Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) Review

Whereas GoldenEye 007 was not too difficult to script due to it being based of the movie of the same name, Perfect Dark was a tougher cookie. However, the writers at Rare came up trumps with this tale of mystery and espionage surrounding the special Government agent Joanna Dark, codename 'Perfect Dark', set in the near future. Everything starts out under conspiratorial circumstances, but eventually pans out into a battle between alien groups allied peacefully with Ms Dark's agency and adversely with the corrupt dataDyne Corporation.

By this point the Nintendo 64 was on its last legs and ready to give up the fight after being pummelled for years by Sony's first entry into the gaming world, the 32-bit PlayStation. However, avoiding talk of sales, Rare was at a point where the only developer to command a greater visual presence on the system was Nintendo itself. The UK outfit had already stunned gamers with the highly impressive GoldenEye and now found itself with the task of improving upon that for the pseudo-sequel. And rather than relax, it stepped up, grabbed the task with both hands and cranked out a gorgeous title full or dark hues, wicked looking evils, superb lighting effects and masses of action on-screen. The only drawback was the amount of slowdown witnessed, especially during multiplayer bouts and when some of the more impressive weaponry came into play, despite utilising the N64's 'Expansion Pak'. However, it was a small price to pay for such beauty, and along with the stirring soundtrack it certainly is hard to criticise the game too much.

Now, if you have never played GoldenEye then there is definitely a whole in your gaming life, since it was (and still is) one of the finest examples of the First Person Shooter genre around. Perfect Dark is its successor. But just exactly do you manage to improve upon perfection in the first place? Surely it just is not possible? The way Rare went about the process, though, was to stick as much into Perfect Dark as it could possibly do without completely overheating the Nintendo 64, all the while maintaining the award-winning gameplay mechanic that made the Bond FPS so exhilarating.

Therefore, players are faced with near enough two dozen different missions, each jam-packed with intensive, brain-taxing and skill-flexing objectives that must be completed. And if you think you will breeze through easily, damn you are so far from the mark it is untrue! You may be asked to simply protect an ally, reach a certain location, find specific documents or destroy key enemy devices. The amount of objectives per mission all depends on the difficulty level you choose to endure. Want to make your life hell? Then crank up the settings and prepare for the whitewash that ensues...

Okay, so perhaps those that worked their way through GoldenEye 007 may not be initially as impressed with this as newcomers, but the experience is so fruitful that any similarities of technical limitations are easily cast aside. The sheer amount of extras mixed into the main gameplay is truly astonishing. You only have to look at the fact that you are able to play through the whole game with a friend (or computer-aided partner) in horizontal split-screen to see that original ideas had been expanded to a large degree. In fact, the upped levels of enemy AI was immense as well, with your foes clearly being far more aware of your presence than they were in GoldenEye, actually using tactics to defeat you, such as working as a pack to efficiently bring you down. But YOU can also be sly, shooting weapons from people's hands and collecting them for your own use (watch out for the reverse happening to you, though...), plus there is the dual ability of weapons that plays a massive part in certain missions.

And if that is not enough, how do you fancy the idea of playing through the solo missions against a friend? A mate can jump in and act as any enemy around you, aiming to hamper your progress as much as possible, before being defeated and leaping into another enemy's body to help continue your plight! There is such a vast array of things to do, see and blast through that was not found in GoldenEye, it is quite a tricky decision to make over which is the better game. Perhaps the Bond title should receive the accolade for its revolution of the genre, whilst Perfect Dark match it in terms of extra content and care poured into the final product. Sound fair? Probably not to die-hard fans out there...

The level of value for money found in Perfect Dark is fantastic, with the game remaining as fresh as it was back in 2000 to this very day. This is purely thanks to the enormous amount of replayability within the tightly packed N64 cartridge. Rare truly made use of the extra breathing space provided by the N64 Expansion Pak, not only giving players an epic adventure to play through on three difficulty levels, but including one of the most extensive home console multiplayer experiences of all time. Stacks of maps are available and the same goes for the number of Simulants you can play against, each with distinct personalities and degrees of pure difficulty. Look at completing Perfect Dark in its entirety over a couple of days and you can truly call yourself a master at gaming. The rest of us will merrily sit playing the game for years to come...