Perfect Dark

The Good
Back in 1998 a game called Goldeneye 64 came out, produced by the company Rare (Donkey Kong trilogy, Killer Instinct, Dk64) it chagned the way we played FPS in both PC and Console worlds. Great graphics lots of weapons and a stealth style mode made Goldeneye a hit.

Rare declined making Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not enough due to Perfect dark, they did not want to be constrained by a licence and have limited room to work with. Perfect Dark at that time was turning from a Goldeneye style game to what it is now. You are Joanna Dark, or as your code name states: Perfect Dark. You are fresh out of training, scoring A+++. Your first mission is to rescue a Dr. Carol from DataDyne's H.Q. DataDyne have been getting some very large boosts in technology research and you have to find out what this is about.

Graphics: VERY GOOD, better than Goldeneye. In fact the game won't run right without the expansion pack. There is now glare from lights, floors that reflect and shine, better glass, sun glare and rays. The people in the game are better rendered, they have more rounded heads and move better than before. Animation is well done with most of the animation being motion captured beforehand. Bullet holes change with different wall surfaces, like metal or plastic, and elevators are now intoduced.

Sound: Better than ever, full voiced cutscenes, men now scream out for the alarm to be raised, and make rather crass comments when dying "Gasp!...I'm dying1". Weapon sounds are more improved and are more meaty.

Gameplay: The single player game is good, hard levels, VERY smart guards who dodge by alerting other guards and hiding behind any obstical. Some even cloak, then there are the Skedar, large very detailed lizards who take a lot of lead to kill. The missions range from getting from A-B, saving your base by turning on drone guns to escaping on hover bikes. Very varied. Multiplayer is a blast, with lots of new game modes to use, like capture the breifcase (flag) or king of the hill where you have to guard a part of the level. An interesting one is Hacker Central, where you have to guard your mates who are trying to hack into a computer outlet. Bots are also inculded with many personalityies to choose from, like rocket launcer experts to peace lovers who disarm you. There are around 40 weapons, each with a secondary fire making them new weapons all together, this making it around 80. From knives to Lazers, cloaking devices to hacking tools bullets are a girls best friend.

The Bad
The storyline has lots of holes in it. Some things are left very unanswered, this is kinda fixed up in a story summary at the end in the comms room. The single player game gets very hard at times with some of the enemy being very unfair in their actions. The annoying blur you get when hit can be ok but this does not refresh in multiplayer when you die, so you gain a very large advantage being unable to see anyone properly.

The Bottom Line
Very good, lots of fun buy it.

The Good
The graphics are beyond beautiful for the era and the gameplay addresses Goldeneye's shortcomings, honors them, and builds on top of them to make a cyberpunk adventure that quickly became a classic in the new millennium.

Perfect Dark's just about perfect in every way.

The Bad
There's not a hell of a lot I consider negative about this one. I guess the missions can conveniently make the bad guys hit you when they shouldn't do so (but every great action game has small issues like these anyway).

The Bottom Line
It's Goldeneye in the future! Like Batman Beyond? Well, imagine what that did for Batman The Animated Series, and this is what Perfect Dark does for James Bond.

The Good
Firstly, being a follow up to the best game ever (Goldeneye, no arguments :P) this game had alot to live up to. It surpassed the hype, and then ripped off GoldenEye's head and piddled down the neck. The graphics, the sound, the play mechanic, everything from GoldenEye was taken and improved upon. The major area of fun to be had with Perfect Dark was in the multiplayer, the astonishing array of things to do has yet to be equaled, let alone beaten in my opinion. Playing this game with three friends is a blast, possibly the best console based multiplayer of all time.

The Bad
The only major complaint I had was about the story in single player, it was a little bit weak in my opinion. The addition of aliens was not welcome for me either (however this is a minor complaint).

The Bottom Line
The best First person shooter on n64, or any of the current next gen consoles. If you buy one game for your N64, make it this. You cannot miss this game, if you are a gamer you will not be disapointed.

The Good
This has to be one of the best 4 player games of all time. The options for vs mode are virtually limitless, and the game keeps track of a wide variety of statistics and records. The single player mode is also quite engaging, with a voice-acted storyline and some inspired gameplay in the missions, which can range from straightforward to extremely hard.

The Bad
The only bad part about this game is that it bombards you with a barrage of strange colors and craziness. This means that when in 4 player, the game can slow down with the presence of 10 meat sims in addition to you and your three friends. When you all meet in a room and all have remote mines, then the game will be quite choppy (and this is with the expansion pack which is required to play this game). But such situations are rare, and you'll find that most of the time the game runs smoothly.

The Bottom Line
Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter that is set in the future. It has aliens and flying cars and Mr. Blonde (not from Reservoir Dogs). When held up next to most other shooters, this one seems Godly. It has every tweak you could ever want, and a quirky storyline and list of characters for you to laugh at. If you have a 64 and still play it and do not own this game, then I highly suggest you go find it somewhere and buy it. it is one of the best titles to grace the console.

The Good
Nice graphics on hi-res mode, lots of weapons, good voice acting and sounds, lots of missions, cool Combat Simulator, some "extra features" (i.e. Shooting range) cool codes that are fun to get (like the "Classic weapons" cheats...) Smart AI, cool Co-operative/Counter/Operative feature. All in all just a great game!

The Bad
VERY bad frame rate with Hi-res turned on. Some of the Combat Simulator challenges are almost impossible due to the tough bots.

The Bottom Line
It's great! I would recommend it to any action game enthusiast. It's made by the same people who brought you Goldeneye- heck, it even uses the same engine (of course it has been modified... :) ) The gameplay is fun and vary mixed. The weapons are creative and the story is pretty cool. Also some of the cheats open up whole new gameplay- such as the 3 secret missions.... ooooohhh! Mysterious! And the alternate intro movie as well... well, buy it and find them!

The Good
So many weapons and levels, far more than in Goldeneye, and even better missions! The missions are SO hard and SO fun. The Battle Simulator is almost as sweet as the missions and just hanging out in Carrington Institute is awesome! The multi-player mode is the best thing in the game. So many different kinds of simulants and so many different difficulty ratings, plus you can play with up to four friends and be on teams and customize your own weapon sets! This is the best video game EVER! Did I mention that the music is good, too?

The Bad
When you get punched or sedated and the screen gets blurry it's annoying. Yeah, it's supposed to make it look more realistic, and I think that's cool, but when you die and come back again and it's still there, that's when it gets annoying. if you don't have an expansion pack, though, this game sucks since you can't play the mission's or multi-player.

The Bottom Line
If you have an expansion pak get it. Don't ask, just get it. But only if you have an expansion pak. if you don't get an expansion pak or get Goldeneye. I suggest the expansion pak. Trust me, it's worth it.