Back in the year 2000, Nintendo published a title from Rare, developers of Goldeneye 007, that became the staple of FPS games from then on.  Nowadays, an FPS game on console has become the norm, but back in 2000, the genre reigned supreme on PC.  Goldeneye 007 was a very good first attempt, but it wasn’t until Perfect Dark’s release that we could see how fun an FPS could play on a console with its original and lengthy campaign, and insane amount of customization in its multiplayer mode.

After years of speculation, Perfect Dark has finally returned to this current generation of consoles on the Xbox LIVE Arcade.  The question is: Can a game that was released 10 years ago still be fun?

In Perfect Dark you play as one of the Carrington Institute’s top agent, Joanna Dark.  As Joanna Dark, it’s your mission to infiltrate the Carrington Institute’s rival corporation, dataDyne, who is attempting to sabotage the Carrington Institute.  The single-player campaign features 17 missions and for the most part has been untouched.  There are no new campaigns, nor new objectives to tackle.  Instead, Perfect Dark’s single-player campaign is a carbon copy of the N64 campaign.  The only addition is online leaderboards, which allows players to compare their completion times with their friends and others over Xbox LIVE.

The first thing you’ll notice when you start Perfect Dark is its new HD graphics.  The game supports 1080p running at a constant 60fps and its pretty impressive considering the source material.  Character models look less blocky from their N64 days due to the updated graphics, but their faces still have a pasted on look.  Enemies react to you as they originally did in the N64 version, ducking, rolling, and hiding behind cover as they try to take you out.  Perfect Dark certainly shows its age through the character animations and its audio.  The sound quality, music & voice acting sound like they’re straight from the N64 version, which isn’t too pleasing when Perfect Dark’s MIDI-like soundtrack is blaring through your 5.1 surround sound system.

There are 3 different control schemes in Perfect Dark that will please most FPS gamers.  There’s the original Perfect Dark control scheme, as well as two control schemes based on Call of Duty & Halo control schemes.  If you’re a fan of either title, then you’ll easily get a hang of these control schemes.  The auto-aim also makes its return from the N64 version, which I found to be helpful as turning it off can leave you to rely on aiming with the Left Trigger, which can be more miss than hit at times.  Overall, the controls translate very well on the Xbox 360 controller.

One of the major updates to this title is the ability to play over Xbox LIVE.  Up to 8 players can play through various multiplayer modes across all of the original Perfect Dark multiplayer maps.  All of the customization you remember from the N64 title are all here.  Want to play a deathmatch game with Rocket Launchers for 5 minutes with no radar? How about a one-hit kill game with fast movement and no weapons?  It’s all there and ready for you.  Aside from being able to play online, you can still play with 4 players on one console, just how we all experienced it in the original Perfect Dark.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers to play with your friends instead of against, two-player co-op is available both through split-screen and over Xbox LIVE which the entire campaign can be played through.  There’s also a “Counter Op” mode which puts one player in the role of Joanna Dark, while the other assumes the role of enemies to attempt to stop her from carrying out her missions.

FINAL THOUGHT: Nostalgia certainly carries Perfect Dark on the Xbox 360 a long way. Everything you loved about Perfect Dark is here, along with some very nice enhancements to its graphics and support for online play.  When you factor in its price (800 MS Points / $10), it’s easily recommendable given how many hours of play are possible in Perfect Dark.  Those who never played Perfect Dark might not get its appeal, but that’s alright, because this is a game that’s specifically directed at those of us who used to play Perfect Dark until 4 in the morning with our friends while trying to keep the noise down less we get a whoopin’.

8.5/10

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It looks like one of the Xbox’s heavy hitters, Crackdown 2, has just received an official release date.  July 6th is when you can expect to get back into Pacific City to assume the role of the Agent once again.

Along with today’s release date reveal, a new ViDoc titled ‘Fun with Friends’ was released focusing on how Crackdown 2 improves on the co-op from Crackdown to support 4-player co-op.  Developer Ruffian Games promises a more seamless drop-in / drop-out multiplayer co-op experience.  Aside from the improvements to co-op, Crackdown 2 will also support 16 player online multiplayer games across 3 different game modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, & Rocket Tag, which judging by the video looks like it plays similar to Halo’s ‘Oddball’.

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Just a word to the wise from everyone here at PerezStart.com:  when buying a 360 ask for the list of different bundles they have in stock, unless of course you have an undying love for Kung-Fu Panda.

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Hopefully you all have kept your copies of Halo 3: ODST in tact as Halo: Reach’s May 3rd multiplayer beta is fast approaching.  A trailer showcasing some of the awesomeness we’ll soon be experiencing in the beta has recently hit the net by way of one of the last places I’d expect: a Taiwanese gaming site.

In the video, you’ll see some new game modes, new attacks, and even a jet-pack or two.  Only two more months until we all get to experience the next evolution in the Halo series.  Two long, long months.

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When I think of Aliens vs. Predator, I think of a battle between two alien species who are on completely different sides of the spectrum.  On one hand, you have the Aliens, with their unmatched superiority in numbers, speed, and ferocity.  On the other hand, Predators are the perfect assassin.  They can camouflage themselves while using various vision modes in order to pick out their opponent from its surroundings.  It seems like no matter what, they always seem to be pitted against one another, and it usually makes for an entertaining experience.

Aliens vs Predator allows you to play as one of three species: Marines, Aliens, or Predators.  Each species’ single-player campaign revolves around the same story, but told through a different perspective with each species having their own mission to complete.  The 3 species have their pros and cons in terms of how they control, their abilities, and their mobility through the game world.  Marines rely heavily on different arms that can be picked up throughout their campaign and sonar to track movement in dark areas, Aliens use the darkness to their advantage to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies, and Predators have the ability to use camouflage and a variety of lethal weapons.

Each species definitely has their shortcomings as well, such as the Marine’s flashlight being too weak when navigating through dark spaces, or how easily disoriented the player can become when navigating across walls and ceilings as an Alien, and this is where the game’s single-player campaign can get hard to handle when playing each campaign separately.  I understand their shortcomings were necessary to keep each species balanced, but continually trying to adapt to each species can be frustrating.  Upon finishing a chapter, Aliens Vs. Predator allows you to change to another species’ campaign, but I found this feature made the overall story harder to keep track of.

Both the Marines & Predator campaigns offered a good variety of missions and delivered a story I’m sure Aliens vs Predator faithfuls would understand, but the Aliens campaign felt like a complete waste of time.  Its mission structure was, for the most part, go to point ‘x’, kill everyone in point ‘x’, rinse, repeat.  Granted, the Aliens campaign is shorter than the other two, but going through 6 chapters of this same kind of mission structure can get old very quick.

To be fair, there are some good moments during Aliens vs Predator. The brutality of the Aliens & Predator kills are some of the most gruesome I’ve seen in a game.  Heads are ripped off, bodies impaled, and spines removed all with very little effort and remorse.  What made it more brutal was seeing your enemy’s face up-close during these gruesome acts.  Needless to say, they didn’t look too happy during these moments.  Graphically, Aliens vs. Predator doesn’t disappoint either as character models are very well detailed and its dark environments keeps players on their toes, especially during the Marine campaign as their vision is greatly limited in comparison to the Aliens’ & Predators’.

Aliens vs Predator’s multiplayer seems to make more sense than what I experienced in the single-player campaign.  In fact, it almost feels like the only real reason a single-player mode was even included was to help players learn the intricacies of each species in order to compete online.  The multiplayer mode allows you to play as either of the 3 species in multiple deathmatch modes, which makes things interesting due to neither one of the 3 species were more powerful than the other.  Things get more interesting when it’s a team based multiplayer mode as having a team of at least one of the 3 species working together can make things quite challenging for the opposing team.

FINAL THOUGHT: Aliens vs. Predator will not satisfy fans of the FPS genre.  The single-player campaign does not tell an engaging story and each species’ shortcomings doesn’t make this game particularly enjoyable to play through. The multiplayer has some fun moments, especially when the 3 species are working together, but it isn’t enough to deem this a title I would recommend.

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Earlier this month, SEGA revealed they are working on another Sonic game, this time focusing on Sonic’s classic gameplay elements that we all grew up loving.  Even though it seems this will be the definitive Sonic game fans have been waiting years for, Sonic fans still can’t help but feel caution given how promising previous Sonic games looked, only to not live up to expectations.

It seems we could all breathe a little sigh of relief as the SEGA Community Manager ‘RubyEclipse’ revealed on the official SEGA forums the original Senior Level Designer for Sonic 3 is working on Sonic 4.

So, is it just Dimps? Just Sonic Team? The answer is a bit of both: Yes, Dimps is working on the game. But there’s actually more to it than just that: at the same time, we also have members of Sonic Team, including the original senior level designer from Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the SEGA Genesis working alongside them. It is most definitely a partnership, and the result of this teamwork is something many of us are excited for.

So it seems SEGA is putting all of their efforts into Sonic 4, which hopefully will be something beneficial for the gaming community as we’ve all become extremely jaded when it comes to new Sonic games.  Although, it looks like Sonic 4 could finally break the streak of bad Sonic games if all goes according to plan.

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Hey, you! Have you been on the fence on buying Darksiders, even though it’s currently sitting pretty with an average review score of 82?  Well, you’re in luck as THQ has announced they’ll be offering a demo of Darksiders for both the PS3 & Xbox 360 next week.

The Darksiders demo will feature approx. 90 minutes of gameplay from the first dungeon in the game, the Twilight Cathedral.  Expect a lot of hacking-n-slashing, puzzle solving, and War speaking in a mono tone, grumbly voice.  David Adams, GM of Vigil Games, had the following to say in regards to offering this 90 minute taste of Darksiders.

“We are really pumped to be bringing a playable demo for Darksiders to Xbox 360 and PlayStation3. We really wanted to give gamers a true idea of the variety of gameplay that the game offers and so rather than just making a standard 20-minute demo version of the first few levels, we decided to give away this massive level and reveal the true essence of the game.”

So now you have no reason to NOT at least try Darksiders.  It’s got everything a gamer wants out of a game.  Puzzles, big swords, and cybernetic angels that shoot laser cannons.

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Do you hear that?  It’s the voice of millions of Halo 2 players crying out in unison, then suddenly silenced.  That’s exactly what will happen come April 15th when Microsoft flips the switch to cease Xbox LIVE service to all original Xbox titles.

In an open letter on the Gamerscore Blog, General Manager for Xbox LIVE Marc Whitten says the decision was not one that was taken lightly, but was necessary for the benefit of the Xbox LIVE service.  With some of the upcoming Xbox LIVE changes, original Xbox titles were found to be incompatible with them.

Given how massive Xbox LIVE is and how it continues to evolve, this news isn’t surprising to me.  Cutting off original Xbox titles from the Xbox LIVE service will hopefully make the service that much better.  One thing I can think of that would be a suitable update would be the limited number of friends an Xbox LIVE account can have in their friend’s list.

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SEGA officially announced the next sequel in the Sonic the Hedgehog series with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.  The first trailer for the game was revealed on GameSpot last night and it’s very telling.  Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is dropping the 2D sprite graphics for a more HD-friendly 3D look, but it looks like it will keep the gameplay elements that we all know and love.

The title is set to be released this summer on the Xbox LIVE Arcade, Playstation Network, and WiiWare as a downloadable title.  ’Episode 1′ in the title leads us to believe SEGA has future DLC plans for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 for future episodes in the series.

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In November of 2007, BioWare’s Mass Effect was released.  The years leading up to its release were full of promises of an RPG experience unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.  Stunningly beautiful graphics, a highly deep and rewarding dialog system, and a story that can change in the blink of an eye. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

Mass Effect 2 is an action-RPG sequel to 2007’s Mass Effect that puts you in the shoes of Commander Shepard once again.  Shepard and his crew on the Normandy are on patrol for geth, when the ship is attacked.  Shepard does not survive the attack and his lifeless body lands on an unknown planet.  The story doesn’t end there though as a shadow broker group known as Cerberus collects Shepard’s body and spends two years attempting to reanimate it.  They are successful with reviving Shepard and recruit him to fight for the organization.  The story from then on out can differ as Mass Effect 2 allows you to import a Mass Effect 1 save, which can offer some rewards depending on how much time you put into the original game.  Decisions made in Mass Effect will continue to effect your experience in Mass Effect 2, both small and large.

Mass Effect 2 features six different classes with varying strengths and weaknesses.  Each class plays different from the other so most players should feel comfortable as they progress through Mass Effect 2’s massive story.  When Shepard levels up, he can apply points to his talents.  Depending on the character class chosen, talents spent can be used for various upgrades such as learning new biotics or bonuses to Shepard’s stats.  The customization doesn’t stop there as you can fully customize Shepard’s face, armor, and even his sex.  There is no bonus to being either a male or female Shepard, instead, the way they interact with others can vary slightly such as Shepard’s love interest.

Character interaction plays a huge part in Mass Effect 2, as it did in Mass Effect.  The dialog system stayed true to the original game’s, allowing Shepard to converse with others in order to obtain information that can help with his missions or to progress the overall story.  The Paragon & Renegade dialog options also make a return and unlock specific dialog options, depending on how many Paragon or Renegade options you’ve chosen.  One addition to the dialog system is the context-sensitive controls, which allows Shepard to take either a Renegade or Paragon action that will interrupt the current conversation.

If actions speak louder than words, then Shepard’s improved combat skills can be quite deafening.  When Shepard shoots, you’ll now hit what you’re aiming at, similar to First-Person Shooter controls.  Shepard is still able to sprint and hide behind cover, but now he is also able to vault over small obstacles which improves the flow of combat.  The HUD to perform biotic attacks also received a slight tweak as it no longer completely blocks the action on-screen.  Players can also bind buttons to Shepard’s and his squad’s biotic ability so the pace of combat isn’t ceased every couple of seconds in order to input a new command.  Not only did the combat receive an improvement, but the variety of weapons as well.  Mass Effect 2 has approximately nineteen different weapons, some of which include new heavy weapons and sub-machine guns. Also gone are armor classes, which are replaced by simply researching upgrades to your squad’s armor.

Researching new weapons, armor, and other various improvements requires resources that Shepard must obtain during his travels.  Shepard can either stumble onto these resources during missions, or take the more practical approach and probe planets for their resources.  Probing planets may sound like a bore, but it’s actually quite entertaining, especially if you’re dying for the latest and greatest improvement.  Shepard can use the Normandy to orbit over a planet, scan for resources, and then extract those resources with a probe.  When Shepard has met the requirements to research the upgrade (often ‘x’ amount of resource), depending on the item researched, it will either be applied automatically, or, in the case of armor and weapon upgrades, be made available for use.

Exploring the many galaxies in Mass Effect 2 is a more interactive experience as you’re able to fly the Normandy via the Galaxy Map.  Exploration is made easier as the game helps guide you where each quest lies by highlighting galaxies, systems, and even the planet a particular mission is on.  You can even explore the unexplored to gather resources or stumble on to side missions.  The amount of missions & side missions in Mass Effect 2 are amazing and can keep players busy for hours.

As important as the missions are, there’s no way Shepard could do any of it alone.  Much of your time spent in Mass Effect 2 will be used to assemble your squad.  As you progress through the story, Cerberus will supply dossiers on potential squad candidates.  Each squad member has their own purpose as to why they choose to help Shepard, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses in combat.  You can also take your relationships with particular squad members to a higher degree by taking the time to help them in various side missions made available later on in the game.  Completing these missions aren’t necessary to the main plot of Mass Effect 2, but completing them will allow your squad members to trust you, which unlocks a new talent specifically for that squad member.

Mass Effect 2 pushes the Xbox 360 to its limits with its detailed and unique environments.  Much of your time will be spent traveling from planet to planet gathering intel for your missions, but Mass Effect 2 does a fantastic job at giving each location its own persona.  Whether you visit The Citadel, Omega, or Illium, every location is easily distinguishable and that’s not an easy feat when you consider how grandiose Mass Effect 2 is.  Character models are also given a lot of detail and, in Miranda’s case, very pleasing to the eye.  This is especially evident during moments of dialog, as the camera zooms in to focus on the character’s facial structures and mannerisms.

What good are gorgeous character models if the voice acting is terrible?  Thankfully, the voice acting is top-notch as not one character, whether they be important or just someone passing by, gives a sub-par performance.  Hollywood elites Yvonne Strahovski & Marteen Sheen lend their voices for two important characters and their performances are flawless.  It also benefits players to pay attention to small details in the game, such as the Galaxy News kiosks or hearing a recording of Shepard endorsing his “favorite store in the citadel” as these little gems can really make the game more enjoyable.

FINAL THOUGHT: As massive and critically-acclaimed Mass Effect was, Mass Effect 2 improves on many aspects of the original title.  Combat is smooth, the story keeps players interested from beginning to end, and the character development is done so well, you actually care about each and every one of your squad mates.  Being able to carry over decisions from Mass Effect assist in engrossing the player into the game world.  Mass Effect 2 is a shining example of how deep and enriching a video game can be when it achieves perfection.

10/10

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