Perfect Dark Zero info and shots

[Speedfreak]

I'm not sure if this should go in Xbox or Future Systems, so forgive me if it's in the wrong place.

There's a quite a bit of info and some shots over at 1up, though you'll be lucky if the shots show with all the traffic it's getting. If I see them again I'll host them. Anyway, here's some great new info on the next major game from Rare.

Enjoy.

Shots In The Dark
"When you're working on a new platform, you have extra challenges. As I like to say, the ground beneath you is moving like Jell-O, because you never know what's working and what's not."
This is the caveat given as Botwood prepares to show off PDZ for the first time. Running on alpha Xbox 360 development kits (machines that possess only two of the three CPU cores in the final spec, as well as a run-of-the-mill ATI graphics card as opposed to the final, custom GPU set), the game is still very much a work-in-progress. But even at this stage, it's enough to see where they want to go with it.
This is a multiplayer-only demonstration. Taking a cue from Bungie, Rare remains tight-lipped regarding the details of Joanna Dark's single-player adventure. Other than vague descriptions of the plot ("Its general overview is how Joanna came to be the world's perfect agent"), promises of high-replayability ("It's almost like you can play it in an entirely different way each time"), and reluctant hints at a possible co-op mode over Xbox Live ("We were certainly interested to hear that Bungie had it planned for Halo 2 and disappointed to see that they didn't make this kind of game...it's something we're very interested in"), we'll have to wait for the curtain to reveal more.




But for now, we make do with the wealth of multiplayer information. Regardless of how this all turns out, they certainly can't be accused of sitting on their hands for the past few years. In terms of multiplayer, right now, maps can accommodate upwards of 50 players at the same time. Rare wants to ultimately get that number up to 64. But suppose you don't have 63 friends. No sweat, every one of the multiplayer levels can scale up or down in size, depending on how many players are involved in the action. A match featuring two teams of four will be played on a different layout than say, a match of four teams of 16. In theory, this eliminates that pesky problem of "favorite map, but too many/not enough people."

Bots, modes, and voice chat
But suppose you don't have any friends at all. Don't laugh; it's entirely possible. Well, that's not a problem either. PDZ gives you the chance to kill scores of emotionless, cold-hearted bots. Programmed only to kill, the bots will excuse themselves from a game to make room for real live human beings as they join your match in progress. This will work in both offline splitscreen/system-linked games as well as online matches over Live.

Multiplayer comes in two flavors: Deathmatch and Dark Ops. Each flavor can be broken down further into six subtypes, including more traditional modes like capture-the-flag and team deathmatch. Dark Ops takes inspiration from one of the most important multiplayer games in the past decade -- Counterstrike. For those unfamiliar with the PC phenomenon, it's a much more methodical approach to combat. The match is comprised of team-based rounds, and you only get one life to live in each. Weapons and gear are purchased before the round begins, and whichever team completes the given objective first, wins. With no quick respawn to rely on, Dark Ops is the thinking man's game of PDZ.
Team Speak
Given that, communication is going to play a key role in determining successful play. Eschewing the popular proximity-based method of voice chat (sorry jerks, Rare isn't interested in your sixth-grade trash talk) in favor of team-specific chat channels, Rare wants you to focus on effective communication and organization. To further help you with that, they're letting you form smaller fireteams that can then be given specific roles or duties during the match.
In a similar vein, the game's map...well, we should clarify this right away: It's not precisely a radar, it's not precisely a map, and it's not precisely a threat sensor...it's all of these. We're going to call it "that thing in the corner of your screen," and what that thing does is show the proximity of friendly and hostile targets, but only if they're making a certain amount of noise. This allows for sneaky players to do their sneaky thing...but one false step or unsilenced shot and it's open season for all permit-carrying rocket jockeys.




This map will also show waypoints that are placed by both you as an individual, and team waypoints that can be seen by all players to use for direct troop movements and objective highlighting.

Girls Love Toys
Perfect Dark is, and always has been, all about the tech. Joanna's arsenal of nifty gadgets will once again come into play. Rare hasn't revealed all of the wonderful toys, but we've seen medkits, the data thief, lockboxes (which allow you to hot-wire vehicles), and explosive kits.

Rolling, spawn campers, and expectations
But woman cannot kill with gadgets alone; she needs true firepower. PDZ's weapon system is quite flexible: Joanna has four available weapon slots, and each type of weapon takes either one, two, or three of these slots (e.g., simple pistols will take one, while a rocket launcher will take three). With 28 different weapons to choose from, each with secondary (and some even with tertiary) functions, the possibilities for creative combat are mind-boggling.

And if things get too hairy, Jo's got a couple new evasive moves to keep her size three *** alive. The first of these is the combat roll, which is performed by pushing in the R shoulder and moving the analog stick While it keeps your valuable and easily-pierced noggin' healthy and breaks enemies' auto-aim targeting, you're vulnerable because you take more damage and you can't return fire while in a roll. The other move, taking cover, is rather self-explanatory. Pressing the A button near the appropriate location will either make Joanna duck behind or lean against it.
In addition to the tuck-'n-roll, Rare has a new way of dealing with unwanted aggression. Once the bane of FPS players everywhere, those dastardly spawn-campers are getting the rug pulled out from under them. Every time you die in PDZ, you begin in your team's personalized spawn chamber where you can gear up and enter the level with decent weaponry and full health.
This is just a sample of what multiplayer has to offer. If there's one immediate concern, it would have to be potential balance problems. Because of the sheer number of players, modes, weapons, alternate weapon fire, gadgets, and vehicles, maintaining a proper gameplay balance has got to be an incredibly difficult task, and as any Halo 2 player can tell you, it only takes one exploit to ruin the game.

Zero Excuses
Time is running out, and expectations for Perfect Dark Zero are stratospheric. Is Rare up for the challenge? "We don't want to release anything and hear that we're not happy with it," says Botwood. "When you eventually get to pick up PDZ from the shelves, you'll know that we've done everything we can to make a good game that we want to play ourselves, and the quality to be as high as we can possibly get it. So, we when we make say, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, or Perfect Dark Zero, when we make Kameo, they're going to be the games that we want to play, and the quality we want them at to be released. If we can just wrap the party up and make sure we give them the best game we can make, then I think we've done our job."

[Aioros]

I saw footage of the game for the first time yesterday at MTV and Microsoft's Xbox360 revelation thingy. But they were too busy getting reactions from Lil John and other celebrities on how cool the game was. Good to see some actual info on the game.

[Klarth]

...Whatever happened to the anime Jo Dark? That would have ruled.

[Speedfreak]

She still looks roughly the same, just no more bright colours. Wouldn't suit PD anyway.

[Morag2]

I have high hopes for that game... I just wish it was coming to the nintendo systems... I can only afford one system and the big N is my company of choice... but man I miss perfect dark... I wish they had perfect dark on the cube... even with the old graphics I would still love it.

[maian]

I've been playing Perfect Dark recently, It has great replay value. It's a shame Halo has blocked everyone's vision of a good FPS. It's also a shame how it's only for X-box. I doubt I'll be able to afford one and the game by the time it's out, and I would love to play this.

About the game though....it looks amazing. I like the idea of not having the anime look. It's just not the right look for Perfect Dark. If you've seen the shots, they look great. There is one of possible X-Ray vision goggles that shows everyone as a skeleton, as well as your hand awkwardly sticking out where it would be holding your gun. Great detail. There is a shot of a battle in what appears to be a mall, as well. In a few shots, it shows an armoured figure with a Falcon 2 esque gun. Could this be one of the main characters?

I'm very excited to E3, and my next EGM.

[Speedfreak]

I think the X-ray thing is actually the farsight.

[maian]

I don't think so, because of the hands. You can see a gun, what looks to be like an assault rifle. The X-Ray vision sees through everything and shows the skeletons, which is why the whole hand is there instead of hidden by the gun.

[Bj Blaskowitz]

there was an x-ray scanner, that did. . . absolutely nothing, wasn't there?

[Iron Man]

I think there was..but not in the true x-ray sense, it just let you see through the walls I think.

[Speedfreak]

You used it on one mission to find a weak section of wall.