Perfect Dark Message Board

Perfect Dark is the 2nd FPS RARE released on the N64 in 2000 at the end of the N64's lifetime back when RARE wasn't sucking complete dick and getting *crag*ed in the ass violently by Microsoft while warm milky seruem leaks from every ovrice of it's body and cries at the shadow of what it once was. Anyways if you've ever played Goldeneye, Perfect Dark pretty much is a complete upgrade to it.

When you get hit by something, instead of flying back 80 feet and never being able to get anything done you only get knocked back a little. It's barely noticable most of the time unless you have extreme sheilding and some asshole is firing at you with an automatic weapon. Melee weapons aren't as good as they are in Goldeneye however for what melee lacks in power makes up for it by being an incredibly useful stealth strike. It can disarm gaurds giving you time to pop a cap in there ass while they pick up there gun. Melee attacks also apply a dizzy effect in multiplayer(and single player if you get hit by a gaurd from behind). The dizzy effect is alot like smoking pot, the more hits you get in the more screwy your victim's vision gets and before he/she(or you)know it someone is completey unable to indentify anything or get around proficentally, this is both incredibly terrifying and amusing. It probably doesn't help the dizzy effect carries over between lives meaning you can pretty much win multiplayer by punching the shit out of your friend, standing a safe distance away, and shooting him until he drops. Rinse, repeat.

Multiplayer also got a pretty huge upgrade with the addition of AI computers to play against(simulants), you are able to choose preset simulant personalities that kinda set up computers to almost be there own class sometimes depending on what you choose(Speedsims are incredibly fast, Turtlesims are slow but have lots lots of sheild, etc). You can also customize which weapons spawn on the map, choose the map of course(or put it on random), choose music for the stage, switch attires and heads around to form a more unique character, and create preset gamemodes to load up with ease. Theres also multiplayer challenges to keep yourself busy that unlock new maps and shit to spawn on the map(Like cloaking). Also RARE geniously put in a feature that allows you to darken your  side of the screen while completely crouched in order to troll screenlookers who know the map well enough to find you.

Weaponry is quite excellent as it was in Goldeneye and unlike Goldeneye each weapon has a secondary firing mode which allows guns to be used diffrently depending on what it is and where you can make it useful at. An example of this would be with the Laptop Gun, the laptop gun is basically a powerful bamf automatic weapon thats made out of a laptop, the secondary fire of the weapon allows you to throw the laptop on the ground and set up a mini-sentry that mows down enemies until it runs out of ammo. Another great example of a weapon with profound use for secondary fire is with the Super Dragon. Primary fire is the basic automatic weapon while secondary fire turns your gun into a grenade launcher. It's worth getting to know how to switch to secondary fire and back as some weapons are actually better in secondary fire, like the phantom that will shoot explosive shells instead of shitty faggy space lasers, the shotgun that will rapid fire two rounds at a time instead of one and for my favorite weapon the Mauler instead of single shotting with an energy shot  will charge up a shot as you wait for your next target. Despite all of these great weapon useages Perfect Dark to my distaste has alot of weapons that can kill you in a single shot, with 3 rocket launcher variants and 3 very easy to use instant kill weapons it kinda kills the point of weapon vareity espicially when you're playing multiplayer and you have 2 of those weapons available on the map you're on, other than that though you have plenty of variety in gunware, you know, kinda like how a FPS should be. You are also able to unlock some of the guns that were in Goldeneye however shamefully you can only use them in Single Player.

As for the story mode gameplay it pretty much plays the same as Goldeneye, it's still faster to sidestrafe and run at a 90 degree angle to get around and you can screw with the AI though not as well now, they're pretty damn intelligent for a N64 game actually. You can also co-op missions with a friend or if you don't have friends you can summon a simulant that will help you on missions, the partner simulants are surprisingly not completely retarded. You can get away with leaving them behind half way across the level and they'll be able to find you without much trouble thanks to the radar, this is useful also for the few escorting parts of the game, you'll find that you don't have to baby whoever the hell you're escorting and if they have a gun it's even better seeing as they'll defend themselves pretty much flawlessly and may even help you out every now and then by killing that one guy you forgot to kill or something. Aiming HUD is kinda meh, though you can fix it with a cheat that makes the aiming cursor the exact same as the one that was in Goldeneye if it bothers you that much. The story is pretty ok, it's nothing that'll get your panties wet but you sure as hell aren't going to be bored with it, also theres aliens, and you get to fight with aliens and kill aliens and it's better than Halo.

Overall I give the game a 10/10, you can get the game on Xbox Live or hunt down an orignal copy for the N64. Definately something you guys should look into.