Perfect Dark
After the success of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, Rare attempted yet another blockbuster FPS title. Perfect Dark maybe have been too much for the console, even going to far as requiring the RAM expansion pack to take full advantage of what the game had to offer. Rare pushed for higher end textures, visual effects and audio over what they produced with GoldenEye and although they definitely succeeded I found the game had a bit of a messier look overall. Some levels becoming harder to read visually in comparison. With that in mind, Perfect Dark still succeeded as an excellent game and an especially fun multiplayer game.
Perfect Dark took the place of GoldenEye for us as the choice multiplayer title at the time. It was an easy transition since the multiplayer laid out pretty much the same with all the same options, gameplay modes, (plus additional) controls and of course it's based of the same game engine so everything felt very familiar. But of course, it offered both a change of settings with new maps and new weapons as well as a few new modes of play and bonus settings which meant we weren't just playing the same game over again. The weapon list was huge, the map list was more expansive and some additional gadgets really changed things up. This included a dreaded 'slow-mo grenade' that created a cloud that when entered, halved the speed of everything within. Bullets included. Better yet, you could actually turn this on as a map-wide feature during multiplayer. It was like playing the entire game in bullet-time. Not surprisingly, we actually played with this feature on a lot.
Perfect Dark actually featured a great single player campaign as well. Heavily influenced by a wide range of cyberpunk movies and novels, the story follows a special agent Joanna Dark as she stops a world-wide threat of destruction from an alien source. I didn't get to play much myself, since I never owned this game myself for the N64, but I did watch a lot of it played when at a friend's house or during the short periods which I borrowed it. It featured settings that resembled that of Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell and other great sci-fi movies as well as some fantastic gadgets and weapons that included a SMG that doubled as an automated turret.
Perfect Dark was another one of these great but few games which revolved around a strong female character. She wasn't over sexualised and is regarded not only for her combat skills but also for her perfect scoring at the Carrington Institute. And of course, Rare went and made this an absolutely fantastic game from both a multiplayer and single player standpoint. It was recently revamped for the Xbox 360 in HD with high review and also featured a sequel, Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360 that was released around it's first launch. It was actually made by Rare as well, which I hadn't figured since it has a much different feel to it. And although it didn't do as well as the original, I was actually quite happy with it.
After the success of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, Rare attempted yet another blockbuster FPS title. Perfect Dark maybe have been too much for the console, even going to far as requiring the RAM expansion pack to take full advantage of what the game had to offer. Rare pushed for higher end textures, visual effects and audio over what they produced with GoldenEye and although they definitely succeeded I found the game had a bit of a messier look overall. Some levels becoming harder to read visually in comparison. With that in mind, Perfect Dark still succeeded as an excellent game and an especially fun multiplayer game.Perfect Dark took the place of GoldenEye for us as the choice multiplayer title at the time. It was an easy transition since the multiplayer laid out pretty much the same with all the same options, gameplay modes, (plus additional) controls and of course it's based of the same game engine so everything felt very familiar. But of course, it offered both a change of settings with new maps and new weapons as well as a few new modes of play and bonus settings which meant we weren't just playing the same game over again. The weapon list was huge, the map list was more expansive and some additional gadgets really changed things up. This included a dreaded 'slow-mo grenade' that created a cloud that when entered, halved the speed of everything within. Bullets included. Better yet, you could actually turn this on as a map-wide feature during multiplayer. It was like playing the entire game in bullet-time. Not surprisingly, we actually played with this feature on a lot.
Perfect Dark actually featured a great single player campaign as well. Heavily influenced by a wide range of cyberpunk movies and novels, the story follows a special agent Joanna Dark as she stops a world-wide threat of destruction from an alien source. I didn't get to play much myself, since I never owned this game myself for the N64, but I did watch a lot of it played when at a friend's house or during the short periods which I borrowed it. It featured settings that resembled that of Bladerunner, Ghost in the Shell and other great sci-fi movies as well as some fantastic gadgets and weapons that included a SMG that doubled as an automated turret.
Perfect Dark was another one of these great but few games which revolved around a strong female character. She wasn't over sexualised and is regarded not only for her combat skills but also for her perfect scoring at the Carrington Institute. And of course, Rare went and made this an absolutely fantastic game from both a multiplayer and single player standpoint. It was recently revamped for the Xbox 360 in HD with high review and also featured a sequel, Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360 that was released around it's first launch. It was actually made by Rare as well, which I hadn't figured since it has a much different feel to it. And although it didn't do as well as the original, I was actually quite happy with it.
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