Out on the N64 with a wildly inconsistent frame rate, Perfect Dark made some noise because of its developer (Rare) and great weapon set. That continues on the Xbox 360 with the prequel, Perfect Dark Zero. It's in a bigger crowd now though, and the impact isn't quite there, but this is still a well made FPS.
The biggest change is the glaring character redesign of Joanna Dark, with huge doll-like eyes and childish face. It clashes with the otherwise stunning realism of the environments, brought to life with motion blur that's eerily effective. Thankfully, aside from a few brief rough spots, the frame rate is steady this time out, and that means it's easy to appreciate this second game in the series.
Joanna brings with her a number of weapons that at first don't have much difference between them. It's the other features, like wire guided rockets, grenades, and spy equipment that separate them. Levels are designed with numerous opportunities to put these to good use.
There's a deep focus on taking cover this time out, not unlike Namco's Kill.Switch. The opening training level emphasizes this, and the number of different spaces that provide protection is incredible. Controls are laid out in a way to make this a painless process, and the brief switch to a third person view isn't jarring in the least.
Plenty of replay value is derived from the missions. Each difficulty leap brings new secondary quests, so to see and do everything, it's a necessity to play through this one multiple times. What's interesting is that the main objective is aided by the secondaries. In other words, in one level, eliminating air support early will lessen the number of enemies later.
Certain stages also offer squad-like combat, though there's no real control. Still, it's great to see NPCs firing away and actually causing damage, not to mention protecting themselves. Enemy AI doesn't do much to impress other than strafe repeatedly and grab cover, though given their numbers near the finale, that's probably a good thing.
Article comments
1 - KingKRool
Man I love Rare. Most of my friends think they've declined since Microsoft bought them but I think they're still okay. Too bad they couldn't release Donkey Kong Racing on the Gamecube though...