Shield

The Shield is a portable protection device developed by the dataDyne Corporation (with technology secretly provided by the Skedar) for production and use in combat.

It functions by generating a force field around users, which protects them from conventional gunfire and melee attacks. However, its battery cannot sustain the field for long, only capable of withstanding a few hits before disappearing entirely and it isn't designed to handle explosions very well.

Gameplay

Upon picking up a shield, the secondary meter below the player's health bar will fill up, representing the shield's strength. During combat, the shield will absorb melee attacks and weapon fire, and signifies a block to the player by emitting an electrical sound and the force field itself flashing a particular color when the user is attacked. The Shield, however, does not protect against dizziness, including the effects of the N-Bomb.

The color of the shield's force field represents its remaining health, which gradually changes from orange, yellow, to dark green, before becoming black, while taking damage. When the shield turns black, it is completely destroyed and the force field disappears, exposing the user to further damage. Since the shield doesn't regenerate over time (except the one used by the TurtleSim), the player must acquire another shield to replenish any lost integrity. The current shield does not necessarily need to be destroyed to get a new one, as picking one up completely restores the current's energy. The shield's durability in damage is roughly the same as the player's health (except for Super Shields).

A shield increases the wearer's hit-box, effectively making them a slightly larger target. Damage done to shields is also irrespective of the body location hits; headshots or shots toward limbs do not do any more damage than the torso. Therefore, it is always equivalent to torso hits. That is, for example, a Simulant or a human player with the standard 100% handicap will die to eight Falcon 2 shots hitting his or her torso, and likewise, a shield will withstand eight shots from the same weapon, regardless of the where the target is hit.

While every weapon deals damage to the shield, some like the Tranquilizer, Combat Knife, Crossbow, and Unarmed (though the Tranquilizer and Crossbow's secondary modes ignore normal damage) are ineffective against it and deal very little damage. Arrows and knives will also be deflected. Note that powerful weapons (such as the K7 Avenger or RC-P45) and explosions can destroy a shield almost instantly. Although the shield will absorb one instant-kill shot from such weapons like the FarSight XR-20 or DY357-LX, occasionally, these can bypass it and still kill the target with a single shot, even with 1000% health setting in Perfect Dark Mode difficulty.

World model (original N64)

World model (XBLA)

Appearances

In Solo Missions, Co-Operative, and Counter Operative, shields are very important in some situations, and can turn the tide of a battle easily. They'll provide the player with extra protection and can almost guarantee victory. On Agent difficulty, two shields are hidden within each mission. One shield awaits on Special Agent (although some levels have none), and on Perfect Agent there is none without cheating. However, in the Japanese version, no Shields were removed on higher difficulties.

◾dataDyne Central: Defection (Agent): The first shield is dropped by one of the guards on the floor below Cassandra's office. The second shield is on the ground floor, hiding next to one of the elevators.

Shield (Special Agent): A guard on the floor below Cassandra's office drops one.

◾dataDyne Research: Investigation (Agent): In the large room near the start of the mission the shield will be lying atop a crate. The second shield is in the room right after you pass through the hallway with lasers. Turn left as you enter the room and the shield is within the glass enclosure.

Shield (Special Agent): Just after the hallway with lasers, in the glass enclosure.

◾dataDyne Central: Extraction Shield (Agent): Once you reach the upper floors, go into the small room once you leave the elevator to find the shield.

◾Carrington Villa: Hostage One Shields (Agent): The first shield is lying on top of a crate near the helipad. The second shield is lying on the ground in the bathroom.

◾Chicago: Stealth Shields (Agent): The first shield is resting just underneath the grate near the taxi. The second shield is hidden underneath the ramps leading down to the Pond Punk.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is lying under the grate near the taxi.

◾G5 Building: Reconnaissance Shields (Agent): The first shield is lying just before the door leading into the laser switch room. The second shield is on the staircase leading to the upper exit of the fire escape.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is lying on the staircase leading to the upper exit.

◾Area 51: Infiltration Shields (Agent): In the area with the antenna and the HoverBike, go up to the door which has the gun turret above it and the shield will be lying on the ground. The second shield is hiding in the small passage that connects the mine-field area with the hangar elevator area.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is hiding in the small passage connecting the mine-field to the hangar elevators.

◾Area 51: Rescue Shields (Agent): Just beyond the first elevator, one of the guards will drop a shield. The second shield is found just after you blow open the wall leading into the research labs, go up the large ramp and then head left into an empty room to find the shield.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is in the room at the top of the sloping corridors.

◾Area 51: Escape Shields (Agent): The first shield will be in the cryogentic room in the previous mission, kill the bio technician guard to get the shield. The second shield will be in the small locked room just after the room that you meet Jonathan in (on Agent). Activate the console behind Jonathan and enter the room to find the shield.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is hiding in the locked room behind Jonathan's Agent location.

◾Air Base: Espionage Shields (Agent): The NSA guard standing at the elevator leading down to Air Force One drops the shield. The second shield is in the safe containing the flight plans.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is in the safe along with the flight plans.

◾Air Force One: Antiterrorism Shields (Agent): At the rear of the plane on the ground floor is a small kitchen. The shield is in the right corner of the room. The second shield is in the large room with the grand piano.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is in the large room with the piano.

◾Crash Site: Confrontation Shields (Agent): The first shield is lying near Elvis' Maian saucer. The second shield is lying just behind the President's Clone in the dark cave.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is just behind the President's Clone.

◾Pelagic II: Exploration Shields (Agent): The first shield is lying on a crate in the room with the Moon Pool lift controls. The second shield is outside on the "helipad" just after the bridge.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is on a crate in the Moon Pool control room.

◾Deep Sea: Nullify Threat Shield (Agent/Special Agent): The shield is found at a dead-end corridor. Once you pass through the door and face two branching paths (one left and right) with the teleporter to the right, head left to eventually find the shield.

◾Carrington Institute: Defense Shields (Agent): The first shield is in the dead-end corner up next to the elevator near the device training room. The second shield is down in the basement, in the room with the two small hangar doors.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is down in the basement area in the room with the two hangar doors.

◾Attack Ship: Covert Assault Shield (Agent/Special Agent): The first shield is found just after you ride up the large elevator with Elvis. Go forward, then go right to find the shield lying on a table.

◾Skedar Ruins: Battle Shrine Shields (Agent): The first shield is just after the two Skedars with Reapers, go up the stairs to the base of the fallen pillar to find the shield right behind it. The second shield is just after the ravine. When you climb up the ladder, continue and go right. You'll face two Skedar with Reapers before finding this shield.

Shield (Special Agent): The shield is just after the ravine to the right, under a Reaper-wielding Skedar.

◾Mr. Blonde's Revenge Shields (Agent): The first shield is hiding next to one of the ground floor elevators. The second shield is dropped by one of Cassandra's bodyguards on the floor below her office.

Shield (Special Agent): A guard on the floor below Cassandra's office drops one.

In the Combat Simulator, most pre-configured weapon sets include the shield in weapon slot #5.

Trivia

The cut Body Armor found in the game's files

Perfect Dark's defensive mechanic was originally going to be body armor similar to that of GoldenEye 007, before being scrapped and replaced with the shield in the final game. A beta model of the body armor can be seen with a Gameshark code, though picking it up will still result in having the shield.

The force field of the Shield is shaped like a rectangle rather than a sphere seen from other media.

Shields are completely absent in bonus missions Maian SOS, WAR!, and The Duel.

Notably in the missions dataDyne Central: Extraction and in Carrington Villa: Hostage One, no shields are present on Special Agent.

Dr. Caroll wears a shield in dataDyne Central: Extraction, presumably from the prototype seen in the previous mission. Although rarely used by enemies, the dataDyne Shocktroopers and Mr. Blondes seen in Carrington Institute: Defense all wear shields to put Joanna and the Institute's guards at a disadvantage.

In later missions, certain characters have a shield which is virtually impossible to break (for Plot Armor reasons): Trent Easton in Air Force One: Antiterrorism and Crash Site: Confrontation, Elvis in Area 51: Rescue (when on the bed) and Crash Site, and the Skedar King in Skedar Ruins: Battle Shrine. This also applies to the G5 Robot in Chicago: Stealth. Their shields will take damage like normal, but are programmed to not disappear when the force field turns dark green and immediately regenerates, even with instant-kill weapons. The Battle Shrine in the final level is constantly shielded until the Skedar King is forced to recover his own (except for the middle piller until the rest are destroyed).

If the cheats Invincible and Jo (or Super) Shield are simultaneously enabled, Joanna (or any other character the player is controlling) will have a completely invulnerable shield. However, if two or more human players are present in Co-Op, Counter-Op or Combat Simulator, due to a programming bug, their shields will still be broken, but the players themselves won't die.

In Counter Operative mode, if the counter-op player respawns as an enemy who has a shield, the enemy player will not have the shield nor Joanna will not be able to get it, even after killing the enemy.

Three separate cheats are dedicated to the Shield to make it immediately available in any mission.

• Jo Shield - Joanna will start with a shield.
• Super Shield - Joanna will start with a stronger shield that has double protection strength.
• Enemy Shields - All enemies (allies included) will start with shields.

Altering the Handicap on Combat Simulator can also affect how much damage a shield can take for the player and Simulants. The ShieldSim immediately starts with a shield. The TurtleSim also starts, and uses, regenerative Super Shield technology.