Perfect Dark is quite simply one of the best console shooters to come out since GoldenEye.
User Rating: 9.8 | Perfect Dark N64
There is no doubt that the release of Rareware’s GoldenEye sparked new meaning to the shooter genre. Today, the game still stands tall as a landmark and inspiration for all modern action titles. With that said, there have been many attempts by other developers to surpass the greatness of GoldenEye. Apparently, none have been successful on the console systems. Now, Rareware has created its unofficial sequel to GoldenEye, one that matches the greatness of GoldenEye, and throws it into the universe of Science Fiction. The result is Perfect Dark. While the concept of Perfect Dark does not stray far from GoldenEye, it is still unique in its own way. You play as Joanna Dark, a recently graduated special agent, who has landed with an agency known as the Carrington Institute. The setting of Perfect Dark puts you on a near future Earth, filled with conspiracies, big businesses, and espionage. The Institute has just made friendly contact with an extra terrestrial race known as the Maians (those big-headed, three-foot-tall gray aliens seen on Fox TV Specials). At a similar time, your agency launches an investigation into the evil dataDyne corporation, who has been committing mysterious acts that deserve explanation. Soon afterwards, conflict begins, and Joanna embarks on an adventure that will take her to various locations such as a tropical villa, the mysterious Area 51, the President’s Air Force One, and even an alien spacecraft. Upon playing Perfect Dark for a few minutes, you’ll instantly notice one of the game’s best new features: the AI. Your enemies will work together as teams as they try to cover each other, hide behind objects, and even pull some melee attacks to either daze you or steal your weapon. This upgrade in AI makes Perfect Dark a pleasure to play and greatly enhances the experience. Perfect Dark’s controls are nearly identical to that of GoldenEye’s, which may sound a little bland for today’s standards, but now every weapon in the game (including your fists) has a unique secondary mode to use. Some of them are as basic as hitting your enemy with the butt of your gun, while others have more useful modes, like switching a rifle into a grenade launcher, or to fire homing missiles out of a rocket launcher. There are over 30 weapons in the game, that include basic pistols and rifles, as well as futuristic weapons like rail guns and lasers. Like GoldenEye, the game is filled to the brim with really cool gadgets, like X-Ray glasses, tracking devices, and a small hacking device that will help you out a lot. All of these gizmos are extremely fun to use in the game’s 20 to 25 hour single player campaign. But the weapons and impressive AI have been included in the games’ other outstanding feature: the massive multiplayer mode. Actually the multiplayer mode is arguably better than the game’s single player mode. Basically, the options are endless, letting you create your own experience; set your own time limits, customize weapons and soundtracks, and even customize the AI. You can throw in up to eight AI controlled players as well as four real players. The AI bots, or “Sims”, have a ton of different personalities for you to choose from. For example, the VengeSim will always go after the last person who killed it, while the PeaceSim will quickly collect the weapons on the map, but will not use them. There are many more multiplayer options that are worth experiencing too, a particular one is the co-operative mode that allows you and a buddy to take on the game's single player campaign. This is a really cool mode and adds a lot of drama when playing on a high difficulty setting. This phenomenal twist on multiplayer action keeps the game fresh and interesting, not to mention that it is probably one the best multiplayer experiences ever made. Perfect Dark’s sound is simply outstanding. The game includes a good chunk of spoken dialogue that is superb, as are the sound effects like explosions, footsteps, and gunfire. The soundtrack is mostly made up of techno and electronic mixes which is fitting for a game set in the future, but it does get a little repetitive over time. The graphics couldn’t get much better either; you’ll notice that the character models and environmental designs closely resemble that of GoldenEye, but the graphics are just as good as when GoldenEye itself was released. If there’s any problem with Perfect Dark’s graphics, it’s that the frame rate drops in hectic multiplayer battles, which is understandable. There’s also no facial movement when the characters speak, but it’s a small problem and really doesn’t matter. Although it does have excellent graphics, superb sound, and really cool weapons, does Perfect Dark really reflect the experience of GoldenEye? The answer is: absolutely. In fact Perfect Dark is arguably better than GoldenEye itself. But no matter which game is better, it’s certain that Perfect Dark is by far one of the best and most engaging shooters that may ever exist. 
