Rare's last masterpiece for the N64? (Perfect Dark (N64))

Member Name: johnpaul

Product:	Perfect Dark (N64)
Date:	17/07/00 (20 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Glorious gameplay, huge multiplayer

Disadvantages: Lame plot, occasional slowdown

After three years wait, and more than a few setbacks in the developers release dates, Rare finally deliver 'Goldeneye's follow-up; 'Perfect Dark' to a (more than) eager public.
Those who have misspent many hours/days on Rare's 'Goldeneye' will find much here that is familiar. Running on a revamped version of the Goldeneye game engine, you take control of 'Joanna Dark' an agent in the near future, known for her 'Perfect' scores in training at the Carrington Institute.

As Joanna you are pitted against the Datadyne institute, who are in cahoots with... well, that's enough of the plot, as essentially it goes downhill from here onwards. Whereas you were content for Rare to gloss over plot jumps in Goldeneye as it had a whole movie to support it, it's not quite the same with PD. Joanna herself is a little dissapointing, as she sound's very much like a certain Lara Croft, and Rare should of known that we are all really pretty tired of her posh girl antics by now. It is disappointing that Rare have wasted the opportunity of a decent plot line in what could of been a truly adult game, but all is forgiven when you actually take controller in hand and play.

All the sublime playability of PD's predecessor is here, plus gorgeous graphics, improved enemy AI and quality level design. The holy grail of gaming is here again, in a game that can be completed in a few days on 'Agent' level, but will grab you by the scruff of your neck and not let you go for weeks, months, even years. Yes, Nintendo's failing console is set to stay below my TV, and many others, for some time to come.

Missions range from the glorious opening level set in the glossy, glass-clad Datadyne headquarters, to rainy streets in Chicago, a submersible, and even Air Force One. Dozens of weapons are at your disposal, all with a secondary function. Like the Laptop gun, that fires at a rapid rate, or can be deployed a
s an automatic sentry gun, or the Dragon that can be deployed as a proximity mine.

I don't know how Rare managed to cram it all in on one cartridge, but as if the single player mission isn't enough, a huge multiplayer game is squeezed in too. A host of dedicated arenas are unlocked by completing challenges like 'king of the hill' and 'hold the briefcase', as well as fully customisable options, where you can throw in up to eight 'simulants' (cpu controlled players) alongside any mates you can get to plug in additional controllers and either work with you, or against you. All the weapons, points, characters and limits are fully customisable.

The two playing modes that are responsable for the major delays in development are the co-operative and counter-operative. Here two players can play the mission levels, either working against each other, in a matrix style set-up where one player takes control of enemy soldiers, (until killed, when they will jump into the body of another of Datadyne's minions to try and stop Joanna), or working alongside each other. It's an entertaining diversion, but with it's rather choppy framerates, it's questionable whether or not it was worth the delay. In fact, the much talked about frame-rate issues aren't really much to worry about, but things can start to stutter when too many simulants are added to the multiplayer, or when the hi-res option is enabled in the solo missions. However, Rare seem to have made the decision to leave it up to the player to decide how much slow-down they can handle, and as most players won't really be aware of it, it's good to leave all options open.
I'll probably be playing this in a years time, and it's difficult to imagine that the Dreamcast or the Playstation 2 is going to come up with anything this year that's as eminently playable as Perfect Dark.

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