Perfect Dark Rare Retrospective

The year: 2023. Joanna Dark, a sharp and gifted young Field Operative – codename ‘Perfect Dark’ – is sucked ever deeper into the conspiracy that swells out from the heart of the forbidding dataDyne corporation. With a trail of secrets leading her from Chicago skyscrapers to subterranean laboratories, from top secret air bases to sea-bed alien shipwrecks, Joanna’s mission slowly unfolds to reveal a conspiracy spanning hundreds of light years…

Running on an evolution of the celebrated GoldenEye engine and undergoing development at the hands of the very same team responsible for that high-tension classic, Perfect Dark ups the ante on its predecessor in virtually every department. The story is far more ambitious, the objectives more rigorous, the gadgetry more ingenious and the enemies more vicious.

The game boasted a private theatre for its first ever showing to the public at the 1998 E3 in Atlanta, and went down a storm in each subsequent appearance. So if you ever had any worries about the standard set by GoldenEye and how it could be surpassed, put them aside: the Perfect Dark team was always aware of how high expectations were running for its latest baby, and had no intention of disappointing anyone at the end of the day. Just think: all the ideas that didn’t quite make it into GoldenEye, plus much, much more…

Just a few of the features included in the final version: a range of training areas based at the Carrington Institute, including firing ranges for all available weapons and a hologram chamber where you can take on different opponents; eight different control setups to accommodate rookies and veterans alike; Dolby Surround and widescreen compatibility; and of course a whole host of multiplayer modes including preset challenges, two-player co- and counter-operative settings, and all-out four-player carnage with optional CPU-/player-controlled Simulants… lap it up.

Take note, however, that while Perfect Dark doesn’t actually require the 4MB Expansion Pak to play á la DK64, it has been designed with the extra memory in mind. Subsequently, the version that runs on N64s not fitted with the Pak features deathmatching for one or two players complete with all associated options (such as Simulants, preset challenges and various game settings), but the main solo missions and deathmatching capacity for three to four players can only be found in the 8MB Pak-enhanced version.