Perfect Dark (N64, 2000)

An exceptional followup to Goldeneye that squeezes every drop out of the N64's capabilities.

Difficulty: Easy to medium. The combat isn’t difficult, but it’s easy to get lost.
Nostalgia Factor: Low.

I’m thrilled to have finally completed Perfect Dark. Many years ago, when I first discovered emulation, I played so much Goldeneye on Project 64. I was disappointed to learn that the behemoth task of emulating Perfect Dark had not yet been accomplished. I had nearly forgotten about Perfect Dark until it’s recent arrival on NSO. “Great,” I thought, “I can finally play this game!”

After spending way too much time trying to get something close to modern-FPS controls running on NSO (choose control type 1.2, then swap the left and right analog sticks in the Switch button-mapping settings), I discovered that the emulation community had since climbed the Everest that was Perfect Dark. In fact, there’s a fantastic custom version of 1964 that’s been optimized just for Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. It even includes buttery smooth mouse injector controls that make Goldeneye and Perfect Dark playable with mouse and keyboard, just like modern FPS games on PC. I cannot adequately state just how much this has improved my experience of these games.

The N64 has never been an ideal home for FPS games. It’s only due to Rare’s absolute genius that Goldeneye and Perfect Dark were even remotely playable on the N64. To be fair, FPS games on any console were a bit of a wild west until Halo’s success cemented the dual analog control scheme that we take for granted today. If you had the gumption to try the two-controller setup (yes, one person using two controllers), Goldeneye is credited as one of the earliest prototypes of the dual analog control scheme. Perfect Dark also offered this unique option.

Considering the N64’s limitations, Perfect Dark is an absolutely breathtaking graphical achievement. I’m particularly impressed with the lighting and reflection effects. Most of the environments are very detailed. Of course, by today’s standards, Perfect Dark very much shows its age, but you have to give credit where credit’s due. It’s difficult to compare console FPS games from this era with PC games like Counterstrike, Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, or Deus Ex, which obviously have the edge. Gaming PCs at the time were expensive, but 3D accelerators were unlocking a level of graphical fidelity that consoles simply could not match.

Perfect Dark utilized an upgraded Goldeneye game engine and required the N64 expansion pak, which doubled the available RAM (to 8MB). Rare squeezed every last drop out of the aging N64. The only common criticism of the game was the dipping frame rate, which could slow to a crawl in certain sections of the game. Regardless, Perfect Dark was a critical darling swan song for the N64. It was accompanied by a small batch of other successful late releases (Pokemon Stadium 2, Banjo-Tooie, Mario Party 3, Paper Mario, Mario Tennis). The GameCube would debut a little more than a year later.

Truly, Rare’s N64 polygons are impressive, all things considered. However, I can’t help but conclude that Joanna looks like a British soccer mom ready to cruise the mall so she can show off her $12 pixie cut from Great Clips.

I think most fans prefer Joanna’s appearance from the 2010 Perfect Dark remaster for Xbox Live Arcade. I certainly do.

The gameplay feels very similar to Goldeneye, though considerably more polished. If you’re using the default control scheme, auto aim helps to mitigate some of the frustration. The enemy AI is significantly improved from Goldeneye. In the early missions, enemies are slow and easy to mow down, but in later missions, the enemies are nimble and much more bullet-spongey. You can push certain objects around, which is an interesting new feature. Like Goldeneye, there are various objectives to complete as you march through the corridors blasting anything that moves.

Night vision and the IR-scanner also provide some more variety to the gameplay. Perfect Dark does not boast the impressive catalogue of guns that Goldeneye featured, but there’s still an ample collection. I favored the CMP150, the Laptop Gun, or any pair of dual pistols. The cloaking enemies are a great addition, though there’s a strange glitchy Roblox looking appearance when they cloak and decloak. I’m not sure if this is some kind of artifact from the emulation, something you just couldn’t see on fuzzy CRTs back in the day, or if this is just how Rare designed it.

One frustration that carried over from Goldeneye (a common issue with early FPS games) — I got lost a lot. It’s very easy to get disoriented in the repetitive low-poly environments. There’s nothing more frustrating than not knowing where to go or what you’re supposed to do. I think the level of handholding in modern games has spoiled me a bit. I had to repeatedly reference walkthrough videos to figure out what to do on some of these missions. It’s very easy to miss one small objective at the beginning of a mission. I probably spent 50% of my total play time just waltzing around aimlessly, not knowing where to go.

This is probably something you’d read in the manual (RIP paper manuals), but it took me forever to figure out how to ride the airbike (double tap A on the N64 controller), which is necessary to complete a mission. I also had no clue that you could crouch in this game. Turns out you need to crouch to complete the Chicago mission (hold R and press down-C to cycle between standing, crouched, and prone).

The story is a major low point for me with Perfect Dark (mild story spoilers ahead). The game begins with an excellent moody vibe and premise. It feels like a serious futuristic spy thriller. I’m into it. Yet, as the story unravels, it becomes increasingly ridiculous and convoluted. They really lost me in the Area 51 levels. The MacGuffin is a stereotypical grey alien named “Elvis”. This cool spy thriller has plunged into cheesy, pulpy alien cliché. Not only does this alien look flat out goofy, his voice sounds like a bad Yoda impression, and he later wears a patriotic US flag onesie and blue laced sneakers. What is going on?

Rare are no strangers to comedy, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they took this tongue in cheek detour just for fun. I did feel like this “jump the shark” moment diluted the gritty and mature vibes this game had been carrying thus far. I’m trying to remind myself that Area 51 alien content was massively trendy in the 90s. Independence Day and Men In Black were wildly profitable films that may have been an influence here. Many other games cashed in on this alien trend – Duke Nukem 3D, Area 51 (the classic arcade light gun shooter), Tomb Raider 3, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Deus Ex, Vigilante 8, just to name a few.

While the story did not do it for me personally, Rare deserves credit for execution. This is probably the most immersive game on the N64. The animated in-game cutscenes are very well done. They again utilized motion capture, as they did for Goldeneye. There are loads of dialogue sound bytes from Joanna and enemy NPCs. Most of the voice acting is solid, though a few characters have some borderline cringe voicing (looking at you, Trent).

You can tell that these audio lines are absolutely crushed with compression, but considering that every bit of this game’s data had to fit on a 32MB cartridge, I’m more impressed than disappointed. Like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark has amazing sound effects. Is there any other game where it’s this satisfying to reload or pick up ammo? K’CHAK.

While I’m not sure that Perfect Dark’s soundtrack will have as much longevity as Goldeneye’s soundtrack (especially the legendary pause music which has been heavily memed), Grant Kirkhope and company have brought us another great game score. Most of the soundtrack provides effective espionage ambience in varying levels of intensity, but there are a few tracks that stand out from the rest. Institute Menu (pause music 2.0?) absolutely slaps. Carrington Villa, Chicago Stealth, and Air Base Espionage are a few more favorites.

Overall, if you enjoy dipping into classic low-poly FPS games, Perfect Dark is an absolute must play. Give it a go with the mouse injector controls.