Monday, December 17, 2007

Reviews Archive: Perfect Dark Zero


Original Publish Date: February 10, 2006


Microsoft’s super-hyped launch shooter Perfect Dark has finally landed on the Xbox 360. As a huge fan of the original N64 hit Perfect Dark, I can attest to the fact that there is a tremendous amount of hype surrounding this game. After nearly six years in development and three platform changes, does PDZ merit the hype? Well, yes and no. The multiplayer is simply awesome. It does more than build on the foundations set by the original PD, which had four player split-screen play with up to eight simulants or bots as they’re called today. The online component is one of the best on the system and will likely remain that way for a few months. The single-player campaign is a bit disappointing. After playing games such as Halo (and to a slightly lesser extent Halo 2), which featured a strong single player campaign with a gripping storyline and varied gameplay, Perfect Dark Zero’s single player game pales in comparison.

The graphics are definitely next-gen. Of the many Xbox 360 launch titles, this is one of the best looking. The lighting engine is spectacular. Each light looks and behaves like it would in real life. The weapon models are also very good looking and considering you’re going to be looking at one pretty much the entire time, it’s great to see how realistic they look. The outdoor environments are particularly stunning. One level in particular that is set in a South American jungle blew me away with the level of visual detail. Every leaf, vine, tree and weed is impeccably modeled and beautifully detailed. Even the wood paneling in an enemy outpost looks realistic. Perhaps one of the best-looking aspects of the game is the explosion effects. Shoot an explosive barrel in the game and you’ll see what I mean. There are plenty of things that blow up in this game so you’ll be seeing a lot of it.


Although the graphics are mostly great, there are a few problems. One of these problems is that someone went a little crazy with the reflection mapping. Seriously, everything reflects. This isn’t a bad thing when looking at something like a metal wall or other surface that would otherwise reflect but it’s not so great when looking at a brick wall. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’ve never been able to see my face in a brick. Another problem is with the framerate. It’s generally good running at about 30 fps but sometimes, in the thick of an intense shootout the framerate can bog down. Thankfully, the framerate is usually smooth and it didn’t slow down enough to ruin the experience.

The physics engine is good but it does have its flaws. Some things animate a bit strangely. For example in a multiplayer game when you’re killed, sometimes you’re character will bend over while still appearing to be standing up and then the character seems to lunge forward and complete the fall. On some occasions the rag doll physics look great and animate nicely but mostly, characters take a little too long to fall over, as if gravity somehow lost it’s effect on you. Another odd but thankfully rare issue with the physics is that on very rare occasions, after you kill an enemy (this most often occurs in single player) their body will begin to pinball around the area. I don’t know what’s happening in the physics engine that causes this but it’s really weird to see an enemy bouncing around the stage like a superball on steroids.

The single player game is a bit disappointing. It’s not necessarily bad but it could’ve used some fine-tuning. For me, the most disappointing aspect of the single player game is the storyline. After playing games such as Halo, Halo 2, and Half Life 2, all games with great storylines, I was expecting the same from PDZ. Simply put, the story is just bad. The plot is incredibly weak and clichéd, involving the search for an ancient artifact that imbues its possessor with superhuman powers. There are some interesting plot twists but they’re not enough to make this story any better (some might think they make it worse).

Luckily, this is a FPS. No one plays them for the story. Players play them for the intense shoot outs. PDZ has plenty of those. One particularly intense scene (perhaps the lengthiest and most challenging combat scene in the game) takes place on a bridge. You fight your way across against a seemingly endless horde of enemies. As you progress, things are exploding around you. Although the explosions don’t pose much of a threat to you, they really add to the intensity of the battle. Another intense shootout takes place in the jungle level I raved about before. As soon as the mission begins, the dropship you arrived in is being attacked by enemy troops and you have to defend your ride. Really intense stuff. Trust me, once these battles begin you’ll be sucked in.

The A.I. is hit or miss during the single player campaign. Later in the campaign the A.I. characters have pinpoint accuracy at long distances. On the other hand when you get close, sometimes they won’t even notice you until you put a bullet in them. It’s annoying to see enemies that are supposed to be shooting you running into walls. It’s also annoying to see them take cover behind explosive barrels. I guess they’re thinking the barrels won’t explode when you shoot at them. Even though they’re clearly marked (you know, red color, warning logo), they think they’ll be safe. The A.I. is generally good but the problems listed hamper the experience a bit.

There’s one last problem about the single player that really worked on my nerves. This problem is the lack of a decent checkpoint system or save feature in the single player. It is incredibly frustrating to play for about ten minutes through a particularly difficult section only to have to repeat it if you die or otherwise fail the mission. Each mission has only one checkpoint about half of the way through. After playing games like Halo that create checkpoints as you go through the level and others that allow you to save every few steps if you choose to, this is extremely frustrating and should’ve been addressed.

Okay, enough about the single player game, what about the multiplayer? Is it good? That’s a definite yes and the reason it deserves my score. I love the multiplayer. There are so many things it does right that it overshadows its shortcomings. Perfect Dark Zero’s multiplayer is perhaps the best of the launch games. By offering support for up to 32 players, it is certainly the biggest of the launch games. The maps expand and contract based on how many players are in the game. When there are a full 32 players in the game, the map will be playable at its full size. The player has full control over the map size however, so for faster paced battles, they can shrink the map or expand it for more tactical contests.

There are so many options you can adjust to create the game you want to play in with the settings, weapons, map, map size, and the number of bots you want. In this game there are a total of 28 weapons in the game ranging from pistols, to rifles to SMG’s and even a sword that can deflect incoming fire. There are so many weapons to choose from. There are a large number of available weapon sets including four you can customize to your liking.

The Combat Arena multiplayer mode is great featuring all the standard gametypes you’ve come to expect from multiplayer shooters. You’ll find Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Territories. My current favorite out of this lineup is the Team Deathmatch mode. With 32 players participating in the game at once, it’s incredibly fun and intense.

The Dark Ops mode is awesome. Dark Ops is a tactical, round based mode in the vein of the hit PC and Xbox shooter, Counter Strike. Before each round, you use credits you have earned from the previous rounds to purchase weapons. This is perhaps the most intense multiplayer mode and encourages, no, demands teamwork.

The online or split screen co-op play is a blast to play. It actually makes the cornball story bearable. It goes beyond just inserting a carbon copy of the main character in each level. For instance, on the fourth level, in the single player campaign you’re charged with protecting your father, who is an NPC in this case, by providing sniper fire from the rooftops. The co-op version of this level actually gives the second player control over the other character who then actively defends themselves with cover from the first player. I found this to be very intense and very innovative for a FPS.

All that being said, I am very happy with the way this game turned out. The single player game could’ve used a couple more development hours to add more checkpoints and make the story more sensible, but the multiplayer makes up for it big time. The graphics are great, and the only big problem I found was the rampant reflection mapping. Overall, this is a great game. If you’re going to be playing it over Xbox Live, buy it now. If not, you might still want to look into it if you’re a fan of the series or First Person Shooters in general.

Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 9
Value: 10
Tilt: 9

Overall Score: 8.7

Monday, December 10, 2007

Reviews Archive: Perfect Dark

Editors Note: I'm going to begin periodicaly posting reviews from my archives alongside my new reviews. All future archived reviews will feature the letters "RA" in the title and labeled under "Reviews Archive". These reviews (aside from a few gramatical errors) will be left completely unedited to show how far I've come since writing them.

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Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) Original Review Publish Date: June 16, 2006


Perfect Dark is the spiritual successor to developer Rare’s hit shooter, Goldeneye 007. Goldeneye set the standard for multiplayer First Person Shooters on consoles and will go down in history as one of the best First Person Shooters of all time, regardless of platform. This is a lot to live up to. Perfect Dark has succeeded in building on the foundations laid by its predecessor and is an even better game in the end.

Goldeneye 007 was a great looking game in its own right, but Perfect Dark blows it away. The visuals are incredibly crisp with a level of sharpness that puts every other Nintendo 64 game to shame. The characters have very fluid animations (most of which were taken from Goldeneye). Perfect Dark definitely pushes the envelope visually. Unfortunately, all that envelope pushing comes at a technical price. The framerate, while mostly smooth, dips when there is a lot of action on screen. Try as it might, the Nintendo 64’s hardware can’t quite handle it. Perfect Dark also has support for High-res visuals, which make the graphics appear even sharper than normal. Aside from the aforementioned framerate issues, this is still by far, the best-looking game on the Nintendo 64.

The single player game is excellent. The single player campaign revolves around Joanna Dark, a secret agent working for the Carrington Institute in the not so distant future. The Carrington institute has recently made contact with a peaceful alien race called the Maians who resemble the stereotypical bigheaded grey space people portrayed in movies and television shows. Your main enemy, the corrupt dataDyne corporation has aligned themselves with an alien race known as the Skedar, who practice war as a religion, making them natural enemies of the peaceful Maian race. The storyline has a few twists and turns but doesn’t really stand out in any way. In other words, if I had to describe it in one word, I’d say “meh”.

There are around 20 missions in total, including some that are unlocked elsewhere. Each mission varies in length and features an adjustable difficulty setting, which introduce new mission objectives and make the enemies considerably tougher.

The Carrington Institute serves as a base of operations. It’s sort of like a level in itself, as there is much to explore and do within the confines of the building. Between missions, you can stop by the shooting range to brush up on your targeting skills by completing some of the many training exercises. There are other training programs to complete that help you improve your maneuvering and combat skills (both armed and unarmed) as well.

I did notice a few problems though with the single player campaign. Sometimes, the mission objectives are poorly described or otherwise unclear. Often times, you’ll find yourself wandering around, hoping you can find what you’re looking for. Another problem is that there is no mid-mission save or checkpoint feature, so if you screw up one of the primary objectives, you’re forced to start the mission over from the beginning. This gets annoying on many of the longer missions.

One thing Perfect Dark excels at is impressive enemy AI. They are considerably smarter than the enemies in Goldeneye and are much less predictable. Running around a corner and expecting them to follow you into your trap, often times, will not work. When you disarm them by either ripping the gun from their hands or shooting it from their grasp (another new feature), if you leave them alone, they will go for another nearby weapon. Of course, everything you can do to them, they can do to you. They can also shoot your gun from your hands with a well placed shot, and if they are disarmed, sometimes, they will try to snatch their weapon right back from you. Very impressive stuff to be sure.

Another area that was particularly impressive was the soundtrack. It is simply excellent and an astounding achievement for the developers. This is one of the best soundtracks of any game, on any system. The music really kicks in at the perfect moment in a mission to really fit the tempo of that particular point.

Now, Goldeneye was revered for its multiplayer component. With its many weapons, varied environments and fun multiplayer modes, it is no surprise that the only game to provide a more entertaining and deep multiplayer experience on the Nintendo 64 was Perfect Dark. Its multiplayer features everything that made Goldeneye great and much more.

There are a couple of multiplayer modes for two players, the conventional Co-op mode and the innovative Counter-operative mode. Co-op throws another player in the level so the two of you can tackle the mission objectives together. Counter-operative on the other hand pits the two players against each other. One player takes on the role of the main character and advances through the mission. The other player takes on the role of the enemy characters in the mission. The second player’s objective is to prevent the main character from completing their objectives by incapacitating them or otherwise making the mission objectives impossible to complete. The second player has all the weaknesses that the A.I. characters do, such as the low amount of health and limited ammunition. If the first player gets too far ahead of the character the second player is possessing, they can take a suicide pill and respawn closer to the main character. This mode is very innovative, and one that should be featured in future releases.

The real meat of the multiplayer game is in the “Combat simulator” mode. There are a few gametypes to choose from including the standard deathmatch, Capture the flag (dubbed “capture the briefcase” here) and king of the hill. One of the major upgrades from Goldeneye 007 is the inclusion of bots or “Simulants”. There are multiple stimulant types, such as the KazeSim, which tries to kill its target at all costs, even if it means killing themselves in the process and the VengeSim, who goes after the last player that killed them with (you guessed it) a vengeance. Up to eight Simulants can be added into any game, alongside up to four human players. The human players can also form teams with or against the Simulants. I found the Simulants to be very challenging and are great if you want to practice by yourself to improve your skills.

In the end, Perfect Dark has succeeded in building upon everything that made Goldeneye 007 such an excellent game. On the Nintendo 64, it is simply unmatched in many ways. From the excellent Single player campaign, to the even more excellent Multiplayer game, to the amazing soundtrack, Perfect Dark has it all. On consoles, this experience is unparalleled, and is a monumental achievement. This game may not be completely perfect, but few games have come closer to reaching it.

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Value: 10
Tilt: 10

Overall Score: 10