Xbox 360 first impressions

Perfect Dark Zero

To be perfectly honest, we had a degree of trepidation when firing up the new version of the classic N64 shooter. The screenshots and videos we'd seen so far didn't exactly look stunning, and there was a feeling that this was no Halo - in fact, it might barely be a Daikatana. So, it was a relief to actually get to play it and evaluate whether it's a crucial launch title.

Every console needs a shooter, and Perfect Dark is it for the 360. The gameplay is great - it's fun, it's kill-tastic, and with controls lifted straight out of Halo, it's very accessible. The HUD is familiar, and for fans of the N64 version, it will be a welcome return to the world of Joanna Dark. The gameplay is fast paced, but with suitably stealthy bits too. The transition between first and third person is handled well, and the guns all feel appropriately meaty.

Thankfully, the in-game graphics look a heck of a lot nicer than the screenshots we've seen so far. The buildings are high-polygon and playing a first person shooter on a living-room sized screen - with the sharpness of Half-Life, rather than the blurriness of Halo - is a great experience.

We were very downbeat about this one, but having played it, we can't wait to get our hands on it and play it through properly. Microsoft say they've made one copy for every Xbox 360 available in the US, and we can see why - it looks to be a popular title when the console launches tomorrow. A surprise hit, we think.

Conclusions

Overall, the lineup for 360 launch is one of the strongest we've seen. Perfect Dark, Gotham and Kameo are great titles that will keep launch-day buyers occupied for quite a while. With Gotham and PDZ also offering awesome online play, there's going to be a lot of longevity in those games. With DoA on the way, there's a gamut of top stuff to keep everyone occupied until the day that Halo 3 arrives. Gosh, what a day that will be.

Of course, there are many other launch titles other than the ones we've had a chance to go hands-on with - we've covered that list here. Not only that, but you may want to play through Halo 2 again with some Anti-Aliasing and a higher resolution, thanks to the backwards-compatibility emulation.

We're unabashedly excited about the 360 launch, and we're counting down the days until us UK folks can get some 360 action. Until then, if any of you reading pick up one on launch day and get a chance to sit down with it, why not pop over to the forums and let us know your opinion of your purchase?