Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 video game console in 2005. The game is part of the Perfect Dark series and a prequel to the original Perfect Dark. The story of the game follows Joanna Dark, a bounty hunter working with her father and a computer hacker, as she joins the Carrington Institute agency to prevent a rival corporation from gaining possession of an ancient artifact which endows individuals with superhuman powers.
Perfect Dark Zero features a campaign mode consisting of 14 missions that can be played solo or co-operatively, and a multiplayer mode where a maximum of 32 players can compete against each other in numerous types of deathmatch and objective-based games. Both the co-operative and multiplayer modes support split screen, system link, and the Xbox Live online service. The game was under development for five years and was originally intended to be released for the GameCube and later the Xbox. During development, several intended features were canceled so that the game could meet the Xbox 360 launch.
Upon release, Perfect Dark Zero sold more than one million copies worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its graphics and numerous multiplayer modes. However, some critics felt that the game did not meet expectations, criticising single-player aspects such as its story and voice acting. After its release, the game was supported with downloadable content, expanding its multiplayer mode with new maps and new types of computer-controlled bots. In 2015, the game was included in the Rare Replay video game compilation for Xbox One.
Gameplay
Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter where players control the player character mostly from a first-person perspective. The combat features mechanics such as an evasive dodge roll and a cover system in which the gameplay switches to a third-person perspective, allowing the player to aim strategically without taking damage and be more aware of the surroundings. Players cannot jump but have the ability to automatically climb obstacles as long as they can reasonably reach them. It is also possible to climb ladders. When doing so the camera shifts into a third-person perspective. The player has a certain amount of health which decreases when attacked by enemies. The health can recharge a bit if the player steps out of the line of fire for a few seconds, but it may not necessarily refill completely depending on how much damage the player took.
Players can only carry a limited number of weapons since the inventory features a 4-slot system in which single hand-held pistols usually take a weapon slot, whereas heavy weapons like sniper rifles or rocket launchers can take up to three weapon slots. The player's movement speed is also altered by the weight of the weapon the player is currently holding. Besides the primary function, all of the weapons in Perfect Dark Zero have one or two additional function modes that generally grant the player with special abilities. For example, the Shockwave Rifle features an X-ray function which allows the player to see enemies through walls, while the Plasma Rifle has a cloak function that renders the player character invisible to enemies at the cost of its battery charge. Some weapons also feature more unorthodox secondary functions. For instance, the Laptop Gun can be deployed as a sentry gun, while the SuperDragon assault rifle can launch bouncing grenades.
Campaign The campaign is divided into 14 missions in which the player plays as Joanna Dark. Each mission has a number of objectives that the player must complete in order to progress. To advance to the next mission, the player must complete all primary objectives, and if Joanna is killed or fails an objective, the player has to start the mission again. Missions also feature optional objectives that are not critical but add to the player's overall completion score. Some objectives require the player to use numerous high-tech gadgets. For example, a device called Datathief allows the player to hack into electronic devices, while another called Loctopus can be used to open locked doors. Stealth is an important element of the gameplay, as the player is often given the freedom to kill enemies without being detected by sneaking up behind them. Unlike the original Perfect Dark, every mission contains a single checkpoint at which the player may restart if Joanna is killed or loses beyond that checkpoint. However, checkpoints are progressively removed at higher difficulty settings. There are four difficulty settings on which a mission can be played: Agent, Secret Agent, Perfect Agent, and an extra one called Dark Agent, which becomes available once the player completes the entire game on Perfect Agent. As the player plays on higher difficulties, the game adds more objectives and makes enemies tougher to increase the challenge.
The game also provides a co-operative mode where two players may play through the game's campaign together via split screen, system link, or through the Xbox Live online service. In co-operative mode, the missions are slightly altered to suit both players. For instance, some doors may require two players to open them. Additionally, in certain missions, the second player can occasionally start far away from the main player and takes over an allied character that is computer-controlled in the single player campaign. The respawn procedure is also altered substantially, as if one player dies, the other has to find and revive the partner's corpse to bring it back to life.
Multiplayer In addition to the campaign mode, Perfect Dark Zero features a multiplayer mode where a maximum of 32 players may compete in numerous types of deathmatch and objective-based games via split screen, system link, or Xbox Live. There are two main modes with their own options: DeathMatch and DarkOps. DeathMatch is a standard game type where players spawn in rooms, collect weapons that are available on the map, and continue to the actual map. The overall objective of the game is determined by the scenario being played. Scenarios range from Killcount or Team Killcount, where the goal is to kill as many opposing players as possible, to objective-based games such as Capture the Flag and Territorial Gains. DarkOps is a slower-paced and team-only game type where weapons must be purchased from a player's stock of credits and credits are earned by killing enemies and completing objectives. Scenarios in this mode include Eradication, where the last team with any members left alive wins; Infection, where players score points by either infecting others or surviving infection; Sabotage, where the team that causes the most damage to the other team's property wins; and Onslaught, where one team must defend a base while the other has to attack it.
Players can either choose to play a ranked Deathmatch or DarkOps, where they will be matched with other players using a system called TrueSkill Matchmaking, or they may choose a player match where they can choose their game from a list of player-hosted games. Like the original Perfect Dark, these games can be highly customized and can also include computer game bots. Features such as their difficulty and behavior can be changed to match player preference. For example, the Judge bot always attacks leading players with the highest kills score. Players can also issue commands to them as long as they are on their respective team, such as follow or hold position, and set waypoints for them to walk to. The game includes by default six different maps and each has two variants; the only change is the placement of the bases. Most of the maps are large ones, ideal for 32 players at once, with small variants for 4-16 player games.
Plot Perfect Dark Zero is set in an alternate 2020, where a large percentage of the world is controlled by corporations. The most notable of these are dataDyne, headed by Zhang Li, and the Carrington Institute, headed by Daniel Carrington. The player is cast as Joanna Dark, a bounty hunter working with her father Jack and computer hacker Chandra Sekhar. The team is after Nathan Zeigler, an independent researcher who has been captured by a Hong Kong triad leader named Killian. Joanna and her father rescue Zeigler, but Killian manages to escape. Zeigler explains that Killian was trying to obtain his research, which contains information about a dangerous weapon. As Zeigler refuses to go anywhere without his research, Joanna is sent to retrieve it from a case in a nearby safe house. Zeigler then takes a device called a neurodrive from the case and uses it to implant his research data into Jack's mind. Before dying to his injuries, which were inflicted by Killian, Zeigler tells Joanna and her father that they must find a scientist named Dr. Eustace Caroll.
While trying to escape, Joanna and Jack are attacked by a dataDyne assault team assisted by Killian in a dropship. Joanna manages to kill Killian and escape with Chandra, but Jack is captured by dataDyne. Joanna learns that her father has been taken to a mansion in China, where Zhang Li lives. Joanna infiltrates the mansion and finds her father in a cell. He has been tortured, and begins speaking gibberish to her, an aftereffect of the neurodrive. The pair fight their way out of the complex, but their extraction is interrupted by Zhang Li's daughter, Mai Hem, who kills Jack before Joanna escapes in a hovercraft. Joanna and Chandra decide to pursue Zeigler's lead and seek out Dr. Caroll, who works aboard a research platform on the Pacific Ocean. Upon meeting with Joanna, Dr. Caroll uses a neurodrive to extract Zeigler's data from Joanna's memory, which she gained when she rescued her father. Chandra then shoots Dr. Caroll, revealing that she decided to join dataDyne because Zhang Li had made her a large offer. A team of Carrington Institute agents saves Joanna, but Chandra ultimately escapes with the data.
When Joanna agrees to join the Carrington Institute to stop dataDyne, Carrington explains that Zeigler had been working on an algorithm capable of decoding extraterrestrial glyphs at a dig site in South America. Traveling to Peru, Joanna learns that the glyphs are leading dataDyne to search for an ancient artefact which acts as a power source for the Graal, a device which endows individuals with superhuman powers. Joanna plants a tracking device on the artefact before sneaking aboard a dataDyne dropship. The dropship takes her to Africa, where Zhang Li has located the Graal buried under the African sands. As the Carrington Institute starts an offensive on dataDyne, Joanna rescues several Carrington Institute agents before avenging her father's death by killing Mai Hem. She then infiltrates an arena and faces off against Zhang Li, who dispatches Chandra after using the Graal. After Joanna defeats Zhang Li in a final battle, Carrington commends her efforts, saying she did "Perfect".
Development Development of Perfect Dark Zero began on the GameCube with a very small team of roughly ten people. At the time, Nintendo had a 49% stake in Rare, making the company a Nintendo second-party developer. According to lead designer Chris Tilston, "it was basically prototyping, finding out where we could go and how we could get there". When Rare was purchased by Microsoft in 2002, the project was transferred to the Xbox console and the game's multiplayer mode was redesigned for Xbox Live online play. Tilston revealed that at one point they got to 50 players online simultaneously, but the graphics "just couldn't handle it". Since the initial version of the game pushed the original Xbox hardware "pretty hard", the project was ultimately transferred to the Xbox successor, the Xbox 360. Tilston revealed that the original Xbox version was "about 12 months away" from completion when the shift occurred.