Perfect Dark Zero (PDZ/PD0)

So I thought the next review should be my next most played game (although you wouldn’t know it from my Gamerscore and Achievements!). Perfect Dark Zero is a First Person Shooter that follows on from Perfect Dark (an old N64 title). You play the part of Joanna Dark, a spy-type who has a large arsenal of guns and gadgets at her disposal. You work through a number of levels achieving your objectives as set out at the mission briefing, or as added during the mission depending on how well you’re doing (and what level you are playing the game at).

Now I must tell you at this point that I am not the biggest FPS fan in the world. Sure I’ve played a few of them, and there are some that I enjoyed (Halo and Halo 2 being prime examples) but I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to play an FPS. They’re just not normally my cup of tea, and online I’m what you would describe as a “sitting duck”. I never got the hang of the “run sideways and jump whilst shooting your opponent” school of play. “So why write a review of PD0?”, you might ask, “It’s obviously going to be negative”. Well read on, you might be pleasantly surprised!

The game opens with a level based around a science lab. You run around, you learn how to control Joanna and how to shoot things. You get used to the game. You end up outside on a massive platform and are introduced to some slightly harder enemies. The end of the first level comes as a shock, and then you’re into the game proper.

Visually PD0 is stunning, absolutely stunning. It’s one of those games that you have very little time to appreciate just how good it looks, due to trying not to get shot and all. But when you do get the chance to admire the scenery you realise just how detailed it is. As with a lot of the games on the 360 at the moment it is the attention to detail that really brings the game to life. The buildings in the cityscapes look fantastic, and incredibly well detailed. The details on the quayside and the water effects just look right. Add to this the quality of the sound (and the musical score adds to the pace of the game) and you’ve got a very well-rounded product.

In a nutshell, the offline modes remind me very much of Goldeneye when it was first released, and that is not meant as an insult. Back in those days Goldeneye was seen very much as a different kind of FPS. With the idea of having objectives rather than just running round shooting people, it was seen as something different, and it felt different to play. It was a great game, and really shone in the sea of FPS’s that were/are available. PD0 follows in this line. It’s a good game offline with a storyline that, whilst it sometimes seems to take large jumps, still adds to the atmosphere of the game.

Where the game really comes alive is online. The old favourites are there with deathmatch and capture the flag type games. But it’s the new modes of online play that really make PD0 stand out for me. One of the most amusing, and actually most enjoyable, is Infected. This game is best played with 15 or more players. With a game of 15 players, 4 of you (chosen at random) will start the game infected. This makes you appear as a skeleton, and means that you only start with a pistol (non-infected players can buy any weapons that they choose, and have the funds for). Every time an infected player kills a non-infected player, the non-infected player respawns as a skeleton. The idea of the game is to infect everybody on the map. There is something very amusing about running round trying to turn people into skeletons. Or even running away from skeletons backwards whilst trying to cut them down with a sub-machine gun.

My other favourite for online play in Onslaught. In Onslaught there are 2 teams. One attacking team and one defending. The defending team have a “base” to defend, and the attacking team have to try and wipe them out. When defenders die they do not respawn, attackers do. Onslaught games are played as a series of rounds, with each team taking turns to attack and defend. Playing this mode certainly gives you a new perspective on what may feel like familiar maps. What you previously thought was a safe place to take cover is suddenly shown as not being as safe as you first thought.

There are a few other modes including Eradication (each team tries to wipe out the other) and Sabotage (the attacking team has to try and destroy equipment whilst the defenders, you guessed it, defend it) although I haven’t spent much time with either of these modes, and certainly not enough to give any worthwhile comment on them.

All in all PD0 is a must-have game if you enjoy taking it online and having a blast with friends, or taking it online and making new friends to have a blast with. This also shows in the amount of achievements that are linked to online play. If it was only an offline game would it be such good value for money? I seriously doubt it. Fortunately PD0 does play well online, there are always games available to join of all game types, and it really is good fun. Will it last when other strong online contenders are released (e.g. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter)? Only time will tell, but I think I’ll end up with both in my collection.