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[Leguna]

My belief is that most of the PDZ reviews were indeed rushed (as according to 1up.com). To really appreciate the game, I would think you would need to spend a lot of quality time on the multiplayer mode (which is where all the fun is in both games).

Everyone says the same thing, single player mode sucks and multiplayer mode rocks. But if multiplayer mode rocks, to me that's 90% of where I'll be putting my playtime, which means 90% of the score should reflect that! Well, whatever, on to the comparison...

Perfect Dark Zero scores:
Gamespot: 9.0
1up: 9.0
Gametrailer: 9.0
IGN: 8.4
Gaming-Age: 8.5 (B)
AVERAGE PROFESSIONAL REVIEW SCORE: 8.8

Halo 2 Scores:
Gamespot: 9.4
EGM: 10
1up: 10
IGN: 9.8
Gaming-age: 9.2 (-A)
AVERAGE PROFESSIONAL REVIEW SCORE: 9.7

I'm really confused, Perfect Dark Zero sounds and looks SOOOOO AMAZING both in design and graphics; in fact, it sounds to me like a Halo killer, yet the reviews, while not bad, don't reflect that of a stellar title. WHY IS THIS???

Knowing what i know of Perfect Dark on N64, what makes it so great was that it used WAY MORE strategy than any other FPS game, including Halo. PDZ is a very different FPS, just look at these movies of what the weapons can do and you'll see that there's potential of some of the coolest multiplayer matches EVER!!!!
Scroll down to the links for the movies of PDZ's weapons

What Perfect Dark Zero HAS OVER Halo 2:
-online Co-op mode
-better graphics
-720p
-32 players online
-better designed weapons
-more strategic battles
-bots!

What Halo 2 HAS OVER Perfect Dark Zero:
-better single player mode ???
-more vehicles
-better voice acting

GAF, HELP ME HERE!!! IS PDZ THE RETURN OF RARE OF OLD???? IS PDZ AS GREAT AS PD WAS ON N64???? WHY IS HALO 2 STILL CONSIDERED BETTER??? OR IS IT???? WHICH IS THE BEST MULTIPLAYER FPS OUT??????????

Oh and lastly, how's the music in PDZ?

 

[crunker99]

you cannot compare helop to PDZ

it is apples and oranges

if you go into PDZ looking for halo you will hate it

if you take pdx as its own game and forget all the halo preconceptions you will enjoy it, but it takes about a week to get used to

 

[master_shake_05]

you cannot compare helop to PDZ

it is apples and oranges

if you go into PDZ looking for halo you will hate it

if you take pdx as its own game and forget all the halo preconceptions you will enjoy it, but it takes about a week to get used to

IAWTP.

Also - Don't go in expecting the next GoldenEye/Perfect Dark, either. This could have very well been it's own game, not even produced by Rare if you played through without any prior opinions or knowledge of Rare/PD....

 

[Mrbob]

It is really tough, nearly impossible to directly compare the two games but I'll try....


I actually prefer PDZ single player mode over Halo 2. Not only for the online co-op, but how the levels are structured. PDZ you have to play at a slower pace, take cover, more of a cat and mouse battle. You also get different objectives based on the difficulty skill level you choose. I really didn't like Halo 2 single player mode all that much though. Playing through Halo 2 co-op is fun, and so is taking some of the vehicles, but all the cool open areas from the original Halo seemed to be stripped away. Halo 2 became these tight corridor shooter which made it seem like every other FPS. I still replay Halo single player to this day, and have finished it over 10 times. I beat Halo 2 single player with a friend on the 4th day of owning the game and haven't gone back to play through it again. In all honesty I think Halo 2 is just like PDZ: Decent single player mode with awesome multiplayer online. But I give PDZ the edge for having online co-op and the ability to place bots into online games.

With the 360 you can play both, though. So I don't see the problem of how you have to choose one over the other.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

I'm sorry, I don't have time to answer each of your questions 40 times.

 

[civilstrife]

It seems to me that alot of reviewers just sort of wanted it to be really good. It's a highly hyped launch FPS.

I've never played PDZ so I'm not one to judge, but it seems that this sort of thing happens every generation. Average games that normally wouldn't get the light of day become something a little more.

Of course, Halo was a launch FPS as well, but it was wasn't hyped as much and was also universally reviewed as a great game.

 

[Shiggy]

I say GoldenEye (N64)

 

[Mrbob]

It seems to me that alot of reviewers just sort of wanted it to be really good. It's a highly hyped launch FPS.

I've never played PDZ so I'm not one to judge, but it seems that this sort of thing happens every generation. Average games that normally wouldn't get the light of day become something a little more.

Of course, Halo was a launch FPS as well, but it was wasn't hyped as much and was also universally reviewed as a great game.

I would say Halo 2 leans more to what you're hinting at than PDZ. Most reviewers rushed through PDZ to play it. Do you remember the shitstorm which hit last year when the final version of the french version leaked out? It was crazy. Between the arbiter and saying the game felt short and unfinished people thought it was a bunch of BS. Well the full version came and those who played the early version were right. If anything, Halo 2 is the hyped game reviewers wanted to be really good (RE: single player) because a year later they all complain about the single player mode now when they barely batted an eyebrow at it in reviews.

 

[Leguna]

TO MODS:
Please, please, please place a "2" beside Halo in the thread title, this thread is not comparing Halo with PDZ, it's Halo 2 with PDZ!!!!

civilstrife:
Was PDZ really hyped that much??? I got the impression that know one really knew of the original. People are just now discovering secondary fire!!!! But i see what you are saying. Hell, i'd be satistied if PDZ was just a remake of the original with better graphics and online multiplayer.

Mrbob:
Cool! But are the objectives annoying? That's one thing i like about Halo 2, it's survival, get from point A to point B alive and you win.

crunker99:
No 2 games are exactly alike, but PDZ and Halo 2 are a good comparison. They are indeed quite similar as games.

 

[Callo Merlose]

:lol

That thread was greatness in page-format.

 

[Leguna]

Bataman:
"That thread was greatness in page-format." - ???

 

[Sathsquatch]

TO MODS:

civilstrife:
Was PDZ really hyped that much??? I got the impression that know one really knew of the original. People are just now discovering secondary fire!!!! But i see what you are saying. Hell, i'd be satistied if PDZ was just a remake of the original with better graphics and online multiplayer.

I don't know why people insist that PDZ was really hyped up. Sure, MS did some PR work for it, but the game was hardly hyped up to be a great game. In fact, people were rooting for it to fail moreso than they were hyping it up to succeed.

 

[Kon Tiki]

It is a bit unfair to compare Halo 2 to PDZ.One one hand you have the best FPS on Xbox. On the other hand, PDZ is not even the best FPS on Xbox 360. I'd even say Quake 4 has a better MP than PDZ. Unless you like underwater FPS.

 

[crunker99]

crunker99:
No 2 games are exactly alike, but PDZ and Halo 2 are a good comparison. They are indeed quite similar as games.

that you say this shows me you have not played PDZ thoroughly on multiplayer

i play 4-5 hours a night since it came out and i can tell you the gameplay style is pretty far from halo

if you mean the same as in any FPS is the same then yes but otherwise its not

 

[DSN2K]

dont compare this shit to the greatness that is Halo and to a less extent its sequel.

 

[Leguna]

DSN2K:
Halo 2 is better than Halo 1, but not as ground breaking.

crunker99:
I realize that PDZ is more strategic than Halo in the multiplayer modes (which is part of the reason why i like this game so much), but yes, they are both FPS which makes them close enough to compare.

Kon Tiki:
The Quake series is trash.

Sathsquatch:
I feel the same way.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Kon Tiki:
The Quake series is trash.

Says a lot about PDZ then.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Both games are great for different reasons. I am having more fun with PDZ though.

And Quake and Quake II were great. Quake III sucks major balls. I haven't even bothered trying 4. Ravensoft should have made a sequal to SoF II

 

[DopeyFish]

PDZ is broken in gameplay mechanics almost completely from bottom to top. If there was a videogame bible... PDZ would have broken every commandment

 

[FiRez]

Halo 2 is better than Halo 1, but not as ground breaking.

No, I can understand that but only in the MP just because is online,

I haven't played PD0 but I think I would like it, because it doesn't have the HUGE auto-aiming of Halo 2

 

[rastex]

I think the balance and variety of weapons coupled with the wealth of gameplay modes puts MP PDZ over MP Halo 2. Though in terms of visceral one-on-one same gun combat, Halo is still the top of the genre. And for some people that's what matters most.

 

[Raiden]

Next up:

Doom 3 vs Tales of Symphonia!


I hate it when people compare PD0 with Halo, i HATE IT!

 

[Leguna]

TO ALL:
So far, it looks like PDZ is the better game and Halo 2 is great but dated.

rastex:
"I think the balance and variety of weapons coupled with the wealth of gameplay modes puts MP PDZ over MP Halo 2." - Based on that alone, I would agree too.

Raiden:
Great, cool, now are you going to tell me why you hate it so much?

 

[Prine]

PDZ combat for multiplayer is better. Deeper more rewarding.

And this is form a Halo fanboy.

PDZ will be the #1 multiplayer FPS on x360 until Halo3 comes out

 

[Prine]

I've never played PDZ so I'm not one to judge, but it seems that this sort of thing happens every generation. Average games that normally wouldn't get the light of day become something a little more.

Fortunatly PDZ is quality. And doesnt suffer from what you described.

Weapons PDZ wins
Multiplayer modes PDZ wins
Maps Halo wins (only because it feature much more, 5 of the 6 maps in PDZ are far more enjoyable than most of Halo2 maps)
Vehicles Halo wins
Bots PDZ wins
Strategic and rewarding gameplay, Darkops FTW!

And community, PDZ >>>>>>>>>>>>> Halo 2

 

[Leguna]

Prine:
Thanks for the info and opinion! Makes sense. I'm more and more being sold to PDZ. Why do you think it got lower scores than Halo 2?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

PDZ is broken in gameplay mechanics almost completely from bottom to top. If there was a videogame bible... PDZ would have broken every commandment

if Dopey is saying this I'm thinking there might be issues.

 

[Prine]

I do think single player plays a huge role when weighing scores, if you read Che's review it was scored a 9 based on the strength of the multiplayer, imo Halo2 delievered in both areas where Rare managed to create a better multiplayer, but fell short with single. It just doesnt have that epic feel.

But at its very core, the gameplay is up there with best. Im not worried, Rare already proved they still got it, PDZ is fantastic, full of small innovations and neat gameplay touches, they will most certainly deliver the full package with PD 2.

Thje game was in development for two and a half years, not 5 like people like to throw around.

 

[Prine]

if Dopey is saying this I'm thinking there might be issues.

:lol

How many times have you played with him on Halo? He gets easily frustrated, and PDZ is a game that becomes great after you unlearn everything Halo taught you.

Besides, even Andy likes the game.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

:lol

How many times have you played with him on Halo? He gets easily frustrated, and PDZ is a game that becomes great after you unlearn everything Halo tuaght you.

Besides, even Andy likes the game.

use your sources to score me a 360 and I'll forgive you're rare whoring.

he was a little frustrated during Halo.

 

[Prine]

owned! Im streaming music from my PC as i type this.

Brillliant ;P

I actually see Bungie borrowing some ideas from PDZ. Left trigger for Zoom, Grenade and Sheild is really intuiative. I used to wonder how they'd implement a covenent shield into Halo, Rare pretty much answered it

Would extremly effective on Burial mounds against snipers

 

[monkeyrun]

IAWTP.

Also - Don't go in expecting the next GoldenEye/Perfect Dark, either. This could have very well been it's own game, not even produced by Rare if you played through without any prior opinions or knowledge of Rare/PD....

:lol :lol

 

[Mifune]

Thje game was in development for two and a half years, not 5 like people like to throw around.

Where did you hear this? I only ask because I'd like to read something about the history of the game.

 

[Tain]

Quake 3.

See what I did there?

 

[thundersabre]

I just can't get past that PDZ isn't 60 fps.

It looks so good. So much detail. But the frame rate pisses me off.

 

[Ramirez]

It's not even close really,the gun play is so much more intense and fun in Halo,bouncing grenades off of walls then giving someone a nice burst from a battle rifle>anything in PD.I hate how grenades are handled in PDZ.

People in PDZ take way too many bullets,weapons like the SuperDragon are fucking stupid with the constant grenade launching ability,the levels don't even come close to Halo's best,the vehicles in PD again,fall sooooo short of the Halo vehicles.I actually think there are too many guns,most of them offer no real advantage over another,it seems to take just as many bullets from an SMG as it does a Heavy weapon,I prefer Halo's 6-7 weapon set where every weapon has one true purpose and they're balanced for certain situations.

They're different games,yes,but that doesn't change the fact that when you break it down to the pure gunplay that PDZ falls flat on it's face because of the absolute awful aiming controls,maybe the amount of damage someone can take amplifies this,but whatever.

Left trigger for Zoom

No...grenade placement on the left trigger is perfect,not to mention Halo's zoom is nothing like PDZ's zoom function.

 

[Ghengis Cohen]

It isn't even close. Halo is far superior in almost every respect to PDZ. first off the map design in Halo just has it, in both iterations. This alone makes it, even if most of the other stuff wasn't so broken in PDZ.

Edit: to be clear I was anticipating PDZ. I don't hate out of any pre-conceived notions.

 

[Bebpo]

Kinda OT, but does PDZ Online have lots of 'trap' type weapons you can lay around the level? I had some of the best deathmatch games back in the day with Duke3d where'd I just run around planting those trip laser mines and watching people run through a door and explode. Need more trap based deathmatch games. Does PDZ suffice?

The traps in Far Cry Instincts deathmatch online were fun as well but there was only like 1 and it was limited in use.

 

[Eel O'Brian]

And Quake and Quake II were great. Quake III sucks major balls. I haven't even bothered trying 4.

Give it a try. Framerate issues and murky textures aside, I've been surprised at how much I'm enjoying the SP portion of the game. I've only played a couple of MP matches, though.

 

[StoOgE]

lets put it this way: I still play Halo 2 online more than PD:Z. Perfect Darks single player is pretty good, the weapons are nice.. but the map design is crap and you have to reload waaay too much.

 

[hellfire]

Kinda OT, but does PDZ Online have lots of 'trap' type weapons you can lay around the level? I had some of the best deathmatch games back in the day with Duke3d where'd I just run around planting those trip laser mines and watching people run through a door and explode. Need more trap based deathmatch games. Does PDZ suffice?

The traps in Far Cry Instincts deathmatch online were fun as well but there was only like 1 and it was limited in use.

yeah there're 3 trap-like weapons :

1) remote mines that can be either proximity or manually exploded. i've never been a mine guy but when playing infection or onslaught, they are absolutely critical. put em over a door and there's nothing the person can do.

2) remote sentry gun (secondary fire of the laptop). besides doing some damage, it also helps let you know if someone is coming down a certain direction (e.g. last infection game we played, zombies would sometimes spawn in our hideout (this only happens in the last minute of play when all players are revealed on the radar)). we put a sentry gun behind us so if it started shooting, we'd know to turn around.)

3) secondary fire of the liberator (uzi-like smg) is a trap. someone thinks it's a gun to pick up, BLAMMO. also works great in infection/onslaught since the zombies/attackers always need better weapons.

 

[Sean]

The multiplayer in PDZ is more enjoyable to me so far, and I was a huge Halo 2 fan.

First off the weapons. The weapons in PDZ are very creative. There's more total guns in PDZ then Halo 2, and they each have secondary functions (some even have three). You've also got extra things like the boomerang, mines, flashbangs, etc. I remember playing CTF match, and someone set up a laptop gun near the flag and I used the RCP-90 to reprogram it - that meant the gun they set up was actually shooting everyone on their team as they spawned. Then there is the Psychosis gun's secondary fire which makes the person you shot have their teammates show up as enemies. Lots of cool things like that.

The other big thing is bots. Use them to fill out a room, and set them so they leave when humans join. Or do a humans vs bots match. I had the bots on the lowest difficulty and they still seemed pretty intelligent. They used the cover move, roll move, protected the flag carrier, etc.

Other Features:

Disarming - there's nothing better then running up to someone, snatching their gun right from their hands and then killing them with it. You've got the rolling which can help you get out of sticky situations. Sprinting (something that was cut from Halo 2 - it works great here). Cover move is really well done, especially useful in Dark Ops where you have one life per round. I like how you can repair vehicles and how there's spawn rooms where you get your weapons to prevent spawn killing. Scalable maps are great, when you don't have enough people you can make the map smaller or bigger. And this is more of a X360 feature, but the custom soundtrack support is nice for multiplayer.

One thing I wish PDZ had that Halo 2 had is the online stats like bungie.net. Halo 2 also has more and better vehicles as well as more maps.

Single Player I would give the nod to PDZ as well (though Halo 2's is excellent as well). Sure PDZ's story is shit and so is the voice acting - that would be a big deal if it was an RPG, but this is an FPS. The replayability is much better in PDZ imo. Multiple paths, different objectives when playing on different difficulties, online co-op, all of the achievements, etc.

 

[ocelittle]

I'd join this conversation, but fucking MS isn't sending my EB any more fucking 360's.

 

[Servizio]

Sometimes I like how sweet apples can be, but sometimes you want that citrussy bite of an orange. But you can also have sour apples, which can be good too. But then, oranges can be very juicy. I can't decide.

 

[dark10x]

Everyone says the same thing, single player mode sucks and multiplayer mode rocks.

If you are attempting to toss Halo 1 and 2 in here, just stop. The two Halo games are among the best single player FPS games ever created. No doubt about it.

 

[hellfire]

they are different games. halo/halo 2 is far more run and gun. pdz requires far more thought and cooperation, especially for darkops. i personally prefer PDZ.

I'd say that infection is the best counterstrike/rainbow six style MP game ever. no player is ever sitting waiting for the round to end. the uninfected absolutely have to cooperate and use weapons together (e.g. some guys i played with use viblade bullet shield while we fire from behind them, i posted other examples above). the infected have to coordinate because there's no way to beat superior numbers with better weapons unless you do.

I also kinda prefer the PDZ levels because they make sense. e.g. lockout in halo 2 is the dumbest level i've ever seen. it plays well, but it makes no damn sense! it's like escher designed a pointless building.

I'm hoping the bridge level becomes a MP map at some point. that was an awesome single player level.

 

[border]

PDZ is broken in gameplay mechanics almost completely from bottom to top. If there was a videogame bible... PDZ would have broken every commandment

Can you elaborate on this more?

Seems like a lot of even the hardcore Xbots have turned their backs on this game.

 

[dark10x]

it plays well, but it makes no damn sense! it's like escher designed a pointless building.

That's more appealing to me, personally. Good gameplay? Yep. Creative design? Yep.

Being grounded in reality means nothing to me, as that generally results in boring map design.

 

[Prine]

It's not even close really,the gun play is so much more intense and fun in Halo,bouncing grenades off of walls then giving someone a nice burst from a battle rifle>anything in PD.I hate how grenades are handled in PDZ.

People in PDZ take way too many bullets,weapons like the SuperDragon are fucking stupid with the constant grenade launching ability,the levels don't even come close to Halo's best,the vehicles in PD again,fall sooooo short of the Halo vehicles.I actually think there are too many guns,most of them offer no real advantage over another,it seems to take just as many bullets from an SMG as it does a Heavy weapon,I prefer Halo's 6-7 weapon set where every weapon has one true purpose and they're balanced for certain situations.

They're different games,yes,but that doesn't change the fact that when you break it down to the pure gunplay that PDZ falls flat on it's face because of the absolute awful aiming controls,maybe the amount of damage someone can take amplifies this,but whatever.



No...grenade placement on the left trigger is perfect,not to mention Halo's zoom is nothing like PDZ's zoom function.

I love the left trigger being dedicated to 3 primary actions. Its got Halo's brilliant greande throwing when you need it, and a zoom when you dont. Plus with the added dynamic of a countdown, which gives me far more control.

Its an improvment, one i hope becomes a standard.

Roll > Jump

Aiming is tough, but i got used to it, the kills are infinatley more satisfying. Melee is a little weired, that would be my only complaint, You have to time it before you approach someone.

About the weapons, from my experience, there hasnt been one guy owning everyone with a sniper, which is a HUGE flaw in Halo, and totally unfair.

PDZ shield system > Halo aswell, at least you know if someone is fucking amazing you can still take him down as his health decreases depending on how many skirmishes he survives.

Burial Mounds really killed Halo2 for me, im never going to play that game online knowing i might end up on taht map in matchmaking.

 

[Ironclad]

I have yet to play PDZ but I can say that the ability to jump is one of the worst aspects of Halo 2's multiplayer. Especially after the fact that there is no fall damage. It is essentailly the ultimate defense in multiplayer. It's almost impossible to keep your aim on an enemy that is pressing the jump button at a rapid rate so I can understand Prine's Roll > Jump comment. It's just frustrating to shoot an enemy a few times and then have them start jumping all around the map to the point where you can't hit them.

Keep in mind, I am damn good at Halo 2. These comments are not coming from somebody who is inexperienced.