MEMBER PROFILE FOR mike_mgoblue
Average Overall Score Given: 10.00000 / 10
Total Forum Posts: 0
Reviews
Xbox 360 Video Game System
Overall: The Xbox 360 is the best system EVER!!!! The controller is the most amazing piece of videogame hardware of I have ever felt; it takes all of the positive things from every previous controller ever constructed and carefully combines them into one glorious product. The way that Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade are used is absolutely wonderful. I cannot wait for Xbox Live Anywhere to be used with Windows Vista and Windows Mobile Live on my Cell phone. The way that there is such a wide variety of games that include wonderful high-definition graphics and true 5.1 digital sound is excellent. I like the way that there is very inexpensive Xbox Live for all people connected to high speed Internet. Being able to play online games as an Xbox Live Gold subscriber, for the cost of about $4 a month is an absolute privilege! I love it that the premium version of the Xbox 360 comes with the Xbox Live Arcade game called Hexic, which was made by the creator of Tetris. Hexic plays a lot like Tetris; it is a puzzle game that really makes you think about what you are doing. The Xbox 360 will work with MP3/WMA audio digital players so you can include whatever background music you want in any game. There is something very special about playing, "Danger Zone" from the Top Gun movie soundtrack in the background while you are playing a racing game! I feel the need...the need for speed!!! Microsoft thought of virtually everything with the Xbox 360, and I am so happy I bought it. Perfect Dark Zero is my favorite game of all time!Suggestions: I have heard rumors about MAME emulators coming to the Xbox 360 in a way that will legally allow thousands of arcade games to be released on the Xbox 360. I think this would be amazing! I would love it if Microsoft could turn that rumor into a fact. I would also love it if Microsoft really is working with DirecTV to add some of those new features to Xbox Live Dashboard in the form of a new Blade on the Dashboard. I also think Microsoft should look at the popularity of certain Xbox Live Arcade games, and how price relates to the games. The games that sell for 400 Microsoft Points are more popular than the games that are 800 Microsoft Points. I believe it would cause many more games to download a larger quantity of games if 400 points was the target price point for more games. From a business point of view, I wish that Microsoft could understand that in Japan, there are three intellectual property franchises that a hardware platform absolutely needs if it wants to achieve true success: Final Fantasy, DragonQuest, and Virtua Fighter. Role-Playing-Games are the most popular genre in Japan, and Fighting games are the second most popular genre. Virtua Fighter is by far the most popular 3D fighting game series in Japan. In terms of sales figures, DragonQuest is the most important Role-Playing-Game. However, Final Fantasy usually is more important overall, because it sets new standards in use of technology. The bottom line is that Microsoft needs to make sure they end up with Final Fantasy, DragonQuest, and Virtua Fighter for the Japanese market. Microsoft also needs to realize that getting games released on an Xbox system after they have been released on another system for quite a while is not a good thing, even if there are new features in the Xbox 360 version. A good example of this is the way the Grand Theft Auto series was so much more successful on the Playstation 2 than it was on the original Xbox. The same thing can be applied to Metal Gear 2 on the original Xbox, and Final Fantasy XI on the Xbox 360. Microsoft needs to make sure that Japanese third party games like Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4, Virtua Fighter 5, and Final Fantasy XIII do not come out for the Playstation 3 first. Sony's primary advantage is Japanese third party support, which is something that can definitely be taken away from them. Microsoft also needs to try and get games like Final Fantasy, DragonQuest, Metal Gear, and Virtua Fighter as exclusive games for the Xbox 360. If Microsoft were to get a NEW Final Fantasy game as an exclusive release in Japan, you could pretty much guarantee that the Xbox 360 would set sales records in Japan, just like it has in every other sales territory in the world. An excellent example of this is the way that the Sega Saturn was outselling the Playstation by a ratio of 5:3, because Saturn had Virtua Fighter, but Final Fantasy VII was supposedly being developed for the Nintendo Ultra 64. However, once Squaresoft announced that Final Fantasy VII would be released exclusively on the Playstation, the Playstation started outselling the Saturn by a margin so huge that the sales war was instantly over. This same sort of thing would happen if Xbox 360 could get SquareEnix to make Final Fantasy or DragonQuest exclusively for the Xbox 360. I would also like to thank Microsoft for including 512MB of RAM in the system rather than the 256MB that I have heard was originally scheduled. RAM is something that is very important in a system; it helps eliminate frame-rate problems in games, especially First-Person-Shooters. I highly suggest that Microsoft talks to Rare about creating a sequel to Perfect Dark Zero at some point in the future, because that is my favorite game of all time. Please see my Suggestions to the Manufacturer for Perfect Dark Zero so that you can see what I have to say about a sequel to Perfect Dark Zero. To briefly summarize what I would like to see in a Perfect Dark Zero sequel: Keep Left Trigger as the zoom button and Keep Right Trigger as the shoot button. Change the default Analog Thumb Stick controls so that they are like Halo rather than then N64 version of Perfect Dark. In other words, make it so the Left Analog Thumb Stick moves Joanna's body forward, backward, left and right; and make it so the Right Analog Thumb Stick controls Joanna's head and overall point of view. This feature is already included in the original Perfect Dark Zero--all you need to do is go to the Options menu and change the Default controls. However, most professional game reviewers and many gamers rate things based on their Default settings. The popularity of games like Halo and Call of Duty 2 clearly show that Default Controls like Halo would be much better than that the Default Controls from the Nintendo 64 version of Perfect Dark. I recommend making the Default Controls like Halo, but keep the Perfect Dark Nintendo 64 controls as a selectable option in the Options menu. That way, fans of the original Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64 can also be satisfied. I also recommend that a sequel to Perfect Dark Zero allow gamers to choose the way that their point-of-view control with the Right Analog Thumb Stick works, just like when Halo is starting out on the original stage. That way, gamers will have the ability to choose whether the game plays like Halo or Call of Duty 2. In other words, the Left Analog Thumb Stick will move your character forward, backward, left, and right, but gamers will get to choose how the Right Analog Thumb Stick works for controlling head movement responsible for point of view; the gamers will get to choose if pushing the Right Analog Thumb Stick down causes the camera to move up like in Call of Duty 2 or down like in Halo. Halo allows videogame players to choose, and I think that Perfect Dark Zero should do the same. I have an excellent idea for how this can be integrated into the storyline of Perfect Dark Zero. One other improvement that should be made to Perfect Dark Zero's sequel is adding a Jump button. In Perfect Dark Zero, Joanna Crouches by pushing in on the Left Analog Thumb Stick. Pushing in on the Right Analog Thumb Stick doesn't do anything in Perfect Dark Zero. The Right Analog Thumb Stick could easily become the Jump button in a Perfect Dark Zero sequel. If these improvements were made, then the Perfect Dark intellectual property franchise would definitely receive the wonderful reviews that it deserved in Perfect Dark Zero, but was denied by a small group of stubborn reviewers who weren?t willing to change the Default controls in the Options menu. All of the professional reviewers and experienced gamers who know how to use an Options menu to change controls made it so the games Analog Thumb Stick character movement controls played just like Halo, and we absolutely loved the game! Thankfully, hundreds of thousands of gamers chose to listen to the majority of reviewers and bought Perfect Dark Zero! Please contact me if you would like to discuss anything. I believe Microsoft should try to build Perfect Dark into an intellectual property that achieves a similar level of success to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. franchise. I think that one of the ways this could be done is to make it so there are deals that would allow consumers to receive Perfect Dark Zero as a bonus or a pack in game. I recently saw a deal like this on the Internet Best Buy and Future Shop offered in Canada; anyone who bought an Xbox 360 could buy Perfect Dark Zero for $1. If Microsoft had to decide whether they should lower the price of the Xbox 360 or include Perfect Dark Zero at the existing price, I would recommend lowering the price of the system. However, including Perfect Dark Zero with the system as a pack in game, regardless of the price of the system, would help to build Perfect Dark Zero into the sort of franchise that Super Mario is. If that happens, I recommend that Microsoft include some sort of advice that makes it clear to consumers that they have the ability to change the game to play like Halo by simply going to the Options menu and changing the controls. I have many more ideas for Perfect Dark Zero and other games. Please contact me if you would like to discuss my ideas and suggestions for storyline and game improvements. My email address is michaelzoran@hotmail.com
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
Perfect Dark Zero
Overall: Pros: This is one of the best games I have ever played in the 25 years I have been playing video games; it is so much fun! The graphics are amazing on any television, and they are photo realistic when you play the game on an HDTV. The 5.1 audio is also amazing; it literally is a tool that helps you play the game. You can locate enemies in better ways thanks to the high-quality 5.1 sound, because you can hear their voices or their steps or their guns in certain speakers at certain times; it really is incredible to have sound be such a huge factor in gameplay!
The background music is also excellent. Perfect Dark Zero is the first videogame I ever bought the soundtrack to. When you hear the song, "Limelight," which plays at a nightclub you are at in one of the early stages, then you will know what I am talking about! The bass pumps out the sound as if you are at a real nightclub, and when you get closer to the building, it is as if you are really there! This is something you will love about the way Xbox 360 uses 5.1 audio!
The gameplay difficulty is also another factor that is excellent, because you can set what sort of difficulty you want it to be at based on what sort of agent you are. I like the way that you have a technical person that your character Joanna Dark is working with named Chandra; she guides you to your location if you take too long doing something and clearly don't know where to go next. This makes it so you don't end up wasting time going back and forth over and over like you do in some of those other games on other systems. This game also has multiplayer and online capabilities that are very nice, especially the online features!
The controls can be adjusted, too; that way, you can have your controller do whatever you want. I personally changed the way the character moves so that Perfect Dark Zero played much more like Halo. The default analog controls are based on the control setup of the original Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, which is something that I do not like very much. I believe that many of the negative reviews for Perfect Dark Zero focused on the control setup and the way that it wasn't as good as Halo. However, the controls of Perfect Dark Zero can easily be adjusted by using the Options menu. Perfect Dark Zero's left and right analog stick controls can be identical to those of Halo if you just make one change in the Options menu. So I went to the Options screen and changed it so the right analog stick moves the characters head up, down, left, and right so it is easy to coordinate where you are looking. I also changed the controls so the left analog stick causes Joanna Dark to move forward and backward and strafe left and right. I believe that this should have been the default control, because it allows anyone familiar with a first person shooter like Halo to instantly be familiar with the controls in Perfect Dark Zero. Thankfully, this is an easy adjustment to make, and it is a great overall control adjustment feature that I highly recommend!
Cons:
I have nothing to complain about this game! Under normal conditions, I would say that the only thing to complain about would be that the game had to come to an end, but the fact that you can play this game online with so many other people makes it so you always get replay value out of this game! Plus, you can go back to earlier levels with more advanced weapons and gadgets that you got in later stages and beat up on those bad guys and examine new places in very fun ways! The only potential bad thing about Perfect Dark Zero is that the default controls are based on the control scheme from Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64 rather than the control scheme from Halo on the Xbox. Thankfully, this can be corrected in the Options menu. There were probably people who didn't give Perfect Dark Zero the full chance it deserved, because the default controls make it more difficult to coordinate where you are going and what you are looking at. Hopefully, the programmers at Rare will change the default controls of the next Perfect Dark videogame so they are like the controls of Halo on the Xbox rather than the controls of Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64.
Comments:
My personal comment would be for people who haven't played this game yet: If you really want to play a fun game that is meant to be fun for the player while taking advantage of graphics, sound, action, humor, and online features all at the same time, then you should at least rent this game! I recommend that you go to the Options screen and change the control setup so it is like Halo on the Xbox rather than Perfect Dark Zero on the Nintendo 64. This is a game that will really make a great gift for anyone! I highly recommend getting the Limited Collector's Edition of the game if you can still find it, because it only costs $10 more at most places, and it comes with some nice things, such as a bonus DVD.
Gameplay: The writers in this game did such an excellent job with the way that the script is designed. The level of humor in this game is absolutely amazing. For example, one of the weapons you use, called, "the Laptop," makes the quick note that it uses Windows 2020. Another funny thing is the way you can listen to people in the game; I have spent lots of time just listening to people talk in the game. Listening to this one guy talk on his cell phone with his wife is absolutely amazing! The voices of the enemies are excellent; they are very nicely done.
Overall, I think that anyone will like this game. If you have an HDTV and a 5.1 audio system, then you will be absolutely amazed with what you see and hear. The graphics on a normal television are still far superior to anything else produced on any other system, and if you don't have a 5.1 sound system, then the stereo sound is still great, just not as great as the true 5.1 element that would have brought in a new element of gameplay. I believe that everyone with an Xbox 360 should at least give this game a try, because I can't imagine anyone not liking it. This game will only be available to play on the Xbox 360, which means that if you don't have one, then this is the sort of game that you would want to get when you do buy your Xbox 360. I hope that everyone who plays this game enjoys it! :-)
Graphics: The graphics are amazing on any television, and they are photo realistic when you play the game on an HDTV. The level of animation is excellent!
Audio: The 5.1 audio is also amazing; it literally is a tool that helps you play the game. You can locate enemies in better ways thanks to the high-quality 5.1 sound, because you can hear their voices or their steps or their guns in certain speakers at certain times; it really is incredible to have sound be such a huge factor in gameplay!
The background music is also excellent. Perfect Dark Zero is the first videogame I ever bought the soundtrack to. When you hear the song, "Limelight," which plays at a nightclub you are at in one of the early stages, then you will know what I am talking about! The bass pumps out the sound as if you are at a real nightclub, and when you get closer to the building, it is as if you are really there! This is something you will love about the way Xbox 360 uses 5.1 audio!
Suggestions: Perfect Dark Zero is my favorite game of all time. I have bought the Collector's Edition, the Soundtrack, the Book, and the AudioBook. Each of those is AWESOME!
I love the Perfect Dark Zero videogame, and I hope that a sequel will be released. A sequel would allow Rare to make the Default Analog Stick Controls similar to Halo rather than the N64 version of Perfect Dark. To experienced gamers like me, this isn't that big of a deal, since you can go to the Options menu in Perfect Dark Zero and change the controls. But to new gamers and game reviewers who usually evaluate games based on default controls, I believe it would make a big difference in their opinion of the game.
I believe a change in the Default Analog Stick Controls would cause everyone who likes Halo to also enjoy Perfect Dark, because then the Left Analog Stick will control the movement of your character, and the Right Analog Stick will move the Joanna?s head and overall point of view. I believe this is the way it should be for all first person shooters. The small amount of people who didn't like Perfect Dark Zero didn't give it a second chance because they didn't take the time to go to the Options menu to change the controls to be like Halo. But, if Rare would have made the controls similar to Halo by default, then that would not have been an issue.
A sequel to Perfect Dark Zero would also be designed with the Xbox 360 in mind from day one. Perfect Dark Zero was originally supposed to be released for the Gamecube, then the Xbox, and then it was rushed out in order to be there for the launch of the Xbox 360. A sequel to Perfect Dark Zero would allow Rare to truly take advantage of the power of the Xbox 360.
My favorite feature of the Xbox 360 version of Perfect Dark Zero is the way that Chandra will tell you where to go with arrows when you have no clue where to go. I hate First-Person-Shooter games where you get motion sickness and a headache from wandering around in the same spots over and over because you don't know where to go. Perfect Dark Zero corrects this problem with the arrows. Some people say this takes the difficulty out of the game, but I disagree. I think that feature makes it so a new group of people will be able to succeed at the game.
I hope Rare is listening to this. Please contact me if you are. My email address is michaelzoran@hotmail.com. I have a large number of game and story suggestions. Please make a sequel. Make the default character movement controls similar to Halo. Keep the zoom with the Left Trigger. Add a Jump button to the game by using the Right Analog Stick in the same way that the Left Analog Stick causes the character to Crouch. The game will be Perfect then, and all the people who review it professionally will say it lived up to the hype!
Overall Score: 10.0 / 10
