Perfect Dark: Zero is a good first person shooter and not much else.
As good as Perfect Dark Zero is, it does have a lot of weaknesses. The saddest thing of all is that the game has "wasted opportunity" written all over it. There's also a bit of "What were they thinking", and "Why didn't they fix that?" The game controls like any other console first person shooter would. Move with the left analog and aim with the right analog. Joanna can hold up to three weapons at once. You can also duel wield two one handed weapons. The weapons are stylish and fun to use, but they require too much reloading. Every couple of seconds you'll find yourself reloading, reloading, reloading. It can be frustrating when fighting off a hoard of enemies. The enemies take too many hits to kill. The average enemy (who is human) may take up to 5-6 shots to kill. And up until the final fatal shot, the enemy will still be as deadly and healthy as he was before you shot him the first time. Head shots are usually a one hit kill. But even head shots don't even take some enemies out in one shot. The enemy character designs are lame, and there is no variety in your foes. Most of them look like they just walked out of a gay bar. And the enemies never stop coming. There's hardly any moment in the game where you don't hear gun shots zipping by your ears. Perhaps the most annoying thing is the enemy's dialog. Not only their dialog, but most of the dialog in the cut scenes are straight up cheesy.
Perfect Dark: Zero is a difficult game. Or perhaps it's not as difficult as it is unbalanced. The game simply doesn't give you what you need when you really need it. Ammo is a pretty big issue. You'll often find yourself running low. The game does not have enough checkpoints in its missions. Aiming is a bit too loose. The cursor has the tendency the float right by where you are trying to shoot. Even with all my complaining, Perfect Dark: Zero is not a bad game. Just a good game with bad moments and blown chances. The game is best enjoyed when playing cooperatively with a friend, or taking advantage of the split screen multi-player. So what is good about Perfect Dark Zero? My favorite thing about the game is the ability to stand against any kind of wall or projectile and use it as a shield, or a place to peak around the corners at your enemies to shoot them. The "cover" works very well in many action and stealth situations. Weapons are stylish and fun to use. And the challenging difficulty makes for a good feel of accomplishment when you complete a hard objective or mission. The game could have been better if it did just a few more things right. Just a little bit of tweaking could have put it over the edge as a great Xbox 360 shooter. "Zero" ultimately fails at capturing its own unique identity.
"Perfect Dark Zero" is a good looking Xbox 360 launch title. You'll notice some graphical spoofs in some areas. It's main problem is its bland style. A lot of the environments are plain, simple, ugly, and boring. The same can be said about most of the character designs in the game. The music in Perfect Dark: Zero mostly consists of some fine guitar riffs, some jazzy sounding stuff, and heavy electronic. It ranges from decent to down right nauseating. You can find Perfect Dark: Zero at a cheap price almost anywhere you go. At Gamestop you can find it as cheap as $7.99 used. At that price I have to give it my recommendation. If it weren't that cheap it would be a rent. But renting a game that cheap makes no sense. If you're looking for something very unique in a shooter, don't bother with this game. Go try "Call of Duty 4", "Halo 3", or "Bioshock" instead. Perfect Dark: Zero is just a good shooter and not much else.