A Bold Step Into the Future of Gaming
First, the good: PDZ has a nice little storyline, brings back a great N64 game from the grave, and makes good use of weaponry. The first-person shooter has gotten much more refined in recent years, and so it seemed likely that Rare would have trouble keeping pace considering that this is a series that effectively skipped a generation of consoles. But the action is smooth, the aiming and reloading system seems accurate, and the enemies are pretty cagey. And the "wow" factor is pretty strong, as there are some nice visual effects to go along with a compelling soundtrack.
Now, the not-quite-so-good: PDZ's facial models aren't very impressive. Considering how advanced the 360's scaling is purported to be, a lot of the renderings of characters and buildings come off as somewhat half-baked. The dialogue is kind of clunky. And after being able to do amazing things with the protagonists in Far Cry: Instincts and Halo/Halo 2, it sure is disheartening to take command of a lead character who can't even jump.
The caveat: I've not yet ventured into the multiplayer modes, about which I am hearing/reading rave reviews. So consider this review somewhat limited in that context, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that PDZ's online/split screen modes provide excellent entertainment value and depth to a game that has a very stellar single-player mode.