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Perfect Dark review

Game: Perfect Dark
Platform: Nintendo 64
Genre: First-Person Shooter (Sci-Fi)
Developer: Rare

Reader review by theredbaron47

Date unavailable

So this is Perfect Dark, Goldeneye’s sequel. Rare and Nintendo have done a great job on this game, but it is still just an update of Goldeneye. You can tell that the graphics and sound were all directly taken straight out of Goldeneye. And yes, if you’re wondering, I’m going to be making a lot of Goldeneye references in this review; PD is a sequel, so it should be better than its precessor.

Graphics:

These graphics are such a disappointment it sickens me. They are just as good as Goldeneye, if not worse. -God, Super Mario 64’s graphics were better than these, and they were first-generation, too. And PD has a lot of slowdown when there are more than three or four guys and you firing at the same time, even with the expansion pack. This is all just unnecessary; Rare could have developed these graphics a lot more.

Sound:

The sound was taken right from Goldeneye too, as well as the graphics. This is not bad, however, because the sound in Goldeneye was great. But considering how PD came about 2 or 3 years after Goldeneye, the sound should be noticeably better. But the sound is good, you can hear all the gunshots, each gun has its own sound. The enemies also sound a lot better when shooting and being shot, and there is actual dialog with the cut scenes!!!!!!!

Difficulty:

If you know what Goldeneye is like, you can expect that again. For those who don’t know what Goldeneye is like, it is very hard for beginners, very easy for anyone else. You have a bunch of one-player missions that are easy as pie. I beat the first like 8 without using a walkthrough. Can we say easy here? I must admit, though, there are vast improvements here over Goldeneye, such as many more gadgets a your disposal, more weapons, and I love the reloading sequences!!!!!!!!! They’re such an improvement over Goldeneye it makes me sick!!!!! Anyway, the AI of the enemies is better than Goldeneye, but bad nonetheless. If you shoot a guard in the head with a silenced gun, the guard next to him doesn’t notice. Pretty stupid enemies.

Controls:

The controls are –exactly- the same as Goldeneye’s. If you rule at Goldeneye, you will rule at PD. There have bee some improvements, though, such as press and hold A to get a menu of your current weapons and gadgets, and then press Z to change its function, an Z again to control your simulants (later discussed). Excellent job on the controls here.

Gameplay:

This is very reminiscent of Goldeneye. In fact, it IS Goldeneye, just with new levels and guns. You are Joanna Dark, an aspiring young agent of the Carrington Institution. dataDyne Corporations are making trouble, and you have to put an end to the trouble. You do so by completing a vast number of Solo Missions, or you can choose to make them co-operative or counteroperative. Believe me, it gets boring fast. If it weren’t for the Challenges and Combat Simulator, I would have sold this game by now. Challenges are solos or multiplayer where there is an objective, and two or more teams are competing against each other to complete the objective. Objectives are as follows: combat, capture the flag, hold the briefcase, hacker central. You can choose to be on your own team or have a team of computer-simulated buddies. Combat Simulator is just that; simulates combat. Run around a level and kill each other with weapons of your choice; I can dig it! This is what keeps me coming back!

Replayability:

Excellent. If it were just the Solo Missions, the game would get very boring very fast. But the Challenges and Combat Simulator add much more replay value than Solo Missions do. Add the simulants so you don’t have to have a second player and you have one of best games. It’s beyond me how they managed to fit all that data on a single N64 cartridge.

Buy or Rent:

I strongly recommend buying it, but you can also rent it for one or five or whatever nights if you just want to play PD at parties or whatever. I can tell you though, if you liked Goldeneye, you will love Perfect Dark. This is just the kind of game I like, the graphics and sound aren’t that great, but the gameplay and controls make up for it!

Rating: 9/10

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