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Another look at the original Perfect Dark Zero

Shiggy

Member
We've already had a small look at Perfect Dark Zero on the original Xbox:
http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/16/perfect-dark-zero-xbox-proto-cancelled/

sjones-xbox-image1.jpg
page1image5.jpg


Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj6QcXzZsNY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIYABn4PINQ




However, Wil Overton was so kind to upload a few new shots/artworks! Some were already posted in the old Rare thread, but since then new pieces appeared. Actually, elsk already posted one of these in my most recent Rare-related thread.

5889492_origc3udo.jpg
1449439_orige7ug8.jpg
5218838_origivuno.jpg
317425_orig4mu61.jpg
9971965_origlguew.jpg








Boxart mock-ups (lol):


More here: http://www.transformationsequence.com/video-games.html
 
I remember walking into that club in one of the early levels and seeing low-res Windows Media Player visualizers plastered all over the walls.

The game just continued being a bigger and bigger piece of shit from there.

Development hell is a killer.
 
I prefer those graphics/art style alot compared to what we actually ended up getting. I spose they wanted to try and make the 360 look like a powerhouse with it being launch title.
 

Mit-

Member
I bought a random, mint-condition collector's edition of this game for about $1.50 from the GameStop I work at. I don't own an Xbox 360 yet. I figure it'll be a neat experience whenever I get around to having one though. Not often that you see the first wave of titles for 360 in stock and in good condition.
 
I bought a random, mint-condition collector's edition of this game for about $1.50 from the GameStop I work at. I don't own an Xbox 360 yet. I figure it'll be a neat experience whenever I get around to having one though. Not often that you see the first wave of titles for 360 in stock and in good condition.

I wonder if anyone still plays the multiplayer. I remember it was a blast back in the day.
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Perfect Dark Zero was a colossal disappointment when compared to Perfect Dark 64.


That said, the game on its own was pretty good. The MultiPlayer was fun as hell once you got the controls down. (lack of auto aim scared away non PC players.)


Also, I only ever ran through the campaign once, and it was not great, or memorable, but it was some good fun in coop.
 
Overton's character designs are nice, but the actual 3D cel-shaded model looks horrid.

Interesting to see how the game came along through its long development time. I do like the cel-shaded look. Middle boxart looks almost Bond-esque; rather apt considering the original Perfect Dark would've been a Bond sequel if they'd retained the rights to use it.
 
what's with PD64 nostalgia? PD64 had the same level design and the same slow gameplay as PD0.

true looking back-but 12 years ago it was amazing, and I should have majored in perfect dark multiplayer-as I spent more time there than writing my summer thesis in college.

*shows age...
 

bede-x

Member

I love how the enviroment in the first video feels like an actual place you can walk around and not a linear corridor with places sealed off, so you can only move in one direction. Other than that it doesn't remind me much about the original N64 game. Aside from the hand and gun, it seeems to belong to a different game universe entirely.

Second movie doesn't work here.
 

Izick

Member
Both this and the game we got look like dogshit. I wish Rare got another shot at the franchise, but knowing what Microsoft is having them do, it's not going to happen.
 

OnPoint

Member
Those pictures remind me of last generation in the best possible way. When I would get excited to see early WIP shots of games in magazines. When did everything become so homogenized?
 
I miss Rare. They've been in the dark for so long that it feels like a they're a closed developer. But really there probably a huge studio. Its so weird.
 
This might be the year where I finish Perfect Dark Zero. For being the only game I had at launch and for a few months after that, it's surprising that I never finished it.
 

Kydd BlaZe

Member
what's with PD64 nostalgia? PD64 had the same level design and the same slow gameplay as PD0.
Perfect Dark had an awesome sci-fi/cyberpunk-ish setting, awesome weapon design (second functions), co-op, counter-op, a plethora of multiplayer modes, bots (with different characteristics), and an awesome electronica soundtrack to boot. There was so much more to Perfect Dark than to simplify it as just GoldenEye re-skinned. The game was so ahead of it's time it isn't even funny.
 
What on earth...

That's what you get when you keep the same development team name but change all the actually developers in it*. Same problem with Sonic Team. Nobody's left from the original batch, and there probably wasn't enough continuity of personnel to keep up quality through the years.

Then again, I never got around to PD0, and I think I might suggest it to my friends as something we can try out, especially if it has old school shooter mechanics.


* Best we can track, many of the actual people who made the original are working for Crytek's UK division, in case anybody missed that transition.
 

Chavelo

Member
Someone needs to go ahead and create a mod from an existing engine (Unreal/Source) and run with this franchise. Pretty sure it would be better than Zero. D:

Even better, Kickstart that shit!
 

Borman

Member
Im still hoping to find a playable version of this game. After covering Star Wars Battlefront 3 and Stargate, it is near the top of my list. Any developer out there who wants to send me a message, I keep things anonymous (and unleaked, to the dismay of some of my stalkers). And hey, no better way to show it off than some 480p capturing. I have every generation of Xbox dev hardware, from alpha kits, to beta, to retail, and even beta live, so feel free to send me a message!
 

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
It's ok, you can just tell yourself that in an alternate universe, our doubles got the chance to play the worthy sequel of Perfect Dark, no anime or cartoony look, made by the same team as the original game, and are now currently playing the recently released Perfect Dark 3 which is still just as good.

I just made things worse. ;_;
 

tkscz

Member
Perfect Dark had an awesome sci-fi/cyberpunk-ish setting, awesome weapon design (second functions), co-op, counter-op, a plethora of multiplayer modes, bots (with different characteristics), and an awesome electronica soundtrack to boot. There was so much more to Perfect Dark than to simplify it as just GoldenEye re-skinned. The game was so ahead of it's time it isn't even funny.

This. I wish people would stop telling me to stop looking at this game with nostalgia glasses on, I didn't play this game when I was young. I didn't play this game until 2006. The 360 was already out and the Wii and PS3 were just releasing. I have no real nostalgia for this game. I simply find the way it was made to be good. Everything Kydd Blaze named, plus I think the level design was WAY better in PD64. It didn't get confusing and even for the N64, they made hallways and corridors in the levels not look exactly alike so you knew where you were going. The game moved slow because you are a secret agent. I loved playing on the hardest level, some missions you did, had a story based effect on the next level. Like planting the bomb on the outside of the building, and on the next level, using said bomb to escape.
 
I'll always have a soft spot for Perfect Dark Zero. It's like...I recognize all the flaws that people mention, but I still love that shit.

dat jungle level and dat bridge level are still pretty memorable to me
dat dat dat
 
They really had no idea what they were doing with this game for many years and after playing the final release, it was clear they were still not sure.
 

antitrop

Member
I'll always have a soft spot for Perfect Dark Zero. It's like...I recognize all the flaws that people mention, but I still love that shit.

dat jungle level and dat bridge level are still pretty memorable to me
dat dat dat
The jungle level was actually kind of awesome.
 

bede-x

Member
This. I wish people would stop telling me to stop looking at this game with nostalgia glasses on

People say that a lot? I thought it was pretty much universally recognized as one of the best games in the genre ever. At least that's how I think of it. It was in a lot of ways one of the most advanced FPS with the classic maze-like structure in many stages and since most games in the genre these days have moved towards the linear cinematic shooter, there hasn't been a lot of opportunities to beat in on those terms.

I think there's many of us pining for a return to that kind of level, where you aren't dragged by the nose through an irrationally structured linear corridor moving from set piece to set piece. Just beyond the mediocrity of that approach lies a much more interesting template - though infinitely more difficult to create - with dynamic emergent behaviour being at the center of the experience.

If we ever start going in that direction again, I'm certain I'll remember why I loved the genre and its potential in the first place. Something I'm reminded of everytime I play Perfect Dark.
 
That model looks a hell of a lot better than anything shown above. Character portraits look like bad fanart, seriously.

You have no idea how close you are to the truth. :D

During the late 90's there was a UK N64 magazine called "N64 Magazine" and one of artists there was a guy called Will Overton. He drew the cover for their issue that had their Perfect Dark review
8wNn6.jpg


He was soon recruited by Rare as an artist and became the lead artist on Perfect Dark Zero. You can actually see his N64 cover inspired version of Jo in this image:
4462488_origtdu88.jpg


So it was fanart in a sense :p
 
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