Perfect Dark (Xbox 360)

 

With each of the commonly used terms Super Adventures this week, I'm playing Perfect Dark, a much lesser-known spiritual successor to Rare's classic N64 first-person shooter GoldenEye 007!

GoldenEye 2 (or GoldenEye 008?) was released three years later for the same platform, uses the same engine, and was created by many of the same individuals. There were real GoldenEye sequels, but Rare opted to forgo them when EA outbid them. As a result, Eurocom was allowed to create the next first-person James Bond shooter for the N64, The World is Not Enough, while Black Ops gave us the third-person shooter Tomorrow Never Dies for the PlayStation. Both are a great deal less legendary. The passports mentioned above are good for ten years. 

A late N64 release, Perfect Dark was so ambitious that installing the Expansion Pak was necessary to access 65% of its content. Although the game's internal memory has been doubled, it still has framerate problems. Fortunately, I'll be playing the Xbox 360 remake mostly on the Xbox One, which has around 2000 times as much RAM. Since the game has yet to be ported to the PC, I would have used a mouse to play the PC version.

For the Nintendo logo to rotate around and transform into the logo, there is a N underneath the title even though the letter does not exist in either word. In the Xbox Live Arcade edition, the Nintendo logo has been replaced by the symbol for 4J Studio. I haven't seen many Nintendo logos on Microsoft games. If you're curious about the dakuten () that follows the K, I have no idea. I think they thought that would look cool. like the dash in Street Fighter II.

Okay, I'll turn this on and wait for a couple of hours. I used to adore this game, but I can't remember whether there's anything noteworthy I should be playing up to (primarily because I was fascinated with the multiplayer), so I'm simply going to play the first few levels and report my results.

The main menu is projected into the character's eye via a strange extensible holographic Google Glass when she first starts off in GoldenEye 007 (and most other first-person shooters). I suppose it's more practical than gazing at a watch's small screen. I have things to do, so I could close the menu and go for a stroll.

It still has multiplayer (and on the Xbox 360, it even has an online option), but they've added new cooperative and counter-operative elements. I have to explain counter-op here because there really isn't anything like it—it's like co-op, except the other player controls the adversaries. Although you can play as the Infected in Left 4 Dead, I'm having trouble coming up with any other instances.

It's the distant future year of 2023, and two organizations on Earth are aware of aliens: the heroic Carrington Institute and the evil dataDyne corporation, and we're working for the good guys. Unfortunately, the bad guys are working with the evil aliens, and that means Daniel C. is in danger. I don't remember being able to read the plot in the N64 game. I think you had to check the manual to get all this somewhat important backstory.

I'm astonished that I just realized that Joanna Dark is a clear Jeanne D'Arc/Joan of Arc allusion, and I'm even more startled because it seems like pure chance. It took some time for the creators to come up with a name for the game; one of the terms that stayed was "Dark," which they mashed together to see which word combinations they liked. They gave the protagonist the name Dark when they decided on Perfect Dark.

LEVEL 1 - DATADYNE CENTRAL

A (skippable) cutscene introduces the game, which is something GoldenEye could have done better. The most you could hope for was a fast flypast or a picture of people rushing. Okay, so Joanna's jump ship is also performing a flypast as it flies between modern buildings, but this one is far more intricate. Plus, the conversation is voiced!

Voice actors with talent provided the voices. They weren't professional voice performers, which is unfortunate because the results range from "okay" to "bad," with the primary character falling into the "not ideal" category. The fact that they have this sleek, pricey game, the replacement for the gory GoldenEye, yet they didn't acquire real voice actors, seems so strange to me.

For reference, here is the original N64 version. Although the texturing in Xbox 360 games is undoubtedly greater resolution, there was no change in the aesthetic.

Beginning with a briefing on what she would be doing tonight, Joanna has Daniel Carrington's voice encouraging her. Dr. Caroll, a scientist at dataDyne, has been protesting to his supervisors about the ethical issues surrounding the project he has been working on. He now believes they will brainwash him to mend his conscience, and he needs a quick rescue.

For reference, here is the original N64 version. Although the texturing in Xbox 360 games is undoubtedly greater resolution, there was no change in the aesthetic.

Beginning with a briefing on what she would be doing tonight, Joanna has Daniel Carrington's voice encouraging her. Dr. Caroll, a scientist at dataDyne, has been protesting to his supervisors about the ethical issues surrounding the project he has been working on. He now believes they will brainwash him to mend his conscience, and he needs a quick rescue.

And at last, I get a brief glimpse of Joanna Dark before the camera turns into a GoldenEye and zooms in on the back of her head.

Her odd covert-ops costume has actually lost a lot of detail in the higher-resolution Xbox 360 version for some reason, and I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that was. Joanna was designed to first resemble Winona Ryder, but now she more closely resembles Victoria Beckham. Additionally, neither iteration of her speaks while moving her lips.

Speaking of famous faces, Richard Biggs, who played the US president in the television series Babylon 5, turns out to be the president of the United States! He reportedly knew the 3D artist, so they included them in the cameo. But it's certainly not his voice—hiring someone would be required!

Although a few other famous people make brief appearances, I think the majority of the game's characters are members of the production team. similar to everything else. To ensure that Joanna's motion capture looked decent, they did, however, engage a professional.

This rifle is great. It resembles a hybrid of the PP7 and the DD44 Dostovei, two GoldenEye pistols. Speaking of double Ds, I'm now standing on the helipad at the top of their building, gazing at the back of the dataDyne logo.

I choose the middle of the three available levels of difficulty, Special Agent, which means I must accomplish the following tasks:

One: Turn off the internal security hub

Purchase a keycode necklace.

3: Turn off the external communications hub

Gain access to the lab in step 4

As the difficulty increases, the goals get more challenging, giving you more to perform at the same level.

I've succeeded in getting off the helipad and into the building at last! I took far too long to locate the staircase heading down, and because there is no jump button as in GoldenEye, I couldn't just jump off.

The gameplay generally mirrors that of GoldenEye, with one notable exception: I now have a crosshair! Although it's a little difficult to notice because it's above the guy's ear, it is there. To be fair, GoldenEye does feature a crosshair as well, but it only appears when the game's recognizable aim mode is being used.

GoldenEye and Perfect Dark include a floating crosshair that can be moved without moving the camera and snaps back when you let go. Modern FPSs zoom in a little or stare down the sights as you aim, allowing you to maneuver the camera with less speed and greater precision. I'll be leaving the auto-aim on though because it's uncomfortable and analog sticks aren't always the best for aiming.

I entered, shot a guy, and then Carrington whispered in my ear that the internal communications center is closed. I see now that it must be the computer screen on the wall behind me.

Hey, check out this new weapon selection wheel. It's useful, and I enjoy it.

Okay, now that I've located the internal security communications hub, I must switch to my ECM Mine and throw it at it. I'll try to avoid doing that because it is truly possible to miss the shot, toss it in the incorrect location, and lose.

One of the extra goals that aren't on the Agent difficulty level is this one. Although GoldenEye added extra goals as well, this game gives me a voice in my ear that alerts me when I get close to a goal, which makes a significant difference. How else would I have realized that this item was the hub, after all? There is a lot less room for error when it comes to understanding what you are intended to perform because you may review your briefing text once more during the level.

I took a stairway and descended farther into the dataDyne building after completing task 1.

Oh, blue! That carpet is the deepest shade of blue I've ever seen.

I've also encountered a couple more foes. I'm not sure what personnel at this facility actually do, but so far it seems to be largely protecting things. Armed guards are present in every office I burgle rather than office personnel.

Thankfully, these guys are straight from GoldenEye. They have locational damage, react to being struck, stop briefly before firing, posture, and pause between bursts to allow you to retaliate. Simply said, they are fun guys to shoot. Additionally, they are not hitscan, thus they launch actual missiles that may miss. A bullet will occasionally go over my head from behind, giving me a clear signal that it is time to turn around. Another strong indication that tracer bullets will become widely used in 2023.

To demonstrate how strikingly similar they are, here is the identical section from the original N64 game:

See that window behind the adversary, too? Actually, that is a lift door. It has no buttons at all, but if you hit "activate" while facing the window, the lift will be called. Most gamers probably need some time to figure that one out. However, goal number two requires me to get Cassandra De Vries' necklace key, thus I must first access the wooden door on the left.

I entered Cassandra's office, activated the "pistol whip" secondary mode on my Falcon 2, and knocked her out. Obtained the necklace, completing step two. She's the evil guy, thus she deserves it, so it's alright. I must now utilize the lift to descend to the ground floor to deal with this external security communications hub.

I can really visit several (very similar) levels up here without ever having to wait for a loading screen. It's enough to inspire resentment in Half-Life lovers!

Okay, the lift missed the last levels, so I'm currently in the security room. All I have to do is enter, throw the mine at the second hub, and exit. But since it will be healthier for my health, I'll also shoot everyone. My incredibly limited, non-renewable health that I can never regain. There are no health kits on the levels! Fortunately, though, I managed to snag a shield from one of the several individuals I've been killing, which functions much like the armor in GoldenEye. It functions as a second life bar rather than lessening damage.

Right now, I'm utilizing the aim mode, which has a RoboCop-like appearance. It implies that, in theory, I could aim the crosshair exactly and hit the target in the head, but I'm in a rush and won't be doing that. Additionally, it makes my movement stick more of a "lean over a little" stick, allowing me to peek out from behind barriers and jump right back into position as their firing picks back up. Considering how stupid I am, I'm also not doing that.

I finished objective 3 by hurling another ECM Mine at the security device! All that's left to do is for me to locate the underground lift that leads to the lab.

It's a dead end, the voice in my ear said, but I'm getting near. Fortunately, I already know that behind the wall on the left, where the Basement Laboratory elevator is located, is a hidden door that will slide open when I walk over to it. Completed in goal 4.

The level 1 cutscene with Joanna entering and posing with her gun as I made my way to the elevator marked the conclusion of level 1.

The layout of this screen is essentially the same as that provided by GoldenEye at the end of a level. Although I only reached a 50% accuracy rate even with auto-aim turned on and I over the target time by 4 minutes, the task was completed.

Although I would have unlocked another shortcut if I had completed the game faster than 1 minute and 30 seconds. To obtain the hack, Level 2 must be completed in Hard Mode. Level 3 must be completed in Easy Mode, after which Level 4 and subsequent levels must be completed in Normal Mode. Although you can't go to a harder setting until you've completed the level on that harder difficulty, Special Agent is the hardest I'll play on from here.

Okay, I've reached level 2, which offers me four additional objectives:

radioactive isotope with a hologram.

2: Begin the security upkeep cycle.

Three: End experiments.

4. Find Dr. Caroll.

LEVEL 2 - DATADYNE INVESTIGATION

This game's art direction is quite unique.

Although it didn't let me keep my stuff from the previous level, I'm okay because I have my pistol. However, a map is what I could really need right now. The previous level had a collection of similar levels, each with identical doors opening to identical rooms, but since it was a skyscraper, at least I recognized its overall layout. I'm having a terrible time visualizing the layout of this underground lab. Of course, there are no quest signs, radar, or other directional aids to help me find my way.

I chose to open the "CAUTION" door and discovered that there was a radioactive isotope within when I did so. Hey, that's what I'm here to photograph! Thankfully, Carrington warned me before I had taken in enough radiation to glow, and I recalled that I had brought a camera with me.

Actually, it resembles a CamSpy more. I can fly into locations with this hovering drone to conduct snooping operations. It has an awkwardly skewed vision. So I simply flew it across to the opposite side of the space and snapped a picture. 1st goal was accomplished. Furthermore, I didn't even need to upload the image to anybody else later.

Okay, I should now stop the trials. Our hackers are unable to obtain the security lock code since they appear to be interfering with the communications uplink. But it's not getting in the way of my conversations with Carrington.

So I suppose I'll return and attempt the "SECTOR TWO" door.

TWO EXPERIMENTS LATER

While the first two trials were simple, it took me a very long time to locate the last one. The alarm in his computer was then triggered by the arrogant git scientist! Thankfully, I had already killed everyone, so nobody showed up. I have been doing a lot of shooting down here, but I haven't been screenshotting the violence because you already know what it looks like.

Finding the appropriate terminal to end the experiment myself didn't take me very long. In addition, I discovered a pair of night vision glasses inside a glass container, so I shot the glass to get them. So that completes goal number three! What happened to goal number two, you ask?

Oh, I see. I must go fix this maintenance robot and begin the security maintenance cycle.

I believe I've discovered the appropriate room, but I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing in it. I've figured out that the large, code-filled monitor screen in front of you is a switch, and that screen over there is another, but pressing any of them doesn't produce the anticipated consequences.

It took me a little while to figure it out, but all I had to do was first disable the Roomba before reprogramming it. The little mouse bot was programmed to carry out my instructions, so I followed it to a hallway barred by security gates and watched as they turned off to let it through.

Hold on, there's obviously space for it to get through without turning off the lasers! Drive beneath them, my man. Additionally, even though I'm not a great spy, I'm confident that I could easily crawl through the gap on the left in real life.

I'm certain I used this strategy to get around lasers in another game. Perhaps Fade to Black was used? Anyway, I followed the robot and passed past each set of lasers as it advanced, making it through the security hallway. Since I'm not sure I'll make it through, I hope there wasn't anything I needed back on the other side.

I shot some guys in a room after the lasers, then I shot some guys in another room, and then I shot some guys in yet another room. After today, dataDyne could start hiring, in my opinion.

Oh my, I didn't anticipate unexpected gun turrets! They are hard to see and vulnerable to gunfire because they are fastened to the beams above the ceiling. In GoldenEye, I haven't yet encountered any security cameras, alarms, or other irritants, but I can cross off drone guns from the list.

I just barely got past the two weapons with a little sliver of life remaining owing to my great new dragon assault rifle. It looks a bit funny with that red strip at the top, but it's useful for throwing bullets directly back into drone turrets. Then I located Dr. Caroll at the end of the corridor.

Dr. Caroll is actually a floating laptop with the screen facing the wrong direction. Everyone is perplexed by this, even Joanna. The lens flares in the game already need to be muted. Even now, it's not at its worst. In fact, it's not even close to being at its worst. To get this person out of the laboratories, I'll have to go back the entire way through the level.

However, the journey back was completely skipped over by the game. I just got a cutscene of Joanna going back to the elevator and leaving the basement. That was good, then.

LEVEL 3 - DATADYNE EXTRACTION

Hey, level 3 is simply the first level played backward. and at night. It's a good thing I found the night vision equipment on the last level. I would have begun with them anyhow because nothing rolls over to the next stage and each mission is a standalone activity in the game. Just having a reason for why I have them is good.

I'm using the aim function more often these days, stepping out from behind cover to get a rapid headshot and then leaning back before the guard's companion is prepared to fire back. With this odd aiming mechanism, it's a little difficult for me to get the crosshair on target, but hey at least It has a certain freshness to it.

Now since this is right next to those lifts with the glass doors, all I have to do is take them to the upper floors before utilizing the stairway to get to the helicopter. 

Oh, please! That stupid laptop got destroyed by the hover copter gunship's machine gun because it flew in its path! I detest escorting people because of this. Escort missions, which I had not faced in this game, finally went the same way as forced QTEs and unexpected stealth missions. So far.

However, there aren't any autosaves or bloody checkpoints that I've encountered. So it was much more upsetting when I finished the level again and the hovercopter destroyed my laptop once more.

         I'm leaving my laptop at home this time! I purposely positioned myself such that he couldn't board the lift with me, allowing me to proceed up to the hover copter without a floating liability in my wake. 

After utilizing the majority of my health and ammunition to destroy the hover copter, I turned around to find Caroll standing there. He had either teleported up behind me or taken the elevator himself. In any case, I consider the fact that he avoided being bombed this time and that I don't have to descend to fetch him to be a positive development.

Up until this point, I hadn't overheard any amusing guard talks, but I just overheard these three talking about a contraption they intended to use to attack me. They must have forgotten to bring the manual because when I found them, they were still having trouble getting it to work.

I left them alone and shot their friend since I'm pretty confident office employees setting a trap still count as innocent citizens. That will teach him not to obstruct my exit. What exactly were these people set up? Oh no, it's a rocket launcher that fires just one rocket!

Okay, I'm almost at the end now. There is just one more flight of steps to climb before I exit the building and reach the communications center on the roof.

Well, what? This sequence has just forced me out of my comfortable, secure stairs and into a shooting squad of armed bodyguards. I'm not healthy enough for this nonsense!

Perhaps I can make another dash for the stairway and eliminate the adversaries there.

 

Okay, what the hell? The lights went out, the door to the stairwell is locked, my health is just a bar of red, and now I'm going to have to replay the whole bloody level again. The level's only seven minutes long, but it's seven minutes that I've already done. And I'll have to wait for that lift to arrive again.

Alright, this time I'm going to just run past the hovercopter and grab the rocket launcher from the trap. Then I'm going to carefully shoot out all the glass before firing a rocket at it; this isn't my first rodeo. 

One of the office workers who had been plotting the ambush somehow took a blow from the rocket! He is now deceased, and I recently suffered a significant loss in health and my only rocket.

I returned to the stairs of fate to confront the ambush while still having just about enough health remaining to withstand combat with the hover copter. But this time, I'll be prepared for them. I'll put on my night vision equipment before I start the cutscene!

 

I did manage to kill one of them, though. Unfortunately, there isn't much cover to hide behind as I returned up here in almost no health. There may be a trick to this area, but since it will take me seven minutes to return up here to try again, I have little interest in continuing. Replaying levels is something I can do if I want to, but I don't enjoy it when it's required.

Maybe I'll stop playing the game and return to it the following day. I'll probably do it, yes.

A FEW TRIES LATER

At first it was rewarding to snipe these men in the lobby, but I no longer have the patience to pause and take precise aim. Like I always do when I have to replay a level over and over again with no checkpoints, I'm becoming reckless and rushing it. This isn't ideal since, although Joanna can withstand a few blows, common foes may seriously harm her. In reality, I only managed to complete a sprint for twenty seconds before my carelessness resulted in too many gunshot wounds for me to continue. 

The hover copter was destroyed, but I eventually made it up to the top with Dr. Caroll is still alive.

After that, I attacked Cassandra's bodyguards with the rocket launcher! With that shot, I killed at least two of them, and shortly after, Joanna was murdered nearly quickly. I just never get this far and still have enough health to make it out of the room. The only obstacle is Special Agent!

Okay, I'll stop now and return to the menu. To the Carrington Institute once more.

This is the office I was referring to before. Joanna had to type a little on her computer for some reason before her holographic eye projector emerges and shows her the menu screen.

However, I'm not utilizing the menu at the moment; instead, I'm taking a stroll about the Institute. I can casually saunter about my headquarters and strike up conversations—it's like UNATCO in Deus Ex. Learn a little bit about my devices, and maybe try out the firing range. When I can locate them. The rooms are not labeled at all!

Okay, Carrington stopped by the office and gave me a tour; as a result, I was eventually permitted to travel to the target range. Hit moving targets and accrue enough points without running out of ammunition or time appear to be the three tasks that each gun in the game presents. It's quite simple until it isn't.

I could spend all night here because there are so many firearms in this game (particularly after the tasks start becoming very tough), so I'm going to move on.

LATER

Oh my God, where am I now? I've found myself lost in my own basement; it's a huge space. As far as I can see, there is no real benefit to exploring the depths, although you are free to do so. Okay, because I don't want to bother attempting to find my way back to my office, I'm bringing the menu up here.

I could try again with dataDyne level 3, but I'd rather to check out the Combat Simulator. Similar to the multiplayer mode of GoldenEye, but with more of everything.

Man, there are a lot of choices here. I can customize the terrain with the weaponry I choose, alter player handicaps, and even add bots—a feature that GoldenEye lacked. I can even create teams, and change the personality, complexity, and appearance of the game. I'm hesitant to delve too far since the possibilities seem to go on forever and I don't know how I'll ever get out. Additionally, they lack explanations, making them somewhat ambiguous.

Okay, I'm going to install four bots and put them up to be my opponents' squad. As long as I can get a gun before they discover me, everything will be well, I'm sure. Additionally, I'll be participating in the game's rendition of the iconic song "Felicity"

Here it is, the same famous level in four distinct games (switch between them by clicking the arrows). Sorry about the GoldenEye shot; because there are no bots in the game, split-screen is the only option. I guess I could have cheated and utilized a screenshot from the single-player level, but it would have prevented the radar from being present.

Taking that Perfect Dark N64 photo didn't entail any cheating either; it was simply... labor. Work, work, and more work. I sincerely regret not remembering that Felicity can only be unlocked when you complete 12 brutal combat simulator trials. I'm now worn out.

Here's another classic level, Complex, as seen through the FarSight XR-20 rifle's very powerful scope. It has the ability to both see-through and blast through barriers. With this technology, your sole obstacle to complete dominance is the requirement that you calculate your opponent's distance as you can only view a portion of the level when you zoom in and out. Along with the fact that they never stop moving. They appear to not even want to be shot. In some cases, if they don't like their chances, they could even flee from you.

There are other novelty weapons besides the FarSight, such as the laptop gun, which may be used as a sentry. In fact, the majority of weapons—including your fists—seem to have an additional mode. Even today, few shooters have an arsenal that even comes close to Perfect Dark. And as a reward for killing an adversary, all of their firearms shoot out of them! Additionally, it indicates on screen that they are dead, allowing you to swiftly move on to the next target.

A helpful (and optional) radar is located in the upper right of the screen, making it easy to locate your opponents in multiplayer. Additionally, because of the useful (and optional) player-highlighting function, adversaries may be easily seen in broad daylight.

Okay, I tried level 3 once again, putting all of my Combat Simulator practice to use, and I succeeded! I outperformed every bodyguard in the trap. I came extremely close to not getting them; it cost me all of my health. When I finally got to the rooftop helipad, I understood that the mission goal, "Defeat Cassandra's bodyguards," actually meant all of them. all across the level.

As a result, I'm returning to the lower floors to take out all the opponents I missed while also desperately trying to avoid taking any damage because I doubt Jo will make it through.

THREE PAINFULLY TENSE MINUTES OF HUNTING LATER

In the final sequence, additional bodyguards may be seen! As a result, killing them all is truly impossible, and the game made me waste my time by doing so.

Actually, it doesn't matter because Joanna shot them both as she ran for the jump ship to flee. Cassandra is threatened by an enigmatic man wearing a white trench coat in the next clumsily directed sequence, which I already know about because I already read the files on the menu screen.

Anyway, the last run only took 9 minutes to complete.

Oh, neat The following area is Carrington Villa! This was supposed to come later.

This location is a welcome change of pace from my usual activities of shooting people and breaking into homes. There is no one hiding under cover, no hovercraft, just some traditional first-person shooting. Well, after I at least first rescued the negotiator. The amazing thing about the level is that if you choose to play on Perfect Agent difficulty, you will be the person on the dock disguised as a negotiator who must escape without sniper help.

The bad news is that Dr. Caroll has been caught and reprogrammed, thus everything I did in the first three levels was useless. Okay, I've finished the level. Well, it's largely useless. He was able to communicate with us what we need to know in order to save and rehabilitate him, and this necessitates going to Chicago right away.

Okay, this location is unquestionably an improvement over the streets of GoldenEye. It's difficult to be overly pleased because this game came launched a year before Grand Theft Auto 3 (and two years after Shenmue), but this little portion of Chicago looks as nice as anything you'll see on the N64.

In order to complete this level, I must retrieve my equipment from a storm drain, program a cab to make a detour, set up an escape route by detonating a remote mine, enter the G5 building, and then complete the level. Finding the storm drain is the first step. It must be someplace in the area, I'm sure of it.

LATER

Okay, I have my equipment and am reprogramming the hovercar. The situation is excellent! It performed a lot better than it did on my initial effort. The roving security bot witnessed me get into a shootout with dataDyne guards and came around the corner. It is not advisable to engage in combat with an unbreakable robot, and it is even less advisable to hide behind the very unbreakable mission-critical cab. I don't really need video games to notify me that mission-critical vehicles have been destroyed since it makes me think of the TIE Fighter.

The cab has now been reconfigured, okay. It's time to send this object off in the distance in order to capture the remaining data. Dyne security guys are moving away from the G5 building entrance and into my sight.

Oh, please!

On my second attempt, I was doing everything correctly (almost by mistake), until I accidentally shot a civilian while firing at the enemy who was investigating the exploding cab from the opposite direction. But because I never saw them, I'll simply have to accept the game's word for it.

I stopped playing the game at this point. But after that, I restarted it and gave it another go. It appears that the target lock secondary firing on my CMP-150 marks enemies in red and civilians in blue. That was helpful. Okay, I'll actually turn it off now.

CONCLUSION

Back then, I spent many hours playing Perfect Dark, competing against my friends, AI opponents, and occasionally even the single-player mode. Although the N64 as a platform had its flaws, for local multiplayer it was god-tier, and this game ended up being my fave of all of its multiplayer titles. I enjoyed it more than Super Smash Bros., GoldenEye 007, Quake, Lylat Wars, Mario Kart 64, the deathmatch mode in any Turok game, and GoldenEye. Okay, maybe not more than Super Smash Bros. But this game may have given me more hours of enjoyment than any other in terms of multiplayer competitive first-person shooters. Whether it endures or not, it takes home every award I have.

But does it endure? I didn't actually play the multiplayer, so I can't really evaluate it. It's not the same as sitting next to the other players and attempting not to cheat by glancing at their corner of the screen, but I played 15 challenges and a few bot matches, and I loved them enough. I didn't have the authentic feeling of watching four friends play as I waited for one of them to become frustrated and offer me their controller for a while. Although it is GoldenEye's multiplayer, it has been enhanced and enlarged, thus I will claim that it is unquestionably superior. Four players were always a little too few, thus the bots by themselves make a significant impact. Then it has co-op the story levels, which always adds a tonne of additional points to a game.

The frame rate was the game's major flaw when it was first released, however, the remake I was playing has since been fixed. That's cool, then. The lack of a PC port with mouse control and rapid saves was the second major issue, and sadly, that is still the case (at least officially). With the dearth of health kits and the scarcity of armor making it simple to botch a run halfway through, the absence of checkpoints or saves in single-player is a big momentum killer. It's not enjoyable for me to barely make it through a level just to run into a challenge that I can't possibly endure. That is not my thing design of the game. This lacks saves, which can help make disappointments less frustrating.

It does, however, reinstate GoldenEye's level choice, which was always a smart move. In actuality, the game is brimming with concepts. Sometimes they involve concepts like having the developer team voice all the characters, hiding a slice of cheese in every level, or having a Grey alien dressed in a stars and stripes waistcoat. There are times when they involve concepts like a sniper gun that can see through walls or a plethora of multiplayer choices and scenarios. Although Perfect Dark isn't ageless like Doom and is undoubted of its time, it does so many odd things and has such a unique aesthetic that it is both outmoded and antique at the same time. Additionally, it boasts a terrific soundtrack composed by the same musicians that worked on GoldenEye and TimeSplitters.

Final judgment: Perfect Dark is without a doubt the best first-person shooter for the N64. Although the platform has versions of Doom and Quake, this game is exclusive to the N64. It advances everything that the console's most recognizable FPS does. It's not the best first-person shooter on the Xbox 360, but the port makes it seem decent without changing the game's aesthetic, and I still think it's worth playing on any Xbox that can handle it. even if it occasionally acts like a genuine bastard.