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CNET editors' rating:
4.5 stars
Outstanding
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 22 reviews
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Product summary
This awesome, high-tech first-person shooter champions the Xbox 360 with its excellent assortment of single- and multiplayer game types, as well as its incredible good looks and dynamic, intense action.
Specifications: ESRB: Mature; Genre: Action; Elements: Action - first person shooter; See full specs
Price range: $9.87 - $19.79
Gamespot editors' review
- Reviewed on: 11/21/2005
- Released on: 11/17/2005
It's tempting to try to put Perfect Dark Zero in perspective by spending a lot of time on topics other than what makes it such a terrific action game. One of the highest-profile Xbox 360 launch titles, this near-future first-person shooter is the long-awaited sequel to a highly acclaimed Nintendo 64 hit, and it happens to be one of the biggest games to be released by veteran developer Rare since its well-publicized acquisition by Microsoft several years ago. Perfect Dark Zero's sci-fi theme, together with the circumstances surrounding its release, also means it's destined to be compared to Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that defined the Xbox (so yeah, no pressure). But let's stick to the point: Perfect Dark Zero's stunning presentation, excellent assortment of believable weapons, exciting tactical firefights, and fully featured single- and multiplayer components combine to make it easily one of the best first-person shooters this year and one of your best options in the Xbox 360's starting lineup. Despite some minor shortcomings, the game is still a tour de force for the Xbox 360, and it's just a thrilling experience that pushes the already-extremely competitive first-person shooter category still further forward.
Perfect Dark Zero is finally here and it's amazing.
You don't need to be familiar with Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 to easily get into Perfect Dark Zero, starring the spunky red-haired hired gun, Joanna Dark. Though she and her dad are technically bounty hunters, the game has got more of a high-tech superspy feel to it, from the futuristic weapons to the fancy gadgets you'll get to use. Perfect Dark Zero's story spans more than a dozen big missions, and may be optionally played through cooperatively with a friend. The campaign is longer than average at about 12 hours, and its multiple difficulty settings, unlockable weapons, and the outstanding co-op mode should keep you coming back to it after you reach the conclusion the first time. Perfect Dark Zero also features a "combat arena" mode that contains most of its multiplayer options, some of which may be played with and against computer-controlled bots in addition to (or instead of) other human players. There's a wide assortment of different modes supporting up to 32 players online, including conventional free-for-all and capture-the-flag modes, as well as some great Counter-Strike-inspired team-based match types. In short, this is big game with a lot to it.
However, it's not just all the different modes of play, but rather the sheer attention to detail that separates Perfect Dark Zero from other first-person shooters out there. It's a gorgeous-looking game, especially if you play it on a high-definition display, and the beauty's more than skin deep. Most every weapon in the large arsenal of available pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, and heavy weapons looks extremely authentic, right on down to their steely sheen and white-hot muzzle flashes. You've never seen a better-looking assortment of guns, and the near-future setting gave the designers license to include lots of familiar hardware, with some surprising special abilities. What's more, some excellent character animation helps make the guns feel as powerful as they look. Enemies recoil realistically depending on where they're hit, no matter if you hit them in the hand, the foot, square in the chest, in the back, or wherever else. And the vast levels are as varied as they are beautiful to behold, setting you loose in jungles, city streets, high-tech industrial compounds, and more. Bullet holes shred the scenery, armor pieces fly every which way under a hail of gunfire, blinding explosions rock the screen, and your enemies' bodies litter the corridors once you're through. Gorgeous lighting and an impressive motion-blur effect that kicks in whenever you make a sharp turn further enhance the quality of Perfect Dark Zero's visuals, resulting in a game that at times could easily be mistaken for a big-budget action movie. Credit is also due to the outstanding audio, which features some heavy-hitting weapon effects, as well as a fantastic, moody soundtrack that gives each mission its own pulsing rhythms. It's a diverse array of electronic and rock beats, and it's all very catchy.
Scratch that gun fetish with Perfect Dark Zero's wild assortment of wonderfully true-to-life weapons.
From a gameplay standpoint, Perfect Dark Zero is highly refined. It doesn't stray too far from convention, but it features some interesting twists in weapon and enemy design, making for a much more entertaining experience than the average shooter. You can carry up to four different weapons, but larger guns take up more inventory space, which means you could pack several pistols but only one machine gun at a time. It's a good system that makes sense, though it's tough having to choose from all the great options that are available. Even the pistol you start with boasts an optional silencer, a scope, and a flashlight attachment, making it extremely versatile and plenty deadly. But chances are you'll want to replace it soon enough. One of the assault rifles you find later on may be converted into an automated defense turret, helping you tear into the enemies' ranks. There's a pistol that fires madness-inducing projectiles that turn foe against foe (in multiplayer, this causes the victim's teammates to appear as enemies). One submachine gun even projects a diversionary holographic image of you. Many of the guns are scoped, and smaller weapons can be wielded in pairs, doubling your stopping power. A couple of the rifles have grenade-launcher attachments, letting you seriously damage groups of foes both in story missions and multiplayer, and making these particular firearms seem especially dangerous. But in the end, your choice of guns may well come down to personal preference. There's a lot of cool, lethal firepower to choose from.
The type of weapon you're carrying influences your running speed, which is something to consider. There's no jump button, but you are given some tactical options, like taking cover behind obstacles and executing quick rolls at the touch of a button. The cover system is implemented quite well, letting you take position behind any barrier or at any corner at the touch of a button, while seamlessly switching your perspective to a third-person viewpoint, which gives you more situational awareness. You automatically peek out from behind cover when you fire, and it's a deliberate-enough process that doesn't feel overpowered. As for the evasive rolls, they're great for quickly ducking out of harm's way, but you'll take extra damage if you're shot while rolling, so you'll have to think twice about tumbling around too much. And if an enemy gets in your face, you can always bash him with whichever gun you've got equipped. These are all great-looking moves, made all the better since they're powerful. What's more, you can even disarm opponents by ripping their guns right out of their hands, provided you've got room to carry another. It's hard to imagine a more satisfying way to take out some dude on Xbox Live than by using his own weapon against him (preferably the butt of the weapon, for that matter).
Perfect Dark Zero's winning combination of pure run-and-gun action and tactical realism is also captured in the well-designed health system, which lets you soak up a good amount of damage but doesn't let you get cocky about it. Each time you're shot in succession, your health drops just as you'd expect, though Joanna can take a surprising amount of punishment at the normal difficulty setting. If you avoid taking any more damage for a couple of seconds, your health meter instantly jumps back up. This seems like Halo's recharging energy shields at first, but the difference is your maximum health gradually gets depleted the more damage you take. So, typically, the later into a mission you are, the more carefully you'll need to tread.
Expect serious resistance during the game's missions, which are even more fun if you play them cooperatively.
That's especially true since you'll often have to start a mission over from the very beginning (or maybe from a checkpoint halfway through) if you're killed or otherwise fail. You can't just quick-save your progress after every few steps like you can in many shooters. There are a couple of missions that are demanding of some trial and error, where the lack of an in-mission save feature might be frustrating (there's one particularly punishing late-game mission that forces you to complete your objective in a certain amount of time or start over). But this design choice mostly just forces you to stay on your toes, and it also helps extend the length of the story mode without feeling cheap. If you do find yourself stuck, thankfully you can adjust the difficulty independently for each mission.
The story missions offer a lot of variety, both in terms of mission objectives and tactical situations. You'll experience plenty of up-close, in-your-face shoot-outs that are perfect for shotguns and high-powered pistols, not to mention melee attacks. But the game also packs in lots of medium- and long-range shooting, sometimes pitting you against surprisingly large numbers of entrenched foes. There's some hacking, lock-picking, and demolitions thrown in there for good measure, each involving its own quick little minigame. There's a good bit of stealth, which lets you get the drop on your enemies before all hell breaks loose. Before each mission, you get to select your starting weapons based on the guns you've collected up to that point in the game, which is a nice touch that invites you to revisit earlier missions with later weapons. Some missions let you fight alongside some computer-controlled comrades, who'll do a thoroughly competent job helping to keep your foes at bay, and who may well save your life a few times. There are also a couple of entertaining but brief vehicular sequences in Perfect Dark Zero, featuring a jetpack and a hovercraft that you can pilot around. These look great and are fun to drive, but you don't get to play around with them for very long. Most of the combat arena maps and modes don't have vehicles in them either, so vehicles are one of the aspects of the game that noticeably could have been more fleshed out.
The foes you'll fight throughout the missions in Perfect Dark Zero won't necessarily shock you with their tactical prowess, but they do a pretty good job of weaving to avoid your fire or just keeping their heads down. In general, they believably behave like action movie fodder, creating danger often just through sheer numbers. What's interesting about them is that many of them are armored, clad in helmets or full protective gear. Anyone who has been playing first-person shooters for a while is by now accustomed to aiming for enemies' heads, and while headshots in Perfect Dark Zero are as deadly as you'd expect against unprotected opponents, helmeted foes can withstand a couple of shots to the noggin before going down. Even at the standard difficulty, your foes tend to be highly accurate at long range, which would seem unrealistic were it not for the scopes on their weapons. And they'll do a good job of tracking you down if you try to run from them. Your foes will use all manner of different weapons against you, and that, combined with the different environments you'll be fighting in, keeps the combat consistently fresh. It helps that your foes have a lot to say in battle--you'll catch them urging their comrades to press the attack when you're reloading, cursing you if they're shot but survive, and so on, and you'll rarely hear any of the dialogue repeat.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 22 reviews
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Where to buy
Perfect Dark Zero (Xbox 360):
$9.87 - $19.79
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$19.79 | Yes |
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$9.87 | Yes |
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