Perfect Dark: Zero Review
Written by contributing guest Psychophan7
Preface
Perfect Dark Zero is a prequel to the outstanding Nintendo 64 original, Perfect Dark.
In Perfect Dark, you played as Joanna Dark, an English woman of 22 years (her nationality is based on her voice only), who was the top agent of an investigation organization by the name of Carrington Institute. She has a perfect record in all of her training exercises, earning her the call-sign of Perfect Dark, hence the title of the game.
The actual story of Perfect Dark sets a precedent that Perfect Dark Zero follows, which is then ironic and becomes foreshadowing. Your first mission was to infiltrate the dataDyne Headquarters, by way of helipad down to the ground floor and into the secret underground lab. There you extracted Dr. Caroll, an English (vocal only) AI programmed into a hovering persona, which was fragile and had minimal shielding. You then led Dr. Caroll back up to the helipad and escaped back to the Institute where he was debriefed about data he has regarding dataDyne's projects. From there, the story unfolds, leaving you on a high note with good feelings for the game. The ending doesn't even suggest that there would be a sequel. If you feel compelled to play Perfect Dark, you can either get a Nintendo 64 and the game cartridge, or you might be able to play it on such a service as GameTap.
In Perfect Dark Zero, you again play as Joanna Dark, an American teen of about 18. She works with her father, Jack Dark, and colleague Chandra. However, she works as a mercenary of sorts to help pay for the apartment, location unknown. Her call-sign, however, is Dark Zero, adding the suffix to the title.
Story
Perfect Dark Zero is set in a world of corporate conflict. One of the corporations out there, dataDyne, has a firm grasp on things, making them the top dog. Everywhere you go, you'll see some sort of dataDyne (dD) advertisement somewhere, whether it be for their DeathMatch machines or for the d-pal, your life is practically in their hands. One of the things dD also has monopoly on is weaponry, as literally every gun you come across is marked with their logo. Another thing they have going is top-secret research, and this is where Jo comes in.
Her first mission is some recon support for her father, who is doing the bulk of the work. That is, sneak in and extract Ziegler, a former dataDyne scientist who is wanted for their research. Ziegler is actually being traded at a club run by a triad, which is run by a man named Killian. Killian specializes in contracts involving trading people as well as disposing materials for other corporations, namely dD. Things start off easy with the recon, but Jack gets into trouble, causing Joanna to come the rescue, which only yields getting Ziegler while Killian escapes.
Gameplay
If you have played any other first-person shooter on the Xbox, theres a good chance you'll be at home with the default controls of the game. That is, the left analog stick being movement while the right stick controls which way you look. The controls are also very easy to get accustomed to, with the A button serving as an all-purpose action button (including taking cover for looking beyond an obstacle), X serving for reloading, Y to switch between weapons, and B serving for melee. If you've ever played Halo or Halo 2, you'll find the similarity.
The combat roll works wonders for getting out of harms way, but it barely helps when the danger is immediate, so that makes it easy to pick up and use, but difficult to master. The roll also allows you move in any direction, break tracking fields (including the AI's), and reduces fall damage—roll off the edge, not roll on impact.
The aiming system (which uses the left trigger unless you are dual wielding) is pressure sensitive, so weapons with scope can be changed between four levels of zoom depending on how hard you hold the trigger. The more you zoom in, the slower you'll move and turn. The secondary functions are also invaluable. They range anywhere from adding silencers to launching grenades to providing radar. Some weapons also have tertiary, or third, functions, but are usually more abstract. You get things such as night vision, flashlights, or deceiving enemy radar (which never seems to make a difference). Most of the tertiary functions are achieved by holding down the secondary function and pulling the left trigger.
The enemy AI is impressive, but it isn't anything revolutionary. Compared to Perfect Dark, the enemies will now attempt to flank you, they will try to make it difficult for you to make progress, they will swarm you in order to suppress you. They'll even make use of their AI detection skills and use ungodly accuracy against you.
The Co-Operative Experience
After you play through the Single Player missions, invite a friend over or play over a LAN or Xbox Live and enjoy the cooperative aspect of the game. Its set directly in the single player missions, where Player 1 always starts as Joanna and carries out the normal mission. However, Player 2 can be any character from the story line, and it just keeps you guessing. And what sets it apart is that both players must work cooperatively in order to finish the mission, whether it be something as simple as opening door simultaneously or more difficult like providing sniper coverage. Whats even better are the different start points in some missions and the strategies that you have to think of in order to regroup.
But weary, as you can both die and the mission fails, but if one of you dies, you can revive them with a gadget. But it doesn't bring them back to full health and its not automatic. You usually have to clear out the surrounding area to give yourself a viable working environment, but it can be done during an intense firefight. In a bonus twist, the reviver loses health when they bring their partner back!
DeathMatch
DeathMatch has two basic settings: Xbox Live and Offline. The differences are simple: Xbox Live features full-blown player interaction and strategy, and Offline features AI bots. However, both feature normal DeathMatch and Dark Ops, that is, more objective based oddball games that don't include bots.
In DeathMatch, you have simple games to choose from. You can pick the map, the gametype, number of bots, what weapons will be featured, whether or not to include vehicles, and the list goes on. Of the gametypes, you have Kill Count, where the player who kills the most opponents wins, either by time defaulting or by full-blown victory of getting all the points.
You also have Team Kill Count (sometimes referred to as Team or TKC), where you work as a team in order to get the most overall kills. However, what sets Team apart from the norm is that you can go out and seize points located on the map, and every weapon you pick up gets added to the starting base—a place where all of your teammates spawn and collect basic weapons to give yourself an edge against the sieging team, and additional points means you can cover more ground from the spawn faster.
Another gametype, which tends to be more popular in certain games, is Capture the Flag. As the name implies, you have to capture the enemy flag by going into their base, grabbing the flag, and running it back to your own. In a familiar twist, you cannot capture their flag unless your own is at the base. Whichever team has the most points wins. And, as in TKC, you can seize additional warp points on the larger map variants.
Territorial Gains is the last DeathMatch gametype. Its basically a multi-tiered King of the Hill type game (if you've ever played Halo 2, this is similar to Territories, or if you've played Call of Duty 2, its similar to Headquarters). Keeping the territories held down can be rather difficult, but the action can get frantic. Sometimes, the action can get so heated that you may find yourself accidentally killing your teammates!
DarkOps
DarkOps is based strictly around player versus player action, so you don't have any bots for allies. What also makes it different from DeathMatch (other than gametypes) is that you start with money and can buy weapons and vehicles, but you also only get one life. To do this, you would open your menu (by pressing either START or BACK) and select the purchasing option. You can get more money by defeating your enemies, but also for completing the scenario objectives.
The games of DarkOps are:
- Eradication, where the team with any members left wins.
- Onslaught, where one team defends a base while working under normal DarkOps conditions, but the attacking team only has the basic weapons and infinite lives. The team that can defend for the longest time wins.
- Infection is a free-for-all game similar to a custom gametype that was popular in Halo 2 (Zombies). You get two factions of players, the infected and the uninfected, and most players start off uninfected. After you die, you become part of the infected. Anybody uninfected when the match ends gets a point, but if the infected wipe them out, the infected get points. Whoever has the most points wins the entire game.
- Sabotage is a team game based on targeted destruction. Whichever team causes the most damage to the opposing teams property wins.
Look for a more in-depth look at Perfect Dark Zero's Multiplayer options in a later piece! If you get stuck in the Missions, visit either the forums or be on the watch for an in-depth walkthrough.
And the Scores...
Gameplay: 5Audio: 5Story: 4Multiplayer: 4Replay value: 4Cooperative: 5Overall: 4.5/5
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