Bargain Game Gamble

Sometimes it's fun to walk into a shop, pick up a cheap game without knowing any reviews for it, and see if it's any good.

So, today me and my Dad braved the post-Christmas sales to see if we could find any gems in the game shops. My budget however was very limited. So limited in fact, that my selection was under £1. (And so my Dad paid for it anyway)

I present to you, Perfect Dark Zero:

Reduced from £1.99, because seemingly that was too pricey.

Lets not pretend now, when a game gets reduced from £1.99 to 98p it's not going to be the digital art piece your soul has always yearned for. However with a brand like Rare behind it and a whole plethora of  acclamations plastered over the case : how bad could it be?

"TAKE ME BACK TO SKYRIM!"

Initial tests don't look encouraging. The controls feel like your stuck in mud, and turning up the control stick sensitivity just makes it like you're sinking in mud and frantically looking for an escape. Sometimes navigating levels is also arduous, with very vague instructions on what your mission is meant to entail and a path-finder that stops abruptly before you reach your destination: leaving you bumbling around feeling as lost as you were before you started.

After that, trying to get into the premise of the game just feels hard. You're meant to be sneaky, clever and out-smarting the enemy. Whilst there are some nice touches like location damage and evasive rolls you can perform, by far the easiest way to get through is to run in guns blazing.

Taking cover, something that seems like it was meant to be very important, is grossly hampered by the game trying to tell you how to do it. It takes one button press to duck, anyone can do that, but if you dare to press A to take cover as commanded you'll regret it! Poor Joanna doesn't understand terrain very well and often gets stuck in less-than-helpful places, usually whilst taking five-tonne of gunfire to her pretty face and being too scared to move. I have nothing against cover-and-shoot gameplay, but this clearly feels like it should of stuck to good ol' fashioned circle strafing.

I'll keep at it and post an update when I'm further in to the game, but for now I think I hear Skyrim calling.

P.S. My dad snapped up Elder Scrolls Oblivion for £13.99, and almost certainly faired better out of the two of us!