Perfect Dark Zero
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
I took an unexpected week off from posting -- needed some quality time with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Perfect Dark Zero was a little less compelling. I slogged through several missions this weekend, finding the game guilty of several of my next gen pet peeves. First off, Joanna Dark is ugly. She's probably the prettiest looking character I've seen in the game, but that's like saying herpes is the best venereal disease.
The game's second crime is that every damn surface in the game is shiny -- as if there's a coat of ectoplasm slathered across the pavement and walls. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the game's asphalt looks more like the aluminum foil they wrap around a Crunch bar. Kinda annoying.
On top of these "bad art" issues, the game also forces you into quite a few escort and objective-based missions, which I found myself failing several times before figuring out what I was supposed to do. Screwing the pooch in the first couple levels of game doesn't tend to give me the warm fuzzies. My last nitpick revolves around Joanna's third-person moves. Her roll move (one that makes you resistant to enemy fire) isn't too bad, but her "cover" tactic doesn't seem to have too many benefits. Grabbing shelter behind a box or wall does protect you from fire, but aiming feels sluggish and imprecise. There's also no good solution for capping attackers who approach from behind while you're in cover. So it's pointless to stick against walls unless you're absolutely sure that you've cleared the room or you've got some kind of camera or automatic gun to take out. Otherwise "cover" kinda blows.
There are bright spots in the game, though. When you're in combat, you can sense the Goldeneye DNA in the controls. Don't know if its the swift, gliding movement and aiming or the way the weapons swap, but a kernel of that goodness has survived the years of development and updates.
There are also quite a few well thought out touches in the overall polish of the game. In one mission Joanna is dropped on a dock in Hong Kong. Her target is in a danceclub slightly inland. As Joanna approaches, we hear the techno get louder -- but only the low-end. The music is muffled by concrete between Joanna and the deejay. My wife, who was in the other room studying as I played, assumed that the music was coming from our nextdoor neighbors. I'm sure there will be other moments like this one in Perfect Dark Zero. I'm just not really enthusiastic about hunting them down. Maybe if Rare wasn't so chinzy with single-player achievements, I'd feel a little more motiviated.
Publisher: Microsoft
Review Type: Touchy
Version: Retail
I took an unexpected week off from posting -- needed some quality time with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Perfect Dark Zero was a little less compelling. I slogged through several missions this weekend, finding the game guilty of several of my next gen pet peeves. First off, Joanna Dark is ugly. She's probably the prettiest looking character I've seen in the game, but that's like saying herpes is the best venereal disease.The game's second crime is that every damn surface in the game is shiny -- as if there's a coat of ectoplasm slathered across the pavement and walls. I'm not exaggerating when I say that the game's asphalt looks more like the aluminum foil they wrap around a Crunch bar. Kinda annoying.
On top of these "bad art" issues, the game also forces you into quite a few escort and objective-based missions, which I found myself failing several times before figuring out what I was supposed to do. Screwing the pooch in the first couple levels of game doesn't tend to give me the warm fuzzies. My last nitpick revolves around Joanna's third-person moves. Her roll move (one that makes you resistant to enemy fire) isn't too bad, but her "cover" tactic doesn't seem to have too many benefits. Grabbing shelter behind a box or wall does protect you from fire, but aiming feels sluggish and imprecise. There's also no good solution for capping attackers who approach from behind while you're in cover. So it's pointless to stick against walls unless you're absolutely sure that you've cleared the room or you've got some kind of camera or automatic gun to take out. Otherwise "cover" kinda blows.
There are bright spots in the game, though. When you're in combat, you can sense the Goldeneye DNA in the controls. Don't know if its the swift, gliding movement and aiming or the way the weapons swap, but a kernel of that goodness has survived the years of development and updates.
There are also quite a few well thought out touches in the overall polish of the game. In one mission Joanna is dropped on a dock in Hong Kong. Her target is in a danceclub slightly inland. As Joanna approaches, we hear the techno get louder -- but only the low-end. The music is muffled by concrete between Joanna and the deejay. My wife, who was in the other room studying as I played, assumed that the music was coming from our nextdoor neighbors. I'm sure there will be other moments like this one in Perfect Dark Zero. I'm just not really enthusiastic about hunting them down. Maybe if Rare wasn't so chinzy with single-player achievements, I'd feel a little more motiviated.
2 Comments:
It's only good on co-op mode.
I bet that would be fun. I'm waiting for my friends to get 360s so we can two-man some of these games.
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