Xbox 360's Perfect Dark Zero features Joanna Dark, a gorgeous red-headed bounty hunter, and some of her favorite high-caliber friends. One thing game developers know is that girls and guns is a killer combination. Guys like scary aggressive kick-ass women, and girl-gamers like them too.
Perfect Dark Zero is a prequel to the Nintendo 64's Perfect Dark. This is the story of Joanna and her father before her involvement with the Carrington Institute, battling evil uber-corp dataDyne. The word 'story' is used very loosely, like most first-person shooters. Basically, the plot framework is just a couple of planks nailed together to justify arming up and going out on 'missions'. Every now and then a plot point is thrown in only to be left dangling unexplained when the mission is finished. The lack of attention to storyline comes out in the voicework too, which in some places is just cringe-worthy.
Typically for games like this, you work your way through several different weapons as your missions become harder. But PDZ is refreshingly different in that you don't get to the Big Gun and then cuddle it lovingly for the rest of the game. Each weapon has a secondary capability that makes it more useful in particular scenarios, so you'll keep on changing weapon.
The game's AI isn't too flash. Some of the hardest missions are the escort ones, as the people you're supposed to be protecting wander straight out into a barrage of enemy fire and stand there until they fall down. Your opponents are often almost as stupid, relying on the trusty old tactic of running straight at you shooting. They will occasionally take cover, but they'll also obligingly come charging through doors so you can blow their heads off. You yourself now have a roll and a melee attack, and also the ability to take cover, though oddly only in designated areas, when you'll get a screen prompt.
As you complete a mission on one difficulty level, you unlock the next. Beating the game on Perfect Agent will unlock the fiendishly tricky Dark Agent level. Within that, though, you can choose your difficulty level for each individual mission, which is a nice touch.
Perfect Dark Zero offers a two-player split-screen version. This also departs from game conventions by sometimes starting the two players in different places, with different objectives and obstacles until they get together. The Xbox 360's headset mikes mean you don't actually have to be in the same place anyway.
Where Perfect Dark Zero really takes off is in its online multiplayer function. Xbox Live offers a combat arena and four different modes of play: typical Kill-Count and Capture the Flag play, as well as Onslaught and Infection. Infection is particularly fun, as when your team-members are killed, they become infected and change teams. In some areas, you also have jet-packs and hover-crafts available to mess with, letting you get some mileage out of your 360's wireless racing wheel.
Perfect Dark Zero is very pretty to look at. Well, if lovingly-rendered small arms can be called pretty. It's sharp, light and shiny and uses sweeping wide-screen panoramas to good effect. Lighting is generally excellent, it's just that the game has that odd seventh-generation-console game tendency to make absolutely everything shiny and smooth. Being a sci-fi setting, that mostly works for this particular game, but there are times when it's definitely out of place. Perfect Dark Zero more than makes up for this by letting you shoot bits off your enemy's armour.
Xbox 360's Perfect Dark Zero is a fun gaming experience. Guns go bang with satisfying loudness, the graphics are excellent and the music is mostly appropriate. Online content means you'll get countless hours of play out of the game even after you've done all the solo missions. It's about killing things, not character development.
NEW! You can get all the information and tools you need to make backup copies of virtually every video game you own with nothing more than a CD burner or DVD burner and your home computer. PLUS learn how to play all of your favorite games on your PC, no console, or mod chip needed!
This free article is provided by the FreeArticles.com Free Articles Directory for educational purposes ONLY! It cannot be reprinted or redistributed under any circumstances.
$$$ Click Here To Start Making An Easy $50 to $189 Each Day $$$
Article Copyright By Author. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
|
