Following up from GoldenEye was a big task, but Rare decided that the best course of action was to come up with a brand new game using the same formula, instead of sticking to the Bond license. And they nailed it. Perfect Dark decided to add some sci-fi stuff to the mix, setting the game in the future year of 2023, allowing for it to have some fantastic weapons and some wonderful settings.

For this playthrough, I decided to not play my usual Xbox 360 version of the game, but instead the unofficial PC port that is closer to the original.

The singleplayer campaign ramps up in presentation all around, with much more elaborate levels, voice acting, and some nice lighting and shadows. They have the feel of being real buildings that could exist, rather than something that only exists for the objectives (well, except for the submarine, that one is a bit odd in layout), which I think is part of why Perfect Dark ages so gracefully, and is still great to play now.

The bigger focus on story and voice acting also makes the levels feel much more connected to each other, rather than just a set of individual levels. There’s even a couple of instances where you can impact the next level – such as providing an alternative exit or giving you a hoverbike. It helps the game feel like an epic experience.

The weapons are also a complete joy to use. There’s a lot of them, and each one includes a secondary fire mode. Some simple, like changing the rate of fire, some more unique, like a cloak that runs on ammo, a sentry gun, lock on, and scanners. On one of the Area 51 levels, I always enjoy blowing up a “necessary” explosive box that you’re supposed to take with you to blow up a wall. This will cause a “mission failed”, but the enemies in the level have a gun that self destructs, so you can use this in the correct location and the “failed” status will move back to “incomplete” before registering as complete. It’s very satisfying. Each gun also has a unique reload animation (apart form the renamed GoldenEye weapons, which reload in their original way) and they’re oddly pleasant, especially some of the alien weapons.

Once again, objectives get added when you play in different difficulties (personally, I wish you could mix and match difficulties and objective amounts), and one level even starts you off in a different place – on easy, you protect a hostage with a sniper rifle, but on the hardest difficulty, you are the unarmed hostage with no backup. Objectives are generally fun, although some can be difficult to figure out (such as blowing up three random computer terminals near a jail cell to shut down a starship’s shields).

But the singleplayer features don’t stop there. While on the main menu, you can back out at any time and walk around the institute, where you’ll be able to take on a few challenges, such as ones that train you on how all the gadgets work, and target practice, which has three levels of tailored challenges for all the main weapons in the game (everything except the bonus “classic” GoldenEye guns). After you complete a campaign level, you can also play it with a friend in co-op, or play a fun bonus mode where they control random guards in the level.

The multiplayer mode, which was a last minute addition for GoldenEye, has been given a massive overhaul for Perfect Dark, with a ton of new modes and features, along with a level of customisability which would still be amazing now. You can customise weapon setups, turn on one-hit kills for any game mode, and pick different bodies and heads for your character. There’s also the bots.

The bots allow for games of up to 8, so you can have four people take on a team of bots, or each have one to help you. There are six levels of difficulties, from pitifully easy to cheating, plus bonus ones with different personalities. PeaceSims will try to disarm everyone and hoard weapons, PreySims specifically target weak players, VengeSims will target the last person that killed them (even if it was friendly fire), and CowardSim will run away if you have the advantage.

One place where this shines is in the challenge mode – a set of 30 missions in the multiplayer mode that you can take on on your own or with friends, which makes the multiplayer side of things a significant singleplayer game on top of the main campaign and extra modes. And then there are a ton of cheats to unlock and more. Perfect Dark is a phenomenal game that builds on from its predecessor and improves upon it in every way. And I haven’t even mentioned the X-ray gun that shoots through walls.

Fave

The multiplayer mode is more than good enough to have been released as a stand-alone game, particuarly as it makes Turok: Rage Wars look amateurish. The simulants are incredibly smart – much more deadly than any human players (well, we can’t beat the all yet). Just when you think you’ve got the measure of them in the challenges, you unlock an even more lethal sim that is guaranteed to leave you weeping in frustration. If you can’t face taking another beating from the computer, Perfect Dark is peerless as a four-player game. The arenas are excellent, and there are lots of them t ochoose form – once you’ve unlocked them playing the challenges.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #42. Review Score: 96%

Remake or remaster?

The 360 port (included in Rare Replay) is great, but could do with being updated and released on more platforms. An option to have the original graphics would also be nice.

Official ways to get the game.

The Perfect Dark remaster can be purchased from the Xbox Store, either on its own or as part of Rare Replay. The original also available to rent via NSO.