Review By: Lyenhardt
Developer:	Rare
Publisher:	Nintendo
# of Players:	1-4
Genre:	First Person Shooter
ESRB:	Mature
Date Posted:	6-28-00

Perfect Dark. Heir to the throne of the legendary multiplayer masterpiece "Goldeneye 007" for the N64. A game that had so much hype built around it that it was the primary discussion among gamers worldwide. It's almost ironic that such a name was given to the game, as this game is almost the "perfect" videogame, displaying a sick amount of options to tweak and fiddle with, along with unmatched gameplay. However, this is just not the case, due to a few minor factors that hurt this game. Regardless of what hinders the games pleasurable first person action in your eyes or mine, it will always be a game remembered for its outstanding technical, conceptual, and intuitive foresight merits that even surpass the major PC FPS at the time of its release.

Perfect Dark, made by the developers of G007, is not a sequel to that game, yet, borrows the game's engine, and is set in the future, in the year 2023. You take the helm as Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute, and a fine British gal who gives Lara Croft a run for her money. The basic story has you exploring the motives and uncovering the actions of an evil corporation called dataDyne, which will eventually lead to an all out battle against two alien races, the Maian and the Skedar.

Gameplay-wise, PD is unmatched, and I'm not joking you. Everything that you liked about G007 (if you played it), you'll like about this game, and you'll appreciate the wide array of new additions to the gameplay and engine. First off, you have about double the amount of different weapons at your disposal this time around, and even some oldies from G007. Everything from the alien-born "Maulers", "Phoenix", and the "Farsight" (a rail-gun with an x-ray scope capable of picking off enemies through floors and walls), to the more traditional arsenal, AR34, K7 Avenger, Falcon, Magsec, and so on. What's wonderful about this game is that all of the weapons have a secondary function to them. Hold the "B" button down and it'll switch the gun into its secondary function. For example, the shotgun will shoot two consecutive blasts instead of one, the proximity mine will become a "threat detector", showing you were all hidden explosives and dangers are, and an automatic weapon called the "Dragon" will become a proximity device, and be thrown to the ground, were someone might mistake it as a normal gun and BOOM! There they go. With over forty different weapons to choose from, each having a secondary function, how could you become bored with them?

When you start the game, you have a multitude of options and things to do/check out. You could start your solo missions, you could go to the Carrington Institute, you could go to the challenge mode and play a multiplayer game with your friends and/or with computer controlled characters called "simulants", or, you could play the challenge mode missions. "Now, where should I start?" you say....

In the Carrington Institute, you can go around, talk to some people, and just explore around and pass the time. But, the main reason to go there is the training facilities. First, there is a virtual reality room that improves on your skills with disarming guards and killing them. The other facility is a shooting range, where you practice your accuracy and speed with all of the weapons, each weapon having a different objective to complete, and three stages of training (bronze, silver, and gold).

Solo Missions make up the biggest part of this game. There are about eighteen total missions to complete, each with their own objectives (plus one more for each level of difficulty you go up by). Normally, you start out a stage with an in-game cinema, chock full of voice dialogue (thanks to MP3 compression), and some greatly depicted character models (even though a bit "rough" looking, but much, much better than G007). The cinemas then fluidly converge straight to the actual gameplay, where you control Joanna through the realistic, gargantuan levels of the buildings, fields, and environments of that stage. The missions seem very realistic and not corny or cheesy like most other games have. It really gives you the impression that your are in the future. After completing missions, another cinema pops up, further carrying the story, and you move on to the next stage. If by some chance you get stuck on a stage, you can call a friend up to help you out on the stage, or use a computer controlled simulant using the co-op mode built into the game. Beware though, because when you do this, the enemies are more frequent, and your life is shared and limited. If you don't want to do that, you could always play the Counter Op mode, where a friend is one of the enemies of the stage, who must get to you and kill you at all means necessary. However, as the enemy, you only have a very limited life amount. If Joanna or whoever you're playing as gets away, you can swallow a suicide pill and jump into another guards/soldier's body and take back after her, preventing her from completing the stage.

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