|
|
|
| Perfect Dark Zero |
|
| Shooters |
|
| RARE |
|
| Microsoft |
|
|
2nd December 05 |
|
22nd November 05 |
|
|
16+ |
|
(M) - Mature |
|
|
|
Well X05 was the official unveiling of Joanna Dark and therefore we managed to get a play of the much anticipated game. Well the first thing that has to be said is that the feel of the game retains the flavour from the N64 original and therefore will please fans. The weapons, the gadgets, the combat all felt new yet familiar. The overall presentation of the menus was slick and easy to follow. Well in this demo there were only 2 missions available so we got stuck in on the first mission using medium difficulty. This mission started with an in game scene of Joanna in a parking lot where she is confronting a guy on a motorcycle.
She seems confident as she points a gun at the lone biker; however the odds change when some of his pals turn up. It is at this point that the view changes and you are thrust into the game.
Well controlling Joanna felt pretty easy and as smooth as you would expect for a first person shooter. Strafing left to right was easy and at this early stage in the game the enemy bullets missed most of the time. The destructible scenery was pretty impressive as well, such as shooting exploding barrels and the feeling of being in an intense gun battle was captured perfectly. Now rather than go on about the controls and the zoom function or the secondary fire of the weapons I think what is important was the level of AI activity at the moment. Rather than rush you the enemy would either stand their ground or move to take cover and then take pot shots at you. I found that moving to my left and to a parked vehicle the enemies would actually try and sneak round the side rather than wait for me to poke my head out; I found this pretty neat and highly engaging.
As far as the graphics are concerned then I would say ultra slick with some great textures being used on most surfaces. I wouldn’t go as far as saying they were photo realistic but they were very atmospheric. I think the thing to note here is the impressive lighting effects and shadows as these are a massive improvement over current Xbox games. Looking at something as mundane as a crate or metal barrel and this really shows how well the lighting works as the surface looks very convincing indeed.
There were some moments in the levels that looked rather dull but I think this was just the way the levels were designed. You would have these very dark areas that were almost pitch black in the shadows but then you would have a stark contrast in the open areas of the level where there is simply a ton of background detail that leaves you in awe! The frame rate was very consistent and I noticed no slow down at all during my play of the game. Sometimes there would be moments where it wasn’t so clear as to where you were supposed to go but as with any first person shooter, a little exploration is always needed. For those unsure there are blue arrows that appear on the ground to point you in the right direction but on medium difficulty these didn’t appear. I like exploration especially as the game looks so nice!
Preview By: Robert Cram
|
|
|
|
|
|
