Perfect Dark is a First-Person Shooter and the first installment in the Perfect Dark series. It was developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64, released in 2000, and is the spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, using an advanced version of its game engine. Though Perfect Dark's storyline is unrelated to the James Bond franchise as well as being an original IP, the game incorporates many similar functions from its predecessor, the most evident being the control scheme and general gameplay.
What set Perfect Dark apart from GoldenEye 007 aside the main protagonists (Joanna Dark/James Bond, respectively) being professional spies and a shared engine was the new texturing used in level design, the incorporation of secondary functions for every weapon in the game, new game modes, improved enemy AI, and the utilization of voice acting. In essence, Perfect Dark greatly improves upon the then-revolutionary standards set by GoldenEye, and like Rareware's earlier 1997 title, the game still receives critical acclaim to this day.
It is one of the three titles in the N64 library that the Expansion Pak is required to play the game, others being The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Rare's own Donkey Kong 64. However, unlike the two, Perfect Dark can still run with the Jumper Pak in the console, but the machine will only process 35% of the cartridge's internal 32MB data, as explained in the game's box and instruction manual, and only plays a demo-like version of Combat Simulator while the main campaign is unavailable.
Perfect Dark was given a remaster in 2010 for the now-defunct Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service, and in 2024 was re-released in its original form on the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack for the Nintendo Switch.
Campaign[]
The campaign is divided into nine missions comprised of 1 to 3 levels each. There are also four bonus missions known as Special Assignments that are unlocked once the player has completed the respective difficulties of the campaign. Those serve as mid-story levels that explain certain events between Joanna's missions involving other characters, specifically Elvis, Mr. Blonde, and a Maian Protector.
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Storyline[]
Millions of years ago, a huge alien ship of immense power was scuttled in the Pacific Ocean. It was equipped with an untried and vastly dangerous weapon: the weak nuclear force de-coupler, which could in theory cause the fundamental bonds between molecules to fail. So that watching eyes would believe in the destruction of the ship, a message pod was dispatched to the home galaxy, and vital components of the ship's drives were destroyed in the star system it had chosen as a hiding place. For this ship was a Cetan, a massive, sentient alien creature.
Another extraterrestrial race, the Maians, encountered life on Earth in 2000 BC. They saw great potential, but decided to let the primitive human race develop without their interference.
The Maians encountered the Skedar near Delta Eridanus in 1650 AD (Earth date), and the resultant skirmish soon blossomed into an all-out war. Only after hundreds of years of fighting did an uneasy peace develop, and even the Skedar fanatics persistently tested the boundaries of this peace with terror sit activities. Fortunately, the Maians refused to be drawn.
Mankind, too, continued to be a cause of concern to the Maians, and they watched in disappointment as Earth suffered more and more crises brought on by the rise of technology and 'outside context situations.' They feared that announcing their presence would only precipitate further wars on the planet, and quietly decided to continue their observation until the race became more mature.
Daniel Carrington jumped the gun in 1985 by contracting a Maian ship in orbit above Earth. He put forward a plan that would help both parties, resulting in accelerated contact between humans and the Maians (and founding of the Carrington Institute). Having agreed that his plan was sound, and finding him to be a person of integrity, the Maians allowed Carrington to release their technology into the public domain through his considerable research and development holdings.
Then, in 2006, Skedar fanatics stumbled across the Cetan message pod. They immediately began to scout Earth in a particularly heavy-handed way, abducting people and mutilating animals in an attempt to determine the location of the lost battle cruiser. In time, their tests inevitably led them to its resting place on the bed of the Pacific Ocean; however, in order to actually reach it, they would need the help of the natives.
Performing their own study of Earth, the Skedar came up with a shortlist of companies possessing the resources to help them recover the sunken ship. At the top of the list was the dataDyne Corporation. They contacted the company head, Cassandra De Vries, and presented her with a deal that sounded too good to be true - which of course, it was. In return for helping to raise "their" ship from the ocean floor, the Skedar promised to supply dataDyne with enough alien technology to become the biggest corporation on the face of the planet. All that dataDyne had to do was build an AI unit with language and code-breaking abilities, which was tricky, but certainly within their means. Work commenced on the project immediately.
Cassandra De Vries approached NSA head Trent Easton with details of the plan, but his attempts to get Presidential approval for the loan of a deep-sea research vessel were repeatedly turned down. There was no way that the Skedar or dataDyne could steal the vessel without triggering the wrath of the U.S. Government, so over time they settled instead on a far more sinister plan of replacing the President with a clone that they would control. Of course, this also promised extra rewards for Trent and Cassandra when the Skedar operation was consigned to history.
However, they would not be given much time to gloat. The Skedar fanatics' ultimate plan was to test the weak nuclear force de-coupler on Earth before wiping the Maians out of existence, and both Cassandra and Trent remained blind to the possibility of being double-crossed, so enamored with the visions of power and luxury that lay ahead.
But dataDyne had unwittingly created something that could see all too clearly the danger within this multilayered conspiracy: the sapient AI built to crack the core access codes of the Cetan ship. When it exposed concern over the mission for which it had been designed, Cassandra's response was to order its personality removed. Clearly, it was thinking too much. In desperation, and in a move which would make or break a great deal more than dataDyne's "deal" with the Skedar, the sapient adopted the pseudonym Dr. Caroll and contacted the Carrington Institute with a plea of help...
At this point, the in-game events of Perfect Dark begin to unfold.
Untried agent Joanna Dark is assigned a mission involving the extraction of a scientist named Dr. Caroll from the high security research area beneath the dataDyne skyscraper. Upon rendezvous, she is surprised to discover that this 'Dr. Caroll' is an AI created by dataDyne itself; but she continues with her task of escorting the doctor to safety. When the alarm is raised, Joanna has to fight her way up the tower to reach the helipad, which presents her only means of escape via dropship.
In response to this incursion dataDyne makes Daniel Carrington a personal target and takes him hostage two days later at his private villa. Cassandra De Vries demand the return of the AI—their 'property'—in exchange for his life. Unknown to them, the AI is already at the villa, where it was being questioned by Carrington on dataDyne's future plans. Joanna rescues the head of the Institute but is unable to prevent dataDyne from taking back Dr. Caroll. However, Carrington has heard enough to take the drastic step of summoning a team of Maian specialists to Earth.
Joanna is dispatched to Chicago to spy on a conspirators' meeting at the G5 Building, a front for the dataDyne Corp. It is here that she learns of the involvement of Trent Easton, head of the NSA, and of the strange Nordic men that appear to be in control of the whole deadly scheme. Once Trent discloses the plan to usurp the Presidential position, Jo radios the news back to base, only to find another, more urgent task requires her attention before further action can be taken against Trent.
The Maian specialists have been intercepted and brought down by the conspirators, with survivors and wreckage alike being transported to Area 51 in Nevada. Briefed to rescue any survivors and retrieve their equipment, Joanna is dropped in to link up with another Carrington Institute agent. Upon breaking into the medlab, Joanna finally discovers the Institute's secret - their allies are Maians, the alien race commonly known as Greys. The particular Maian she manages to rescue goes by the name of Elvis. He was a bodyguard for the Ambassador who had been flying in at the head of the specialist team.
Having aided the remnants of the Maian delegation, Joanna can return to the matter of the President and dataDyne's designs against him. She poses as a member of the President's entourage to gain access to the air base where Air Force One is stationed, and successfully conceals herself aboard the plane. As soon as it's airborne, Trent and the cloaked Skedar make their move, but Joanna is there to stop them. She rushed the President to a safety capsule while a team of Trent's men scour the aircraft, intent on dragging the hapless politician aboard the Skedar UFO now docked to AFI via an umbilical. Jo weakens the umbilical but is unable to break it, and ultimately Elvis makes a last-ditch attempt to sever the cord by crashing into it at high speed. All three crafts plummet towards the Alaskan wilderness, and the AFI escape pod is launched.
Coming around, Jo tries to report in but finds her communications jammed by a transmission from the Skedar craft. She sets off through the snow to find the President and Elvis, encountering teams of cloaked Skedar out searching for her, the President, Elvis, and the President's belongings. She tracked one group back to the downed Skedar ship, where she discovers a clone of the President: quickly she destroys it, shuts down the jamming device and calls in the cavalry. The Skedar are thwarted once more, the President is safe, and Trent's incompetence has earned him a nasty fate at the hands of his 'allies'.
But it's not over. Throwing caution to the wind, dataDyne and the Skedar steal the Government's deep-sea research vessel 'Pelagic II' and head out to the Pacific crash site. Joanna and Elvis leave to disrupt activity on board the ship and find out what lies at the heart of the grand Skedar plan. After crippling the vessel's diving operations and recalling the submersible, they head down to the ocean floor, where they get their first sight of the downed Cetan battle cruiser. A portal made by the Skedar offers them access to the ship, where they stumble across a dead Skedar warrior... Clearly the assault team didn't have it all their own way. Fighting off the remaining vengeful Skedar and avoiding the Cetans themselves, Joanna and Elvis made their way down to the core of the ship, where they find the AI that was once Dr. Caroll. They manage to restore his personality, whereupon he urges Joanna and Elvis to leave the ship so that he may destroy it for good.
Later, back at the Carrington Institute, Joanna is about to leave for a Presidential reception at the White House when all hell breaks loose. The Skedar assault team survivors are venting their anger on those they deem responsible for their failure to recover the Cetan ship. Joanna dashes around the Institute helping CI employees to reach the safety of the hangars, as the Skedar launch attacks on various parts of the building: the majority of the employees make good their escape while Joanna holds the fort, but eventually she is knocked unconscious and taken prisoner.
She comes to in a holding cell on board the Skedar assault ship, with only Cassandra De Vries for company. In a shocking move, the dataDyne CEO willingly gives her life to create the distraction necessary for Joanna to break out. Battling her way through the ship, Jo eventually manages to locate and disable the docking bay shields, allowing Elvis to bring in a few friends for the long-awaited shooting party.
The captured assault ship enters orbit above the Skedar Battle Shrine, which shocks Elvis as the Maians never managed to find this Skedar 'holiest of holies' throughout the long years of interracial war. If the Shrine were destroyed, Skedar morale would be dealt a fatal blow and true peace would finally replace the uneasy ceasefire. So, Jo sets her sights on the Skedar leader, the high priest of the Battle Shrine, while Elvis returns to the assault ship in order to summon the Maian fleet.
In the wake of the climactic battle, the temple lies devastated with Elvis calling for a lull in the bombardment so that he can find Joanna. She is alive, held under a pile of rubble by the last tenacious Skedar that caught up during the last few seconds of her escape bid. Elvis quickly offers her a gun to convince the Skedar to let go, and with the job finally done, the Skedar Shrine and morale are both in ruins. The conspiracy is dealt a mortal blow to the heart, the two of them depart for orbit.
At this point, Joanna's work as a secret agent is at last complete. Shortly afterwards, the Maian bombardment continues and the Skedar are wiped out for good, ending the war.
Game modes[]
In Perfect Dark, there are four options that the player can choose to play the game's campaign. An Expansion Pak is required to assess the full campaign, as without it, the player is only allowed to play a limited, demo-like version of Combat Simulator.
- Solo Missions - This is the main mode of the game. It allows the player to go through the main campaign of Joanna's missions and the unlockable Special Assignments (bonus mid-story missions). If levels are locked, the previous mission and difficulty must be completed to continue. The Duel bonus mission is exclusive to this mode. If the player complete missions on certain difficulties under a set time, unlockable cheats will be available.
- Combat Simulator - Perfect Dark's multiplayer mode. While up to four players can compete with each other, unlike GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark can make the player assess up to 8 CPU bots called Simulants and face them alone. The main campaign and 30 Challenges are required to unlock features within this mode.
- Co-Operative - This mode is similar to Solo Missions, except Joanna is aided with a second player (as Velvet Dark) or guard-like AI Simulants called Perfect Buddies. In the event of 2 players, at least one must survive to complete a mission. If one dies, that player can optionally revive, but they will cost their teammate half their health. In single-player, between one to four Buddies are sent to help Joanna fight enemy guards in missions. Unlike other ally NPCs, to prevent any shame upon the player, Perfect Buddies are not required for the mission objectives, and there is no penalty of mission failure had they killed a Buddy (if Friendly Fire is on), although it is advised for them to remain alive for the player's assistance. Velvet Dark as a Simulant is the default Buddy, but unlockable, unique, better armed counterparts (such as Hit and Run) are available. This mode does not unlock cheats even if the required criteria are met.
- Counter-Operative - This is a versus mode version of Co-Operative, as one player has to stop Joanna from completing her mission, in the form of random enemies somewhere on the map. For balance reasons, the opponent player will have restricted 50% health and the game does not tell the player as Joanna which enemy the other is controlling. If the enemy player gets killed, it will be replaced with a different guard. If Joanna dies or aborts, the Counter-Operative player wins. The enemy player loses if Joanna succeeds her mission and/or kills all the enemies within the map. Simulants are not available.
Difficulty levels[]
There are four difficulty settings in Perfect Dark. Three are available by default, and the fourth setting is unlocked by completing all of the game's missions (including Special Assignments) on Perfect Agent. They function very similarly to that of GoldenEye 007's.
- Agent (A) - Agent is the easy difficulty. Enemy guards are weaker, inaccurate in aiming, inflict low damage, and usually come in less numbers than in higher difficulties. Mission objectives are kept at minimum, therefore the levels are usually shortened. Weapon pickups increase your reserve ammunition the most in this difficulty (gain 20 rounds for example). Shield pickups are relatively common. Auto-aim will work well. In Co-op mode, the max amount of Buddies allowed is 4.
- Special Agent (SA) - Special Agent is the normal difficulty. Enemies are now in full health, and are improved in aiming and damage over Agent. Joanna will have more objectives to complete in missions but still be less than in Perfect Agent. Weapon pickups are decreased slightly (gain 15 rounds for example). Shields are rarer among the missions. Auto-aim is less effective than on Agent. In Co-op mode, the max amount of Buddies allowed is 3.
- Perfect Agent (PA) - Perfect Agent is the hardest among the game's main difficulties. Enemies are at their most dangerous in accuracy and damage, are more in general, and Joanna will have the most objectives to complete in missions. Weapon pickups increase the least amount in this difficulty (gain 10 rounds for example). Shields are now non-existent, and auto-aim is now at minimum level, requiring careful gameplay and awareness by the player. In Co-op mode, the max amount of Buddies allowed is 2. Note that explosions or a well-placed burst by enemies can kill you almost instantly.
- Perfect Dark - This difficulty, also known as "Perfect Dark Mode", is the special setting unlocked after completing every mission on Perfect Agent. Just like "007" in GoldenEye 007, it is designed to allow the player to manually set the health, damage, and accuracy of enemies before starting any mission (though it does not have a reaction time setting nor it can't be set to 0), allowing great replayability of the game. Applying the lowest and highest settings will drastically outstrip the difficulty stats presented by Agent and Perfect Agent respectively, and due to this, Perfect Dark Mode can be used for an extreme challenge (doing "LTK/DLTK" for example) or simply for fun. Perfect Dark plays missions the same way as in Perfect Agent, and this also applies to the weapon pickups and Shields. Unlike GoldenEye's respective version of the difficulty, auto-aim is also set to work as if you're playing on Perfect Agent, rather than Agent. This difficulty setting is not available for Co-op/Counter mode. To simulate the other difficulties, in health/damage, 50% is Agent, 100/75% is Special Agent, and 100% in both is Perfect Agent. For accuracy, 50%, 75%, and 100% is A, SA, and PA respectively.
Characters[]
- Joanna Dark
- Jonathan Steinberg (originally Jonathan Dark)
- Daniel Carrington
Others
Locations[]
- Carrington Institute
- Lucerne Tower
- Laboratory Basement
- Carrington Villa
- Chicago
- G5 Building
- Area 51
- Alaskan Air Base
- Air Force One
- Crash Site
- Pelagic II
- Cetan Ship
- Skedar Assault Ship
- Skedar Homeworld
Carrington Institute[]
While not in Solo Missions or the Combat Simulator, the player is free to roam around the Carrington Institute. When starting a new save file, Daniel Carrington may also appear and give you a tour of the building. Located throughout are a range of different training rooms, most of which have challenges for you to complete. While it's not necessary to do so, it is recommended that you get to know the various parts of the building intimately, as this information will greatly benefit you in a certain later campaign mission.
- Shooting Range - In a room resembling a target range, the player is presented with an index of every weapon used by the player in Solo Missions, with each weapon having three different challenges to complete. Completing them all on Bronze difficulty rewards the player with the bonus mission The Duel, while completing them all on Gold difficulty nets the player the reward of the classic weapons, which are actually a handful of weapons returning from GoldenEye 007.
- Combat Training - In a large black room, the player can practice basic combat training, which ranges from simply looking around to hand-to-hand combat.
- Gadget Lab - In a small room on the second floor Here the player can train with each of the gadgets in the lab.
- Hacker Central - In the room next door to the Gadget Lab, the player can access information on character's backgrounds and stories. Cheats can also be activated from this room.
- Hangar - Located on the ground floor, players can access information on locations and vehicles. The player can also practice pushing around a HoverCrate and riding a HoverBike in the area.
- Combat Simulator - This is the Multiplayer mode of Perfect Dark, although it can be played Solo. The multiplayer is played via split-screen with a maximum of 4 players and 8 Simulants (AI Bots). If a player creates a profile, they can track their statistics, rank and create a custom character by matching heads and bodies.
Weapons[]
- Falcon 2
- Falcon 2 (Silenced)
- Falcon 2 (Scoped)
- MagSec 4
- Mauler
- Phoenix
- DY357 Magnum
- DY357-LX
- CMP-150
- Cyclone
- Callisto NTG
- RC-P120
- Laptop Gun
- Dragon
- K7 Avenger
- AR34
- SuperDragon
- Shotgun
- Reaper
- Sniper Rifle
- FarSight XR-20
- Devastator
- Rocket Launcher
- Slayer
- Combat Knife
- Crossbow
- Tranquilizer
- Laser
- Grenade
- Timed Mine
- Proximity Mine
- Remote Mine
- N-Bomb
- Unarmed
The following weapons, called "Classic Weapons", can be unlocked by getting gold medals with weapons on the firing range or from an existing saved game (using the Transfer Pak and Game Boy Color title on N64, or a Perfect Dark Zero saved game on XBLA). They don't have any secondary modes and they use the "classic zoom". They are firearms from the game's spiritual predecessor.
- PP9i (PP7 Special Issue)
- CC13 (DD44 Dostovei)
- KL01313 (Klobb)
- KF7 Special (KF7 Soviet)
- ZZT (9mm) (ZMG (9mm))
- DMC (D5K Deutsche)
- AR53 (US AR33 Assault Rifle)
- RC-P45 (RC-P90)
Gadgets[]
- Data Uplink
- ECM Mine
- CamSpy
- Night Vision
- Door Decoder
- R-Tracker
- IR Scanner
- X-Ray Scanner
- Disguise
- Shield
- Cloaking Device
Vehicles and Tech[]
- Jumpship
- HoverCrate
- HoverBike
- Cleaning Hovbot
- Hovercopter
- G5 Robot
- A51 Interceptor
- Maian Vessel
- Skedar Shuttle
Cheese[]
Main article: Cheese
Hidden within every level of the game is a small piece of yellow cheese. Rare originally hid them with the intention of awarding the player new cheats for locating each piece, but the final game ended up awarding cheats for meeting time requirements in the solo missions, as this proved a much greater and rewarding challenge. Consequently, the developers left the cheese in the game just for nostalgic purposes. Remember that you cannot pick up any of the cheese; they are simply for looks only.
Leaderboard Crowns[]
Main article: Leaderboard Crowns
Leaderboard Crowns were a feature added to Perfect Dark's remaster when it was released on the Xbox Live Arcade. Similar to Xbox Live's achievements, Crowns are unlocked by performing certain feats in-game, mostly during Solo Missions. When a crown is unlocked, the player is notified and it will appear on the online Leaderboards next to the player's clear time for it's respective mission. There is a crown for every mission, and there are others that unlock Xbox Live avatar awards, gamer pictures, and dashboard themes.
Development[]
Martin Hollis, the director of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, described the development of the game in an interview with Retro Gamer magazine. He explained that Rare rejected the prospect of working on the GoldenEye movie's sequel Tomorrow Never Dies "without hesitation", as the development team felt they had spent too much time immersed in the James Bond universe. The decision to make the central character a woman was part of Hollis' belief that there "should be more games centered on women". To this end, the team created Joanna Dark, influenced by a number of other fictional heroines: Kim Kimberly from Level 9 Computing's text adventure Snowball, the seductive spy Agent X-27 in the 1930s film Dishonored, the eponymous femme fatale of the film Nikita, and FBI agent Dana Scully from television series The X-Files. The name "Joanna Dark" was taken from the French pronunciation of Joan of Arc as "Jeanne d'Arc".
Ghost in the Shell was a major influence on the character, setting and plot. The name of the in-game company "dataDyne" was inspired by Yoyodyne from The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. Another significant influence on the game's locations was the work of author Philip K. Dick. Hollis explained that he and designer David Doak "picked a range of locations we thought would be impressive and architectural, on the model of GoldenEye but sci-fi dystopias... The settings came first; the plot was then constructed by Dave to sew them together". The word "Dark" was chosen for its association with the game's bleak focus on killing. Hollis has noted the similarities to Criterion Software's naming of Black: "Game developers just like black, nihilism, dystopian futures, the number zero, infinity, spheres, perfection—all that kind of stuff." The "double slash" symbol in the game's logo was inspired by the Japanese dakuten mark.
At one time Nintendo of Japan considered releasing the game there under the title Aka to Kuro (赤と黒 ?, lit. "Red and Black"). "Perfect Dark" does not translate well into Japanese, and the title "Aka to Kuro" was considered sufficiently edgy. However, it was eventually released as パーフェクト・ダーク (Pāfekuto Dāku), a transliteration of the Western title.
Originally Hollis hoped that the difference between light and dark would be a significant feature of the gameplay, and the title was intended to reflect this focus. A torch was implemented by Steve Ellis (the developer responsible for much of the multiplayer mode in GoldenEye 007), but it was not included in the final game due to the limitations of the Nintendo 64 hardware. Hollis remarked that such aims were overambitious: "Even today, you can see game developers struggle to make light and dark foundational from a gameplay perspective. I suspect it will take a few years before significant and pervasive gameplay innovation occurs here." Although not all these intended features were realized, the game does contain more advanced lighting than GoldenEye 007; lights can be shot out, gunfire illuminates rooms, and the player can use infra-red and night vision goggles.
Martin Hollis was involved with Perfect Dark for the first fourteen months of its three-year development, during which progress was slow. David Doak left Rareware at the end of 1998, and Steve Ellis soon after, to form their own company Free Radical Design. What followed by those remaining on the project was a comprehensive re-design of the game (the story and characters being the main items kept intact). Hollis stated that he was impressed by the comprehensive range of multiplayer options, saying "what a vast array of features I never planned". Doak, however, remarked, "GoldenEye pretty much exhausted the performance of the machine. It was hard to push it further. Perfect Dark had some good ideas but was dog slow."
Music Composers[]
Perfect Dark's soundtrack is one of popularity, with there being numerous orchestrated versions of the soundtrack, the composers are:
- Grant Kirkhope
- Graeme Norgate
- David Clynick
Two of the game's composers, Kirkhope and Norgate, had previously composed GoldenEye 007, as well as Rare's 1994 critically acclaimed arcade fighting game Killer Instinct.
Critical reaction[]
Upon release, Perfect Dark received very strong reviews from magazines and websites. IGN opined that the game "features amazing graphics … and the most well-rounded multiplayer mode ever to grace Nintendo 64." GameSpots Joe Fielder awarded a rating of 9.9 out of 10, commenting, "As a single-player or multiplayer FPS experience, Perfect Dark is unparalleled on the console systems … There's finally a game that has eclipsed GoldenEye 007. Gaming Age described it as "probably one of the best FPSs to be released in quite a while." GameCritics.com criticized the "weak characters and an unoriginal storyline," but nevertheless judged the "extraordinary amount of high-quality multiplayer modes and features" meant that "the game is still a blast."
One frequently criticized aspect of the game was its low, inconsistent framerate. This flaw was mentioned in numerous reviews. "The game's inadequate temporal resolution—owing to a wrongheaded choice to privilege visual detail over frame-rate—made it unplayable at higher difficulty."
Poole also described the "lazy sci-fi fetishism" of Joanna Dark's character design as "a blatant and doomed attempt to steal the thunder of Lara Croft (from the Tomb Raider series)", and argued that she illustrated the challenges of injecting characterization into the protagonists of First-Person Shooters, which GoldenEye had avoided by using the already well-known character, James Bond.
The overall positive reaction from critics can be gauged by the results of review compilation sites; as of December 2008, it has a Metacritic rating of 97% (the sixth highest of any game).
Perfect Dark has been featured in many "greatest game" lists. In 2006 the game placed 15th on IGN's "Readers' Choice Top 100 Games Ever" list; also, that year it was rated the 100th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power. In 2007 it placed 28th in Edge (magazine) "100 Best Videogames" special issue (a list voted for by readers, Edge staff and gaming industry professionals). Retrieved 28 December 2008.
Rare was also recognized for its work on the game, as the company was awarded the Bafta Interactive Entertainment Moving Images Award for 2000 and the Golden Satellite Award for Best Interactive Product in 2001.
Xbox Live Arcade Remaster[]
On March 17th, 2010, Rare released a HD remaster of Perfect Dark for Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade in the Xbox 360, featuring the original game with more detailed textures (in 1080p), and a much smoother 60 FPS gameplay. It was originally available for purchase for 800 Microsoft Points, but now must be purchased for 10$ USD, as Microsoft Points were discontinued in August 2013. It features new control options that are relatively easy to adapt to, with button layouts like Halo and Call of Duty (named Spartan and Duty Calls respectfully). Cycling through weapons also became easier, as bi-directional cycling was added to the remaster.
Other additions include higher polygons on the character models, environments, and weapon models with support for HD, 16 player competitive online multiplayer support, 2 player online co-op, and more weapons and maps from GoldenEye 007. The game is also the first Xbox Live Arcade game to support 20 Achievements instead of the standard 12, although they still add up to the standard 200 points.
Comparison of the Nintendo 64 original and the Xbox Live Arcade remaster:
Rare Replay and Xbox One Backwards Compatibility[]
In 2015, the Perfect Dark remaster was re-released for Xbox One, as part of Rare Replay; a collection of Rareware classics. It was also available to players free of charge through the Backwards Compatibility Program if the player owned an original Xbox 360 copy of the game.
Nintendo Switch Online Re-Release[]
On June 18, 2024, the original Nintendo 64 version of Perfect Dark was re-released on Nintendo Switch through their Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak, which features a library of various other games from Nintendo and other publishers. However, it was met with criticism due to the emulation accuracy was poor.
Trivia[]
- Perfect Dark's events take place in the year 2023. Because the game was released in 2000 and follows the science-fiction genre, its setting is much more futuristic than the real-world 2023.
- However, a few aspects from Rare in the game had predicted the future, such as AI robots, high-tech weaponry, a black U.S. president, and even a flatscreen TV.
- The story of Perfect Dark is a war between the Maian and the Skedar alien races who needed help on Earth from the private military companies Carrington Institute and dataDyne Corporation, respectively, who themselves also have an ongoing heated rivalry, resulting in a 2 vs. 2 aligned battle of the Institute - by spy agent Joanna Dark, with the assistance of a particular Maian Protector named Elvis, attempting to stop an impending worldwide chaos created by the Skedar due to their criminal activities of conspiracy with dataDyne.
- Like in GoldenEye 007, the randomly generated faces of the enemy soldiers and some key characters such as Lawrence Foster, are actually faces of Rareware staff and even a few from Nintendo. Legendary video game designer and longtime Nintendo employee Shigeru Miyamoto can be seen as a cameo in the intro cutscene of the Pelagic II mission (as a dataDyne guard) and his head can be accessed in the Combat Simulator. The Team Heads Only cheat features only the faces of the game's main developers.
- According to Rare, only 30% of the original GoldenEye 007 engine remained, using its basic framework to create the levels and animating characters (most of which are recycled), while everything else in the game was new.
- Perfect Dark's hit detection and damage system are slightly improved for enemies from GoldenEye 007. A bug where if the player stands directly in front of an enemy guard as he fires to make him miss (as to shoot through him/her) is fixed and the trick no longer works, while foes can also punch and kick Joanna. In addition, headshots, where it previously causes ten times the normal damage, are instantly fatal in Perfect Dark. However, it's still the same against other human players in Co-Op, Counter-Op, or Combat Simulator. Not all bugs/glitches from GoldenEye are fixed, however, as for example, the double discharge from NPC characters firing handguns (such as the Falcon 2) still occurs, and the player C-strafing to run twice the normal speed remains in this game (though in this case it is likely intentional).
- Although not related to the James Bond series in spite being the spiritual successor of GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark features the original revolver version of the villain Francisco Scaramanga's infamous Golden Gun (a custom gold-plated firearm capable of instantaneously killing targets) from the 1965 James Bond novel (The Man with the Golden Gun) rather than the more famously known single-shot pistol from the 1974 film seen in many video games of said series, in the form of the DY357-LX, under the ownership of Trent Easton. It combines the abilities of the film counterpart and the DY357 Magnum. Although the 2006 Bond video game Quantum of Solace does have the Golden Gun as a revolver, it inaccurately has a golden scope on it and fires explosive rounds. Perfect Dark's depiction remains the closest to the official source material in a First-Person Shooter video game.
- Despite being critically acclaimed and widely considered to be superior over its iconic predecessor, Perfect Dark sold only 2.5 million copies in its original release. This is due to the game itself being released late in the Nintendo 64's lifespan. It ranks the 20th best-selling game for the console (GoldenEye 007 in comparison had 8 million sold as the 3rd best selling title).
- Like GoldenEye 007, the sky graphics in all of Combat Simulator's maps and a few outdoor singleplayer levels (such as Air Base or Crash Site) are reused from Killer Instinct, albeit slightly updated.
- When dual-wielding handguns, the second gun on the player character's left hand, unlike in GoldenEye which shows the correct positioning, is actually a mirrored image of the first gun held on the right hand. This may be due to programming limitations.
- Perfect Dark's blood and gore restores GoldenEye 007's originally intended level of violence in said game. This is due to the fact that Nintendo was not explicitly involved in the development of the game, unlike its spiritual predecessor.
- Despite being a Mature-rated game, some fans have claimed Perfect Dark's content is rather tame compared to most other titles of the same ESRB rating and more like a strong Teen-rated game, as foul language was minimal (it even had a filter option) and although it does contain blood and stabbing (from knives and arrows), there is no dismemberment at all. Even Rare's own Conker's Bad Fur Day, also released on the Nintendo 64 in 2001, contains significantly more adult content in comparison.
- Ironically, Killer Instinct, a 1994 arcade fighting game arguably more violent than Perfect Dark, also from Rare, that bare a slight resemblance to the Mortal Kombat series (as well as Street Fighter), was originally rated Teen in its home release for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, though it got re-rated to Mature after being digitally re-released in 2014 by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One.
- The Cloaking Device from this game has a reappearance in the critically acclaimed Nintendo GameCube crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Melee.
- There was a planned spin-off game based on Perfect Dark by Rare called "Velvet Dark", but it was quickly scrapped and never released. It was intended to star Velvet Dark as the main protagonist.
Perfect Dark Series | |||
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Games | Official | Perfect Dark • Perfect Dark (GBC) Perfect Dark Zero • Perfect Dark (The Initiative) | |
Cancelled | Perfect Dark Core • Velvet Dark | ||
Books | Initial Vector • Second Front | ||
Comics | Graduation Day • Hunting Season • Hong Kong Sunrise • Janus' Tears |