PDZ - The Multiplayer Expierence

How good is PDZ online? Does it compete with Halo 2? How much lag is there? Well for starters PDZ is damn good online; however, nothing can ever replace Halo 2, maybe Halo 3, but that hasn't been officially announced yet. At least this is my mind set. There is little to no lag online, no matter how many players. Wether it be 32 or 16, no lag. However, sometimes you can get some FPS lag which is sometimes annoying, but its not that bad. One thing that I can honestly say, is that the XBL interface and setup is not great, although the best apparently out of the online 360 title. PGR3 is also supposed to have a identical setup. I don't like to compare both Halo 2 and PDZ, because they are in different leagues; however, it has to be done. Halo 2 is the most acclaimed FPS to date. Halo 2's matchmaking system blows, PDZ's out of the water completely. The matchemaking system for Halo 2 supported easy fast parties, and consisted of a 2 minute wait or less depending to get into a game, PDZ is different, seeing the game uses the "ready" system. The host has to launch the game, and can only launch unless there are certain amount of players ready, and many times the host is very slow to start the games. This tends to be extremely annoying at times. One thing, I also noticed is that PDZ does not support clans, which is a step backwards in a way. I don't know why Rare decided to not include this option, but it was a very thought out move. PDZ, is completely independent for the most part. What I mean by this is, even if you have a friend in the game, there is a lack of communication and its difficult to adventure with your friend. In a way PDZ, is not very "friend friendly". For instance, friends cannot join a ranking match that you are currently in. If they really want to get in, they have to find the game via the game search. In the actually settings for search for a game there is a fair bit of choices:

• Quick Darkops Match (Eradication, Infection, Onsalught, Sabotage)
  
• Quick DeathMatch (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Territorial Gains)
  
• Custom Game (Input custom parameters for any game you want to play)
  
• Ranking/Non-Ranking (At the bottom there is an option you can switch to Ranking/Non-Ranking)

I think there are more options but, I can't remeber off hand what they are. Overall, the multiplayer expierience is great, and it is defiently one of the better online games for the 360 currently. This would be a great title to get over the holiday season.