Perfect Dark Zero (PDZ) from Rare (famed creators of the original Nintendo 64 hit Perfect Dark) is set 3 years before the original and has been one of the Microsoft’s star line ups for the launch of the Xbox 360. Only one question remains… is it any good? Well lets see.
Title: Perfect Dark Zero
Genre: First person shooter
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: R16
Retail Pricing (NZD): $69.95 @ gpstore.co.nz
Release Date: 23/3/2006
A big part of first person shooters (FPS) now days is story. Gone are the days a player is happy to simple be “on mars killing zombies” because that’s what you do in a game. Players are looking for more than that and like the film industry of yesteryear the games industry is quickly growing up. Unfortunately PDZ story feels a little behind the times and lacks the depth to truly grip the player into a “what’s gonna happen next” mind set. Fortunately Rare have managed to keep the game interesting and fun by including a Co-op over live feature that makes the “single player” experience far more bearable.
The control system is what you’d expect from a FPS on an Xbox 360. As with all FPS the controls are now a tired and true formula that make it easy for anyone with experience in the genre to quickly make their way through the game world. To be clear, if you’ve played a FPS before you’ll be right at home with PDZ, if not you’ll learn to love it in no time.
PDZ was certainly one of Microsoft’s “must have” titles at the launch of the console due largely to the high quality eye candy if nothing else; which is to say when it comes to launch titles PDZ is a looker. Of course also being a launch title means at times certain elements of the game seem rushed, or dear I say it, unfinished (2D objects that should have been in 3D for example). In saying that to a certain extent this is the norm for launch tiles on any console platform. After all it takes time for developers to become accustom to the new hardware.
The way I look at it 5.1 surround finds its home in first person shooters and perfect dark is no exception. There’s nothing quite like a gun battle with the sound of bullets flying past your head and ricochets flying off the walls. Sounds like these really add to the immersion that keeps the player interested.
As far as the single player goes there isn’t a lot of longevity in the game, however all is not lost as it does include a solid multiplayer experience. There are several multiplayer modes: dark-ops, deathmatch and of course co-op to name just a few. Also there is some good news for non-live users (whoever you are), bots are included which should keep things interesting in an offline environment.
All in all PDZ is certainly one of the best launch titles the 360 has to offer and is well worth the asking price of just $69.95. Despite some short comings PDZ has a home with all fans of the genre and will provide many hours of entertainment, particularly over live.
Rating: 7.5 / 10