Hands down, this is my favorite FPS game! And before the X360, I didn't really care for FPS all that much.
If you’ve followed any of my past reviews, you’ll notice that a couple years ago I wasn’t too into first person-shooters. I’m still not very good at them, but, overall I can get into them now more than ever. Especially when it’s a quality game. So far on the Xbox360, both Call of Duty2 and Perfect Dark Zero are FANTASTIC FPS games.
When it comes to PD0, first of all, I love the style of the game. I’m not much for intro movies. I think they’re generally a waste of time. While they’re fun to watch the first couple times, it gets old after a while. I have to say, though, the intro for Perfect Dark really gets you into it. It’s very James Bond-ish. Cool music, strange, wild visuals, just a really cool feel. It really sets the tone for what's ahead.
The graphics for Perfect Dark are ver, VERY nice. It’s a 360 game, so it should look great. And in my opinion, it really does. The player models are really well done. I have to say, Joanna Dark gives Lara Croft a run for the money on the “hottie” scale. Seriously, though, the characters are well designed and look great in every situation you see them in. The shadow and lighting details as well as the overall look & feel are really top notch. It’s fun just to sit and look around to soak it all in. The HUD is also nicely designed and doesn’t get in the way of the fantastic looks. There's also a very nice variety to the characters. They aren't all just cookie cutters of each other.
From an audio perspective, Perfect Dark is the best sounding game I’ve heard. Again, I’ll compare it to my the only other FPS that compares, Call of Duty 2. Whereas Call of Duty’s sound makes you feel like you’re in the middle of WWII, Perfect Dark really makes you feel like you’re in the middle of a spy movie. The soundtrack is hot. The voices and dialog is very good. And the ambient sounds are fantastic. For example, in the basement of the nightclub, the music from the club is muffled and bassy like it would be if you were really there. It’s almost spooky it’s so real. The sound effects are also phenomenal, especially with surround sound. You hear the shots wizz past you and feel the rumble of a nearby explosion. The surround sound helps a lot in finding an enemy in multiplayer games.
The gameplay in Perfect Dark is also very well done. At first, it took a while to get used to the visuals, so it was a little hard to spot enemies. Sometimes you’d hear a shot and feel the impact, but completely can’t find the bad guy. That was a bit annoying, but you start to learn what to look for. Overall, though, the controls are very well done. Simple to learn and when you get really good at it, it's all second nature. I love the left trigger aiming thing (also in CofD2). It's a great way to focus on an enemy and add realism as well. The movements, view and fighting controls are all very sensible.
I've now made it through the story mode on the basic difficulty. While challenge at spots (for non-hardcore people like me), it wasn't too difficult overall. My biggest complaint was finding out where you're supposed to go. On most levels, it's not exactly obvious. But, all the missions varied in task, local, and challenges, which was very enjoyable. It's a nice mix of stealth, chaos and strategy which makes it more interesting. You can also play co-op, which is a nice feature. It’s fun to pair up with a buddy and work together to solve the missions. I'm going back on the harder difficulties now, and there's even more tasks to accomplish, so it's almost all new in some ways.
Multiplayer mode is EXTREMELY addictive. I've been playing a lot now in that mode, and it's easy to lose track of time. One thing I really like (again, for a non-hardcore person like me), is that you can play multiplayer on your own against the computer. That may sound like a contradiction of terms, but the reality is, it's a great way to learn how to do multiplayer, without being demoralized by dying every 10 seconds. Hopefully I'll gain enough confidence to get back into a deathmatch online, but for now, I'm enjoying my BOT opponents. The variety of multiplayer games is great: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag & Territorial Gains. All challenging with different strategies required to win them. There's also the DarkOps missions for more variety. The locations are also varied, just not enough multiplayer maps, in my opinion. But, they are still a lot of fun to play.
I got Perfect Dark thinking it would be a fun multiplayer game when my brother and nephews come over. And it is great for that. But, Perfect Dark is so much more. It's an awesome game from a story mode perspective, from the multiplayer, and the co-op games. It's an all around perfect game for so many different reasons. If you like FPS games, I think you have to get this. If you don't like FPS games, try it, you may just find yourself completely immersed like I've become.