Perfect Dark Zero
Perfect Dark, a Nintendo only game at it's launch on the Nintendo 64 was developer Rare's answer to a title that would succeed their very popular 007 Goldeneye game. A sequel, Perfect Dark Zero was originally designed for the Nintendo Gamecube. At the time, Rare was a second-party developer, working exclusively for Nintendo. During the creation of this sequel however, Microsoft bought up Rare and Perfect Dark Zero was now being developed for the Xbox instead. Rare was happy because it initially pushed for online multiplayer, but the Gamecube wasn't natively designed for it where the Xbox was. During it's 5 year development cycle, Perfect Dark Zero ended up overlapping the 6th and 7th generation of console releases and became a launch title for the new Xbox 360. This allowed Rare to push the game beyond their original hopes and any development problems were cured with this new more powerful system.
Though, even with it's long time in development, Perfect Dark Zero wasn't quite the inventive game it's predecessor was. I hadn't heard anything great about it and I wasn't even aware when it was released that it was a Rare title. It sure looked good, visually at least. It had a really realistic appearance to the lighting and the weapons, which I wasn't expecting from Rare's design standpoint. It was definitely a great looking game to showcase the new Xbox 360.
Eventually, I grabbed Perfect Dark Zero used from Blockbuster (when it was still around). As I usually discovered, never to listen to most anyone about games. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and although it was missing something, I don't know what, some feeling about the original Perfect Dark, overall it was a great new shooter title that was unique and fun to play. I only wish I had bought it earlier while it was still one of the more impressive game on the system. Though even now, it is a good looking game, which I find is the case with a lot of the 7th generation titles. Even the ones that are getting on almost 10 years old now.
I'm not sure what ever became of Rare. From being one of the top developers for original and solid titles to now working on some forgettable Kinect software, I'd really like to see them make a comeback and bring back the Perfect Dark series. It was a smart little set of games that had places to go, and still can.
Perfect Dark, a Nintendo only game at it's launch on the Nintendo 64 was developer Rare's answer to a title that would succeed their very popular 007 Goldeneye game. A sequel, Perfect Dark Zero was originally designed for the Nintendo Gamecube. At the time, Rare was a second-party developer, working exclusively for Nintendo. During the creation of this sequel however, Microsoft bought up Rare and Perfect Dark Zero was now being developed for the Xbox instead. Rare was happy because it initially pushed for online multiplayer, but the Gamecube wasn't natively designed for it where the Xbox was. During it's 5 year development cycle, Perfect Dark Zero ended up overlapping the 6th and 7th generation of console releases and became a launch title for the new Xbox 360. This allowed Rare to push the game beyond their original hopes and any development problems were cured with this new more powerful system.Though, even with it's long time in development, Perfect Dark Zero wasn't quite the inventive game it's predecessor was. I hadn't heard anything great about it and I wasn't even aware when it was released that it was a Rare title. It sure looked good, visually at least. It had a really realistic appearance to the lighting and the weapons, which I wasn't expecting from Rare's design standpoint. It was definitely a great looking game to showcase the new Xbox 360.
Eventually, I grabbed Perfect Dark Zero used from Blockbuster (when it was still around). As I usually discovered, never to listen to most anyone about games. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and although it was missing something, I don't know what, some feeling about the original Perfect Dark, overall it was a great new shooter title that was unique and fun to play. I only wish I had bought it earlier while it was still one of the more impressive game on the system. Though even now, it is a good looking game, which I find is the case with a lot of the 7th generation titles. Even the ones that are getting on almost 10 years old now.
I'm not sure what ever became of Rare. From being one of the top developers for original and solid titles to now working on some forgettable Kinect software, I'd really like to see them make a comeback and bring back the Perfect Dark series. It was a smart little set of games that had places to go, and still can.
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