Perfect Dark

    After all the hype. After all the promises. After all the delays. Perfect Dark finally comes out. But the question is: was it worth the wait? It depends on what type of gamer you are. If you didn't experience all of the hype prior to it's release, and if you have never played GoldenEye 007, then you'll probably think that Perfect Dark is the best game ever made. But, if you're like me, a person who was so into GoldenEye, a person who eagerly awaited the release, a person who heard all the rumors and promises, you will still like it, but not as much. But, if you are a hardcore gamer, you fall under the latter category rather than the former. So I'm sure you'll agree with me. Is Perfect Dark the best game ever made?? Heck naw. Is Perfect Dark the best game on N64?? Heck naw. Here's why.
    First off, let's cover the promises that were made, and then broken. Multiplayer modes such as floodlights (I have no idea what this is, but it was SUPPOSED to be in here), explodable walls (sections of wall would be able to be blown out in order to open up new rooms/ create a new path through the level) but this was also scrapped. Also absent is the much hyped Perfect Head feature that would of allowed gamers to map their face onto their character in the game via the Game Boy Camera and the GB Transfer Pak. This too was scrapped. With any of these features included in PD, it would of been so much better. But they were taken out due to time and hardware limitations.
    Next up on our list of disappointments is the piss poor story. It actually starts off pretty cool, but dips into sci-fi B-movie territory around the missions at Area 51. You are introduced characters you could really care less about. You are forced to fight aliens on alien ships and even their home planet in levels that will remind you far too much of Turok 2. In GoldenEye, we could kill the "bad humans". In Perfect Dark, we can kill humans for a while, but then we have to kill these aliens for no real reason. The story just sucks ass. To find out more, insert Perfect Dark in your N64, and play through the solo missions, you will then understand.
    Now, on to the solo missions themselves! Sure, the story sucks, but at least the levels should be good. Aw, heck naw. There are a few solo levels that will keep you coming back, but for the most part, they just don't compare to GoldenEye. The levels are all frickin' mazes, not confusing mazes, but not straight forward like we all loved in GoldenEye. The mission objectives aren't spread too far apart, however, and most of them actually make sense. On the whole, the solo missions are disappointing. They just don't convey the sense of "I'm a spy, he-yuc" feeling that GoldenEye did so well.
    On to the much anticipated Co-op and Counter-op modes. Co-op is actually fairly fun. But if you take a newbie through, it's just confusing for the newbie, and you do all the work. If you take a veteran through, you end up just competing for kills, and if you're like us, killing each other. Counter-op is just weird. The counter-op person almost always has the advantage. Even if both players are experienced, the counter-op will almost always win simply because of their large number of comrades, and because the counter-op will go for headshots instead of firing blindly like a dumb ass sim. The Counter-op mode is a nice, mildly fun extra, but time could have been spent elsewhere. In conclusion: Co-op is fun, but nothing special. Counter-op is nothing special, but sorta fun. I personally could have lived without either one of these if we could of gotten the game earlier.
    Cheats. The cheats in GoldenEye surprised us all, and actually gave us something worthwhile to work towards. And if you beat everything, and got every cheat, you got 007 mode, which was cool. But in PD, you are given crappy cheats just for completing levels, and you still have to earn the good cheats through fast times. But only a handful of time cheats are actually worth it. Invincibility, unlimited ammo-no reloads, unlimited ammo for the Laptop gun, and all guns are the only ones worth trying for. The rest of the time cheats, and even the cheats given to you are all worthless.
    Now on to the good stuff. Multiplayer is much improved over the already amazing GoldenEye multi. Sims are added into the mix to test players of many skill levels, even when their friends aren't around. There are 16 new levels (most of which suck), and 3 levels returning from GE (Temple, Complex, and Felicity). The new levels are often too big for their own good, and are multi layered beasts that loop back and around and over and cause a lot of running around, rather than fast and furious action like it should be. But, on the GOOD levels, the firefights are intense, and amazingly fun. The Combat Sim is exactly what Rare promised: a much better experience than GoldenEye. It is easily the BEST part of Perfect Dark.
    Another reason the Combat Sim is so deep, and so rich, and so FUN is the fact that you can customize nearly everything. You choose the number of sims, and their difficulty. You choose whatever 6 weapons or items you want. You choose the modes (King of the Hill, etc.) and you choose whether you want a stationary hill, or if it moves around. You truly have control over anything and everything.
    Along with the normal 1-4 player deatmatching (plus sims, of course) are the Challenges. These are 30 multiplayer matches that pit you and up to three friends against increasingly difficult computer enemies in increasingly difficult scenarios. These provide great challenge and great fun. BEWARE: Most of the scenarios past Challenge 22 seem impossible, but there are usually tricks you can use to get past them. The Challenges are fun, but once you beat them, you probably won't play them again.
    Another feature that I like is the fact that you must earn everything in order to use it in the Combat Sim. Weapons can be earned either by playing through the solo missions and finding them, or by playing through the Challenges and earning them. You can also earn new scenarios (King of the HIll, Capture the Case, Pop a Cap, and more), as well as new multiplayer levels by playing the Challenges. The Challenges also allow you to use more sims in a match, and will unlock new, more difficult sims. Making players earn everything was a brilliant move, and makes the game more fun. Also a welcome addition is the fact that you can unlock everything for multiplayer by playing the Challenges mode. You don't even have to mess with the crappy solo missions to enjoy this game in multi!
    The sound in Perfect Dark is very good. Each gun makes a unique sound. The "real" guns sound real, and the "alien" guns sound very alien. Very well done. And the music is much the same as GoldenEye, minus the Bond theme, and really gets your blood pumping in multi, and conveys a sense of urgency and stealth in solo.
    The graphics are decent. I personally liked the gritty, more realistic visuals in GoldenEye. How many evil corporations have bright colors in their HQ??? They used many more textures on the walls this time. And everything is much sharper than in GoldenEye. The animations of the gaurds are well done, and are fairly fluid. The faces look much better than they did in GoldenEye, but they are still blurry. The graphics look good overall.
    The framerate in Perfect Dark got a lot of attention from other reviewers because, according to them, it was really c-h-o-p-p-y. I have found that it is entirely playable in the solo missions, even on Hi-res. Co and Counter-op gets a bit choppy, but isn't too bad. Multiplayer can get bad, though. 2 humans vs. 8 sims runs fine. 3 humans vs. 8 sims gets pretty bad, so beware. Keep the total number of players (sims and humans) around 9 to keep the frame rate playable. It really isn't too bad, but it should of been better.
    Overall, Perfect Dark is a fun game, but below my expectations. I truly expected this to be one of the best games ever made. But it really isn't. The solo missions don't convey the same sense of being a spy that GoldenEye pulled off so effortlessly. The story is truly a disappointment, and could of been better without the damn aliens. The Co-op and Counter-op modes are fun, but the time could of been spent better elsewhere. Of course, the multiplayer modes are the best of any game so far. The multiplayer is why so many people bought GoldenEye, and is the same reason why so many have bought Perfect Dark. The multiplayer is truly where it's at, and is worth the $60 price tag by itself. Solo= CRAPPY. Multi= THE BEST EVER.
Buy PD, play against your friends, be happy. Nuff said.