I took a good hard look at a near final build
of Perfect Dark Zero yesterday. It was the first game I rushed to after the tutorial, and one of the last that
I visited with before forcing myself to retire from the event. Initially, I was not pleased. Admittedly, a lot of my
displeasure was based on the atmosphere in which I was playing. The monitor was small and a bit too dim. The chorus of
nearby setups muffled the sound. And my immersion was hindered by being thrown into a random level somewhere
along the course of the plot. Not to mention, the rep had placed the game on easy, which, before I discovered this, had
me really, really concerned about the AI.
My guide eagerly pointed to some pipes hovering in a corner in the opening sequence of the level he'd placed me in. I strutted over to the objects, and sure enough, they boasted some nice textures. One thing that I noticed with these launch titles, almost across the board, is that wet things really look wet (this goes for damp things looking damp as well). In general, surfaces looked how they should look, creating the illusion that they feel like they should feel. However, this sense of immersion is cut short because developers have still not found a way to create that "feel". That is, for the most part, the environments remain stale and these nifty textures don't correlate with the way in which your video game counterpart interacts (comes into contact with) these objects.
My hope for next-gen gaming is that character and environment interaction will become more seamless and intuitive—I want grass to move when I walk through it. PDZ does not feature next-gen gameplay. I understand a developer’s decision to leave out a “jump” action. It’s a design choice that, among other things, will help shape the multiplayer experience. But not being able to will Joanna over a knee-high crate is simply unacceptable. At the very least, Rare should have implemented a context-sensitive command. I agree, playing with a bunch of jump-happy hooligans on Live is unrewarding. But so is not being able to vault over a box or slide across the hood of a car.
Both the “dodge/roll” & “cover” functions have been done before. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t be redone, but I was thoroughly disappointed with these functions’ inability to alter the multiplayer experience. Sure, having an opponent roll around on the ground is less annoying than watching them jump around your head, but when push comes to shove, it doesn’t really work as an effective evasive maneuver—at least you can’t pop shots while you roll. As for taking “cover” (pushing “A” to lock your back against one side of a corner, allowing you to shoot from a concealed position), I had high hopes for its implementation in multiplayer modes. However, in practice, I found that my opponents quickly ran past the corner I was trying to blast them from, putting me at a disadvantage, as my character had to be disengaged from the wall in order to face my opponent’s new position. Players that used a simple strafe movement, in and out of cover, were much more effective.
Simply put, multiplayer both bored and frustrated me—but I did not have the opportunity to experience a 32-player match. In addition to the lack of innovation, melee attacks were almost impossible to land—I’m certain Rare will work on this for the final build. The rep claimed that multiplayer maps were scalable (that is, the maps should change size depending on the number of players in the match), but I spent a lot of time wandering empty—and uninspired—corridors. I just can’t see PDZ replacing Halo 2.
I’m hesitant to pass judgment on the
single-player campaign. I fear it will be short (just 13 missions), but without save points (or multiple lives), you’ll
be spending a lot of time getting through each mission, especially on harder difficulties (yes, the AI is solid). But
like Halo 2, your health will regenerate if you duck out of the action for a moment. Still, I wasn’t drawn to
any of the levels I played alone. But when I tried out co-op (which will be Live enabled), my face finally formed a
smile. Instead of having you attack the game side-by-side, a number of the missions will place you and your friend in
separate areas, forcing you to work together to tackle the objectives. The much-previewed rooftop level features one
such scenario. One player (located on rooftops) must cover the other (on the ground), eliminating snipers and aiding
with the onslaught of ground troops. Eventually, you do meet up and take on a flying mech. If one of the players dies,
game over. If anything, I award Rare for keeping it hardcore—but then again, this could be another potential pitfall
for touting this as the Xbox 360 launch title.
I’m not sold on PDZ. Honestly, I’m more likely to purchase Call of Duty 2 as my first Xbox 360 FPS. Nothing was impressive about it—not even the “next-gen” visuals. As soon as I got home, I popped in Far Cry Instincts hoping that after a complete day of 360ing, it would seem dated. Well, I didn’t. PDZ isn’t the next step, but to be fair, launch titles rarely are. Still, I can’t endorse this game. Yes, it will have its moments, but I stand by my claim, Perfect Dark Zero will not be able to carry the Xbox 360’s launch next month.
