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Gamespy PDZ review

Can someone post all the reviews up to this point?

EDIT: I usually don't go over-board when it comes to plots in an action game but...

The single-player or solo mode in PDZ serves up the main story over 14 individual chapters. The plot revolves around the rather diminutive CEO of dataDyne, Zhang Li and his bad-to-the-bone daughter, Mai Hem. The dataDyne corp. is trying to sell its Deathmatch software on a global scale; where the aim of the game is to virtually take down your opponent in a simulated combat environment. The catch? If you lose, and you die for real. But as you might expect, there's more sinister things afoot than just selling violent software here. It's up to the Dark Bail Bonds teams to snoop around and find out what's really driving Zhang Li and his cronies.
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*BIZZAARRRRF*
 
The more good PD0 reviews I see, the greater the urge for me to go and buy an Xbox360. Im trying to resist but its becoming difficult.
 
psycho_snake said:
The more good PD0 reviews I see, the greater the urge for me to go and buy an Xbox360. Im trying to resist but its becoming difficult.
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If you have a HDTV you should get one. Its really nice playing games without those ugly low rez polys..everything is crisp and clean. I've been playing parts of King Kong on the home theater and its really like playing a movie at times. And the games are only going to get better.
 
DarknessTear said:
I think whoever wrote the "story" is a fan of Hunter X Hunter.
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Sadly, they must have been a fan of the worst part of the series. If only they had taken it from the first 40 or so episodes. Now that would have made an interesting plot for PDZ. :lol

The story is absurd though. Laughably-so, actually. It's secondary but that's not excuse.
 
The hype for this game is killing me.

Where are the reviews??? Are the negotiations about size of moneyhats that tough?

IGN: 'The amount we got was generous, but if we really give this game a 9 we'll lose all our credibility"
MS: 'OK, how much more for your credibility?'
 
quetz67 said:
The hype for this game is killing me.

Where are the reviews??? Are the negotiations about size of moneyhats that tough?

IGN: 'The amount we got was generous, but if we really give this game a 9 we'll lose all our credibility"
MS: 'OK, how much more for your credibility?'
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If you click on the link already supplied in this thread, you'll find seven of them. The scores range from 8.0 to 9.7.
 
quetz67 said:
And usually I find dozens of reviews before release date
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Well, if what Rare has been saying is true, PD0 was actually sent to press before it was even certified. It's no wonder final copies are taking longer than normal to get out into reviewer's hands.

Even so, you have a handful of reviews and quite a number of impressions here to sort through.
 
quetz67 said:
And usually I find dozens of reviews before release date
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It's pretty simple. MS didn't get the code out in time to publications. Typically, first-party software can be sent out as much as a month ahead of launch, but as much as suggested, PDZ has gone through various stages of being rushed and this has trickled down to review code. The US press has had to buy the code in some instances to review the game, so lead time has evaporated and reviews are 'late'. Nothing particularly sinister about it, per se. Sure, maybe MS is nervous about the game -most companies are if the game is big and shows signs of mild incompletion (more so than most, as many games are release incomplete, just the public rarely notices).

Note that here in the UK, much of the press haven't got copies either, despite debug X360s being released last week with a batch of games (which is why the UK sites and such are posting reviews right now). Some games were done long before, ie Kameo, hence the review in Edge, while others are being pushed up to the final minute, in this case PDZ.

All you're seeing here is a classic case of unprepared rushing around and publications having to spend money to review the game in the process. Some publications will wait for MS to send them copies, others wont. Sadly, this is far from the first time this sort of thing has happened.

If anything, the longer the wait, the more in-depth the review (not to suggest early reviews are less 'accurate', as messy a topic that may be when it comes to relaying an opinion, which is what 90% a good review will often be) -- if they're having to play the game off retail code time is less of the essence as often the point is to give the reader an opinion before they buy to help guide them. In this case, there's no point in rushing out a slapdash piece of copy when the game's out for people to try themselves anyway.

C.
 
Yeah the launch seems rushed. I played the COD2 demo on xbox 360 pods and it looked worse than the pc version. Whats up with no AA? King kong looked like an xbox game. Kameo just didnt do anything for me.
 
So now that PD0 is getting decent reviews the haters now have to try a new angle: moneyhats. Funny.


Fuma said:
If you have a HDTV you should get one. Its really nice playing games without those ugly low rez polys..everything is crisp and clean. I've been playing parts of King Kong on the home theater and its really like playing a movie at times. And the games are only going to get better.
Click to expand...

I don't even know if you need a HDTV. I have a 32 inch Sony SD TV with 16:9 mode. I've played the game in both 4:3 and 16:9 mode and I'm a little shocked how good the game looks. The levels are massive and the detail is very, very nice. This game is much more impressive graphically than CoD2. It doesn't look very hot in screenshots but in motion the game looks amazing besides some of the character models. I know PD0 haters like to say this game doesn't look much better than Halo 2, and I LOL'D at this comment now that I played the two back to back. The difference in detail is night and day. PD0 is very fun too! :D
 
Mrbob said:
So now that PD0 is getting decent reviews the haters now have to try a new angle: moneyhats. Funny.
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Wasnt meant that seriously, still it is pretty uncommon that gamespot is in the upper range of the ratings.
 
The game is fun for me due to the ability to retry mission with different weapons/gadgets.
I also like seeing the stats by mission of others online. Great incentive to do better.
 
I simply cant believe it. How can he give a game with a broken single player a 9 ???

Single Player is important to me and it sure is to most gamers. Only about 10% xbox owners were playing on Live and it wont suddenly rocket up to like 80% on xbox 360.

If the single player is broken (meaning a about 7 score) you have to rate multiplayer a perfect 10 and weight it double as important as single player.
 
quetz67 said:
I simply cant believe it. How can he give a game with a broken single player a 9 ???

Single Player is important to me and it sure is to most gamers. Only about 10% xbox owners were playing on Live and it wont suddenly rocket up to like 80% on xbox 360.

If the single player is broken (meaning a about 7 score) you have to rate multiplayer a perfect 10 and weight it double as important as single player.
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How do you like that crow? Well done? Medium? or RARE!?!?!?!?!????
 
Prine said:
How do you like that crow? Well done? Medium? or RARE!?!?!?!?!????
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I dont know if I should eat crow. I was expecting the game not to be great because it was rushed and this review confirmed it (just that it still got awarded a 9)

I am not happy, I wished it had been really finished and turned out great then I would have bought an xbox 360. But as I am only buying games for the single player expierence (which probably 80% of the console gamers do) this game does not warrant a $450 investment.
 
But as much as you want to openly embrace PDZ for all its charms, it's impossible to suppress a surge of disappointment for all the seemingly obvious missteps that could have been fixed before the game landed in retail. A lackluster story, unlikable characters, frustrating level designs, lack of more mid-mission checkpoints, all stick out like sore thumbs in an otherwise superfluous package. And we, like lovers scorned, are only bitter because we care.

Bad Story
Crap Characters
Frustrating Levels
Lack of checkpoints

9.0/10? Hm.
 
quetz67 said:
I dont know if I should eat crow. I was expecting the game not to be great because it was rushed and this review confirmed it (just that it still got awarded a 9)

I am not happy, I wished it had been really finished and turned out great then I would have bought an xbox 360. But as I am only buying games for the single player expierence (which probably 80% of the console gamers do) this game does not warrant a $450 investment.
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Out of curiosity -- where do you live and do the shops there not have decent returns/rentals policies? Because while I understand why so many people will want to be cautious, there's really very little risk these days given a lot of shops take games back no questions asked (or at least here in the UK, and we used to be backward about this for years). How much is a rental, a few bucks there?

I mean, these reviews are by people who have mostly played through the game to the end, and while may not know every nook, have a better idea of what the game is like than most of us who have played the odd level or worse, not played it at all and judged the game on screens or movies. And even then, it's just opinion.

If you can take advantage of a trial/rental scheme (and over here they rent out machines too, so I'm presuming the US does) then play the game for a while yourself and decide. Why fight others about it online? The only way you're going to know if its worth your while is if you take a relatively small plunge.

At worst you've only spent a few bob that you prob pay usually getting to work in the morning :)

C.
 
cbrotherson said:
Out of curiosity -- where do you live and do the shops there not have decent returns/rentals policies? Because while I understand why so many people will want to be cautious, there's really very little risk these days given a lot of shops take games back no questions asked (or at least here in the UK, and we used to be backward about this for years). How much is a rental, a few bucks there?

I mean, these reviews are by people who have mostly played through the game to the end, and while may not know every nook, have a better idea of what the game is like than most of us who have played the odd level or worse, not played it at all and judged the game on screens or movies. And even then, it's just opinion.

If you can take advantage of a trial/rental scheme (and over here they rent out machines too, so I'm presuming the US does) then play the game for a while yourself and decide. Why fight others about it online? The only way you're going to know if its worth your while is if you take a relatively small plunge.

At worst you've only spent a few bob that you prob pay usually getting to work in the morning :)

C.
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Unfortuantely I live in Europe, no return policies like in the US (and sorry, it would of course be 450 Euros).

I dont know if I am fighting. I would have bought the game for single player and the review says it is broken. So no interest in the game. It just makes me extremly sad that a game that being accused of being rushed gets such a high rating (whatever reasons, but one being reviewers who just cant imagine that still 90% of all gamers dont play online)
 
Ha! Based on the training level, PDZ's single player is anything but broken. I can imagine the level design being bad, but the game's core mechanics are so much fun, I can also see not really caring.

If you have any love for Goldeneye or Perfect Dark 64, you NEED this game. It really will take you back.
 
quetz67 said:
Unfortuantely I live in Europe, no return policies like in the US (and sorry, it would of course be 450 Euros).

I dont know if I am fighting. I would have bought the game for single player and the review says it is broken. So no interest in the game. It just makes me extremly sad that a game that being accused of being rushed gets such a high rating (whatever reasons, but one being reviewers who just cant imagine that still 90% of all gamers dont play online)
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Which part of Europe? No shops at all that have a decent returns/rental? None?

I thought the UK was bad before... at least here we can hit Blockbuster up a few pounds and have a good idea if we'll like the game or not. Saves a hell of a lot of cash and a very popular option.

As for the single-player broken, I dont know. I'm getting PDZ for the single-player mostly, and from what I've read it's really down to personal preference, given some other reviews think it's not that bad. Certainly more servicable than broken. I'm far from a big online gamer and any stuff I review is scantly played online unless it's utterly necessary, so if the single-player is totally crap the game goes back to the shops for something else and I go back to playing Counter Strike and PD on my 64. But I'm more than willing to give it a shot.

Obviously if you dont have the option to take the game back/rent it, then it's hard for you. But have you not at least run into/willing to try any demo pods or anything? Hell, being European (which, for all the UK's wannabe solidarity, we are too), we should be used to waiting anyway, so whats the rush ;)

C.
 
C- Warrior said:
But as much as you want to openly embrace PDZ for all its charms, it's impossible to suppress a surge of disappointment for all the seemingly obvious missteps that could have been fixed before the game landed in retail. A lackluster story, unlikable characters, frustrating level designs, lack of more mid-mission checkpoints, all stick out like sore thumbs in an otherwise superfluous package. And we, like lovers scorned, are only bitter because we care.

Bad Story
Crap Characters
Frustrating Levels
Lack of checkpoints

9.0/10? Hm.
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Subtitle of review: The Xbox 360's Halo? You'd better believe it.

Comments From Review:

But who the hell plays a shooter for its overrated storyline anyways, right?

PDZ packs an amazing co-op mode that allows you and a friend to play through all 14 missions of the story mode together over Xbox Live or in a near flawless splitscreen mode.

Fighting off waves of semi-intelligent bullet fodder with a friend in PDZ is undoubtedly the game's greatest virtue.
 
quetz67 said:
I dont know if I should eat crow. I was expecting the game not to be great because it was rushed and this review confirmed it (just that it still got awarded a 9)

I am not happy, I wished it had been really finished and turned out great then I would have bought an xbox 360. But as I am only buying games for the single player expierence (which probably 80% of the console gamers do) this game does not warrant a $450 investment.
Click to expand...

I think your sole purpose on these boards is to troll Xbox 360 threads. For someone who is holding off on the 360 and selling it anyway when the PS3 launches, you sure spend a lot of time posting about this system. The fact that you have the nerve to call anyone a fanboy is quite amusing.

yeah, and 10 million xbox live subscribers by the time the xbox 2 launches (unfortunately this Gates quote was completely pulled from the net)

Couldnt have said it better...oh...I could have:
4 games and control: Revolution
4 games and graphics: PS3

Will get all 3 but will sell xbox360 at PS3 launch

If you read this board you know who they are. blind brand fanboyism is stronger than any reason

xbots, save this moment in time, it will only go down from now on


I thought about getting an xbox 360 to play some Perfect Dark and putting it on ebay later. But this and the mediocre reviews of Kameo made me change my mind

The problem is PD0 is at heart a this gen game, especially geometry, AI and some of the textures.

They slapped a great lighting engine and parallax mapping on it and improved geometry where they...

Its a pity, so many years in development and it seems rushed (at least for Rares standards)

If you had thrown those screnshots at me stating it is an xbox or PS2 game I would have said it looks OK.
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You are really trying to justify all of your negative comments about PDZ. The game is getting great reviews, if the game got 10/10 from every site you would still be spewing the same nonsense. Face it; people were expecting bad things and they turned out otherwise.
 
Mrbob said:
So now that PD0 is getting decent reviews the haters now have to try a new angle: moneyhats. Funny.
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It's not funny. It's fucking annoying. If it had got bad scores, it was haha Rare sucks, we told you, haha. If it gets good scores it's "consipracy! moneyhats! blah blah blah". There's no winning, no matter what. They sound like a bunch of fucking lawyers and PR and spin doctors. It's getting old.
 
shpankey said:
It's not funny. It's fucking annoying. If it had got bad scores, it was haha Rare sucks, we told you, haha. If it gets good scores it's "consipracy! moneyhats! blah blah blah". There's no winning, no matter what. They sound like a bunch of fucking lawyers and PR and spin doctors. It's getting old.
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Yeah, I guess it's just not worth it trying to defend a game from people who have no interest in playing it. Their loss...it's a fun game.
 
KeithFranklin said:
PDZ packs an amazing co-op mode that allows you and a friend to play through all 14 missions of the story mode together over Xbox Live or in a near flawless splitscreen mode.

Fighting off waves of semi-intelligent bullet fodder with a friend in PDZ is undoubtedly the game's greatest virtue.
Click to expand...
Okay, they just sold me on the game. I love great coop games.
 
I'm disappointed at the lack of a good story - one of my favorite elements of Halo (the story rocks, haters STFU).

that said - online co-op and dark ops sold me on it.
 
shpankey said:
It's not funny. It's fucking annoying. If it had got bad scores, it was haha Rare sucks, we told you, haha. If it gets good scores it's "consipracy! moneyhats! blah blah blah". There's no winning, no matter what. They sound like a bunch of fucking lawyers and PR and spin doctors. It's getting old.
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PD0 haters have lost. Let them go down in a fizzle of glory. It is funny to see their final gasp of knee jerk reaction. :D
 
Oh yaaa!!! Co-Op is what sold me also. This is like the dream I've had for a long time. And ya, Doom 3 had it but that's not my type of game with horror, dark, interior level stuff.

This is the type of FPS co-op I've been dreaming about!
 
dorio said:
Okay, they just sold me on the game. I love great coop games.
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It's fun as fuck playing co-op. Truly, it is. I live in Indiana and played with a guy from Alabama, shit was kickass
 
shpankey said:
This is the type of FPS co-op I've been dreaming about!
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Yup. PD0 may have the best co-op mode ever included in a FPS. Actually, when factoring the Live component, it does by a country mile. :D
 
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