Perfect Dark

GoldenEye 64 was landmark moment for console-based First Person Shooters. Once the developer, Rare, was done with the game, the story goes that they wanted to explore an original franchise. The runaway success of GoldenEye 64 and the desire to create a new story with fresh faces gave way to Perfect Dark at the beginning of the 21st century. Often called the spiritual successor to the James Bond title, Perfect Dark found stardom in its own right and even surpassed its predecessor in a number of areas.

Joanna Dark, the main heroine of the game, acted as a bit of antidote for gamers feed up with unrealistically proportioned female leads of the time. The style of the game was heavily inspired by the movie Blade Runner with futuristic weapons that were creatively implemented. The multiplayer was the true highlight since it was infinitely customizable. There were deathmatches, a co-op mode and a counter-operative mode that pitted friends against each other in the main levels.

Perfect Dark was ahead of its time. So far ahead, in fact, that any gamer who fondly remembers Perfect Dark will also fondly remember hating it. The game was practically unplayable when all the action started due to a horrendous frame rate. Yet, despite all this, gamers were able to see through the problems and elevated Perfect Dark as one of the best N64 games. What does this romanticizing have to do with the Xbox Live Arcade release? Nearly everything since Perfect Dark HD is like the idealized version of Perfect Dark that the N64 gamers only saw in their mind’s eye. This is a great game in nearly every right. There was a dedicated reverence paid to keeping the spirit of the original game intact while adding enough bells and whistles to make the second journey through the techno-noire streets of Chicago feel brand new.

The core of Perfect Dark HD is an exact replica of the N64 game. All the modes, features, people, settings, weapons and storylines haven’t changed one iota. There are two specific areas where Perfect Dark HD gets serious upgrades, first being the visuals and audio and the second being extra multiplayer content.

The polygon count and level geometry remain virtually untouched; however, all the textures were changed. Each gun, character and doorways were bestowed with sharp, high-res textures that look very pleasing to the eye. The dichotomy between the technically deficient game assets and the superior texture quality is initially a shock. The shock doesn’t come from the two worlds colliding but it comes from Perfect Dark HD retaining the core visuals and applying pretty wrapping paper on top. It is ultimately a vindication of Rare’s initial design vision and shows how timelessly they crafted the game.

The other upgrade is a little less pronounced but important none-the-less. The development house in charge of porting the game, 4J Studios, was able to dig up the original, uncompressed voices and sound effects, which puts another feather in Perfect Dark HD‘s cap. All the audio sounds brand spanking new even though it is all from the original game. The upgrades might seem strictly cosmetic or even trivial, however, that is a trap to avoid. The visuals and sound cements Perfect Dark HD as more than Play-Doh extruded carbon copy of a nine year-old videogame in a strange and magical way. If there is one reason why Perfect Dark HD feels like there is some magic behind it, it is because the game doesn’t have a frame rate shuttering problem and creates a silky experience that never falters.

The extra multiplayer content was the best possible area to include any sort of additional bones to bring renewed interest to Perfect Dark HD. Essentially, the entire customization and game creation is now augmented with the integration of Xbox Live match making. It surely was more than a small miracle on the part of the developers to shoehorn an online game to something only originally intended for four-player split screen. The aim of the multiplayer offering in Perfect Dark HD is to show that FPS games can still be fun in a multiplayer setting without worrying about rank or racking up kill bonuses. It succeeds on that simplified point with the help of one last critical element, GoldenEye 64 weapons and maps. Four maps and the entire list of guns from the legendary James Bond title made their way into the multiplayer mode. There isn’t a better feeling in the FPS universe than running around in the map Facility with a super automatic RCP-90. Perfect Dark HD captures that essence and puts more high-res textures on top of it.

Perfect Dark HD comes in at the price point of 10 dollars. For that amount, the gamer gets a full single player game, co-op modes, multiplayer that is online or offline and some bonus content from a past Rare game all in high-res. To compare, Modern Warfare 2 will release a map pack with five maps for 15 dollars. That may not sound like apples to apples, but it underscores the incredible value for the amount of work that went into rereleasing a classic game that should be experienced by gamers who fancy themselves as FPS buffs.

The Rundown
Perfect Dark HD is the version of the classic N64 game that highlights everything that worked well and patches holes that revolved around pushing the cart-based system to its absolute limit. With improved textures at 60 frames per second, the action doesn’t skip a beat. The gameplay holds up incredibly well for being nearly a decade old and highlights just how well this game was designed originally. Gamers not used to using only one analog stick for a FPS might be put off by the controls since they feel limiting. If the single-player experience doesn’t do a good enough job of making an attractive offering, the multiplayer mode is now compatible with Xbox Live where the GoldenEye 64 options are sure to be crowd pleasers.