kit, which acts as if you are setting the path for the explosive. It is little things like this, that are great.

Unlike the original, you can only carry a limited number of weapons. This feature, I am not sure if I am pleased about or not. I think it is a matter of like and dislike to be honest. Yes it does make the game more realistic, you get 4 "blocks", and can select up to 1 - 4 weapons. The heavy guns (rocket launcher, plasma rifle) take up 3 weapon blocks, whilst a single hand held pistol takes 1. Sub Machine Guns take 2. Tactical pros and cons are now considered for your mission. The downside is it can be a bit boring and annoying having to drop weapons in order for another to be picked up. I've said it before and I will again . It is a feature I both enjoy and dislike. To begin with, you do not have many weapons to select from before you enter a mission. So how do you get them? Well, once upon completing
a mission whilst carrying a certain weapon, you will then be find the gun added to your "collection", and can select it if you wish, to begin with on the next mission.

One gripe however is, there really isn't enough weapons to please me, although now there are 3 modes present for each gun, and not two. A lot of the 3rd options however, seem, pointless to say the least. Although some new things are good weapons wise - a shield, almost like what you see police use is now present, and a strange sword for close combat.

When it comes to controlling your character, well, I not really used to Xboxes had no idea about the control pads. I was miffed at first and it took me a while to get used to what control stick let me look up, whislt which control stick let me walk forward. Once I had got used to it, I found the game very playable, controller wise. I hear people complain about the aiming on this game, it can seem quite hard at times, but it is a matter of practice and situations. If an enemy is stood still or walking slow, you can hit the in the head (an instant kill), or you ma find yourself struggling to align your aimer with their heads, and hit their foot (not an instant kill). I don't think aiming really is that bad though. You can now melee attack in this game, which means you can hit enemies with your gun, as opposed to shooting them. You can also fight with fists (like the original). I won't go in to detail on every button's functions, all the details are present in the game itself. But I can say that after some practice, you should be fine.

Like the original, you can try and complete each mission on agent, secret agent of perfect agent (easy, standard, hard). On each setting, the enemies become cleverer (or dumber, if you chose "agent"). Also, new mission objectives become apparent on the harder settings, but I can't say I was too impressed with this overall. On the original, the mission objectives were stated nicely on the pause menu so you could keep track, things seem a bit messy and all over this time around. Objectives can range from spying on somebody, killing a specific person, blowing a speedboat. Also, depending on what difficulty level, the enemies security camera placements differ, so you can find yourself walking in front of one, were previously there were none. Even on a set difficulty level, the camera placements vary.

I wasn't very keen on the use of vehicles in this game, jetpacks and hovercrafts. Not only is the original game being ventured away from too far much, I'm not a fan of vehicles in shooting games in general. However, my friend loves using vehicles in games and it pleases him, so it is down to taste entirely. Luckily for me, vehicle use isn't too frequent in the game.

Despite all of my gripes, the co-op scenario, in which me and my friend played the missions together was and is brilliant, overall. The final few missions begin to become more tedious and boring, but the first half of the game is very solid, although even that appears unstable on one player mode. With a friend, the game seems much more libel for appreciation, as you are forced to sneak around together, blast together, cover one another, share weaponry with one another (if one drops a gun by mistake, runs out of ammunition). It is much more thrilling, especially in the tactical aspects, with a friend, than alone. There's nothing like hiding in a small grating area with a friend, one picking off cameras whilst another picks off enemies, with his/her silenced gun. I can not stress how much fun the game is in co-op mode. However, one player mode becomes tedious, boring and not that enjoyable in my opinion. I am aware I am not alone - my friend said so himself. Plenty online have made the same comment. It is a shame, but the truth.

As for the environments you play in, there are over 10 missions. The beginning portion is very "city life" like, being based around a night club, and then the next being in and around dark streets. Towards the end of the game you find yourself in a tropical jungle and ancient temple. I found that the missions felt solid and tight from the start to middle, but then towards the end begin to get much too "weak", in storyline, and subsequently these end missions feel rushed, and rather ruined. However, graphically, they are brilliant. I feel that this game has absolutely fantastic graphics, ranging from the cold ice on the mountains glistening, the leaves in the jungle, the steel boxes littered throughout the game and especially the walls and ground, which vary from solid cracked bricks, to rather wet looking brick surfaces. One of my favourite graphical feasts actually features towards the middle of the game, which depicts a giant rocket accompanied by large metal supports, in a very industrial like environment on the sea. There are also no instances I have encountered with things in the distance "pop up", everything is there, and overall looks and sounds very realistic, for a future-staged shooting game. One of my favourite graphical animations is the reloading of guns, and when they are swung to attack people. For instance, when using the Magnum, Joanna uses her finger and swings the gun around after having pelted someone with it. A really effective, cool and quirky action, amusing to see when in the middle of a major battle. The gun looks fantastic as its silver bodywork reflects the light and shines. There is so much detail in every aspect of the game, it is unbelievable.

As for the music and sounds, I can reveal that the music isn't as impressive as the first one, although there are some really good tracks, check out mission 3: Rooftop escape's main theme. The music has a techno, rock spy feeling throughout, but as I have said only a handful really stand out. But the ones that do, they really do, so it is a shame that all of the music wasn't just as impressive. The original was filled with great music, synthesizes, mock guitar and drum beats. They didn't quite manage overall here, even though the person responsible for this game's music co worked on the original's music. As for sounds, the voice acting is generally good, minus Joanna's accent, I preferred the British accent she had. It is what made Joanna, Joanna. Gun firing, explosions, the crunch as you walk on snow, and whack metal crates all sound lifelike and really crisp. Even the reloading of the guns as they click and snap in to place is really pleasing. Sadly, unlike the original, once a mission was a complete you would get really cool and energetic music to congratulate you, much more rewarding if you had just survived by the skin of your teeth, After a mission has been completed on this - it seems so quiet. You think "Have I completed it or failed?!".

Although the game does have its problems, they are probably much more apparent to me, since I am big fan of te original, and expected it to be really good. But, I just fail to get too excited about this game. If you love playing with a friend, then why not get it, well perhaps when the price as dropped, since it is currently retailing at almost £40, I honestly do not think it is worth it. It really pains me to have to be so negative against Rare, probably my favourite computer gaming companies. But I am not alone on this sentiment. Xbox fans that have never played the original will most probably get in to the game straight away, as it is much more like a game they'd be accustom too, than fan of an original that discovers the game has been strayed from on what I feel is a large level. What is good for others is bad for others. If only the game had: Joanna's original accent, the storyline wasn't so frail, the game's later missions felt as tight and solid as the beginning ones, there were more weapons and the one player mode felt much more inviting, then maybe the game could have been really, really good. I think this game will be praised now and there is no doubting the game is good, but the original will remain a classic "old school" game, were as I am fairly convinced Perfect Dark Zero will slowly be one of many new next generation shooting games

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/05