quote IGN

~ IGN's First Impressions of Perfect Dark Zero - in a Nutshell ~

• What can be said about it right away is that It's quick and easy to get into, the weapon selection is deep and varied, the animations are excellent, and the multiplayer levels are big and well tailored for 32 players online.
  
• The Perfect Dark Zero Limited Collector's Edition includes: The full game and the bonus disc. The Bonus Disc features five parts: Videos, Gamer Pictures, Music, Themes, and Preview Novel. The videos contain PD Concept Art and a Kameo Video. The PD concept art features multiple flash-style concept pieces of Joanna Dark and several of the characters in the game. Then there are Gamer Pictures, which include 12 unique Gamer Card images, mostly faces, that can be instantly downloaded to the Hard Drive and browsed through; Music -- a highlight on the song Limelight, performed by Kepi and Kat; a Theme tile, which, like the gamercard images, is instantly downloadable to the HD and can be used as wallpaper to dress up the console's desktop. And then there is a good chunk of the book here, if you want to get a good feel for the writing.
  
• The game itself is built on high production values and delivers a solid framerate, normal mapped levels and characters, and features a few really gigantic open space sections that are impressive and wide open.
  
• The first thing I noticed was how many hits a character can take by default. You can literally pelt the crap out of another character and they'll live through it. In that way, PDZ feels like GoldenEye. You can adjust this factor with a slider, and you'll also want to instantly switch the control sensitivity. It's set at default to 50%, but you'll want to immediately change to a minimum of 75%.
  
• Every little part of PDZ looks good but familiar. Nothing is really stunning, yet I'll be playing it all weekend to get a bigger and broader perspective.
  
• PDZ is instantly easy to pick up and start blasting, so it's got a quick, fun, and attractive sensibility.
  
• It doesn't play at all like Halo or Halo 2, but more like GoldenEye or TimeSplitters in both its control scheme and its thematic feel. It feels decent; not great. It's little slower paced than I had expected.
  
• It's designed with wall creeping, around-the-corner shots, and a kick-ass tuck-and-roll that switches from the first to the third-person perspective and back again without a hitch.
  
• Right now, PDZ looks and plays solidly. It's smooth moving. The disco-techo music is a little soft porn for my tastes (OK, I love it), and the look and feel of it are very new-age, clean, crisp, and well textured.
  
• Perfect Dark Zero plays and feels exactly like the N64 original; even the music is a nostalgic homage to the original's synth-rock soundtrack.
  
• Graphically PDZ is one of the most impressive 360 titles at launch. From the amazing motion-blur and lighting effects, to the crisp normal mapping and steady framerate. It's one of the sharpest looking FPS I've ever seen.
  
• Also, a few of the weapons -- including a hyperactive Frisbee -- were more odd than useful (granted, we've just started playing).
  
• Microsoft may be hoping PDZ will be a killer app the way Halo was, but the spark that was so obvious in Bungie's title just isn't here.
  
• The shooting areas are a blast. The controls are pretty tight and easy to pick up. The analogue zoom on the guns is quite useful.
  
• I'm not a fan of Joanna's dive, though, as the sudden perspective jump makes it impossible to dodge and keep track of an enemy. This could be a problem in the later levels if dodging and tracking a mobile enemy becomes a necessity.
  
• It doesn't help that the background music sounds like the back room of Dr. Skin's Love Shack. Is it wrong that I keep searching for a stripper pole to grind against?
  
• While the environments are gorgeous, Ms. Dark is very basic, almost like a mannequin come to life.
  
• PDZ suffers the same graphical glitches as Halo 2. The game looks fantastic while being played, but go to a cutscene and suddenly there is texture pop-in and frame drops.
  
• rarely does stealth co-op equate to fun or functionality. Only games that are designed for co-op stealth, like Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, manage to pull it off. It's a real killjoy here, so beware those looking for a straight-through brilliant co-op experience.
  
• The second level requires a certain amount of stealth, yet there is really no stealth engine to speak of. If players alert one enemy then everyone in the surrounding area will come charging in.
  
• A great new addition is the ability to take cover behind walls or crates, made famous by the third-person action game kill.switch. From first-person mode, you press A at a wall and switch to the third person. You then aim the reticule at an enemy and hit the right trigger to pop out and fire a couple rounds. When you release, you pop back behind cover. Then you press A again to return to normal mode.
  
• It was impressive that Rare added some simple co-op puzzle elements to differentiate from the single-player mode. In Halo, for example, you would just tag along with a friend and start shooting. In PDZ coop, you do that too, but you also flip a switch for your partner so he can go up an elevator. In the first player mode, you would simply call the elevator and go up.
  
• PDZ is not going to be the killer app that Microsoft needed and wanted it to be. The level of quality just hasn't seemed balanced enough to be that, and though it may get a heck of a lot better later, I haven't seen anything to make me confident in that.
  
• the online mode seems to have dropped every expensive graphic effect, and animation is both wowing and wacky -- but it can really grab you over an extended run.
  
• PDZ looks to be a game that can deliver decently over the long run.

quote Vito Raliffe

Here

* gives credit to Vito Raliffe for posting it first *

quote Chief

A must get.

quote Mr Man

Yeah, I know what you mean. And it will probably be the closest thing to Halo multiplayer you will get until Halo 3 comes out (besides Call of Duty 2, but that is more realisitc, as halo 2 isn't).

quote IGN

Then there are Gamer Pictures, which include 12 unique Gamer Card images, mostly faces, that can be instantly downloaded to the Hard Drive and browsed through; Music -- a highlight on the song Limelight, performed by Kepi and Kat; a Theme tile, which, like the gamercard images, is instantly downloadable to the HD and can be used as wallpaper to dress up the console's desktop.