Perfect Dark (N64)
Developed by: Rare
Published by: Nintendo

This review is probably just going to confirm what most gamers already know: Rare makes some damn good games. Who knows where the hell Nintendo would be without them.

Perfect Dark is the “unofficial sequel” to Goldeneye for the N64. Instead of making another game with the James Bond franchise however, Rare opted to create their own characters and storyline. And what a storyline it is! Rare kept the espionage theme from Bond, but they have also added a sci-fi element to the story. It breaks down like this: You are Agent Joanna Dark, and your mission is to infiltrate the headquarters of a corporation called dataDyne. Recent events would seem to suggest that they are involved in some sort of alien conspiracy, and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. Most of the plot is a mystery that slowly unravels as you progress throughout the game.

When I first heard about this game I asked myself how they could possibly improve upon Goldeneye. Goldeneye was an amazing game with a lot of detail, great play control, and great replay value. The overachievers at Rare, however, knew exactly how high the expectations were, and they didn’t simply give Goldeneye a facelift, they made vast improvements in every area while keeping the basic Goldeneye play controls.

First of all, there is a vast assortment of new weapons in Perfect Dark.For the most part, I think that guns are guns, and this type of thing doesn’t really make much difference to me. However, there are some pretty cool new guns including the Laptop gun, which is disguised as a laptop computer, and the Dragon, which is an assault rifle/grenade launcher combo. There is also a strange yet powerful new weapon called the Farsight, which allows you to locate and shoot an opponent through walls. You don’t want to let this one fall into your enemy’s hands, trust me!

Another cool thing about the weapons in this game is that every weapon has a secondary function, most of which come in extremely handy. For instance, the Laptop Gun can be deployed as a perimeter sentry which will fire at anyone who comes near it, and the Dragon can be set to self-destruct, creating a huge explosion. You even have a secondary function when you are unarmed; instead of trying to knock out the opponent, you can try to disarm them and steal their gun instead.

Yet another interesting feature in Perfect Dark is that when you get punched by an opponent or hit with a poison tipped dart, your vision temporarily blurs. The effect feels very realistic, to say the least.

Joanna Dark also has access to some neat gadgetry that even Mr. Bond was never fortunate enough to have. One of these neat little toys is the CamSpy, which is a floating camera that can access areas that are impossible for Joanna to reach on her own.

Putting aside all the new weapons and gadgetry however, I think perhaps the most important improvement in Perfect Dark is the focus on enemy artificial intelligence. In Goldeneye, the difficulty level was increased in the missions mainly by throwing more opponents at you, or by giving the opponents more firepower or higher accuracy. In Perfect Dark, the challenge feels much more realistic because of the fact that the opponents actually have varying degrees of intelligence and different personalities/behavioural patterns.

This also makes the multiplayer mode a whole new ball game. You don’t even need to have friends to play a multiplayer game, because you can play against computer simulants, up to 8 at a time.Not only can you play against simulants, but you can also team up with simulants. Under these circumstances, you can give your artificial teammates general orders such as Hold, Protect, Follow or Attack.

There are also some really cool new multiplayer options that combine the typical “deathmatch” scenario with the solo missions. You can tackle the solo missions with a friend in co-operative mode, or you can compete against a friend in counter-operative mode. To explain the counter-operative mode a little further, one player takes the role of Joanna Dark, while the other player is able to control each of the bad guys in that level. I don’t know if that has ever been done before in another game, but I think it’s an amazing idea.

The only complaint I have about the game is that it requires the use of an N64 Memory Expansion Pak to access most sections of the game. You can’t do much more than play the solo combat challenges against computer simulant opponents unless you have the Expansion Pak. Of course, this isn’t really a flaw in the game, it is more of a minor annoyance. After having played the game, it is easy to see why the extra memory is necessary. It is actually a notable achievement that they managed to make any portions of the game playable at all without the additional RAM. It is a pain to drop some extra cash on the expansion pak, especially considering the cost of N64 games, but quite honestly it is all worth it.

As with most of Rare’s games, they go above and beyond the call of duty to create a fully immersive world. I am always amazed at all of the little details in their games. In Goldeneye, I loved how if you shot at the ceiling, dust and debris would shower down on you. In Perfect Dark, on the very first level I found a cool little detail that once again attests to Rare’s brilliance. When you are on the roof of the building, if you look out at the skyline of the city, you will see little ships flying around in the night. For the fun of it I decided to target one of these little ships in the distance and squeeze the trigger. To my surprise, the ship exploded right before my eyes! Okay so maybe I’m just a geek, but little things like this really excite me. Suddenly the game seems so much more realistic, and as a player you feel like your actions are completely unrestricted.

There has been a lot of hype around this game, and I can honestly say that it is all well founded. Sure it’s another first person shooter, but it has a great story, and a lot of attention to detail. There is a lot more to Perfect Dark than just blowing away bad guys. On top of that, this game has the best multiplayer mode that has been seen on any N64 first person shooter to date. The options are virtually limitless.

Lately it seems that there aren’t many reasons to own a Nintendo 64 anymore. I am happy to report, however, that Perfect Dark is one game that will definitely make you want to hold onto that N64 system for just a little while longer. — Sean