Total playtime: 3.5 hours
Where did the day go? I stepped away from PDZ's singleplayer missions to hop online against MS on Xbox Live an hour ago. Now I look out my window and it's dark as night outside. In short, PDZ is a blast online. We only played free-for-all and team deathmatch, as well as capture-the-flag with a bunch of editors, testers, and bots.
What's immediately impressive about the multiplayer mode (and I imagine this stands for the game in offline, splitscreen as well) is that the bots behave mostly realistically. They hang back in groups at choke points on maps and take shots from behind cover, as well as take plenty of aggressive opportunity to rush objectives, especially if they see little in the way of defense. I've even had a bot creep up behind me while sniping and whack me on the back of the head. Since there aren't a whole lot of "real" PDZ players online at the moment, we mostly had to resort to creating large 16 player games with a mix of bots and humans. At one time, we put all player characters on the Dark team against all bots as Datadyne on the hardest difficulty, and we got a royal spanking from the A.I. From my hands-on time so far, the bots don't appear to be too cheap with their tactics or shoot with amazing accuracy.
What also surfaces during these multiplayer sessions is the desire to jump over small obstacles (y'know, so you can get down to a platform faster). Since you can't jump, you find yourself taking the long way around to get to places. It all feels a little restrictive for my liking. Also, by the way these bots move in multiplayer, it's clear that Rare knows how to program A.I. suited for combat. It's strange then, that they couldn't use any of that code in PDZ's single-player levels, which feature decent, but not stellar enemy A.I. Unlike their multiplayer counterparts, these enemies are true to their fodder roots and would rather charge you (and get shot at) than pick you off from afar. But recognizing that single-player and multiplayer modes serve different purposes, I think the move to make the A.I. more simplistic during missions does make hte game more fun and accessible.
Other stuff I've noticed are the graphics. While they can be hit or miss during cutscenes in single-player, they're mostly awesome when playing deathmatch over Xbox Live. There was worry from fans that Rare would downscale the graphics when it came to multiplayer. Well, they'll be happy to know the game looks just as good to the naked eye in multiplayer as it does single. Combat effects during deathmatch retain the same over-the-top particle-filled explosions, dust clouds and debris. And some of the levels we've been playing in (the desert stage seen in EGM's PDZ debut article, for instance, or the subway level where we first met Wallace Guyford) are downright huge (as they should support 32 players). In one CTF game, it took literally several minutes just to trudge back to base. I think the secret behind PDZ's good looks actually has a lot to do with artistry and textures (character designs notwithstanding). Like the Halo games, the maps and objects in PDZ take on a sort of hyperrealism that's neither photographic nor cartoony. It's a stylized reality all its own and it makes a lot of visual sense.
So does it feel like Halo 2 multiplayer? Not really. It feels more like a faster, crazier version of Perfect Dark on N64, this time with near-perfect framerates and not a slowdown hiccup in sight.
But enough talk! I'm going back to single-player
Total playtime: 1.5 hours
The sci-fi urgency of the first level, where rockets and jetpacks ruled the day, is replaced by the bouncy purple glow of a Hong Kong disco. The shift is a little jarring, and the music... well, it's bad Euro-diva-trance. And it loops over and over again. I think Jane will kill me soon if I keep it up at this volume. And whereas the first level was all-out action, the game sees its first stealth bits, where Joanna is supposed to sneak around spying on these "enforcers." The game still feels incredibly solid. Out of playfulness, I went around the dock area smacking various objects with the butt of my gun. I love how everything moves when the collision detection kicks in. Knocking a crate tipped the bottle that was sitting on top of it, causing it to roll and shatter on the pavement. Sure, the game looks a little too shiney at times -- plasticy, for lack of a better word -- but the world in which it resides makes a lot of physical sense.
I will so say though, this Hong Kong level is kind of a level design disaster. Lots of similar looking areas will cause you to scratch your head as you look for your next checkpoint, possibly, even trick you into backtracking to look for that next cutscene "trigger." The fact that there are literally arrows on the ground pointing you to your next destination, shows just how much confidence Rare had in their own level designs. But every firefight so far has been a good blend of straight Rambo and some hard-ass battles with an overwhelming force. Oh, and the shotgun rocks.
The comments about PDZ's terrible voice-acting hold true, I'm afraid. It appears Joanna's lost that womanly confidence she had in the N64 version. But then again, she's supposed to be younger in this game, right? I guess it makes some sort of sense.
MS wants to play multi-player in 40 minutes. Gotta get some more single-player in there before I face ruthless MS testers!
Total playtime: 20 minutes
Maybe it's been all the hype surrounding this game. Maybe the delays, the editor tantrums -- maybe all of that was just a ploy by MS to elevate the hysteria when the game finally lands in the laps of gamers nationwide. But one thing is certain: Perfect Dark Zero is electrifying. Everything from the production values of the opening trailer, which is probably both homage and aping of the James Bond tradition, to the ultra-sheen interiors and hectic, Hollywood-paced final moments of the first level tutorial, screams quality. This isn't hyperbole and it isn't based on hype: PDZ looks fantastic and moves even better.
A couple of things I want to note:
Controls: They're perfect for the type of shooter it is. And what kind of shooter is PDZ? The controls feel more like Perfect Dark, than say, Halo, which is what everybody wants to compare it to. Holding down the left trigger zooms your current weapon (and is excellent for picking off fools at long range, from a crouch). A very special and intuitive roll button sits on the left shoulder button (that's the one that sits right above the analog trigger) while Y is to change weapons and X is to reload. B gives you a nice solid melee attack. Which is the other thing with the whole feel of PDZ -- it moves extremely well. So far, in terms of physics, the game feels nothing if not polished. Smashing a crate with the butt of your rifle has that "oomph" you'd associate more with games like Condemned: Criminal Origins or The Chronicles of Riddick. Bummer that you can't jump, but with the roll move at your disposal, I'm not really missing it.
Graphics: First impressions being what they are, I also want to talk a little about how good it looks. Aesthetics aside (because that's a whole 'nother can of worms), and from what I've seen so far (which is really what we've already played at X05), the game is a strong technical accomplishment. Lots of screen rocking explosions, thick layers of particles waffling through the air with every shot fired... PDZ really thunders with the action. The character models definitely have that uncanny valley feel about them where they're all soulless automatons who move more like action figures than people. But it does make you pause to think -- "Hey wait a sec, maybe we will see Toy Story-like real-time graphics in the coming generation." Of course, I don't expect the slick visuals to hold up... mostly because I don't want to jinx myself.
