Perfect Dark Zero details

By Ellie Gibson Published 25 April, 2005

As in, details of Perfect Dark Zero. Wouldn't be much of a story otherwise. Anyway, it'll be online and on Xbox 360, according to reports.

More than four years since ace FPS Perfect Dark appeared on the N64, a few details of the latest instalment in the series have emerged.

Microsoft first announced the game, titled Perfect Dark Zero, back in 2002. Since then details and screenshots have been scarce, as in nowhere to be seen, though they did release some character renders of heroine Joanna in a fetching chrome and lycra combo.

Now rumour has it that the reason it's taking so long is cos the game is being saved for the Xbox 360. It's down as a launch day title, apparently, and should be on show at E3 next month.

And what's more, it's going to have an online multiplayer mode which - according to reports - will feature more opponents playing at once than has ever been seen before in a console game.

The storyline is set before the first Perfect Dark title begins, and sees Joanna and her dad, Jack, caught up in a massive conspiracy that links in with the plot of the N64 game.

You'll be able to follow the story in both single-player and co-operative mode, and we're also promised something called 'anti-co-op' - one player takes on the role of Joanna while the other plays as her evil arch enemy, and both set about trying to do each other over.

It's all yet to be confirmed by Microsoft, which was unavailable for comment at the time of writing. And before that. And probably after. But we'll keep you posted.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • cubbymoore #1 7 years ago

    The storyline is set before the first Perfect Dark title begins

    So that means no aliens then maybe? Good good :)

    And it's about time we get another Rare FPS, 4 years! Feels longer than that.

  • Blerk #2 7 years ago

    M-eh! :-D

  • Kami #3 7 years ago

    Has it been four years since Rare's last FPS?

    Mind you, didn't the majority of those people who did Goldeneye and Perfect Dark split from Rare and set up Free Radical?

    You could argue the true talent is no longer with Rare...

  • Slacker #4 7 years ago

    will feature more opponents playing at once than has ever been seen before in a console game

    Great, so I can get shot even sooner after re-spawning...

  • lost_soul #5 7 years ago

    "will feature more opponents playing at once than has ever been seen before in a console game"

    That'll be 17, right?

  • IronGiant #6 7 years ago

    Over the years the popularity of RARE has somewhat waned, their games are no longer heralded as the next best thing.. whether Perfect Dark will help them back to the forefront i dunno, seems todays 'gamer' is more interested in the latest movie licence or FIFA/Need4Chav game.

  • KTroopA #7 7 years ago

    no crappy voice acting plz.

    kthx

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #8 7 years ago

    I guess all the time Rare spent on that online space effort must have yielded some useful technology...

  • Royal Fool #9 7 years ago

    Never cared about Perfect Dark, doubt I'll care much about this one either.

  • oceanmotion #10 7 years ago

    Here is your answer

    The website, www.banjothreeie.com, was recently registered to Microsoft, and currently redirects to the Rare’s official site.

    Same with perfectdarkzero.com

    Anyway. Anti coop sounds sweet.

  • Eraser #11 7 years ago

    Mind you, didn't the majority of those people who did Goldeneye and Perfect Dark split from Rare and set up Free Radical?

    You could argue the true talent is no longer with Rare...

    True. When you play the first mission of Timesplitters 2 it's like playing the first Goldeneye level again. The atmosphere and music is typical Goldeneye.

  • gizmo #12 7 years ago

    At LAST, counter-op is back. Why has no-one else done this in all the time since perfect dark. A friend and I played this continuously. Only marred by the frame rate on the creaking N64.

  • Sid-Nice #13 7 years ago

    It will be 5 years in June when Perfect Dark was released on the N64 and in my opinion the game was a very poor Goldeneye 2. Microsoft first announced the game, titled Perfect Dark Zero ? What? Perfect Dark Zero was first announced for the N64 and then moved to the Gamecube.

  • IronGiant #14 7 years ago

    /has to agree with asd..

  • Sko #15 7 years ago

    "Over the years the popularity of RARE has somewhat waned, their games are no longer heralded as the next best thing.. whether Perfect Dark will help them back to the forefront i dunno, seems todays 'gamer' is more interested in the latest movie licence or FIFA/Need4Chav game."

    Yeah, Rare didn't get complacent about their success, it was the public who just wanted to buy shit games for a change... uh. Or maybe not.

  • The-Bodybuilder #16 7 years ago

    >"whether Perfect Dark will help them back to the forefront"

    Erm, shouldn't that be left to conker: R, seeing as that will be released first?

    >"And some kid, your right that rare have made more than Perfect dark and Goldenye, however all of those games (bar Blast Corps) were just pale imitations of games Nintendo already made."

    Could you please give me "original" FPS nintendo made, for rare to imitate with PD and Goldeneye.

  • Freek #17 7 years ago

    Considering it's a remake of a game whos defining feature isn't the gameplay but the humor, with some added multiplayer, I don't think Conker will do it.

  • Royal Fool #18 7 years ago

    Let me just ask all of you one question: Did you buy or play Grabbed by the Ghoulies?

    It was a fairly straightforward game, but I really enjoyed it even if it was rather simplistic. But at retail the game bombed worse than Hiroshima.

    I've also tried the Conker single-player demo. It was pretty but really broken in the playability department. Terrible camera.

    I wonder how many of the drooling Perfect Dark Zero people actually ever touched Grabbed by the Ghoulies? :)

  • Tiiti #19 7 years ago

    I have always said that this would be the Halo replacement for Xbox 2's launch title

    /bows

  • Aretak #20 7 years ago

    Rockwell: You're in the minority if you don't like TimeSplitters.

  • WoodenSpoon #21 7 years ago

    Mind you, didn't the majority of those people who did Goldeneye and Perfect Dark split from Rare and set up Free Radical?

    Exactly.

    I sense a C&C Generals type episode coming on.

  • Kami #22 7 years ago

    Hey, I LIKE Timesplitters. Arguably, Second Sight wasn't as good as it could and probably SHOULD have been, but there is no way you can call it a BAD game. It's OK, nothing special, and I happened to enjoy the few days I spent with it when I rented it out.

    But can we trust RARE to deliver on Perfect Dark Zero, when the people who made it originally (edited there to add: ORIGINALLY) are no longer with them?

    We live in hope.
    Edited by Kami at 25/04/05 @ 16:45

  • Galvanizer #23 7 years ago

    Will Perfect Dark come out on the DS?

  • Kami #24 7 years ago

    Doubt it.

    Although... the thought does make me tingle with excitement... but no. Nuh-uh. I seriously doubt it.

  • oceanmotion #25 7 years ago

    BTW, the staff left to form Free Radical early in Perfect Darks development and it was'nt exactly a lot that left considering the size of the teams. So the remaining folk made pratically all of the game. In the end a cracking game.

    I wish people would stop saying "but all the staff left...so on". It has no bearing in the quality of Rare titles.

    When they were bought by MS, they were making Nintendo games, all teams were reformed, games restarted, MS was making changes for the better. This gen was a state of transition for them. Next gen is their time.

    Judge then, not now.

  • Kami #26 7 years ago

    Thing is, Blerk and the word, "Meh!" go together like... umm... OK, but yeah, we're kinda used to Blerk saying "Meh!".

    I'd be more worried if Blerk stopped saying it...

  • Kami #27 7 years ago

    I was under the impression the single-player in Conker: Live and Reloaded was a graphical update of Conker's Bad Fur Day (A good game, but it still makes it a port) with multiplayer options over Live (ooh!) - it looks pretty, and hopefully there'll be some new stuff in there too.

    But yeah, the output of RARE in recent years isn't quite what I expected, or hoped for. Whether or not RARE have been holding out for the next gen, there's been an awful lot of inactivity from Rare which makes you wonder what MS actually got for their money...

  • Royal Fool #28 7 years ago

    "Royal Fool:
    errr, maybe we didn't play the same demo but when I played the camera was of the typical 3rd person shooter variety, i.e. user controlled.    "

    Yep, it was the beach assault chapter. And the camera and aiming was horribly calibrated, it was as if Conker was drunk (Then again, that wouldn't surprise me).

    The models were pretty, if annoyingly repetitive (I was expecting more variety now that they're working with superior hardware) and the floating chocolate pickups were very pretty (Although Super Mario Sunshine already did shiny pretty pickups like that back in 2003). The rest wasn't too exciting or just downright irritating... Rare seem to have skipped updating the gameplay.

  • mouse Verified Graphic designer, Eurogamer Network #29 7 years ago

    Nnnngggg why did I have to go and get myself reminded about Perfect Dark. I'll never forget the torture of waiting for that game. The return of counter-op is a nice idea, I'm surprised nobody seemed to have pinched it in the interim.

  • Kami #30 7 years ago

    I did pose it as a question, because I wasn't sure myself. Thanks guys for clearing that up.

  • Xerx3s #31 7 years ago

    And the most pointless and ignored comment award goes to.....asd. cheers.

  • Lothar Hex #32 7 years ago

    OK, when was the last good NEW game Rare made? Going on 6 years now right?

  • freedumb #33 7 years ago

    Conker's Bad Fur Day, 2001. Although they're not in the same league, the likes of sabrewulf and ghoulies have a measure of goodness about them.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #34 7 years ago

    If Spong is on the money (and it sounds like they have access to some seriously hardcore leaked info), PDZ will have some wacko mode where you can choose to have specific AI opponents in the single player game replaced with human players participating over Live.

    Sounds pretty wacked, but could be ultra-cool if implemented properly.

  • Pirotic #35 7 years ago

    they had anti-co-op in the original, it randomly put you in one of the enemies shoes, and when you died, it would randomly give you control over another goon and so forth. was a bit pants.