Perfect Dark Zero

Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game console. It was released as a launch title in North America, Europe, and Japan. It received lukewarm reviews from the gaming press, as well as underwhelming sales at retail. It has been critically panned by some for an unusual aiming system, as well as poor storyline and voice acting as well as the "plastic" appearance of much of the game's graphics.

With respect to storyline, Perfect Dark Zero is a prequel to the successful Nintendo 64 game Perfect Dark, made in 2000. It takes place 3 years prior to the original game, in the year 2020.

Development

Rare's two N64 first-person shooters, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, received strong acclaim from critics and players, and demand for another title in the Perfect Dark franchise was high. Development of Perfect Dark Zero began on the Nintendo GameCube. At the time, Nintendo had a 49% stake in Rare, making Rare a Nintendo second-party developer. The game made a small appearance at Spaceworld 2000, an event exclusive to Nintendo. But apart from the confirmation that it was in development, few official announcements were made.

In September 2002, Rare Ltd was purchased by Microsoft. Around the same time, Rare released several images of Joanna Dark, the protagonist of the Perfect Dark games. The "cartoony" style of these pictures incited speculation that the final game — then intended for the original Xbox — would employ a less realistic graphical style than the original game; possibly the controversial cel-shading technique.

Development of the title was later transferred to the Xbox 360. Perfect Dark Zero's senior designer Chris Tilston (also one of the project leads for the game) later revealed that the Xbox version was "about twelve months away" from completion when the switch occurred.

In 2005, one of the rewards in the OurColony viral marketing campaign for Microsoft's next Xbox video game console was an image of Joanna Dark. At the official unveiling of the Xbox 360 on May 12, 2005, it was revealed that Perfect Dark Zero would be a launch title for the new system in the fall of 2005. The game's development has therefore spanned three platforms: the Nintendo GameCube, the Microsoft Xbox and the Xbox 360.

Limited Collector's Edition

A "Limited Collector's Edition" of the game was released at the same time as the standard version, adding a second disc of content, a black metal game case, images of the staff and most of testers which gave a glimpse to behind the scenes into Rare, a comic booklet set in the PDZ universe, which sets the scene for the game and one of nine holographic collectible cards.

Weapons

Twenty-five weapons are featured in Perfect Dark Zero. The real weapon column shows what the look of the gun is based on, and not its functions:

Weapon	Image	Type	Weapon slots required	Magazine size	Secondary function	Tertiary function	Extra	Real Weapon
P9P	Pistol	1	9 Rounds	Silencer	Flashlight	Scope, Dual Wield	Walther P99
Falcon	Pistol	1	18 Rounds	Firecracker	N/A	Dual Wield	GLOCK 17L
Magnum	Pistol	1	6 Rounds	Decoy Fire	N/A	Dual Wield	Colt Python
Jack Dark's Magnum	N/A	Pistol	1	6 Rounds	Decoy fire	N/A	Can Carry Up To 700 Rounds	N/A
Magsec 4	Pistol	1	9 Rounds	Rebound Fire	N/A	Dual Wield, Scope	Beretta modified M93R Auto-9
Psychosis Gun	Pistol	1	6 Rounds	Psychosis	N/A	Dual Wield	N/A
Viblade	Close Combat	1	Max Slash Radius: 2 Meters	Deflect (bullets only)	N/A	N/A	N/A
DEF-12 Shotgun	Close Combat	2	6 Rounds	Radar Sweep	Mimic	N/A	Franchi SPAS-12 Shorty
Combat Shield	Close Combat	2	N/A	Protect Head	N/A	Dual Wield	N/A
DW-P5	SMG	2	24 Rounds	Silencer	Flashlight	Scope	H&K MP5A3 w/ external silencer, Aimpoint scope and Navy flashlight handguard
UGL Liberator	SMG	2	24 Rounds	Booby Trap	N/A	Dual Wield	IMI Uzi 9mm
CMP 150	SMG	2	24 Rounds	Hologram	N/A	Dual Wield	Steyr TMP
RCP-90	SMG	2	40 Rounds	Threat Detector	Reprogram	Scope	FN P90
KSI-74	Assault Rifle	2	30 Rounds/1 Bayonet	Bayonet Shot	N/A	N/A	AK-74
FAC-16	Assault Rifle	2	30 Rounds/Impact Grenades (5 max., loaded one at a time)	Grenade Shot	Silencer	Scope	Colt M4 Carbine w/ M203 and ACOG scope
Superdragon	Assault Rifle	2	20 Rounds/Bounce Grenades (12 max., 6 per clip)	Grenade Shot	Nightvision	Scope	HK G36 w/ HK AG36 (Futuristic Variant)
Laptop	Assault Rifle	2	30 Rounds	Sentry Gun	N/A	N/A	N/A
Jackal	Heavy Weapon/Sniper	3	Single Shot (ammo capacity 31 rounds)	EMP Marker (multiplayer only)	N/A	Scope	Civilian AW-series rifle
Shockwave		Heavy Weapon/Sniper	3	30 Shots (overheats after 3 shots, cannot be reloaded)	X-ray	N/A	Scope	N/A
M60	Heavy Weapon	3	80 Rounds	Caltrops	N/A	N/A	US M60
Plasma Rifle	Heavy Weapon	3	40 Shots (ammo is self recharging)	Cloak (draws from regular ammo)	N/A	N/A	St-Etienne Arms FAMAS G2
Rocket Launcher	Heavy Weapon	3	4 Rockets	Fly-By-Wire	N/A	N/A	N/A
Fragmentation Grenade	Thrown	1	Blast Radius: 5 Meters	N/A	N/A	Dual Wield	M67
Multimine	Thrown	1	Blast Radius: 2 Meters	Remote Control	Remote Detonate	N/A	N/A
Hawk	Thrown	1	N/A	Shrapnel Shield (blocks rockets, grenades, booby traps, mines and plasma shots)	N/A	N/A	N/A
Flashbang	Thrown	1	Effective Radius: 50 Meters	N/A	N/A	Dual Wield	SSA 354

Gadgets

Loctopus, an automated lock picking device named after its apparent likeness to the octopus.
Demo kit, a gadget used in dealing with explosives.
	Data thief, an automated hacking gadget.
	Audioscope, a set of binoculars equipped with a microphone, audio amplifier and recorder.

Story

Mission sequence

Mission 0:

Datacore - Demolition

Mission 1:

Nightclub - Stakeout

Mission 2:

Subway - Retrieval

Mission 3:

Rooftops - Escape

Mission 4:

Mansion - Infiltration

Mission 5:

Laboratory - Rescue

Mission 6:

River - Extraction

Mission 7:

Trinity - Infiltration

Mission 8:

Trinity - Escape

Mission 9:

Jungle - Storm

Mission 10:

Temple - Surveillance

Mission 11:

Outpost - Rescue

Mission 12:

Bridge - Assault

Mission 13:

Arena - Showdown

The story is set in 2020, three years prior to the events of the original game. Joanna Dark is a bounty hunter working with her father Jack and her friend Chandra. On Joanna's first mission, they rescue a scientist named Zeigler from the hands of a Triad crime lord: Killian. Zeigler uses a neurodrive to implant information into Jack's mind. Jack gets captured by dataDyne and Jo rescues him only for Jack to die at the hands of Mai-Hem whose father, Zhang Li, is the founder of the corporation. Jo is then sent on a mission to find Dr. Eustace Caroll, who then uses the same neurodrive technology to extract any memory of the words her father said concerning Ziegler's secrets. Dr. Caroll is then killed by Chandra, who is secretly working for Zhang Li. Jo joins the Carrington Institute and infiltrates a mining operation in an ancient Peruvian Temple where she discovers the conspiracy.

Zhang Li and Mai-Hem are searching for an ancient artifact known as The Graal, which embues its possessor with superhuman powers. Traveling to Africa, Jo rescues prisoners including Jonathan and several other Carrington boys, before running into Mai-Hem again. Jo avenges her father's death and kills Mai-Hem and the party is air-lifted out. The Carrington Institute plans an offensive on dataDyne forces with the battle taking place on a large bridge. Jo infiltrates an arena and faces off against Zhang Li after he dispatches Chandra. Defeating the seemingly invincible power-hungry genius, Jo is met by Jonathan and Daniel Carrington. When Jo asks, "How did I do, Boss?" Carrington replies: "Perfect."

Multiplayer

In Perfect Dark Zero there are two versions of multiplayer, and within each version are four different game modes.

DeathMatch

This is a standard gametype where players spawn in rooms, collect weapons, and continue to the actual map. Weapons are also available own the map itself. Bots are included in all DeathMatch game modes.

Killcount: This is a free-for-all where the winner is the player that achieves the most kills.
Team Killcount: A team based version of Killcount where the team with the most kills wins.
Capture the Flag: A team-only match. Each team tries to grab the enemies flag and return it to their base. The winning team is the one with the most flags captured.
Territorial Gains: A team-only match. The goal is to capture and hold several neutral hills until they generate points. The team with the most territories held is the winner.

DarkOps

This is a round-based, team-only gametype that was heavily inspired by the popular PC FPS Counter-Strike. It is generally slower-paced, and is more tactical than DeathMatch. Weapons must be purchased from a player's stock of credits. Credits are earned by killing enemies and obtaining objectives. Bots were implemented in an update on May 4th, 2006.

Eradication: A team-only game. Teams take turns trying to eliminate each other. The team that stays alive the longest, or that kills the other team while still living wins.
Onslaught: A team-only game. Teams take turns defending and attacking a base. The defenders get one life (but can be revived), and can purchase weapons. The attackers have unlimited lives, but have basic weapons (choice of a Falcon, CMP 150 and a DEF-12 Shotgun). The team that holds the base the longest wins.
Infection: A free-for-all game. Players start as either infected or uninfected. When a player dies, they become infected. If the uninfected stay alive for the duration of the round, only they get points. If the infected eliminate them, then only they get points. The player with the most points overall is the winner. (This can seem like a team game as uninfected huddle in a room to survive, or as infected team up to eliminate them).
Sabotage: A team-only game. Teams take turns attacking and defending certain pieces of property on the map. The team that destroys the most property or eliminates the other team wins.

Xbox Live

Perfect Dark Zero has full support for the Xbox Live service. Any of the multiplayer modes can be played online with player counts up to 32 players. You can either choose to play a ranked Deathmatch or DarkOps, where you will be matched with players using TruSkill Matchmaking, or you may choose a player match where you can choose your game from a list of player hosted games. These games can be highly customized and can includes bots.

Maps

There are ten maps in Perfect Dark Zero, however each map has two variants, defined by the placement of each teams base, "Bases 1+2" variant gives you access to sections on the maps and different bases for each team that are not accessible in the variant "Bases 3+4" and vice versa, the maps are large enough and the variants differ in similarity to the point that it could be argued that you effectively get two maps in one. The two map variants apply to all of the maps in the game and typically cater to the games ability to host 32 players and are thus large maps, however there is a small variant for each map in the game that are ideal for 4-16 player games but can be played with 32 players if desired.

On June 7th 2006 Rare and Microsoft added "Perfect Dark Zero Map Pack One" to Xbox Live Marketplace, the map pack cost 500 MS (Microsoft points) and contained four new maps to add to the games original amount of six, these new maps are "Gasplant", "Trench", "Rooftops" and "Plaza". However this map pack only contained the "Bases 1+2" variant of each respective map, this has led to speculation that Rare and Microsoft plan to release a second map pack in the near future containing the "Bases 3+4" variant of the four new maps, there were also rumours that Map Pack One was to contain new match types for multiplayer, this has not been confirmed by the Developers Rare or by Microsoft, however there is still talk on the Perfect Dark Zero forums amongst fans that they may yet add new match types with the second map pack if/when it is released.

The Original Maps:

Desert: A vast desert setting containing a run-down temple, canyons and ridges.

Urban: An urban city landscape filled with many streets, buildings, and parking garages.

Subway: An underground subway station housing two empty trains, a pump room, and a station check-in.

Old Town: An abandoned "old town" in a desert. It features sandstone buildings and sand covered stone floors.

Temple: A murky jungle level with thick leaved plants, water, amidst a ruined and overgrown temple.

Tower: Snowy and mountainous, It holds a large three story tower in the center, rolling hills of snow and rock, as well as two outposts.

Map Pack One:

Gasplant: A dark and abandoned gasplant sits within a snowcapped mountain with long corridors, industurial machinary and a helipad.

Rooftops: A multi-teared set of office towers still under construction conntected with sewers, parking garages and of course, rooftops.

Trench: Consisting of two temples sitting among ruined statues, in between, trenches surround an excavation site to an unknown, ancient artifact.

Plaza: Quite unlike the other maps and prehaps one of the darkest, this map takes full advantage of some of the weapons secondary abilities (Flashlight, Nightvision etc), it has many buildings all with multiple floors, there is a tower in the centre of the map overlooking the town sqaure.

Updates

On May 3 2006 an auto-update made available via Xbox Live, responsible for fixing some bugs in the game. This included code to prevent an ongoing problem where players could walk through the air and also to prevent an issue where the plasma/rocket weapons could make use of rapid fire. The update also included 8 new bot types:

Vanilla Bot:Basic Bot AI
Judge Bot:Hunts and attacks the player with the most kills
Bully Bot:Hunts and attacks the player with the least kills
Ghost Bot:These bots are always cloaked at all times, but when firing
Venge Bot:Hunt and attacks the last player that killed it
Feud Bot:Picks and attacks a random target each time it spawns
Prey Bot:Hunts and attacks players with low heath and armor
Random Bot:Uses a random bot type.

Screenshot gallery

Image:Pdzscreen1.jpg|Single player Image:PDZscreen.jpg|Enemy armor "disintegrating"

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