Perfect Dark Zero Review

July 5, 2024

Platform: Xbox 360

Total gameplay time: 7 hours, 35 minutes
Review Score: 7/10

Perfect Dark Zero is a solid launch title for the Xbox 360 and overall a decent first-person shooter with stealth elements. The campaign is simple enough, you play as Joanna Dark as she tries to stop the dataDyne corporation from acquiring an ancient artifact that can grant people superpowers. The plot is somewhat standard, but builds an interesting world in which corporations hold a majority of the power, including dataDyne and the Carrington Institute, whom Joanna eventually joins. The game is also a prequel, taking place three years before the original Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64. The gameplay is mostly typical FPS fare, with an importance placed on taking cover and avoiding detection. Joanna also has multiple spy gadgets to use, such as tools to open locked doors and rig explosives. Graphically, the game is good enough, considering it was an Xbox 360 launch title that spent parts of its development cycle being built for the GameCube and original Xbox. The title screen video still looks pretty good today in my opinion. I haven't played it myself, but I will point out the very innovative multiplayer, which presents some very innovative ideas and numerous game modes, and can be played with up to 32 players. Overall, Perfect Dark Zero is a pretty good game that is worth trying out.