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Not worth going back to

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: June 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I decided to pick up a used copy of this game up for a cool $8, thinking back to the good old days when I had a ton of fun with the original Perfect Dark on N64. Mistake. It is ridiculous to think that I could go back to the days when FPS games included enemies that moved erratically about the screen and entirely too fast, a ridiculously meaningless and poorly acted story, and a complete lack of clear objectives in-mission, and enjoy the game I was playing. Do yourself a favor, and go play just about anything else.

Good game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

A good shooter. The thing I wanted to bring attention to was the game's music. The soundtrack is great. Every single track is wonderfully melodic and rhythmic. Thank goodness for game music; I wouldn't have any music to listen to if it weren't for game music. The music in PDZ has a somewhat James Bond 007 sound from the 60's kind of style. It's actually not my favorite kind of music, but in PDZ it's great. So, thank you so much to Rare for the excellent music in PDZ.

A great game, but doesn't really live up to the original.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If this was a stand alone game, I would just say, "Hey, this is a pretty cool game, but its got some problems". However, this isn't a stand alone game, this is a sequel to what many including myself consider to be one of the best shooters of all time. So this game is going to be held up to higher standards, and it is going to suffer for it.

The graphics are very good for a launch game, and showcase the potential of the Xbox 360 well. Lighting is heavily used in this game, and seems to be what they focused on the most when developing the graphics for this game. As a result, everything shines like crazy, even the plants are shiny. They used a lot of color this time around, not unlike Halo's art style. It gives the game a refreshing look that is much appreciated. Some of the character models are very strange looking and disproportionate, which doesn't make any sense because other character models look perfectly normal.

The soundtrack is pretty typical of Perfect Dark. It is essentially the same one as the original but remixed and expanded. Gun effects and explosions all sound fine, but aren't really anything special. The voice work is pretty cheesy, it even makes me wince with embarrassment sometimes.

The game-play, while solid, isn't really improved in any way from the first game. In fact, sometimes it even feels a little worse. What I mean by this is that it doesn't control very tight, so it takes some getting used to, but once you've got the hang of things it's a perfectly fine shooter. The game features pretty the same weapon set as the first Perfect Dark. The storyline is your pretty average FPS campaign, nothing special. The plot itself is really stupid, and the ending is atrocious. The campaign does however, feature a couple really cool moments, even so, it only lasts about 6 hours. This brings me to multi-player. It's pretty interesting with some neat ideas and innovative game modes. This being said, they could have taken the multi-player a lot further and made it more competitive, increasing it's longevity. It's basically the same game as before but in HD.

Rare really let me, along with a lot of other fans down with this one. It's still a very solid shooter with some nice ideas, but it really wasn't executed well. It makes me wonder what they did with all that development time. This game is still worth at least a rent, if for no other reason that to see how the the prequel to one of the best shooters ever turned out.

What Would Elvis Do?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The original Perfect Dark was so darn good that when I saw this for a measly twenty bucks I couldn't pass it up. I spent a good year on the original--it was an all-purpose shooter. Even if you were alone, the multiplayer bots kept things fresh, and there were a million and one options to tinker around with.

That game stored not only your custom-tailored character but also your lifetime stats down to the mileage you've run and every round fired. This made it the cartridge of choice whenever I invited people over and we wanted something to play. There was fierce competition in my apartment for several months as people vied for dominance in one stat group or another. If you weren't a marksman, maybe you would only use mines and thus lay claim to the title of most explosive kills and so on. I tell you all this so you'll understand that not a little bit of nostalgia factored into my overall rating. If I hadn't played the original this one would probably get three stars. As it was, I enjoyed it more than a newcomer might.

So I was very pleased to see that bots were being included in this installment as well. I don't know why other games don't mimic Perfect Dark's multiplayer system. All I know is that between the original and Dark Zero, I kept wishing for a game that played just as well with multiplayer just as customizable, and never got it until now.

There are a number of standard rulesets like killcount and capture the flag but there are also scenarios that can be fought through against other live players.

The best, though, is when you have a friend over and want to play. Then you can have a real versus match--none of that one-on-one crap that gets old very fast. Want to play 5v5? Just add eight bots. Instant opponents, or teammates. You can adjust their skill levels anywhere from completely pathetic to death incarnate. And if you're better than your friend, you can add a couple extra bots to his team.

Missing, though, are a lot of those options I mentioned before. You can't customize your character in this one (forgivable), you can't tailor the bots' personalities or appearances (also forgivable), and you can't view your lifetime stats anymore (blasphemy! burn the witch!). That left Dark Zero feeling more cramped than the original. I still can't figure out why they removed all that content. Ah, well. The deathmatch arena in Perfect Dark Zero is still the most fun multiplayer--even just against bots--I've experienced in a while.

As far as the single player campaign goes, it's ruthlessly average. Not bad at all--not even implying that. Everything's rock-solid, action-wise. I just mean the story and the levels are so-so. Nothing standout here. Nothing unsatisfactory, either. You'll get your share of challenges. Some of the stretches you have to navigate in this game will keep you on your toes. I must have tried the bridge assault level ten or twelve times before I made it.

There were a couple of noticeable flaws in the otherwise smooth veneer of this experience, though. One was the physics of a downed bad guy. It's really common in this game for a dead body to start "dancing" on the ground, or even take off and hover in midair for a while. You'll waste a lot of bullets shooting at dead bodies you think are attacking you. Another is the shadows. I haven't seen shadows that pixelated since SNES. Still, these are pretty minor. You won't have a problem overlooking them in favor of the action.

I really liked the music in this game. It seemed to fit perfectly and it did a good job of getting me into whatever was happening onscreen. No thick atmosphere here, but that's a good thing. You're promised an adrenaline rush or ten, and it delivers. Consequently the themes in Dark Zero are much more energetic than in the original. The opening video and song reminded me strongly of Bond credits. Slick.

All in all, I truly liked it. There were flaws, but it was a well-executed game. When you factor in the price you can't go wrong. It's a solid shooter and the adaptable deathmatch will keep you playing for a while.

Limited edition not all that special, but a fun game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I don't really see the point in getting this game in limited edition packaging, it's not like it's a major game like Halo or something of that level.

The game:
It's a fun game to play, the story line is decent and although I think it to be a bit short in length for the story it was a good game none the less.

Online play:
This is the games strong point. The online play is fun, the weapons are pretty cool. The fly by wire kind of missles are always a blast to come up on the other players and BAM they explode. Some people get a little too crazy with the sniping aspect of it but other than that it's still good to pop in and play from time to time.

Challenging and Fun, but Some Faws.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: August 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game as a launch title the same time that I bought my Xbox 360 and I've been working on it off and on ever since.

PROS: I actually enjoyed the game a good deal and I'm not usually a huge fan of First-Person Shooters (FPS). The graphics on this game are very, very nice, if a little over-shiney in some parts. I think the part that I liked the most and that I hope is adopted by future game designers is the way that missions change from one difficulty setting to the next. Rather than just making your enemies stronger, increasing the difficulty adds more objectives to your missions, so it feels like a more expanded game. The multiplayer games also have the capability to run up to 15 bots, so you don't always need to go online to play Deathmatch or Capture the Flag.

CONS: The storyline is pretty bland and little bit strange. The aiming can be a little bit difficult until you get the hang of it. The multiplayer isn't up to par with games like Halo 2, but its still a lot of fun, in my opinion.

SUMMARY: I've enjoyed the game quite a bit so far and I hope that I can eventually work my way through all the difficulty levels, but we'll see. Just a warning, if you're obsessed with Achievements and your Gamerscore, you may want to avoid this game because some of the Achievements are really, really hard to get.

Love it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The game is awesome...using gadgets playing co-op online with my friend. This is one of my favorite FPS games.

Not bad for $20, but you can do better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I picked up the special edition of Perfect Dark Zero simply because it only set me back $20. Honestly though, after playing Gears of War (and wasting entirely too much of my free time playing the Halo 3 beta), you can see how far shooters have come in two years. The sound and graphics are still on par with some of the better Xbox titles, but PDZ falls short when it comes to gameplay. The action feels clunky and archaic...like I'm playing an N64 game with better graphics. If you need a cheap way to scratch your FPS itch, then pick this up. But if you want the best the Xbox has to offer, pick yourself up a copy of Gears of War.

Came on time and its what i needed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Came on time and its what i needed

Cheap

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you want to add to your collection of games, sure buy it, why not? But if your looking for a good game, I prefer Halo 2 -OR- Gears of War. I mean Perfect Dark is good, but it gets boring fast. Multiplayer is awesome though, especially if your playing with other people and bots.

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