Perfect Dark
After the phenomenal success of GoldenEye 007, Rare announced that it was making another game based on the same engine; however, it would not be another Bond title. Rather, it would be an original creation of Rare, and in addition to the classic GoldenEye thrills would sport a slew of new things to do. This game was Perfect Dark.
Perfect Dark follows the first assignment of novice - yet very skilled - Carrington Institute agent Joanna Dark. Joanna earned the nickname 'perfect' through her excellent training exploits, and the game will make you live up to these expectations in conflict with the ominous Datadyne corporation, along with whoever's backing it...
Perfect Dark's story is fairly deep for a shooter. What begins as a simple response to a distress signal raised from within Datadyne becomes a very involved plot, the scale of which far exceeds a simple fight between the Carrington Institute and Datadyne. Between in-game events, pre- and post-mission cinemas, and supplemental information available from the Institute, it's apparent that a great deal of thought and care (and more than a little humor) went into the development of PD's storyline.
To live up to gamers' expectations after GoldenEye, Perfect Dark would have to deliver a lot. Like its 007 predecessor, PD has three difficulty levels for each of its 17 missions: Agent, Special Agent, and Perfect Agent. Higher difficulties offer more and more challenging objectives (as well as more and more difficult enemies). The gadgets from GoldenEye have been significantly upgraded - rather than being a rare occurrance, Joanna will routinely need to use special visors, camera spies, door decoders, and several other espionage devices to infiltrate enemy compounds. Perfect Dark's "Combat Simulator" multiplayer is also leaps and bounds ahead of GoldenEye, the most notable addition that of simulants, or artificial-intelligence bots. Games can have up to four human players as well as up to eight simulants playing at once. There are also more arenas (as well as a few remakes of classic GoldenEye arenas), more play modes (including King of the Hill and a modified Capture the Flag), and more options (specific weapons, simulant AI, and a number of others) to make designing the perfect match just as much fun as playing it. Plus, characters from multiplayer (both their appearance and their statistics) can be saved for later use.
Of course, all these play modes would be worthless without the game's real shining point: weapons. There are 34 weapons in Perfect Dark, all of which have secondary functions, as well as eight single-function unlockable guns which are resurrections of classic GoldenEye arms. The basics are covered - pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, knives, mines, a laser - along with a sundry assortment of more interesting choices: a tranquilizer, a crossbow, a fly-by-wire missile launcher, an x-ray sniper rifle, even a gun with a cloaking function. This massive arsenal keeps the game fresh no matter how you play it.
Perfect Dark's graphics are a step up from GoldenEye's, but are not without fault - undoubtedly the biggest failure of the game is that having too many humans and simulants in a multiplayer match will slow it down tremendously. On a lighter note, though, the sound effects are well done, and the soundtrack is nicely diverse and well-composed.
With unlockable cheats, Combat Simulator challenges, character stats and rankings, three solo mission difficulties, bonus solo missions, multiplayer co-operative missions (play missions with a friend by your side), and counter-operative missions (a friend controls random enemies), Perfect Dark is an immense game. PD has more than enough replay value to last anyone a considerable deal of time.
Occasional framerate woes aside, Perfect Dark is spectacular; otherwise, it's unstoppable. The promise of new ways to play never fails to please. But make sure you have a RAM expansion pack for the N64 - without it, most of PD's features won't function at all.
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