Thursday, May 3, 2007

First Impressions: Perfect Dark

I know the game's been out for seven years, but I recently just started playing Perfect Dark for the first time. In 2000, I was set to go away to school and gaming wasn't a top priority for me at the time. Besides, in that era, the PS1 was typically my console of choice, although I had an N64 as well and played Goldeneye until my eyes were ready to explode. For those who don't know, "Perfect Dark" was sort of an unofficial sequel to "Goldeneye", developed by the same company, and using the same engine.

Although I haven't gotten too far into the game yet, I can give some impressions. There has always been much debate on what's the better game, Goldeneye or Perfect Dark. I haven't played PD nearly enough to answer that with my personal certainty, but on the surface, it certainly has more options and possible gameplay configurations than Goldeneye. You can launch simulations, deathmatches, capture the flags. This is all great if you have a lot of friends, but I don't, so the use of that is limited to me. There are also various devices you can use in the single-player game. For example, in the 2nd level, there is a part of the level I can't come in due to the high levels of radiation. I need to take pictures of this room. So, instead, I sent in a device, I think it's called a Camspy, to take the pictures I needed. This was cool, and a nice addition to the engine.

Another thing, maybe this is unfair, but I was awed when I first played Goldeneye. The entire experience, gameplay, graphics, etc. were unparrelled at the time, in console gaming. I haven't really gotten that experience yet with PD. But I also have to remember, I played Goldeneye in '97, that was the pack-in with the N64 I bought. So I played it soon after release, whereas with PD, I waited a really long time to play it.

To play Perfect Dark, you need the Expansion Pack. What you might not know is that you have to take the Jumper Pak out of your N64 and replace it with the Expansion Pack, which was a slight pain in the butt for me.

No comments: