Perfect Dark

""Is it good?" IT'S BY RARE, DAMMIT! OF COURSE IT'S GONNA BE GOOD!"

Not many companies have tried to make shooting games on the Game Boy. Obviously, the first shooting game on the Game Boy that's going to come into your mind is the amazing Metal Gear Solid. Still, it seems that Rare wanted to take their chances at making a Game Boy Color shooter, and wouldn't you know, they've done a darn good job of it...

GRAPHICS:
Highly respectable. The game takes on a third-person view, mostly (again, like Metal Gear Solid) but I really liked the fact that there were many minigames chucked in throughout the game to ensure you wouldn't get bored. I particularly like the Sniper Mode, which takes on a fist person view, similar to in Goldeneye/Perfect Dark for N64 when you are looking through the Sniper Rifle. The enemies' and Joanna's animation is good too. All in all, very nice.
The graphics get a 9!

SOUND:
The Game Boy Color can't do sound, can it? Wrong. Just wait until you hear Perfect Dark's sound. Without doubt, this little cart features the best sound I've ever heard on GameBoy. This includes conversations between some of the characters, Guards that yell out things such as ''Medic!'' when you shoot them, and Joanna herself even emits a stomach-churning yell when she is killed (which sounded to me like a wild pig squealing. It sounded really weird).
The Sound isn't quite up to the INCREDIBLE Game Boy Advance standards though. I can't wait to see Rare's next Game for Game Boy Advance.
The Sound gets a 10.

GAMEPLAY:
This is the only part where Perfect Dark plummets back down a little. You see, Perfect Dark is a great game and all, but Perfect Dark wasn't meant to be a third-person shooter. It's hard to explain until you actually play it, but it is often very hard to employ any kind of stealth in this game. Another thing that annoyed me was that the old '1 shot kills' head-shot is only possible when shooting at a bad guy from behind and about a millimetre away from him. Why isn't the A++ standard agent able to shoot guards in the head from the front? Something of a mystery, you know. Oh well.
The Gameplay gets a 7.

Overall, Perfect Dark ends up as being a nice game, which is pretty difficult in some parts. This is well worth the investment for those who love Rare games, because this game- although it's sometimes hard to pick- has been bestowed with the usual Rare magic. Great!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/11/01, Updated 08/11/01