Back story
Towards the end of the 90's, Metal Gear Solid made stealth and playing as a secret agent immensely popular in gaming. A lot of titles followed the popularity, with obviously inspired releases like Splinter Cell and Syphon Filter.
At the same time there was focus on having strong female leads as the main protagonist. Combining both trends, games like Tomb Raider 3 leaned towards stealth, checking off the box for stealth and kick-ass female lead. One anticipated title stood out even more when combining these two elements, though.
With the heritage of the massive console shooter GoldenEye behind it, focusing even more on the secret agent aspect and stealth gameplay, moving into a sci-fi setting and swapping out Bond for a female lead, Perfect Dark made headlines when it was announced by Rare for the Nintendo 64. After all, it was the spiritual sequel to GoldenEye for goodness sake!
Outside of the many magazine previews, my most vivid memory of Perfect Dark was the summer of 2000. I had a summer job delivering newspapers and, as always, I had a few papers left when I'd done my rounds. Every Friday that paper had an entertainment section I enjoyed reading, with a handful of game reviews.
In this particular issue, Aftenposten 30. June 2000, was a review of Perfect Dark. With a neat picture of Joanna Dark and a healthy five out of six score. It was a pleasant throwback to hunt this article up and see it again, 23 years later:
The reviewer ends his review asking if Perfect Dark will be standing as one of the N64 classics in hindsight, only time will tell. Well, it's 23 later and we can safely say it did! I only owned a PlayStation at the time, a console with plentiful more mature releases than the N64, but wanted to play Perfect Dark so badly!
The neighbour kid had a N64, however, he didn’t have the extra RAM cartridge, the infamous "Expansion Pak". So, when he finally borrowed the game we could only play a, severely, limited deathmatch mode. The main campaign was out of the question. Confused and disappointed, I moved on and left this classic behind in its generation.
Perfect Dark was built on the same engine as the massive hit GoldenEye. It was Rare’s spiritual, secret agent, first person shooter sequel, that didn’t need a James Bond license. They went all-in and created their own world and lore, pushing it into the not-so-distant future of 2023, yes 2023. Blending minimalist, stylish futuristic environments, sci-fi and Blade Runner elements.
The groundwork for a new franchise was laid, and a strong one at that, considering the legacy of GoldenEye. PD wouldn't surpass the massive impact GoldenEye had, much due to the fact it came late in the N64 life cycle. However, it sold a solid 3,2 million compared to GoldenEyes, whopping, 8 million copies. Massive sales numbers of that era nonetheless.
The reviewer ends his review asking if Perfect Dark will be standing as one of the N64 classics in hindsight, only time will tell. Well, it's 23 later and we can safely say it did! I only owned a PlayStation at the time, a console with plentiful more mature releases than the N64, but wanted to play Perfect Dark so badly!
The neighbour kid had a N64, however, he didn’t have the extra RAM cartridge, the infamous "Expansion Pak". So, when he finally borrowed the game we could only play a, severely, limited deathmatch mode. The main campaign was out of the question. Confused and disappointed, I moved on and left this classic behind in its generation.
Perfect Dark was built on the same engine as the massive hit GoldenEye. It was Rare’s spiritual, secret agent, first person shooter sequel, that didn’t need a James Bond license. They went all-in and created their own world and lore, pushing it into the not-so-distant future of 2023, yes 2023. Blending minimalist, stylish futuristic environments, sci-fi and Blade Runner elements.
The groundwork for a new franchise was laid, and a strong one at that, considering the legacy of GoldenEye. PD wouldn't surpass the massive impact GoldenEye had, much due to the fact it came late in the N64 life cycle. However, it sold a solid 3,2 million compared to GoldenEyes, whopping, 8 million copies. Massive sales numbers of that era nonetheless.
The generation of consoles that followed would mark the beginning of console shooters taking a typical PC path, with the massive success of Halo and its popularisation of the modern aiming system and twin stick controller layout. Leaving the simplistic shooting mechanics of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark behind.
Rare was indeed on the task of building a new generation Perfect Dark, scheduled to be released on the GameCube. However, after a Microsoft buyout of the company in 2002, development was shifted over to the original Xbox. Then, after many delays, moved over to the Xbox 360. Thus, Perfect Dark Zero skipped an entire console generation and was released as a launch title for the X360 and as a prequel for the franchise.
Following this popular launch title, the Perfect Dark franchise kind of died again, disappearing behind massive, early generation, releases like Call of Duty 2 and Halo 3 on the Xbox 360.
Rare was indeed on the task of building a new generation Perfect Dark, scheduled to be released on the GameCube. However, after a Microsoft buyout of the company in 2002, development was shifted over to the original Xbox. Then, after many delays, moved over to the Xbox 360. Thus, Perfect Dark Zero skipped an entire console generation and was released as a launch title for the X360 and as a prequel for the franchise.
Following this popular launch title, the Perfect Dark franchise kind of died again, disappearing behind massive, early generation, releases like Call of Duty 2 and Halo 3 on the Xbox 360.
Sadly, as there always was a lot of potential in the lore and setting. Combining cool shooter mechanics, high tech gadgets, kick-ass female protagonist and light stealth. Luckily, a third game is in development, hopefully we'll see some footage of that next year!
Recently though, I decided to sit down and play through both the main titles of the franchise. Properly completing them, rather than playing some levels here and there.
Let’s get our tight fitting spy suits on and follow Joanna!
In the HD version all the textures are updated, as are surrounding environments with, modestly, increased geometry in interior and exterior detail. It's a remaster, but with a lot of extra detail, yet 1-to-1 in it's level designs and retains the low polygon look of the 90's.
Recently though, I decided to sit down and play through both the main titles of the franchise. Properly completing them, rather than playing some levels here and there.
Let’s get our tight fitting spy suits on and follow Joanna!
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2010
Originally released: 2000 (N64)
To refresh my memory, I booted up an original N64 on a CRT TV, to get a feel for the proper hardware in the opening levels. I can see why many N64 owners were incredibly happy with this release back in the day, it's probably one of the best-looking console titles of that generation. Perfectly combining the popularity of stealth and the mature visuals from GoldenEye.
That said, the HD remaster from the Xbox 360 is the way to play this in modern times. It’s backwards compatible on Xbox Series X/S and it runs a rock solid 1080@60fps, in stark contrast to the original N64 version which dropped into single digit framerates, barely holding 30fps.
To refresh my memory, I booted up an original N64 on a CRT TV, to get a feel for the proper hardware in the opening levels. I can see why many N64 owners were incredibly happy with this release back in the day, it's probably one of the best-looking console titles of that generation. Perfectly combining the popularity of stealth and the mature visuals from GoldenEye.
That said, the HD remaster from the Xbox 360 is the way to play this in modern times. It’s backwards compatible on Xbox Series X/S and it runs a rock solid 1080@60fps, in stark contrast to the original N64 version which dropped into single digit framerates, barely holding 30fps.
For purists, you can even connect a Xbox 360 to a CRT and play it in proper 4:3 resolution with all the benefits of the graphics updates and performance:
In the HD version all the textures are updated, as are surrounding environments with, modestly, increased geometry in interior and exterior detail. It's a remaster, but with a lot of extra detail, yet 1-to-1 in it's level designs and retains the low polygon look of the 90's.
While the character models are charmingly, old-school in their design, they feature a beefier polygon count Joanna's in-game model is a close resemblance of her CGI model from the original promotional and cover artwork. In the original there was a large difference between the in-game model and the CGI one, a typical trait of old 3D titles.
Furthermore, the HD version controls are neatly mapped to a modern twin stick shooter layout and work fantastic. The original Perfect Dark never looked and played as smooth as this. And to think they had a similar finished port of GoldenEye, which was cancelled, sad!
For those unaware, Perfect Dark is divided into missions and difficulties, exactly like GoldenEye. It’s even, and impressively so, fully playable coop through its entire campaign. The difficulty isn’t just related to the number of enemies either, but feature more tasks you need to complete to get a successful mission complete on harder difficulties. Gameplay was simply not just about killing everything and reaching the end of a level, like how shooters used to be structured back then.
You need to hack systems, sneak past cameras, get intel, meet a secret contact and so on. The higher the difficulty, the more tasks are needed to be completed. It’s a neat way of extending the games lifespan, by replaying the missions with more tasks to do when you're familiar with levels. The descriptions of tasks is vague though, frustratingly leading to failed objectives, thus the only solution is to restart the entire mission. There's little room for error.
The levels contain a lot of hidden areas too, many which you won’t see on the lowest difficulty as you won't be required to explore them. Although they're small, by today's standard, the levels are at least not a linear corridor. Requiring the player to traverse back and forth between rooms, corridors and objectives to complete a mission. It’s a design that utilises each level in a smart way.
The variation in each mission environment is impressive too, Rare clearly being freed from the GoldenEye structure that required many similar looking levels to follow the movie's plot. Here in PD, the artists have had much more freedom.
Each level has a unique environment, colour scheme and design. It’s well done considering the limitations of the hardware back then. The overall design is more unique too, setting a typical look to what you associate with Perfect Dark.
There’s a lot of simplicity in the visuals though, clearly from a 90s console. Many empty corridors with tons of repetition and extremely limited polygon counts depicting open areas, even in the HD version. It's more jarring on a modern screen and high resolution. Rare has done a solid job with limited resources, though, and the balancing act of level size, open areas and detail is high calibre compared to most N64 titles.
While the shooting mechanics are suited for the structure and stealth aspect, they’re extremely simplistic. There's an insane amount of auto aim and a weird, lock-on, aiming assist. Sure, we didn't know better on consoles back then, but the moment the shooters went with the modern twin stick controls as default, this system aged badly.
Furthermore, the HD version controls are neatly mapped to a modern twin stick shooter layout and work fantastic. The original Perfect Dark never looked and played as smooth as this. And to think they had a similar finished port of GoldenEye, which was cancelled, sad!
For those unaware, Perfect Dark is divided into missions and difficulties, exactly like GoldenEye. It’s even, and impressively so, fully playable coop through its entire campaign. The difficulty isn’t just related to the number of enemies either, but feature more tasks you need to complete to get a successful mission complete on harder difficulties. Gameplay was simply not just about killing everything and reaching the end of a level, like how shooters used to be structured back then.
You need to hack systems, sneak past cameras, get intel, meet a secret contact and so on. The higher the difficulty, the more tasks are needed to be completed. It’s a neat way of extending the games lifespan, by replaying the missions with more tasks to do when you're familiar with levels. The descriptions of tasks is vague though, frustratingly leading to failed objectives, thus the only solution is to restart the entire mission. There's little room for error.
The levels contain a lot of hidden areas too, many which you won’t see on the lowest difficulty as you won't be required to explore them. Although they're small, by today's standard, the levels are at least not a linear corridor. Requiring the player to traverse back and forth between rooms, corridors and objectives to complete a mission. It’s a design that utilises each level in a smart way.
The variation in each mission environment is impressive too, Rare clearly being freed from the GoldenEye structure that required many similar looking levels to follow the movie's plot. Here in PD, the artists have had much more freedom.
Each level has a unique environment, colour scheme and design. It’s well done considering the limitations of the hardware back then. The overall design is more unique too, setting a typical look to what you associate with Perfect Dark.
There’s a lot of simplicity in the visuals though, clearly from a 90s console. Many empty corridors with tons of repetition and extremely limited polygon counts depicting open areas, even in the HD version. It's more jarring on a modern screen and high resolution. Rare has done a solid job with limited resources, though, and the balancing act of level size, open areas and detail is high calibre compared to most N64 titles.
While the shooting mechanics are suited for the structure and stealth aspect, they’re extremely simplistic. There's an insane amount of auto aim and a weird, lock-on, aiming assist. Sure, we didn't know better on consoles back then, but the moment the shooters went with the modern twin stick controls as default, this system aged badly.
That said, it’s fun to play and alongside GoldenEye, Perfect Dark has a unique feel, that works well and is designed for a single analogue stick. They’re a sign of the time they were released and work in the titles they were developed for. You take down enemies at a less manoeuvrable pace, one at the time, often using scopes from afar, even indoors.
My playthrough was entertaining and it’s clear to see that I would've enjoyed it even more back in the day. Hitting that perfect crossroad of Metal Gear Solid stealth, secret agent style, pretty and kick-ass female lead and GoldenEye's explosive gunplay. It’s a landmark for the N64 and one of the most important releases for the system.
My playthrough was entertaining and it’s clear to see that I would've enjoyed it even more back in the day. Hitting that perfect crossroad of Metal Gear Solid stealth, secret agent style, pretty and kick-ass female lead and GoldenEye's explosive gunplay. It’s a landmark for the N64 and one of the most important releases for the system.
In hindsight, a lot of the N64 aspects have aged significantly, though. Which goes for the HD version too, as it's not been changed in structure. The mission goals are vague and confusing, the dialogue is cheesy with too much comic relief and there seems to be an overload of ideas put into a single game. Performance optimisation on the N64 version is terrible, clearly pushing the outer limits of the hardware!
These days the HD version is a perfect, no pun intended, way to play Perfect Dark. It's backwards compatible, friendlier controller layout, prettier and has rock solid performance. It's clearly a result of it's era, bearing a lot of love, nostalgia and influence even up to modern times with it's many mission objectives, crazy weaponry and visual style.
Just be aware that failing mission objectives, or dying, leads to a full restart of the entire mission! It's probably best suited for the veterans of old console shooters and GoldenEye fans, but newcomers might find a different, albeit aged, shooter experience in the HD version!
Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2005
It’s quite impressive how well Perfect Dark Zero has held up visually, considering it’s a launch title for the Xbox 360, all the way back to 2005. Together with Rare’s other Xbox 360 launch title, Kameo, it features some impressively detailed textures and a ton of bump mapping, resulting in a sharp and detailed environment with seemingly deeper 3D detail than the polygon count actually indicates.
With a whole console generation between the first Perfect Dark to Zero, there's always going to be a lot of changes. Especially for a genre like first person shooters, which went through a lot of changes on consoles in this time period.
Mission structure is the same as in the original game, with higher difficulties requiring more objectives to complete. A smart structure, even new games could learn from! It’s sadly lacking the Carrington Institute as a hub world outside of the missions, but adds a four-player coop mode. Impressively enough, it changes up mission objectives in coop too. Sadly, I wasn’t able to test it, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
The balance between stealth, gadget use, and shooting is done quite well in PDZ. Even though the mini games, for the gadgets, feel a little simplistic. Bringing variation to its levels through various objectives. Story is depicted more modernly, with less humour and overdone acting than the first game. It still has a sort of tongue-in-cheek and comic simplicity to it's narrative though, further emphasised by the character models.
Visually it’s neat, showcasing some cool lighting with pretty snow landscapes, deserts, high tech buildings and jungles as variation. Although it distinctly lacks the finer detail, with rather empty interiors.
It’s quite impressive how well Perfect Dark Zero has held up visually, considering it’s a launch title for the Xbox 360, all the way back to 2005. Together with Rare’s other Xbox 360 launch title, Kameo, it features some impressively detailed textures and a ton of bump mapping, resulting in a sharp and detailed environment with seemingly deeper 3D detail than the polygon count actually indicates.
With a whole console generation between the first Perfect Dark to Zero, there's always going to be a lot of changes. Especially for a genre like first person shooters, which went through a lot of changes on consoles in this time period.
Mission structure is the same as in the original game, with higher difficulties requiring more objectives to complete. A smart structure, even new games could learn from! It’s sadly lacking the Carrington Institute as a hub world outside of the missions, but adds a four-player coop mode. Impressively enough, it changes up mission objectives in coop too. Sadly, I wasn’t able to test it, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
The balance between stealth, gadget use, and shooting is done quite well in PDZ. Even though the mini games, for the gadgets, feel a little simplistic. Bringing variation to its levels through various objectives. Story is depicted more modernly, with less humour and overdone acting than the first game. It still has a sort of tongue-in-cheek and comic simplicity to it's narrative though, further emphasised by the character models.
Visually it’s neat, showcasing some cool lighting with pretty snow landscapes, deserts, high tech buildings and jungles as variation. Although it distinctly lacks the finer detail, with rather empty interiors.
Backwards compatibility offers a neat upgrade, with the resolution boost taking it from 720p all the way to 4K, albeit still at 30fps. Luckily, the Xbox Series S/X keeps the 30fps rock steady, even in larger areas with a lot of enemies, the Xbox 360 would definitely struggle in dense and open areas.
Facial animations are simplistic and the character models lean into a stylised CGI animation vibe. I don’t mind the younger, inexperienced and rebellious Joanna, with her cool hair style, but I understand the complaints in art style over the original. It's visually uneven for me, the environments look realistic, while the characters lean into a cartoon vibe both in design and animation, which wasn’t a trait of the original Perfect Dark.
The shooting feels fairly solid, with a lot of scoped and silenced guns to take out enemies from afar, yet its obviously aged but is based heavier on modern mechanics than the first Perfect Dark. The detailed reload and swapping weapon animations are neatly done and clearly for show, but feel slow. There’s a lot of gun variety though, with cool scopes, dual wielding and weird sci-fi weaponry.
Facial animations are simplistic and the character models lean into a stylised CGI animation vibe. I don’t mind the younger, inexperienced and rebellious Joanna, with her cool hair style, but I understand the complaints in art style over the original. It's visually uneven for me, the environments look realistic, while the characters lean into a cartoon vibe both in design and animation, which wasn’t a trait of the original Perfect Dark.
The shooting feels fairly solid, with a lot of scoped and silenced guns to take out enemies from afar, yet its obviously aged but is based heavier on modern mechanics than the first Perfect Dark. The detailed reload and swapping weapon animations are neatly done and clearly for show, but feel slow. There’s a lot of gun variety though, with cool scopes, dual wielding and weird sci-fi weaponry.
There's even a cover mechanic, though it's a hit and miss. I appreciate that it switches to third person as you take cover, reminding me of Rainbow Six Vegas , putting some perspective on Joanna. Personalising her more than just a pair of first-person hands, but the mechanics are sadly clunky.
There’s a lot of variation visually on the environments of each level, and they're quite large too. There’s no shortage of locations here, all you need in a spy focused story! There’s even a couple of vehicle sections thrown in, which played fair to be from this era.
Overall, it doesn’t hit the darker and mature likeness of the first Perfect Dark, although it has a charmingly unique Rare look from the early days of the Xbox 360. The franchise moves from a mature tone to a CGI animation approach, even though the original had more humour than I expected.
There’s a lot of variation visually on the environments of each level, and they're quite large too. There’s no shortage of locations here, all you need in a spy focused story! There’s even a couple of vehicle sections thrown in, which played fair to be from this era.
Overall, it doesn’t hit the darker and mature likeness of the first Perfect Dark, although it has a charmingly unique Rare look from the early days of the Xbox 360. The franchise moves from a mature tone to a CGI animation approach, even though the original had more humour than I expected.
It’s a more forgiving and approachable shooter for newcomers though, so it might be a better place to begin your journey of the franchise. In many ways, it's better structured with better focused objectives in each level. On the other hand, it stands between two chairs. It's trying to stay true to it's heritage, while at the same time looking to modern shooters like Halo 1 and 2 at the time it released.
It's an enjoyable playthrough, less aged and frustrating than the original and I was pleasantly surprised at the visual work done here. It begins a little confusing and slow, but once you get a few missions in, it gets it's pace up and becomes difficult to lay down! That said, it doesn't leave me with anything truly memorable either.
Summary
Having finally played the two main Perfect Dark releases feels good. Although they've aged quite a bit, there's still this combination of secret agent vibes, gadgets and partial stealth gameplay that's unique. The original is best suited for those acquainted with GoldenEye, of times gone by, while Zero has more modern controls for newcomers.
I must mention the music too, it has that Rare/GoldenEye magic of movie, stealthy and electronic uniqueness. The soundtrack in both games are fantastic and so well suited for the agent and stealth scenarios!
If you want to delve even further into the lore, there's a GameBoy Color release too. Which received a fair bit of praise back in the day. Obviously, a completely different gameplay style, it sets itself just prior to the events in Perfect Dark, but quite a few years after Zero. Check it out if you want to dig in deep!
Now I can sit back and cross my fingers for the next Perfect Dark in development, because there's a lot of potential here in the lore, style and gameplay! It just needs guidance and something that sets it apart from the rest of the shooters!