Information AboutPerfect Dark |
''Perfect Dark'' is a First-person Shooter Video Game for the Nintendo 64 Game Console . The game was developed by Rare , creators of the multimillion-selling '' GoldenEye 007 '', an earlier first-person shooter with which ''Perfect Dark'' shares many gameplay features. The game was first released in North America in May 2000 , where it was greeted with critical acclaim; PAL and Japanese releases followed soon afterwards. The game features a single-player mode consisting of seventeen missions in which the player assumes the role of Special Agent Joanna Dark , an operative for the fictional Carrington Institute, as she attempts to foil a conspiracy by rival corporation dataDyne. It also includes a range of multiplayer options, including co-operative and "counter-operative" modes in addition to traditional Deathmatch settings. Technically, it is one of the most advanced games developed for the N64, with optional high- Resolution graphics and Dolby Surround Sound . In September 2000, a separate game starring agent Joanna Dark, also titled ''Perfect Dark'', was released for the , was published later that year. STORYLINE ''Perfect Dark'' is set in the year 2023 against the backdrop of an interstellar war between two races: the Maians, who resemble the stereotypical " Greys " of alien abduction folklore, and the Skedar, Reptile -like extraterrestrials who can disguise themselves as humans. On Earth, there is an on-going rivalry between two factions. The Carrington Institute, founded by Daniel Carrington, is officially an refuses to loan dataDyne the submarine they need to retrieve the megaweapon, they plot to kill him and replace him with a dataDyne-grown clone. Unbeknownst to dataDyne, the Skedar also intend to test-fire the megaweapon on the Earth, destroying it in the process. With the help of other Carrington agents and a Maian bodyguard nicknamed Elvis, Joanna prevents the conspiracy by causing the weapon to self-destruct. She then helps the Maians launch a counter-attack, destroying the Skedar's "Battle Shrine" and eliminating their High Priest, thereby issuing Skedar morale a crippling blow. GAMEPLAY ''Perfect Dark'' features many elements that are typical of a first-person shooter game, including a range of weapons to collect, enemies to defeat and distinct environments to explore. It is frequently described as a " to tackle missions, and objectives that vary with the difficulty setting. The weapons of ''Perfect Dark'' include Handgun s, Rifle s, Submachine Gun s, a Shotgun , Rocket Launchers , Combat Knife s, Grenade Launcher s, various Explosives , and several fictional Extraterrestrial weapons. Almost all weapons in the game have two modes of fire; a primary mode in which the weapon is used in a typical fashion, and a secondary mode which tends to use the weapon in a more unconventional manner, such as Pistol-whipping or proximity detonation. Players can carry an unlimited number of weapons, and certain guns can be used In Duplicate , one in each hand. See Also: List of weapons in Perfect Dark Solo mode Mission sequence The-Elite.net list of missions. URL retrieved 11th June 2006.
#dataDyne Central - Defection #dataDyne Research - Investigation #dataDyne Central - Extraction
#Carrington Villa - Hostage One
#Chicago - Stealth #G5 Building - Reconnaissance
#Area 51 - Infiltration #Area 51 - Rescue #Area 51 - Escape
#Air Base - Espionage #Air Force One - Anti-Terrorism #Crash Site - Confrontation
#Pelagic II - Exploration #Deep Sea - Nullify Threat
#Carrington Institute - Defense
#Attack Ship - Covert Assault
#Skedar Ruins - Battle Shrine
Before beginning the game's main missions, the player can explore the Carrington Institute and take part in a number of tutorials and training activities. The most substantial of these is the Firing Range , in which the player's proficiency with each of the game's weapons is tested against specific targets. Completing these trials unlocks so-called "Classic Weapons", which are taken from ''GoldenEye 007''. detStar guide to the firing range. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. In ''Perfect Dark'' There are three distinct difficulty levels in the single player game: Agent, Special Agent and Perfect Agent. There are a number of differences between the difficulty levels, including the objectives that must be completed, the amount of ammunition available, and enemy accuracy and damage. On higher difficulties, the optional "auto-aiming", in which the game corrects slight aiming errors automatically, becomes less effective and bonus items such as protective shields are absent. Once the game has been completed on one difficulty level, the levels can be tackled in any order on the other difficulties. If all the levels are completed on Perfect Agent difficulty, an additional setting becomes available; titled Perfect Dark, this mode allows the player to customise various aspects of enemies, such as their health, their aiming accuracy and the damage they inflict. IGN review of ''Perfect Dark'', "Features" section. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. Four bonus missions may be unlocked by the player. One, "The Duel", is a holographic training simulation against three opponents, and is unlocked by completing all of the entry-level weapon challenges in the firing range. The other three bonus missions are unlocked by completing the game on each of the three standard difficulties, and allow the player to control other characters — Elvis, Mr Blonde and a Maian warrior — in scenarios parallel to the main narrative. Cheats Codes Guides.com on the bonus missions. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. The gameplay is essentially unchanged, with objectives to accomplish and enemies to battle, but these characters do have some special characteristics, such as Mr Blonde's Cloaking Device . detStar guide to the level "Mr Blonde's Revenge". URL retrieved 11th June 2006. Additionally, the player can unlock Cheats by beating the levels within certain time limits. Some cheats, such as "All Weapons", can alternatively be unlocked by using the '' Perfect Dark '' Game Boy game and Transfer Pak . The cheats range from "Perfect Darkness", which makes the level pitch dark but gives the player a pair of Night Vision Goggles , to more traditional extras such as Infinite Ammo. IGN on ''Perfect Dark'' cheats. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. The game includes a co-operative mode in which two players, or one player and up to three computer-controlled players, tackle the missions together. If two humans play, the game uses a Split Screen display, with the option to split horizontally or vertically. Only one human player is required to survive the mission, although all the objectives must still be completed. Finally, there is a "Counter Op" mode, in which one player plays the missions as Joanna while the other takes over the role of an enemy — including their weaponry and low health — and attempts to stop her. The Counter Op player takes control of another enemy if they are killed, and cannot cause the mission to fail directly by, for example, killing Joanna's allies before she meets them.''Perfect Dark'' Manual . Published by Rareware, 2000. The solo player areas feature numerous Easter Eggs and strange objects, areas and glitches to fuel the exploration efforts and wild speculation of many gamers. Rare staff have admitted that some of the oddities in the game were put there "for a laugh," and that the constant barrage of questioning emails they got were sometimes "a free source of amusement". Yamo's Lair on Rare's reason for game's easter eggs. URL retrieved 7th April 2006. Perhaps the most famous curiosity is the piece of cheese hidden on every level. detStar on the pieces of cheese. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. Multiplayer The Combat Simulator is ''Perfect Dark'' Players enter the game unarmed and with a certain amount of health. Weapons and ammunition are scattered around the level in preset positions. Once a player is killed, they are regenerated elsewhere in the level, once again unarmed. The overall objective of the game is determined by the scenario being played, of which there are six: detStar on the Combat Simulator scenarios. URL retrieved 11th June 2006.
Aspects of each game can be customised, such as the chosen arena, the weapons available, and the winning conditions. Players can be grouped into teams or compete individually. In a team game, the players can optionally be shown coloured according to their team. Each game can be customised to a greater degree than was possible in ''GoldenEye 007'' Computer controlled Bot s called "Simulants" can be included in the multiplayer game. The appearance, team affiliation, skill level and playing characteristics of each Simulant can be individually customised. For example, the VengeSim always pursues the player that killed it last, the FistSim will not fire guns but will attack with punches and thrown weapons, while the PeaceSim does not fight at all but merely tries to disarm the other players. Simulants can perform super-human feats on the highest difficulty settings, such being able to climb a ladder while firing in the opposite direction. detStar on the Combat Simulator Simulants. URL retrieved 11th June 2006. During team matches, a human player can issue specific orders to the Simulants on their team, such as "Defend the Base". The Combat Simulator includes thirty "Challenges", pre-set games against Simulants which may be tackled by one or more players. The Challenges cover a variety of game types, weapon arrangements and level setups. As a player completes them, additional features — including new weapons, player models and bot difficulties — are unlocked in the Combat Simulator. A complete list of features unlockable through this mode is available here . At the end of the match, the overall results are shown, alongside information about the individual players' performance. Colour-coded "medals" are awarded to the winners in several categories: Accuracy, Head Shots, KillMaster (for achieving the most kills) and Survivor (for suffering the fewest deaths). The game also acknowledges, often humorously, other aspects of performance by awarding messages such as " AC-10 " (for people who frequently use Body Armor ) and " Mostly Harmless " (for particularly ineffective players). Players can keep track of their performance by creating and saving multiplayer profiles. Each profile contains a ranking, ranging from "21: Beginner" to "Perfect: 1", which is determined based on the accumulation of certain statistics such as number of kills, time played and ammunition used. The number of medals earned is also counted. (A complete description of the statistics required for each rank is available here .) A player achieving the rank of "Perfect: 1" is given the message "Username: - Tau ." Rare had originally intended these details to allow access password-protected parts of the official ''Perfect Dark'' website, but this part of the site was never implemented. Rare's official response to ''Perfect Dark'' rumours]. URL retrieved 11 December 2005. Multiplayer profiles also allow players to customise their in-game appearance by selecting the head and body of any of the game's character models (exclusing the Skedar), as well as several which do not appear in the single-player mode. A feature called "Perfect Head", which appeared in previews of the game but was not included in the final product, was intended to take player customisation further. This feature allowed the player to place a photograph of their choice onto their in-game character's face, via a Game Boy Camera . However, Perfect Head was dropped due to "sensitive issues" surrounding the ability to attack images of real people. ''Computer And Video Games'' on the removal of Perfect Head. URL retrieved 7th April 2006. DEVELOPMENT -inspired double slash.]] agent Dana Scully from Television Series '' The X-Files ''. The name "Joanna Dark" was taken from the French pronunciation of Joan Of Arc as "Jeanne d'Arc". '' mark. At one time Nintendo Of Japan considered releasing the game there under the title 赤と黒 (''Aka to kuro''; Red and Black). "''Perfect Dark''" does not translate well into Japanese, and the title "''Red and Black''" was considered sufficiently edgy. IGN on the original Japanese title, ''Red and Black''. URL retrieved 7th April 2006. However, it was eventually released as '''パーフェクト・ダーク''' ("pāfekuto dāku"), a transliteration of the Western title "''Perfect Dark'' Returns" . Gamespot on the decision to release as ''Perfect Dark'' in Japan. URL retrieved 7th April 2006.. Originally Hollis hoped that the difference between light and dark would be a significant feature of the gameplay, and the title was intended to reflect this focus. A can be shot out, gunfire illuminates rooms, and the player can use Infra-red and Night Vision Goggles . Martin Hollis was involved with ''Perfect Dark'' for the first fourteen months of its three-year development. David Doak left at the end of 1998, and Steve Ellis soon after, to form Free Radical Design . Hollis stated that he was impressed by the comprehensive range of multiplayer options, saying "what a vast array of features I never planned". Doak, however, remarked that "''GoldenEye'' pretty much exhausted the performance of the machine. It was hard to push it further. ''Perfect Dark'' had some good ideas but was dog slow." This sentiment was echoed by many reviewers. GAME ENGINE The ''Perfect Dark'' and must be reloaded after a certain number of shots. Interaction with the environment is via a single "Use" command, which opens doors, activates computers and so on. Enemies and players can disarm each other at close range, and the player can use this feature to steal weapons or knock foes unconscious. Like ''GoldenEye'', ''Perfect Dark'' uses location-based damage; for example, a shot to the torso causes more damage than a shot to the limb. However, unlike ''GoldenEye'', in the single-player mode a headshot on a guard is instantly fatal on any difficulty level. The engine includes a number of graphical enhancements. The most conspicuous of these is the option to play in "hi- and PAL versions of the game run full-screen, with a Widescreen option, while some earlier Nintendo 64 games such as '' Super Mario 64 '' ran "letterboxed" on PAL systems for technical reasons. ''Perfect Dark'''s engine offered audio features that had not been available on the N64 before; for example, it was one of the few games to offer Dolby Surround Sound . The game music was compressed as MP3 in order to fit into the relatively small storage space afforded by a Cartridge .''Perfect Dark'' title screen. There is full voice-acting for all the dialogue, and the guards can be heard having conversations amongst themselves about the events of the level. detStar on the guards' private conversations. URL retrieved 7th April 2006. The artificial intelligence of the guards includes the ability to call for help and sound nearby alarms. The guards can be alerted by nearby gunfire, and the various weapons in the game have distinct volumes; for example, guards are less likely to be alerted by silenced pistols than high-powered rifles. Additionally, they are able to throw grenades and, if the player disarms them, draw a secondary weapon. One criticism raised of ''GoldenEye 007'' The multiplayer Simulants are considerably more advanced, and have the majority of the faculties of a human player. While they have the ability to complete multiplayer objectives, such as capturing the briefcase, they are not able to use some of the weapons, such as mines. Even on the highest skill setting, Simulants make no attempt to avoid simple traps such as proximity mines or sentry guns. There are a number of (or "speed-strafing") to exploit a bug in the engine whereby moving Diagonal ly allows the player to move faster than by running forwards or sideways alone. This technique is almost essential to achieving some of the target times required to unlock cheats. RELEASE AND SALES
The first release of the game came on May 22, 2000 in North America. Nintendo arranged a number of publicity stunts to promote the release, including hiring model Michelle Merkin to do in-store promotions as a real life Joanna Dark. IGN on the in-store promotions. URL retrieved 7th April 2006. Total sales for the game reached 1.3 million copies in the United States. N64 sales chart (via archive.org). URL retrieved 2nd April 2006. The European release followed on 30 June, and finally the game was released in Japan on 21 October. The Japanese launch was a success, with the sale of 35,000 copies in the first week, n-sider.com on Japanese sales. URL retrieved 2nd April 2006. and 77,000 in total. Worldwide, ''Perfect Dark'' sold 2.5 million copies. Revolution Europe on worldwide sales of ''Perfect Dark''. URL retrieved 10th April 2006. CRITICAL REACTION Upon release, ''Perfect Dark'' received strong reviews from magazines and websites alike. IGN opined that the game "features amazing graphics, ... and the most well-rounded multiplayer mode ever to grace Nintendo 64", saying that their "only gripe with the game is its sometimes sluggish framerate". '' GameSpot '' concluded that "there's finally a game that has eclipsed 007 ". Gaming Age described it as "probably one of the best FPSs to be released in quite a while," but concedes that "there are some nasty frame rate problems at times". GameCritics.com criticised the "weak characters and an unoriginal storyline", but nevertheless adjudged that the "extraordinary amount of high-quality multiplayer modes and features" meant that "the game is still a blast". GameRevolution.com again criticised the game's technical shortcomings, noting the "occasional slowdown and ... a few polygonal glitches", but overall concluded that "''Perfect Dark'' shines out as one of the best N64 games". The overall positive reaction from critics can be gauged by the results of review compilation sites; for example, Gamerankings.com makes it the third most highly rated game on the Nintendo 64, and claims that the game "improves upon the awesome multi-player mode that made it's predecessor ''GoldenEye'' a smash hit." Metacritic describes the game as meeting with "Universal Acclaim" and Rotten Tomatoes considers the game "Fresh". Rare were also recognised for their work on the game, as they were awarded the Bafta Interactive Entertainment Moving Images Award for 2000 and the Golden Satellite Award for Best Interactive Product in 2001. LEGACY Another game also titled '' Perfect Dark '' was released for the Game Boy Color in September 2000, shortly after the Nintendo 64 game. The storyline of the game was considerably different to the N64 incarnation, as it follows Joanna's attempts to shut down an illegal cyborg manufacturer. While the game uses an overhead rather than first-person view, it has a number of advanced features for a portable game. For example, the game's cutscenes feature sampled speech and a "rumble" facility (akin to the N64's Rumble Pak ) is built into the cartridge. IGN on Perfect Dark for Game Boy Color. URL retrieved 8th April 2006. ''Perfect Dark'' was the last major first-person shooter game for the Nintendo 64, which was already nearing the end of its lifespan; Nintendo unveiled their new console, the . This company went on to develop the PlayStation 2 game '' TimeSplitters '' in the same first-person shooter genre, but with a new engine for the new platform. ''TimeSplitters'' and its sequel bear many gameplay and presentational similarities to ''GoldenEye'' and ''Perfect Dark'', including a similar manual aiming system, missions with structured objectives, cheat options unlockable through quick level completions, and the earning of multiplayer awards. Meanwhile Rare began development of a prequel titled ''Perfect Dark Zero'' for the Nintendo GameCube, but were purchased from Nintendo by Microsoft in 2002. Microsoft prese release on the purchase of Rare. URL retrieved 8th April 2006. Soon after, it was announced that ''Perfect Dark Zero'' would in fact be an Xbox title. Later it was decided instead to release it for the Xbox 360 , and it became a launch title for that system. This game maintains ''Perfect Dark'' ''Perfect Dark'' worldwide sales were not as great as its predecessor's eight million Rare's site on the sales of GoldenEye worldwide. URL retrieved 8th April 2006. and Joanna Dark did not attain the same status in pop culture as other video game heroines such as '''', a Rare-sanctioned paperback by Greg Rucka. Amazon.com page for ''Perfect Dark: Initial Vector''. URL retrieved 8th April 2006. The novel is set in the time between ''Perfect Dark Zero'' and ''Perfect Dark'', and portrays Joanna Dark as an ex-bounty hunter drawn in to the Carrington Institute's battle with dataDyne through her own vendetta against the weapons corporation. Tor Publishing on ''Perfect Dark: Initial Vector''. URL retrieved 8th April 2006. Rucka stated, "If you’ve played the first game, you’re going to get a huge treat, because a lot of stuff that happens in ''Perfect Dark'' we set up in the novel." He also revealed that at least two more books are planned and, asked if he intends to write them himself, replied "I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that I’ve got the room on my schedule." Newsarama.com interview with Greg Rucka on ''Perfect Dark: Initial Vector''. URL retrieved 13th April 2006. NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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