Electronic Theatre In-depth Review: Perfect Dark Zero

Electronic Theatre Image Perfect Dark Zero has found its place to shop shelves as part of the Xbox360’s UK Launch Line-Up, and has brought with it a considerable amount of heritage. Having spawned from the GoldenEye 007 phenomenon, Perfect Dark was the half-blood sequel to Bond’s videogaming masterpiece. RARE have been developing for some time, originally entitled Ultimate: Play The Game their biggest titles include Battletoads In BattleManaics on the SNES, RC Pro AM on the Game Boy and, of course, the inspirational Nintendo64 line-up of Blast Corps, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day to name a few. Having become increasing quiet since the fabled selling and re-selling of the company during 2003, RARE’s game studios produced but two titles throughout the entire of the Xbox’s life-cycle, yet three for the Game Boy Advance.

Perfect Dark was accredited, by the industry at least, as one of the best games ever produced with an extensive list of features and Level design that, still six years Electronic Theatre Image later, is considered the pinnacle of First-Person Shooter design and is still aspired to within development circles. Perfect Dark Zero was announced shortly after production on the first title had finished and was originally thought to be part of the GameCube’s Launch Line-Up… how things change. Acting as the prequel to the first title, Perfect Dark Zero slipped away from the GameCube, and away from Nintendo altogether, along with RARE’s other big project of the time - an RPG built using the engine from Nintendo’s own The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time and inspired by work on StarFox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet (which later surfaced as a GameCube Launch Window title) - Kameo: Elements Of Power was now set to appear on Microsoft’s new powerhouse entry into the market, the Xbox.

Well, that was all nearly three years ago, and now Microsoft are back with another new horsepower-crazy console, the Xbox360. Yet, RARE’s two projects originally intended for the GameCube Launch Line-Up, five years since their first showing, are only now surfacing on the videogame market. Simply through the company’s past performance a lot is demanded of these titles, however, with the story of the Perfect Dark saga having been very much in the public-eye, times could be even tighter for one of the UK’s most anticipated games of 2005.

As a First-Person Shooter following the more traditional genre-formulaic rules, Perfect Dark Zero fails immediately. The title is built entirely Electronic Theatre image around distancing the player from tradition and creating a uniquely intriguing and absorbing adventure tailored by the individual – anyone looking for a Quake 4, Call Of Duty 2 or Serious Sam II blast-everything-on-the-screen title should realise that they’ve made the wrong decision before the Title Screen makes it’s exit. The story hinges on the origins of Joanna Dark’s relationship with Daniel Carrington and his institute, creating a back-story and a personality for Jo quite distant from the prim-and-proper, stiff-upper-lip girl you experienced in the original title.

The title presents itself as an open-ended experience within the first few Levels, disillusioning the player into a non-linear play-table. The Levels expand and contract throughout the player’s progression and provide the vital suspension-of-disbelief. This organisation of play has certainly taken years to develop, within each map. The player’s interaction within Levels has been minimised to the point of a withdrawal from the evolving experience of the first Perfect Dark title. It’s hard to criticise Perfect Dark Zero for experimenting with an entirely new way of involving the player in the action, however, there are far too many occasions when simply creating a large map with detail and enemy placement in equal measure throughout would’ve provided a much less linear experience than opening the brand new can of First-Person Shooter style, which RARE have clearly decided Perfect Dark Zero was always intended to do. The basic Level structure is less appealing than the formula used through play. With the vast majority of Levels revolving around a very open central area, and a mess of winding corridors leading to and from; much of the design is predictable and stale.

In addition to the Single-Player Campaign, there is the option of Co-Operative play. It seems that, on many occasions, much of the game has actually been designed around two players attacking the Campaign side-by-side, which is certainly not a bad thing. The inventiveness of the enemy placement and design is far more evident when tactfully taking down each area with a blaze of joint-gunfire, however, this clearly doesn’t save any title which has all the hallmarks of being a great new saga in videogame development yet has been shoe-horned into a game not made to cater for the uniqueness Electronic Theatre Image of the overall production. The weapon variety is pleasing, although disturbingly samey when compared to either the first title and, although Perfect Dark Zero is set some years earlier, has made very few attempts to offer a kill-everything-on-the-screen alternative to either the Far-Sight or the RCP-190 (although the title does feature a prototype of the RCP-90, it only retains the Primary Function of the later model).

The enemy AI is quite a sore-point, as far as the Electronic Theatre is concerned. The first title is a benchmark in the history of AI development and, in all honesty, Perfect Dark Zero doesn’t appear to have progressed in this field at all. In fact, in many cases, it often appears to have regressed. True, Perfect Dark is still on the tip of most gamer’s tongue’s when discussing active AI, however, it was now two console generations ago, and clearly should’ve been surpassed. The Multi-Player option reveals Bots that provide a good argument for the opposite, but the Campaign-based enemies often provide little more “human” instincts than those seen in the likes of TimeSplitters 2 or Medal Of Honour: Frontline. With the power of the Xbox360, this is clearly quite ridiculous, and more than inexcusable.

The Multi-Player functions of the title create a rather distant argument from the Single-Player Campaign. With two-to-four players on Split-Screen, System Link and XboxLIVE! catering for thirty-two players, automatically the title qualifies for at least a quick look. However, any quick look will not doubt end in a four-hour killing-spree. The Split-Screen options allow human players to compete against up to sixteen bots at a user-defined difficulty in a large variety of play Modes. Every option of each match is totally customisable – down to each and every weapon and the availability of vehicles. Dark Ops is an alternative Multi-Player Mode to the basic Kill Count, allowing for a variety of scenarios including the usual King-of-the-Hill and Flag-based Modes, as well as inventive new offerings such as Eradication; in which the players are divided into teams and allotted an amount of cash with which to buy upgraded weaponry. Using this weaponry, the teams play until only one remains, and in-turn receive additional funding depending on their final placement to spend in the next round. The freedom of movement is somewhat hindered however, by the development team not feeling the necessity to add a jump function. Now, Perfect Dark purists will probably be screaming right now, but I do agree in the Single-Player, it’s not been included simply because it isn’t necessary. However, in Multi-Player, with the technology developers now have at their disposal, not including such a basic function greatly restricts many common tactics for Deathmatching.

As stated above, the AI is far greater for the bots than would appear to be for the enemies in Single-Player. Whether or not this was a purposeful decision on behalf of the development team is unclear at best, however for all the worth it adds to the Multi-Player, it strips the Single-Player of much of its would-be charm. With the Deathmatch options being so variegated and diverse, it’s highly unlikely that any Xbox360 gamer won’t be able to firstly gather a small group of friends, and secondly, keep them entertained for an evening. The Multi-Player in Perfect Dark Zero makes all the right moves and breaks-through many of the boundaries the Single-Player seems to stumble upon.

The title manages to keep RARE’s reputation of impeccable graphical prowess in good form. Easily the best looking title in the Xbox360’s Launch Line-Up, Perfect Dark Zero features an insanely high polygon-count in places and some very tasty dynamic and real-time lighting. The animation, however, is not without its flaws, and much of the lighting often finds conflict with other near-by light sources. It’s a complement to the Xbox360 that RARE have, clearly under insurmountable pressure, managed to top the competing PC-ported First-Person Shooter’s alongside Perfect Dark Zero in the Launch Line-Up, Quake 4 and Call Of Duty 2, but it’s also clear that the Launch Line-Up isn’t exactly as true as Microsoft had promised. The sound quality is impeccable and, despite being altogether stingy with character sound-bytes, follows RARE’s First-Person Shooter traditions of flowing with the gameplay; picking-up the pace when the heat is on and creating a smooth and relaxed atmosphere whilst sneaking through the under-growth. Despite its vast array of bugs and short-comings, there’s no denying that Perfect Dark Zero is the most technically achieved title available for Xbox360, and probably will be for some time – yet it’s still to prove the standing of the system when compared to the forthcoming competition from the PlayStation3, and Nintendo’s intriguingly-obscure Revolution.

While Perfect Dark Zero is clearly one of the most well-constructed titles yet to be shown on the Xbox360, it’s also clearly failed to enhance upon its predecessor in the same way that the original Perfect Dark did on its forerunner, GoldenEye 007. While the Single-Player leaves far too much to be desired, and may in-fact make many fans of the original wretch, the Multi-Player is one of the finest examples of First-Person Shooter Deathmatching on any system. Surely, RARE have created a mixed-bag - and caused quite a conundrum amongst their very hostile fanbase. Perfect Dark devotees will be disappointed, as will anyone expecting the prequel to follow the same utterly influential patterns of it’s predecessor, however, those yet to taste RARE’s First Person Shooter spirit (all three of you…) couldn’t find a more complete, more rewarding or more experimental title released this year. Electronic Theatre Image