"An almost perfect sequel to Goldeneye..."

I have been pondering for many hours how to start this review - I wanted to get it just right, because I wanted it to be up to the standard of Perfect Dark. Unfortunately I cannot do that as I have neither the skill nor words to describe how great this game is. It truly is one of the greatest games ever, reaching new standards in graphics, sound, music, game play, multi-play, character speech and game longevity. The team at Rare have put all these all together in such away that this game may not be beat for a long, long time, definitely not beaten on the Nintendo 64 anyway.

The game itself has an amazing story line that involves anti-terrorism, aliens and conspiracy, all moulded around one central character, Joanna Dark. Joanna works/belongs to the Carrington Institute who is in rival competition to Datadyne corporation. Joanna is sent into Datadyne to find and rescue a mysterious Dr Carroll, Joanna has no idea of what he looks like and is sent in pretty much blind, from the Datadyne corporation rooftop. She must then work her way down the building neutralising guards and not killing civilians/certain people. Once she reaches the bottom she must infiltrate the lab, find Dr Carroll and then make it back to the top of the rooftop where she boards her ship and flies to safety. From there the story snowballs and Joanna is taken to Chicago, Area 51, on and below the Pacific Ocean and then finally into deep space.

At times the story can be a bit far-fetched and slightly hard to comprehend but in the end it works fine with the context of the game, and without it some of the weapons would not be used (i.e. the alien guns). The cut scenes and voice dialogue (which are absolutely amazing) explain the story line as well as your mission briefing and background (much like Goldeneye). Within the story are a number of individuals, some human, others not.

From the Carrington Institute as well as Joanna is Jonathan, another agent for the institute he had the best training record before Joanna came to the company. The owner/founder Daniel Carrington is basically the first human contact with the alien race of the 'Maians' and distributes the technology he gains from them to the public. Within the Carrington Institute are a series of scientists and trainers who are within the Institute itself, more on that later.

In the Datadyne Corporation is the head, Cassandra De Vries. Must be in control and has a bad power obsession. She hates Daniel Carrington and is work and will do anything to get ahead of him. To do this her company creates Dr Carroll, a 'sapient' who was meant to help a dangerous alien ship/weapon (Skedar) from the bottom of the ocean. Unfortunately the scientists made a mistake of giving Dr Carroll a mind, now he wants to get out of the project and destroy the weapon.

As well as the humans there are 2 races of aliens, the Skedar and the Maians (the gray little guys you see on TV). These two races have been at war since they have existed until recently when a cease-fire has existed. The Skedar however wish to retrieve the powerful alien weapon from the depths of the ocean. This is a huge threat to the Maians (and Earth) so they contact Daniel Carrington to help them. One of the most charming characters in the game is Elvis. He falls into Datadyne's hands and must be rescued by both Joanna and Jonathan in Area 51.

Before you even begin your campaign in the Solo missions you have a chance to wander around the Carrington Institute and do a bit of training such as weapon firing, general assault, using objects and you can also learn more about characters, locations and equipment on the computers around the institute, you can even have a bit of a chit chat with Daniel Carrington himself. The best thing in the institute is the firing range, you are able to use all the guns you have been able to retrieve and shoot moving targets. For each weapon you can win a bronze, silver or gold medal. Collecting all the bronze medals opens up 'Duel' a bonus one player level and collecting gold's enables you to be able to use classic guns from Goldeneye (PP7, D5K, Assault Rifle etc). The Carrington Institute is also part of Mission 7, where Joanna must save hostages and disarm bombs while the Skedar attack the institute, prior knowledge of the building can come in handy for this level.

From the beginning of the Solo Missions the levels are absolutely stunning. Large with plenty of interactive features and guards which interact with them (some guards choose to sit down in the couch's provided while you pump them full of lead). As well as the enclosed levels such as Datadyne HQ and Carrington Institute are the open are levels such as Area 51 Infiltration. There is little or even no slowdown in large open spaces in the Solo Missions mode, which is a huge bonus. Even on the agent difficulty level there are lots of objectives to complete and as the difficulty increases so does the number of objectives as well as the complexity of how to do them. Perfect Dark is a very hard game and to think you can finish all of it in a few days is simply impossible.

The Solo player game has so much depth to it you will be coming back for more and more, like Goldeneye completing the same missions over and over again for the sheer pleasure of it.

Also like in Goldeneye are the time cheats (do a mission in a certain time to enable a new cheat) adding even further depth to the game. There are six different categories of cheats (fun, gameplay, weapons for Jo in solo, classic, weapons for Jo in solo, weapons and buddies) and a total of over 35 cheats. Many of the cheats are from Goldeneye (DK Mode, Invincibility) while there are also new ones (Perfect darkness, Team heads only). Once again when playing with cheats you can't advance through your one player campaign but it is fun to just muck around.

The next option on the Perfect Menu is the Combat Simulator. This is where the true life of Perfect dark will lie and hopefully never RIP. May I emphasize there are an amazing number of options, the sheer number is incredible leaving simply (too?) many of ways you can play the game. Once you press Combat Simulator you are given 4 options:

· Challenges
· Load/Save Settings
· Quick Start
· Advanced Setup

Quick Start is basically a simpler version of Advanced setup for those who don't care too much for tinkering with the options.

Load/Save enables you to save your favourite settings and use them again and again so you don't have to muck around setting them up every time.

The two core elements of Multiplayer are Challenges and Advanced setup.

Challenges are preset games in which 1-4 players must win with the settings to earn a star. All but the first four and the last four enable new multiplayer features (levels, weapons, scenarios). There are 30 challenges in total and the further you get, the harder the challenges become. You can play the challenges either by yourself or with a group of friends. You can earn a medal for each amount of players for each scenario giving a total of 120 medals to be won. Once a challenge is beaten on all difficulties it is unlikely to have any replay value unless you like the setup.

There are 6 scenario's (Combat, hold the briefcase, Hacker central, Pop a cap, King of the Hill, Capture the case) all of which are unique to the other. Combat is your general highest score wins and is probably the most popular as it is simple, straight forward and easy to play. Very fun and easy for even the most uncertain and novice players, fun for everyone involved

Hold the Briefcase is similar to Flag Tag in Goldeneye. Players must pick up the briefcase and hold it for as long as possible. Whoever holds the case for the longest amount of time wins. This game is very fun to play and all players hunt down the person with the briefcase and can either work as a team to do this or continue to kill each other as normal. Because of this the teams are always changing and so are players loyalties to others, it can be quite a fun party game.

Hacker central is where players must retrieve the data uplink and use it to hack into the laptop that is in the level. When players are hacking the computer they can't shoot and are completely defence-less so this game is good in teams where players can cover each other. This game is a lot more complex and suited to those who are there to play and are seriously into the game, not as good for parties but for more intense battles.

Pop-a-cap is similar to Monkey Tag in Turok 2. One player is 'it' and everyone else must hunt this person down. This is an extremely fun game and once again the teams are always changing. Great for a party scenario as it involves picking on one person.

King of the Hill is the first of the two team work games. Players must find and capture the area of the level and stay and protect it for 20 seconds while other teams try to attack. Once in the area players cannot leave or the time will be restarted and while members of other teams are in the area the clock pauses. Once the area is cleared the 'hill' moves to a new area. The game is fast paced and constantly moving to a hot point as the area moves.

Capture the case is a true team work game. Players must find and retrieve the other teams case while defending their own. So some players go out in search and others stay to defend. If there are multiple teams partnerships can be formed between two and attack another. This game takes a hell of a lot of communication between players and a lot of skill and co-ordination. Best to have all human players on one team or have a divider as this game works best if players can't see what's happening on the other team.

Overall the 6 scenarios offer many different ways to play and are all relatively easy to follow. The most popular of course is Combat but the others must be tried as they are also very fun.

Now we move onto options in which there are 8.

One hit kills is pretty self explanatory, like license to kill in Goldeneye, if you get touched in anyway from a bullet, explosion or fists, you die. However if you have a shield the player must first destroy that before he kills you. The best way to use this option is by not having a shield and just using basic pistol weapons. This option is often considered the 'most real'.

Slow motion can and cant be fun. Its cool to watch a rocket coming at you as you run backwards trying to dodge it know the inevitable is about to happen but you still try anyway. You also have far more time to think out attacks and movement, but it can get frustrating unless you have plenty of Simulants.

Fast movement is the equivalent of turbo mode in Goldeneye. Players move twice as fast and the game becomes far more intense. I like to use this option as it makes the game more fun. However the game might be too fast for some so use with caution as those Simulants move quick, especially the SpeedSim!

Display team basically turns on and off whether the colour of the team illuminates a player for easy recognition during the game, reality suggests that you cant use this but for early starters it is helpful.

No radar is probably one of the most used options in the game. If you want to make the game far more realistic turn this option on and the game becomes far more harder as you don't know where the Simulants are.

No Auto Aim once again makes the game more realistic as the game does not automatically more to the kill and so you have to do more work yourself. If you are in training to be better turn this on and you will find accuracy improves greatly.

No Player Highlight and No player pickup basically over-rights the individual players option to have items and players flash a bright blue.

There are 16 multiplayer arenas in Perfect Dark, 13 new levels and 3 classic levels from Goldeneye (Felicity, Temple and Complex). For some reason I prefer the classic levels over the newer ones, but the new ones are still pretty good. Most of the levels must be earned by doing challenges, but they are worth it.

One of the better new levels is Villa, a wide open level with plenty of sniper positions and chances for teams to hold positions and wait for there prey. Another cool level is the Car Park where there are three levels and stairwells going up between them. Fighting in these stairwells can be a lot of fun as you can run up firing bullets as your prey climbs to, and they to shoot at you, it gets better with more than 2!. Its is so much fun. Unfortunately there are no cars in the car park...

The three classic levels are simply awesome and as you saw in our poll, are still the most popular levels. Perhaps its because they are well known or are simply the best levels. Felicity has a few changes such as the vent in the toilets is easier to get up and you can fall down at the base of the back stairs by the double doors. The Bottling areas also have a few changes but apart from that there are only appearance changes.

Temple has a few to. You can fall down the hole in the middle and there are many square structures which, are throughout the level. There is also sand on the floor in places and the rest are just appearance. Complex also has a few changes. There are many rails to keep players from jumping off the edges. It is a lot easier to get around and more areas are accessible. All in all this level has improved greatly but does look a lot like the old Goldeneye level.

As you will experience throughout Solo player, the weapons in Perfect Dark are amazing, stunning, incredible and most of all, deadly. The sheer number is amazing with over 40 individual weapons. Each weapon has a primary and second function so it's like having 2 in 1. In combat simulator you start with most weapons but can earn some through the challenges system.

When you select weapons there are already preset weapon mixtures which can be used or you can customize your own. I actually prefer not to have shield's and just use guns, that way you don't have people hanging in the general area of it. The preset weapons are good but I prefer to choose my own.

There are three ways that a game can end, the time runs out, one person reaches a certain score, or a whole team reaches a certain score. This can make a game very interesting as a certain player in a team may need 2 points for his team to win, while his team needs 20, so the team will protect this player to help them win quicker...
Handicaps enables players of all different ability's to play together on an equal playing field. 1000% means this person will be hard to kill and 10% means that they will die with one hit. Simple, no?

You can also give bots fighting personality's. My personal favourite to have on my team is PreySim. This Sim hunts down the weakest opponents, those with low health, no weapons and those who have just come back to life, a handy asset. Another good Sim to have is SpeedSim. His speed absolutely kicks butt, he is very hard to hit and can escape easily. KaziSim likes to kill you, even if you die. So if he has a rocket launcher he will just run at you all guns blazing, so stay out of his way!

Team's is the last setting on this page of options. You can have up to 8 different teams and they are represented by different colours. The computer can also randomise your players into two teams, three teams, four teams, put Sim's Vs Humans and finally human stimulant pairs where players are given a stimulant or two each.
The load and save settings act the same as the Load/Save settings on the main page.
Now we move onto player settings and these include;

· Player name
· Character
· Control
· Player Options
· Statistics
· Load Player
· Save Player

Player name is basically that. This is what will appear when you kill someone or you are killed. You can muck round with it and call yourself 'him' (You killed him or You were killed by him) etc.

Character is where you select the appearance of your player. All the players from the game appear here plus a few special ones. You can mix and match heads and body's until you get the desired effect you want. One cool bonus is that in the game there is Mr. Miyamoto's head, neat eh!

Control is where players go to change their own control preference. I still swear by 1.1 but others prefer 1.2 and I know of no-one who uses any others. It is interesting that you can also change your own screen preferences such as zoom on screen, bullets on screen etc. You can also have your bullet holes turn up as paintball marks etc. You can fiddle with a lot here and it's all up to your personal preference.

Player options includes highlighting of teams, players and items, once again personal preference!
Statistics is the heart of this page of options. Here you can look at how many kills/deaths you have gone through, accuracy, bullets used and various other statistics. You also keep a tally of Accuracy, Survivor, Head Shot and Killmaster medals won (Note: Green accuracy medals are sacred)!

Load/Save is basically where you can load up different players and also save new ones as well, amazing!
Now onto page 3 or 'stuff' as Rare puts it.

You can use every single music set in the game in PD, you can make a list of your favourite tunes, save it and listen to them while you play. Some like the fast paced tunes, others the slow ones, some even like a bit of both!
Team names is where you change the names of the colored teams. I changed Red to Blood and Yellow to Banana etc. Its all up to you and just another option that makes Perfect Dark just that little bit more special.
Lock is where you decide the player that sets the options, it can be last winner, last loser, random or player 1.
Ratio and Spilt are visual options for the game.

And that my friends is multiplayer in a nutshell. Multiplayer is simply amazing, outstanding, one of a kind and will be played forever.

The next two options down are Co-Operative and Counter-Operative. Co-op is where two players do the single player level together, the 2nd player can be human or a computer Sim. This adds life and depth to an already massive Solo Mission scenario. Unfortunately there can be frame rate problems when in this mode, but that is a very small problem in an other wise great idea.

Counter-Operative mode is the opposite. The 2nd player is an enemy in the level who must kill Joanna or prevent her from doing her mission tasks. This is absolutely awesome! The 2nd player has the same level of health as a normal bad guy so can die just as easy. He can take a suicide pill and move into another bad guy if he gets to far away from the action.

And that's the Perfect Menu. All the options in gameplay are done. If you slide right of the Perfect Menu you will find a series of options like Audio, Video etc as well as the cheat menu. Now lets begin to break Perfect dark down into Graphics, Sound, gameplay, Lasting Appeal, Presentation, Controls and Overall rating.

The graphics in Perfect Dark are near Perfect. The lighting effects will simply warp your fragile little mind and make it seem as if this whole game is so very, very real. Note: its not, just for those who may have thought it was. The lights in the game can actually hurt your eyes, blinding you and you cant see where your going, shoot them out and you can see your way round. Shoot too many lights out and you can't see your way around!

All levels are crystal clear and there is little or no 'fuzzy-ness' factor. Characters are clearly defined as well as weaponry and background images such as buildings. There levels are colourful and bright where necessary and dark and dull in places where it should be dark and dull!

The real issue with the graphics is the frame rate, so many people have bagged and I think its time for me to make a stand on this. I have no problem with the frame rate whatsoever (I have the PAL version - any differences in frame rate I am unsure of between versions). In the Solo Missions there is never any hassle, the frame rate is smooth as silk. For Combat Simulator there can be slowdown with Sim's but generally it keeps itself running well. Co-Operative is where the real problems are in Perfect Dark. The game can slow down a bit but not too much and it does not happen often and the same with counter-op mode.

I believe people are making to much of the whole issue, have you actually seen the graphics in the game, absolutely awesome, I mean I am not supposed that a machine made and developed 4 years ago cant keep up. I think the expectations are far too high from the consumer market and I think we should all sit back and look at everything else. This is one of the only faults in the game and I think we are making to big a deal of it.
On of the best graphical features are the gun reloads. They are absolutely awesome, one of a kind, simply amazing. I especially like the Magnum reload, the way it gets rid of the old bullets and in with the new ones.

Sound is once again top quality. In Perfect Dark we are blessed with character speech. All the voices are loud, crisp and easy to understand (with a nice English accent). This adds great depth to the game and enables us to keep our eyes on the action without have to read words which pop up onto our screen.

The guns sound absolutely awesome, its bone shattering stuff! Many of the guns because of their secondary functions have 2 different sound clips and of course there are the reload sounds as well.

And of course there is the music as well and the music, is, quite frankly, beautiful. There are generally two pieces of music per level and all of them have a purpose whether it is to scare, confuse or intense the pace of the game. The over all effect is one of true bliss to the ears and you just want to turn the game up louder and louder.

Lasting Appeal is where Perfect Dark is quite literally, perfect. You will be coming back forever to play this game. So much to do, so much to find, so much to see and its all such an experience, the hype this game gets is simply, not enough to describe it

With Solo Missions, Multiplay plus Counter and Co-op modes there is so much to do and it is all so very enjoyable. You feel obliged to just play it because it is just that damn good. I find myself up at 5pm playing the damn game when I know I should be asleep, but I am already so into the game that there is no way I can stop unless there is a pause in the action and my eyes finally close!

And if by some miracle you do finish every single thing in Perfect Dark, could you give me a reason to stop playing, I cant! In fact there is only one reason why I would stop playing this game and that is Perfect Dark 2, but then, I don't think I could take much more!

Gameplay is another area where the game is, perfect. In the levels you can go anywhere, shoot anything, interact with people, it's almost like an adventure game with the amount of stuff you can find.

The game is always fast, fluent and full of action no matter what part of the game you are playing. The fact is if you don't like part of Perfect Dark, there is always another bit which you absolutely love and so it counteracts it and you want to play more and more and more.

Controls are simple and obviously are strongly tied back to Goldeneye, where they were easy to follow. Below is a list of what they do.

A is to change weapon, if you hold it a weapon wheel (like in Turok) can be used. The option of both these style is a huge asset although in the heat of battle it can be very frustrating if you want a quick weapon change and hold down A too long.

The B button is for weapon reload and also is the use button. Once again very efficient and works well as it did in Goldeneye. Double tap B to hop on the hover-bike, a nifty little feature and works well.
Z is to Fire, as you would expect

R and L are to Aim. As we know from Goldeneye this is the best way to aim but once you are aiming you can't move… Used in conjunction with c-down you can crouch. You can fall to two different levels, semi-crouch and full-crouch. Once you press it again your screen goes dark and you can hide your position from human players in Multiplayer. C right and left to strafe and C up and down to look up and down! Once again from Goldeneye, works well so why change I say!

Well, that's about it guys not much more to be said. Perfect Dark, came, delivered and bought more than I could have ever dreamed. In every part of the game I am left going 'how'd they do that' or just simply speechless.
Remember, Perfect Dark is not a game, it's a religion through and through!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/02, Updated 10/15/02