I brought Perfect Dark the weekend it was released along with a Nintendo 64 itself, expansion pack, GoldenEye and Mario 64. I had played GoldenEye for countless hours in the previous years around friends houses, learning every nook and cranny of various maps, perfecting the use of twin revolvers and spending so long playing Severnaya Surface that I could play the level in my head. Perfect Dark was the game we were all waiting for and looked marvellous so expectations were high.
When it came to play it? It still looked beautiful but my first experience was round my friends house playing Single Player Co-Op which must have run at less than 10 frames per second. When I got home and stuck in, the game always felt it was exceeding the limit of what the N64 was capable of, had bad levels and that Bond familarity that had been built up with films since I was born, had been taken away. I did enjoy the game but it felt brittle and un-refined?
I?ve recently picked up a US N64 and spent Sunday playing through some of the games and it?s made me re-consider my stance on Perfect Dark; From a very good shooter that did not equal the nights of GoldenEye to a classic.
It's very complex with multi tiered mission objects, fantastic level design, beautiful graphics (Despite them clearly hitting the ceiling of what was possible on the N64) and perfect gun play. It feels so slick and fun to play through a mission in Perfect Dark in comparison to any modern FPS, the Villa level in particular being a highlight. I love how it plonks you in a area that is naturally cordoned off and you're left free to tackle the open mission objectives. This is what made The Silent Cartographer in Halo so much fun, rather than having your hand held through a liner level, you?re able to explore a expertly designed location that makes you believe no one else is having this experience.
Gadgets also play an integral part in missions and it?s refreshing to play a shooter where you?re not instructed to just push forward and shoot enemies. I had a bit of difficulty working out what to do in Chicago where I had a enemy patrolling gun turret and had to cause a diversion. After going into the mission screen (Forgot about that!) I realised I could re-program a Taxi to do as I wish, so if I attach a remote mine to it, it?ll become a floating bomb. Diversion caused, I sneak in!
Yes the frame rate is shonky and some levels are not as well designed as the Villa, but the base gun play is perfect and when Perfect Dark is firing on all cylinders, only Halo, Half life 2 and Rare?s own GoldenEye come close.
Whilst searching for a good run through of Carrington Villa, I discovered that if you play on the hardest difficulty, you start from the point of the hostage! This game has so many hidden treasures, I had no idea this was possible!
When it came to play it? It still looked beautiful but my first experience was round my friends house playing Single Player Co-Op which must have run at less than 10 frames per second. When I got home and stuck in, the game always felt it was exceeding the limit of what the N64 was capable of, had bad levels and that Bond familarity that had been built up with films since I was born, had been taken away. I did enjoy the game but it felt brittle and un-refined?
I?ve recently picked up a US N64 and spent Sunday playing through some of the games and it?s made me re-consider my stance on Perfect Dark; From a very good shooter that did not equal the nights of GoldenEye to a classic.
It's very complex with multi tiered mission objects, fantastic level design, beautiful graphics (Despite them clearly hitting the ceiling of what was possible on the N64) and perfect gun play. It feels so slick and fun to play through a mission in Perfect Dark in comparison to any modern FPS, the Villa level in particular being a highlight. I love how it plonks you in a area that is naturally cordoned off and you're left free to tackle the open mission objectives. This is what made The Silent Cartographer in Halo so much fun, rather than having your hand held through a liner level, you?re able to explore a expertly designed location that makes you believe no one else is having this experience.
Gadgets also play an integral part in missions and it?s refreshing to play a shooter where you?re not instructed to just push forward and shoot enemies. I had a bit of difficulty working out what to do in Chicago where I had a enemy patrolling gun turret and had to cause a diversion. After going into the mission screen (Forgot about that!) I realised I could re-program a Taxi to do as I wish, so if I attach a remote mine to it, it?ll become a floating bomb. Diversion caused, I sneak in!
Yes the frame rate is shonky and some levels are not as well designed as the Villa, but the base gun play is perfect and when Perfect Dark is firing on all cylinders, only Halo, Half life 2 and Rare?s own GoldenEye come close.
Whilst searching for a good run through of Carrington Villa, I discovered that if you play on the hardest difficulty, you start from the point of the hostage! This game has so many hidden treasures, I had no idea this was possible!
Comment