So let's get this out of the way. I'm not a huge fan of Perfect Dark. It's a good game, but that's all it is; good. It's not spectacularly amazing or the best console first person shooter to come out of its generation. It's merely a spirited sequel to Goldeneye that's plagued by some of the worst frame rate stutters that I've ever witnessed, and for that reason alone it's not all that and a bag of Chupa Chips. But it is a decent FPS and a worthy property that's worth pumping a few more games out of, and that's why I'm anticipating Perfect Dark Zero's arrival on the Xbox 360, not because I think it's going to be as revolutionary as Halo was. All I want to do is pick up a bunch of high powered guns and go homicidal on thousands of hapless NPCs. Oh, and I'd like it the game to run smoothly and look as pretty as the proverbial girl next door.

I was moved to say all of that because some of you are making a big deal about how the game's going to suck or how it won't be nearly as good as Halo. To that I say, get the hell over it, please. I admit that the voice acting (what I've heard of it) is cheesier than Chester Cheetah and I don't know what's up with that one video where Johanna looks uglier than N-Gage Call of Duty (and what an exaggeration that was), but all of the other stuff; the blurred vision effect that occurs whenever the player quickly adjusts the camera, the crazed bursts of light when weapons are fired, the mass explosions, and the bodies flying about makes Perfect Dark Zero look like a damn good time.

The narrative, which takes place three years before the events in the original Perfect Dark, appears to be ultimately forgettable, some yarn about a war against evil corporations. Johanna and her father Jack are pulled into the conflict, and the fate of the world is dropped into their laps. That's the company line, the stuff that gets slapped onto the back of the game's box, but based on what I've seen the story is about as important as Doom 3's, so I'm basically saying that it's of minor importance. We're all supposed to just run about, swap out rifles and kill lots of evil doers. This appears to be what the game does exceptionally well; place you in high intensity environments and charge you with making it out alive while bad guys pelt Johanna with gunfire.

Seeing as how it takes place in the future, Miss Dark has all sorts of fascinating toys to play with. Aside from numerous vision modes, one of which allows you to see through walls as well as skin, she also has access to a Data Thief (a special device that makes nabbing things a whole lot easier), a Locktopus (a standard lock pick that'll turn Johanna into a master of unlocking), and a Demo Kit (just a whole bunch of explosives). Now what's especially interesting about all of this stuff is, before a mission you get to select just one device and it'll be used to unlock a portion of the level. This means you won't see everything the first time through, so if you want to get the full experience, you'll have to go through each missions three separate times or, if you have a friend handy, you can blaze through the game cooperatively and use two different items to access this content.

In addition to the equipment she'll also be able to wield numerous types of weapons, an arsenal that includes pistols, automatic rifles, and other neat toys. There's also vehicles in the game, but unless Rare is hiding something there's just a jetpack that has unlimited machine gun rounds and a hover craft.

Cooperative play is definitely one of this game's biggest selling points, especially since it can be played online. There are actually moments in the single player campaign where you'll have to save Johanna's father from certain doom, and I'm assuming that if you're playing alongside a friend, he or she will fill in the role of Jack.

When you're not playing cooperatively you'll be murdering countless human opponents via Xbox Live. Up to 32 people can jam into a map and blow one another's brains out with the same types of weapons as well as the aforementioned vehicles. I'm not exactly sure how Perfect Dark Zero's multiplayer modes will stack up to Call of Duty 2 and Quake IV's, but I'm sure it'll be fun times.

By and large this is a very attractive videogame, not as startling as Oblivion but pretty damn impressive looking. Sparks fly, things blow up good, there's plenty of pretty scenery to stare at, and the character models look decent enough. Plus, Zero moves at what should be a consistent 30 frames per second. Not exactly sure how 30 frames will feel in the next generation versus the blisteringly fast 60 mark, but so long as I can turn around fast enough to kill the idiot shooting me in the back I'll be just fine.

Thus far, Perfect Dark Zero looks like it's going to be one hell of a first person shooter and therefore, a must play. But the moral of the story is to stop comparing it to Halo. Also, if you're a huge Perfect Dark fan who feels like Rare is dropping the ball with this game, go into it with low expectations and you'll probably find that it turned out to be rather enjoyable. Slated to release within the dreaded "launch window" (and possibly launch day), Perfect Dark Zero should turn out to be a fantastic game to show off Microsoft's new console.