Perfect Dark

"Simply one of the best games ever made."

NOTE: In order to access Single Player Missions and some features in Multi player, you will need a Nintendo 64 Expansion Pak. You can find these in most used game stores and EBay really cheap.

In the year 1997, Goldeneye 007 was released for Nintendo 64 on August 25th. The game became a instant success, selling up there with other great games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game was a absolute hit and revolutionized the First Person Shooter genre as we know it. In the year 2000, Perfect Dark was released as a sort of follow-up to Goldeneye. It doesn't use the James Bond world like Goldeneye did, but Rare's own creation using the female spy named Joanna Dark. The game is basically the sister game to Goldeneye since the game play remains the same. This game did not sell as well as Goldeneye due to the fact that it was released on the verge of death for the N64, but I imagine it would have sold just as well, if not, even better than Goldeneye, if it wasn't for that.

Story: 10/10

The story in this game is very in-depth and creative. In the year 2023, Joanna Dark is sent on her first mission (although recently changed since Perfect Dark Zero was released for the X-Box 360 as a prequel) to infiltrate a building owned by the dataDyne corporation and extract a scientist named Dr. Caroll. Dr. Caroll is a AI that the dataDyne corporation is making and the Carrington Institute (the Institute Joanna works for) suspects that it is for no good. There is obviously more to the story than this, but I'll let you figure out the rest on your own! After the first 4 levels, the story really blossoms. It can get quite complicated to understand just watching the cut scenes, but it becomes easier to understand if you read stuff like the Mission Briefings. The game also has a feature to watch all of the cut scenes you have seen so far through the main menu. Also, since it takes place in 2023, everything is all futuristic. The cars in this game fly and there are many types of weapons that are out of this world. The thing with all stories that take place in the future is that they over exaggerate things. PD has futuristic stuff, but not so much more advanced than ours to mean that we probably won't have stuff similar to them in the future.

Graphics: 9/10

These graphics are the best on the N64. Seriously, they blow the N64 away. In some areas, they look like they can pass off as a X-Box, GameCube, or PS2 era game. Especially if you set it on High-Resolution. Although when displayed in High-Resolution the game tends to get a little laggy. The creators have done a beautiful job on this. You can really see the detail on the walls and some of details on the people's clothes. However, they aren't exactly perfect. I said it is very detailed, but most of those areas happen to be blurred a little. I guess it is to be expected from a N64 game, but other than that they are amazing. Another thing is that everyone's hands are all balled into fists. Up close it looks like they just shoved their gun like a knife into their hand.

Music: 10/10

The music in this game is awesome. All of the tracks fit the levels perfectly and really bring out the true feeling of the level. For example, in the third level, you are trying to get back out of the dataDyne building. But the guards have noticed you and shut the lights off and are waiting for you behind some set ups they use for cover. There is also the stress of a Hover Copter with a mounted Machine Gun flying around the building and shooting at you through the windows and the fact that you have to protect Dr. Caroll. The game brings out this feeling nicely in the panic-like music. You'll just have to hear it for yourself.

Sound: 10/10

The sound in this game is very good. Unlike Goldeneye, it has Voice Acting. The Voice Acting really adds to the overall feel of the game. Sometimes guards will yell some line like "Stupid Gun" and go into a animation of trying to reload his gun. The Voice Acting in this game is very good considering in most games there are some flaws in it. Joanna herself has a British sounding voice that really brings out her character. You can even hear the emotion the person is feeling in their voice. The sounds of the guns firing matches that particular gun perfectly. Being a game set in the future, there are som futuristic guns that have really cool alien-like sounds to them. Even while reloading you will hear some cool sounds.

Gameplay: 9/10

This game plays almost exactly like Goldeneye if you've played it. It's not exactly like any other FPS, it just a little different. It just has a certain feel to it. It isn't really anything you can explain unless you play it for yourself. It's just something that games like Halo don't have that makes this game so great. Otherwise, you should know how it plays if you've played any other FPS, which I would assume you have since in this time and age they are highly popular plus the fact that you're now looking for a FPS for your precious N64. Anyway, In this game, guards actually flinch when shot, unlike games now days where guards don't seem to feel shots at all. You would think this might make the game somewhat easier, but it doesn't. This effect really adds to the overall feel of the game. The guards are very well positioned to make it fun and add to the whole stealthy spy role. Sometimes, the game will lag if there are too many guards on the screen or if a explosion is occurring. This gets annoying, but it isn't all that common. This also occurs in Multi player if there are too many Simulants and/or people. You don't just have to just walk around in this game. Using a combination of the Strafe buttons (Which are the C-Buttons in default) and looking around you can make yourself go a lot faster which makes the game a lot funner. For more information on how to do this read the FAQs. There isn't much else to say about the game play other than it's really fun. You just have to play for yourself to really get the Holy-like feel of this awesome game.

Multi Player: 10/10

This is where the game really shines. The Multi Player is like a dream come true. It is so customizable and allows so many options that sometimes I will spend up to 10 minutes setting up a match. Luckily, the game allows you to save several of the set-ups you make. In most games, Multi player has to be played with more than one person, but this game has AI's that can be played against with just One Player. The AI's (called Sims or Simulants by the game) have 6 different levels of difficulty. MeatSim being the easiest, and DarkSim being the hardest. MeatSims can barely aim at all and usually just spin around in circles hoping to hit something or just run away. DarkSims have about 98% Accuracy and can kill you before you even know what's going on. Indeed, they are very fast and always know where you are at and can also fire guns faster than you can. This is about as hard as AI's on a Video Game gets. You can also set the Simulants personalities to stuff like "PreySim" which is basically a assassin Sim that preys on the weak. You can also set them to only use their fists if you want. There are loads of these, but lets move away from Simulants. You can even set the music that plays during a match and customize the arena's arsenal. There is even a option to set names for your team. Instead of "Team Blue", you can call your team something cool like "Perfect Storm" or something. If you like something from another FPS's multi player, Perfect Dark most likely has it.

Controls: 10/10

(All Button descriptions are for the Default Controller setting) The controls are great and fit the N64 Controller very well. As you would probably expect, the Z-Button is the button you use to Shoot/Punch with. The A-Button cycles through your weapons and is the button you use to choose things with in the menus. The B-Button is for Reloading and opening doors. The C-Buttons Strafe you left and right and make you look up and down. R and L are for Manual aiming and the start Button is for Pausing. If you don't like them, you can of course change them. I personally use controller setting 1.2 which makes C-Up and C-Down walk you forward and back instead of the Joystick; up and down on the joystick are what C-Up and C-Down did on 1.1. 1.2 is more close to modern say FPS's and which is what I recommend using. For some reason, when walking in 1.2 you're actually faster than walking in 1.1, so there's another plus.

Replay Value: 10/10

This games replay value mostly comes from the extensive multi player. But there is a lot more besides that. After you have mastered all the levels, you can beat levels within certain time limits to earn special cheats like Invincible, All Guns ect. This becomes a real challenge and makes the cheats funner to use since you know you earned them and weren't naughty because all you did was press some button code for them. There are also 4 difficulty levels. Perfect Agent being the hardest and will keep you busy for a good long while. You also unlock 3 bonus levels for beating the game, one for each difficulty level. The 4th difficulty level really isn't a actual measurement of difficulty, but it's called Perfect Dark Mode and allows you to set Enemy Health, Enemy Accuracy, and Enemy Damage (Enemy Damage being how much enemy gun fire damages you). Overall, the Replay Value is amazing and will literally keep you playing for years to come.

Pros:

+ Extensive Story mode with a very challenging Perfect Agent mode.
+ A Co-Operative story mode.
+ A Counter-Operative story mode.
+ An amazing Multi Player mode with so many features you will never get bored.
+ Best Graphics on the N64.

Cons:

- Has lag problems.
- Minor Deformation on character models.

Buy or Rent?

Buy it. You will love this game. I don't think there are many places that allow you to rent N64 games anyway in this time. Most stores that sell used N64 games should have this. But they'll probably be a bit pricey at $40. But it's worth every penny. You can get a good deal on EBay with it Factory Sealed for as low as One Cent to $10. But seriously, the price isn't what should dictate you getting this game or not. I would pay up to $2000 for this game if I had to.

Overall: 10/10

Overall, nothing more needs to be said about this game other than it is almost perfect (The little lag problem bringing it down a little). Like said so many times before, you will love this game and you will play it for years. This game truly is one of the best games ever made.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06, Updated 02/12/07