When I was very young, I played a lot of Goldeneye 007 on the good ol' N64 with my friends. As I got older, and I bought new consoles and such, I had almost completely forgotten about Goldeneye, and replaced it with games like Timesplitters, Halo, and Metroid Prime. Strangely enough, however, in the year 2000, a game which was deemed the "spiritual sequel" of GE007, namely "Perfect Dark", was released for the already-aging Nintendo 64.
This game, Perfect Dark, was released completely unbenounced to me for years, until one day a friend brought it over. I remember it quite fondly- we had just finished a game of Timesplitters: Future Perfect on the Nintendo Gamecube, and he suggested that we play this "Perfect Dark" game that he apparently loved. He took out his own N64, set it up, and we began to play.
Frankly, being the lazy 13 year old boy I was, I made no attempt to understand the game or anything about it. The controls were so foreign to me, as I hadn't played an N64 in years, that I simply did not know what to do, and playing the game felt awkward. Regardless of the game's apparent charms, I refused to play it, and after getting sick of dying over and over because of my lack of skill, I suggested we go back to Timesplitters, and we did.
As it so happened, years and years later, I obtained my own copy of Perfect Dark. After reading much about it, I was to understand that it was actually quite good- I just hadn't given it a chance yet. So, I decided to do just that- give a chance.
When I actually sat down, took the time to master the controls, and really delve into the game, I found what soon became a video game obsession with me, and probably one of my favorite games of all time. Perfect Dark was everything that a gamer, especially a console gamer, could hope for. Endless piles of weapons, characters, and maps to choose from, a fantastic multiplayer setup mode, a riveting story mode, amazing music, and frankly- given the limitations of the god aweful N64 controller, the controls weren't all that bad.
Something about Perfect Dark really clicked with me. Who knows- maybe it was the funky, techno-inspired, futuristic, alien music. Maybe it was the bevy of colorful yet dark and brooding environments. Maybe it was the impressive array of features and options. Maybe it was all of the above. Who knows- I'm not sure I do. What I do know however, is that regardless of the reason, I was, and still am, in love with Perfect Dark.
It is for this reason that a few things trouble me. First and foremost, do the "sequels", namely Perfect Dark Zero, and the Perfect Dark remake for XBLA, stack up against the original PD? And moreover, is the series still alive?
Let's start off by talking about the true sequel, or prequel depending on how you see it, "Perfect Dark Zero". Now, I'm not going to lie. When I first saw this game advertised, I thought it looked like complete bologna.
To further compound on this feeling of disdain that I had with the game just from looking at it, once I actually (tried) to play it, I was not pleased with it. First and foremost, it did not seem at all like Perfect Dark. Secondly, I thought the art style and design was far too cartoonish, and moreover- I just did not like the style of the gameplay itself.
However, all that being said, I've come to learn that I didn't really give PDZ a fair shot. Instead of trying to immerse myself in the multiplayer experience and whatnot, I really just mucked around with preset games and didn't even bother to complete the first level of the story mode, as I found it too tedious.
Upon playing the game again, and actually trying to relish the experience a bit, I have found the result to be more much satisfactory. PDZ is not a game without faults, but it is certainly not a bad game, and is, for the most part, a good sequel to the original game.
There are a few nice touches, too. For one thing, the graphics are about as pretty and colorful as you could ask for. It's also nice to see some of the weapons return in full-form, such as the Laptop Gun (one of my personal favorite weapons from the original game). Moreover, I think that the story mode is well-constructed, and presents a lot of interesting locales. It's all very well-done and presentable, for the most part.
So, all in all, PDZ is a good game. Is it better than the original Perfect Dark? I don't believe so. Though, to some extent, it's not just about being "better", but being different. PDZ is a more reserved, tactil game than its predecessor, and in the context of the game world, that can be a good thing. However, in other ways, it can be very alienating as well. Thankfully, the good aspects outweigh the bad.
This brings us to the latest entry in the Perfect Dark series, that being the official Xbox Live Arcade remake by Rare. This version is essentially identical to that of the original, except with higher resolution graphics, a new online multiplayer option, newly recorded voice acting, and better controls- all of which are welcome additions in my opinion.
What I dislike about these kind of games is, however, that they aren't necessarily faithful to the original game, even though they are remakes. Call me crazy, but I like playing games how they were intended- on the console they were made for. Were the game a complete overhaul with new weapons, completely new graphics, etc, that would be one thing. I would like it to be packaged and sealed as its own separate game, and sold in-store, just as the original game was. Alas, however, not that much work has gone into it. It's an XBLA game which seems to build only slightly upon the strengths of its namesake, without really adding anything at all.
This is what bothers me about it. The fact that it is trying to refine the original form of this game so that it will be as close to the original as possible, but better. However, in doing so, you lose many of the charms of the original. Something about the blocky, burry N64 texts, compressed MIDI music, and lonely atmosphere of the original game holds a nostalgia which cannot be recreated. If they wanted to update the game, they should have truly updated it, by making the graphics next-gen, adding new weapons and modes, and changing things up enough so that it was a new game, or at the very least, a re-imagined version of the original. Calling this a remake is simply offensive.
This is not to say that the game is bad, however. From what I can tell (as I have not truly played it myself yet) the game is nearly identical in terms of gameplay to the N64 version, and such updates as better controls, online play, and achievements are all welcome additions- so, to some extent, it might be understandable to think of this as a new game, but one that simply emulates an older title. Regardless, it's a good game- perhaps just not as nostalgic as the real thing.
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