Perfect Dark on Nintendo 64

Tom Anderson reviews

for Nintendo 64Distributed by
Rare

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TWO CHEERS FOR RARE

If you’re not a big Pokemon fan, Perfect Dark will be an unexpectedpleasure for the N64 gamer. For the once mighty empire of Nintendo, whichconquered the known world of gaming, has been overrun by marauding barbarians.

For us cartridge-based gamers, the stream of new games have been reduced to apathetic trickle. Basically, our little black box has snuffed it. Almost.For, like the occupation of Gaul during the time of Asterix, there is still agaggle of feisty villagers holding out against the imperial might of Sony.

The village’s name is Twycross, set deep in the heart of the Englishcountryside. Here 200 designers, programmers and, er, other people, fight onunder the banner of Rare software.

‘Rare’ is a good name too, because the last decent game they produced was theundisputed first-person shooter classic ‘Goldeneye’. That was in 1997, andit’s been a flipping long wait, not helped by the fact that Rare kept delayingrelease, ‘just to make it really, really, good’ or whatever.

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THE NAME IS DARK, JOANNA DARK…

The year is 2023 and Uberbabe Joanna Dark, (sadly not as sexy as Ms. Croft,my geek brethren) is code-named ‘Perfect Dark’ because she’s such an acerecruit. Some Scottish geezer sends her off to do battle with the mightyDatadyne Corporation. This is because they’re getting a bit matey with aliens.That, all boiled down, is the plot.

MAKE MY GAME RARE, PLEASE, WAITER

Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. No doubt most Nintendo magazines will begiving it ten out of ten because they are so grateful for a half-decent game.The unavoidable fact remains that it’s Goldeneye 2, and a safe sequel likethis can never quite recapture the magic of the original.

It uses the same graphics engine, and while the graphics are marginallyimproved, there are no quantum leaps here. This is despite the mandatory’Expansion Pak’ that you have to buy for twenty notes extra – without it, Rareexplains, you can only play 35% of the game!

The audio is now in Dolby Surround, and the game sports a 16:9; the sort ofnice little enhancement you can expect from this game.

THEY DIE LIKE SO MANY PATHETIC ANTS, THESE HUMANS

The gameplay has improved in some respects: you now get a training centre (ala ‘Tomb Raider 2’) and the gadgets and guns are more fun: my favourite wasthe flying SpyCam, which you can launch into small holes.

The AI of the opponents has not improved, though, – the jumpsuited goons arestill as easy to kill as in ‘Goldeneye’ (how they danced to the deadly tuneof my machine-gun – Oh lordy).

The Solo missions are identical in format to Goldeneye; nine large missionsare divided into sub-missions and there are three levels of difficulty.The easiest level now seems easier than ‘Goldeneye’ and the hardest seemsharder. Essentially, you either have to kill people or find things. The leveldesigns are inspired, and there’s less emphasis on stealth than in Goldeneye,concentrating on all out fragging. Machine guns are particularly satisfyingwith the Rumble Pak. Sometimes there is dialogue to help you when you near anobjective, but generally the game leaves you to figure things out on yourown (embarrassingly, I got stuck in the training section at one point)

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GAMING WITH CHUMS

There are three multiplayer options: combat simulator (1-4 player deathmatch),co-operative play and a counter-operative game. The combat simulatorresembles the classic Bond deathmatch, but expanded.

Now, up to 8 computer players can participate against 1-4 human players.Plain old deathmatching is also an option. The new co-operative andcounter-operative modes are two-player games that take place in the sololevels. In co-operative mode, two players can team up on any level that’s beencompleted in the Solo Missions. The counter-operative is just the opposite: ahuman player takes over as the bad guys on each level. As the enemies fall,the other player switches to the next closest baddie that’s still breathing.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

Hundreds of nice little tweaks illustrate the care ‘Rare’ has invested in’Perfect Dark’. You can now pistol-whip opponents with your pistol if bulletshave run out. Walls get bloodstained if you murder people near them.

Sadly, nice touches don’t make a game that deserves the title ‘classic’. Butit’s damn good, nonetheless, even if it is, like texture-mapped computercharacters, a little dead behind the eyes.

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT



OVERALLReview copyright © Tom Anderson, 2000.E-mail Tom Anderson