Gameplay: FUN ... Checkpoints: SUCK ... Multiplayer: Where the value's at ...
Joanna Dark is sent on a campaign mission with some twists and turns. Only problem is, I felt like there were holes in the story. Sure you could follow it, but it felt like it lacked depth at times. This lead to one of my two biggest complaints with the single player experience. I still find myself scratching my head when I see the PDZ commericals, or go the website. They make it seem like it will be so much more immersive, and yet its not. Its really dissapointing. Its like expecting meat and getting mash potatoes. Mash potatoes are good...but its not the same, unless you're a vegetarian, then you're happy ;)
ANYWAYS...
Problem two. One checkpoint per level. One. WTF? Who's brilliant idea was that? I had so much more fun with games like COD2 where there were several checkpoints. I finished this game on Secret Agent, but there were times I though of going to Agent because it was really frustrating to play for 30 minutes on a level to be sent back 15 minutes ago and die repeatedly at the end (where there was a real challenge) and be kicked back 15 minutes ago. Okay, so there went 30 minutes of my valuable time and here I am again. Now I'm scared to try again. Do I want to WASTE my time? This is not a desired emotional response. COD2 did it right. Take a note RARE.
Multiplayer: Longevity is here. Gameplay works great. Teaming up is great fun. XBOX LIVE is so kicked up due to the XBOX 360 that it makes finding people who are playing this game easy to find. Select "Join game in session" under their gamertag. Its that easy. Once there you'll find a large variety of games to play. The weapons are the real star of this show. With many secondary functions it seperates itself from other games. Pisols are worth something like in the Halo 1 days. Game modes like the Dark Ops are unique and very fun. And to top it off you feel a need to keep playing just to get those acheivement points.
If you don't know about acheievement points, they're points you earn for reaching acheivements the developers set out for you in the game. In the case of Perfect Dark a few examples would be points for finishing the game on a certain difficutly. Points for 10, 100, and 1000 headshots, first 10, 100, and 1000 kills in Killcount, Team Killcount. And so on.
If you own an XBOX 360, this game and Halo 2 are the two best online experiences available.