`Perfect Dark Zero' falls short.

Byline: Dean Takahashi

Game: "Perfect Dark Zero"

Score: Three stars (out of four)

Publisher: Microsoft

Platform: Xbox 360

Rated: Mature

Web site: www.perfectdarkzero.com

Price: $60

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"Perfect Dark Zero" from Microsoft for the Xbox 360 exposes all the contradictions about the first new console to claim that it will introduce the "next generation of video games."

It is a good game, but it falls short of being great. It certainly isn't the next "Halo," even though Microsoft originally billed it as the killer application for the Xbox 360. The game falls so far short of that mark it makes me wonder about the Xbox 360, which Sony derisively nicknamed Xbox 1.5. Is this really the best exclusive-launch game Microsoft itself could pull together to sell its new console? (As I've said before, the non-exclusive "Call of Duty 2" from Activision …