Perfect Dark Zero

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Perfect Dark Zero

The Die Another Day of spy themed video games.

Genre(s):	First-Person Shooter Third-Person Shooter
Platform(s):	Xbox 360
Release Date:	November 22, 2005
Developer(s):	Rare
Publisher(s):	Microsoft Game Studios
Country:	United Kingdom
Series:	Perfect Dark
Predecessor:	Perfect Dark (GBC) (by release date)
Successor:	Perfect Dark (2000) (chronologically) Perfect Dark (reboot; upcoming)

Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was exclusively released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 video game console on November 22, 2005 in North America and December 2, 2005 in Europe. The game is part of the Perfect Dark series and a prequel to the original Perfect Dark. The story of the game follows bounty hunter Joanna Dark as she joins the Carrington Institute agency to prevent rival corporation DataDyne from getting possession of an ancient artifact that endows individuals with superhuman powers.

Bad Qualities

Development hell: It was originally in development for the Nintendo GameCube, but after Rare was purchased by Microsoft, it was later switched to the original Xbox but then got rushed to the Xbox 360 at the last minute, resulting in many planned features being scrapped.
The plot has little to no build-up and feels poorly written and bland, especially compared to the previous game.
Stiff controls that feel like they were taken from a GameCube controller which is laughable since as mentioned before, it was supposed to be a GameCube title, making Joanna control like a tank.
- It doesn't help that Joanna moves so slowly like she's wearing shoes made out of concrete.
- The auto aim also barely works
Just like No One Lives Forever 2, this game doesn't have many interesting locations to explore, aside from the Nightclub and Jungle, The previous game had Area 51, Airplane, a Snowy Island, etc. which is a drastic downgrade from this game.
The intro tutorial is nothing but a pointless simulation, there are also the horrible cropped skyboxes at the end of that level.
Compared to the original game, this game has a linear hallway-like level design and no exploration. Sometimes, the levels can feel extremely empty.
The game tries so hard to cash in on the Halo series (another Microsoft property game) by having health regeneration, weapon limit, and third-person vehicle sections.
Just like Rainbow Six Vegas series, Rogue Warrior and 007: Quantum of Solace (Treyarch version), there is a cover system, but it's not very consistent as you can't move left and right like in every other cover based shooters.
Unlike other FPS games, some of the enemies have body armor, which makes them impossible to kill, not even headshots work in these situations.
- At least the way the armors break after several shots is satisfying.
Despite there being a Weapon selection at the start of every mission just like The Operative: No One Lives Forever and Soldier of Fortune series, it can sometimes be pointless at some levels, mostly notable some of the stealth missions and the Jungle levels require certain weapons because they have exclusive attachments to it, this being the P90 and silenced weapons.
The A.I enemies are either dumb as a rock or they will sometimes shoot you out of nowhere.
This game is yet another prequel game as if the GBC version of the previous Perfect Dark Game wasn't enough.
Artificial Difficulty: The Jungle levels are outright impossible to complete, for the simple reason being that there are lots of enemies shooting at you, but you can't see them because they are perfectly hidden unless you use the P90 gun.
- Speaking of the P90, it has that filter that lets you see enemies which can hurt your eye socket if starring for so long.
- There is also an objective that needs to be completed, The problem is that there is a time limit and you don't know what to do, even worse the time limit doesn't show you how much you have left to complete that objective.
- There is a sequence where you have to get across a giant gap but don't know how, the only way to do it is by pushing a box over a button, No, no, not by actually pushing it, but by shooting it, which is a great waste of ammo.
- As if that's not enough, there is also an objective that needs to be completed by using the Spy Camera (the gadget used in the previous game) to plant a certain device, the problem is that it doesn't tell you the area you need to plant it, it's made worse by the bad filter that can hurt your eye sockets and once again it's on a time limit that you can't see.
Joanna is no longer an interesting female protagonist as she is dumbed down to having a dull personality and her redesign makes her look more like a Kim Possible Cosplayer.
- She also speaks with an American accent, despite talking British throughout the first game (sure she was born in Atlanta Georgia but that still doesn't explain how she started talking British all of a sudden).
The mission briefings are not really helpful and mostly have boring, uninteresting dialogue that comes off as filler.
Annoying loading screens. Even though they go by quickly, most of these loading screens load a cutscene with more story content that no one cares about and once again is mostly just filler.
The game tries so hard to be funny or cool by including humorous cutscenes, sometimes also cutscenes that make no sense, and dialogues and scenes where a certain character does something cool, but it miserably fails.
- It's also inconsistent as the first game while having some funny scenes here and there most of the plot is taken seriously along with the game settings, here it feels like it tries so hard to be like the Timesplitters series and No One Lives Forever series, but without any of their charms.
- There is this cutscene at the end of the nightclub level where the man you are going after straight out of Matrix jumps out of the window.
- There is the level where you infiltrate an oriental fortress to face up Mai Hem (weird name aside), where you need to kill her, How you might ask? in a virtual reality deathmatch, somehow after that, she is somehow hurt by that which makes no sense at all.
- Before that level there is also the cutscene where Joanna climbs up a tall mountain without any equipment which almost looks like a rip-off to that iconic scene opening from the Mission Impossible 2 movie.
- There are also these downright cringy and cheesy dialogues such as:
  - "I could use an aspirine"
  - "Their gods!"
  - "Shut up, before i drop you like an bad conversation."
  - "Ah come on, What's it to you old man."
Just like Duke Nukem Forever (2011), the game literally shows you where to go if you get lost, discouraging any exploration.
While some of the music is good, most of it is forgettable tracks and is a big downgrade to the amazing previous game soundtrack.
The intro is horrible having terrible stock technology effects, Joanna doing something in the background and a soundtrack that's trying so hard to be a James Bond-esque intro but it fails horribly.
There is a shameless product placement by Samsung in the d-PAL menu.
- It's also weird to see that the good guys use evil data dyne technology.
There's a pointless minigame you must play to even use a gadget which is tedious, not fun, and drags on so long for no reason.
The character models look hideous, most notably Joanna Dark and Zhang Li.
Average and boring multiplayer that removes everything that made the multiplayer in games such as Halo and the previous game fun.
The bosses are extremely easy since you can just shoot them to death, especially the final boss.
Most of the characters are forgettable with no depth whatsoever, especially Joanna Dark, Jack Dark (Joanna's father), and Chandra.
Limited multiplayer character selection.

Good Qualities

It's one of the first online multiplayer games to support up to 32 players.
Some of the weapons from the original make a return, like the Laptop Gun.
Despite the lackluster multiplayer, there are some good modes.
The bots in multiplayer have names that reference other Rare games.
The weapons are still fun to use.
As said above, despite the soundtrack being a huge downgrade from its previous game, there are still a few good soundtracks here and there, mostly notable the nightclub music.
The graphics look really impressive for 2005 standards and still look impressive to this day, it helps that this is the very first next-gen Xbox 360 game.
Despite the weapon selection being pointless on some levels, it at least adds replay value.
There are a few people who might like this game despite its flaws.

Reception

While Perfect Dark Zero received mixed to positive reviews from game publications at release, fans of the original and gamers were heavily disappointed and gave the game a very divisive reception. It is even considered to be the game that started the decline of Rare from a once-loved company.

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Perfect Dark Zero

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Bad Qualities

Good Qualities

Reception

Videos

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Perfect Dark Zero

Bad Qualities

Good Qualities

Reception

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