"Do we even need Dark in the title?"

A few days before PD's release, I was going on a rampage through the Facility in GoldenEye, blasting henchmen left and right with my Dual RC-P90s. I then bomb the gas canisters and exit. I thought to myself ''How can anything one-up this game? It's legendary.'' What a fool I was. Now, I have seen the light...or is it the dark...?


Gameplay - Just saying it's like GoldenEye would not be saying enough. While the control scheme is the same, there are a few new functions, such as Secondary Functions, Simulant Commands, and others. All the same buttons are there, though, so if you've played GoldenEye, you'll know what to do here. You'll just have to learn a few new button presses, but once you do, you'll be cruising easy. The Solo Missions are well-thought out and cleverly devised. Sure, you can just run into Cassandra de Vries' office in the first level and kill her, but then you won't be able to use her keycard, which is necessary in order to enter the secret laboratory. As much as you want to kill her(and you will, too), she must live.....for now. Stealth is always an important factor, and you must use your surroundings to your advantage. Also, the enemies are very intelligent. If they see you coming with a big gun, they'll call for reinforcements or hit an alarm. They'll also retreat into a guarded room, trying to lure you in. Guards duck out of the way, run for cover, and regroup realistically. It all looks very awesome and you'll love Rare for holding this game back until it was ready. You can also take along a Simulant Buddy with you, and by holding A and tapping the Z button twice, you can command him to do several things, like Hold, Defend, Attack, and more. The Simulant isn't an idiot either. He's just as intelligent as the enemies. If you feel like it, bring along a human pal with you in the Co-Op Mode. Splitting up and performing different tasks is awesome, and you'll love every minute of it. Or, if you're feeling ticked off at your ''friend'', take him into Counter-Op Mode, where one of you plays as Jo and another plays as a basic enemy, trying to defeat her. It's great fun for everyone! The weapons are unbelievable. There are so many of them. There's about 40, and if you want to count the Secondary Functions, you've got almost 80 weapons to use! They range from your basic pistols(Falcon2, MagSec 4), to machine guns(Dragon, AR34), to explosives(Devastator, Rocket Launcher). There are also some nice surprises, like the Laptop Gun, which is a machine gun and can fold into a laptop with a sentry gun in it, or the FarSight XR-20, an alien weapon which can shoot through walls. Superb. The amount of weapons and how varied they are is truly a testament to Rare's commitment to quality.

Graphics - I might as well get this out of the way: yes, if you have 4-players and 8 Simulants in the same arena, get ready for a framerate that moves at a snail's pace. That having been said, PD is still the most graphically impressive game I've ever seen on the N64. This is it for the console, no mas. Textures are amazing, as are character models. Wanna see something amazing? Bullet holes and blood splatters don't fade, but stay there. Wow. In one match, I saw a an entire room charred and smoking, with bloodstains all over the floors and walls. I could tell a serious firefight had gone down here. It's truly amazing. With just 4 players by themselves, the game runs at about GoldenEye's framerate, which is completely playable. You can push the character number to about 8, but any more and you'll be suffering. Arenas are large and vast, with a few GoldenEye arenas returning with a new look and added features(you can now jump in the big hole in the Temple! Yay!). Nothing surpasses Perfect Dark on the N64, hands down.

Sound/Music - There is a surprising amount of voice in PD. Before each mission, you'll be briefed on what you have to do. When guards die, they let out some hilarious screams, like ''Why me?'', ''OH GOD!'', or even ''You b*tch!'' Rare truly does have a sense of humor. Character voices are good, but Jo sounds a bit like Lara Croft. All the weapon sounds are awesome, from the MagSec 4's 3-Round Burst to the Reapage from the Reaper. You'll love every sound that comes out of these guns, and they're all very clean and crisp.

Multiplayer - The Combat Simulator in PD is so massive I had to put it in a separate category. If they had only made PD a multiplayer game, it'd still be worth the price tag. Nothing touches PD in multiplayer. NOTHING. Even GoldenEye is overshadowed. The amount of control you have over it is stunning. You get several scenarios to pick, from standard Combat to the more complicated Hacker Central. All of these are well-designed and fun to play. You can control what guns appear where in the arena you've chosen, making for some truly devious designs. How about placing 5 Dragons and one K7 Avenger in the level? Each Dragon might be a Proximity Mine, and only the person with the K7 Avenger will know the truth. Everyone will find a setup they like. You can setup Simulants to have different personality traits, from the benign PeaceSim, who runs around the level collecting guns to prevent others from using them, to the psychopathic VengeSim, which relentlessly hunts down the last person who killed it(until someone else kills it). You can also name yourself and your team, and you can even save the awards you get! That's right, remember the awards you got after a match in GoldenEye? Everyone rushed to find out what their's was. Now you can save those and how many bullets you've fired, how many steps you've taken, and so, so much more. It's the ultimate way to brag, and you'll love it.

Buy Or Rent? - Do I even have to tell you? If you liked GoldenEye even one iota, you'll definately want to pick up Perfect Dark. For those of you that hate FPSs(all 4 of you), Perfect Dark will definately make you take a second look at the genre.

You might be wondering if there's anything I didn't like about Perfect Dark. And yes, there is: We had to wait 3 years. 3 LONG YEARS. But those 3 years were well-spent, and they created this, the showpiece of Rare's attention to detail and their commitment to quality. For all of you out there who are looking for a reason to dust of those ''inferior'' N64s(morons), then go out and give PD a whirl. Because once you enter the Dark, you may never come out...

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/25/00, Updated 05/25/00