Too say Perfect Dark is a ‘fine game’ is a huge understatement. After many years I played it again and I must conclude its really one of the best and most impressive games ever made.
I do think it would have been better if Rare had switched to the Gamecube instead. They did that with Dinosaur adventure which became Starfox adventure. The Gamecube had a much larger texture cashe so it could render all texture from there without significantly impacting performance. It also just has more data as a whole with it's 1,2 GB discs compared to the 64MB of the N64 cartridge. That combined with it's overall just superior grunt would have greatly benefited perfect dark. Starfox adventure benefited tremendously from the Gamecube's power. The framerate is very high, sound very pleasant and the visuals are very, very nice. It's still has my favorite model of fox with how furry he is.
Sometimes still feel it's ahead of modern shooters of today with its MP variables to adjust and its multi-path campaign layout as you pick harder difficulties. But we're getting a new game and I think there's going to be a new timesplitters so hopefully both will bring back that style of fps
I still consider Perfect Dark as probably the best FPS of all time. Despite it's technical hiccups, it had something most games lack: Vision. It has groundbreaking features in a few megabytes that aren't present in modern 50GB+ FPS games. But the icing on the cake was the multiplayer and the *unmatched* array of sim behaviours. Nothing comes close to this and having 4 players vs. 8 sim matches was the very definition of bliss.
thats one thing with modern games, they can just add expansion download packs and have no limitations in terms of storage. back then devs had to work like hell to get a game to fit on a cart
So true. The ambition Rare had for this game was incredible. Whether you actually like the game or not, anyone should be able to see that Rare put every fibre of their being and soul into this.
@@Youskarumbo, no, PD is much better than HL, if you ask me. HL is great, true, and was very influential, but PD is much more replayable than HL ever was. In HL, once you've played through it once, you've seen everything there is to see, whereas in PD, every difficulty level had different objectives (even more open levels, sometimes), HL had the boring mid-game conveyor sections and the *awful* Xen levels (which most people detest), whereas all of PD's levels were really good, PD has co-op and counter-op modes and bots in multiplayer (though modders have done great things with HL), etc. Plus HL has the ubskippable , long train ride at the beginning, the unskippable parts where you have to wait until an NPC or two has finished tallking (fine for your first play-though, but utterly tedious when you've played the game a few times), the NPCs sometimes get stuck on corners or when trying to enter a doorway (I've played through PD's single player capaign *lots* of times, and never saw that happen once), and to the best of my knowledge, Valve never fixed the occasional bug whereby the player would get trapped on the floor of a lift (elevator). HL did tell it's story much better than PD did, though, and no character in HL was as out of place and as jarring as PD's Elvis (who, to me, was just annoying and lowered the tone of PD with his stupid comments and attempt at humour), I'd say. And the aliens in HL were much more imaginitive than in PD (the Half-Life series always does great aliens), the voice work was better in HL (apart from the fact that the few lines that the guards and scientists had were so often repeated), And Hal-Life allowing you to be able to save anywhere, any time ,as opposed to Perfect Dark's usual console first person shooter methof of only being able to save at the end of every mission (level) would no doubt put HL above PD for many people. But to me, PD is still the best game on any system ever. I love the HL games, but none of them come close to PD, in my opinion.
Much preferred this over Goldeneye. Goldeneye was a good game but Perfect Dark was a much more interesting game, multiplayer was a lot better as well. The soundtrack in Perfect Dark is incredibly good as well.
Agreed. And Perfect Dark Zero came it is good just not best game on Xbox 360 now a new Perfect Dark is in the works I’m very excited for it hope it’s good
How they managed to fit so much game onto a n64 cartridge just boggles the mind it was pure art . Games like call of duty have 1% of the content in a 150gb game lol
Its because back then u were working with limitations of the hardware and they were forced to optimize as much as possible. Nowadays, they rely so heavily on the hardware and they suck at optimization. There is a guy showing just how much more power the n64 could produce of the code had been optimized with todays knowledge of optimization. It was capable of more than we knew but they were learning how to best optimize along the way and alot of games that pushed the limits of the console didnt come out til later in the consoles life cycle. Perfect dark for instance
It's one of my fav games of all time and love to share the passion of PD with others when it came to XBLA their weren't many of us playing online but we all loved PD. In a way I wish it was a pc title back in the day I think it would of gotten a lot bigger fanbase if it had at the time since fps was still pretty new in console world
Perfect Dark is still one of my top 3 favorite games of all time. I played a tiny bit of Zero and was mostly disappointed by its tone and huge step back in terms of quality and polish. The original PD did so many things well that no or few FPSs do today: Objectives that require thought and increase with difficulty level, great AI for its time, picking up multiple weapons with limited ammo rather than being limited to two guns with near-infinite ammo, gadgets that let you interact with the environment and sometimes be creative (CamSpy to distract, x-ray + door-piercing weapon, etc.), tons of unlockables and options, a separate challenge mode, being able to walk around the place you work at, a completely optional tutorial as part of that mode, cheats, being able to disarm enemies, split-screen co-op, counter-op, the quick menu, enemies generally not knowing where you are until you're spotted, enemies sometimes making mistakes like their gun jamming, commands to control AI allies, bot personalities, Easter eggs, rotating 3D gun models with descriptions, secret bonus missions, sometimes multiple ways to complete or approach objectives, optional actions in one mission affecting the next mission, an option for random weapons in MP, blood and bullet holes that stay, optional mission briefings that give you background lore and hints for completing objectives, being in control of your character the whole time without any forced slow walking sequences or QTEs, general polish minus the low framerate (no bugs that I recall and great improvements over GoldenEye's mechanics, which didn't register rapid hits), a large number of mostly unique weapons, the ability to avoid taking damage if you're skilled enough (rather than instantly being shot the moment you peek out from behind cover), and tons of MP characters to choose from.
Probably the one N64 game I played the longest. The range of different weapons was super fun (laptop gun, double blast shotgun, the alien XRay-gun etc.)
Easily one of the very best shooters (if not best games in general) ever made, in my opinion. Probably my most played N64 game also, thanks to the epic multiplayer. And yes, I'd say this is the best FPS on N64 - because it's closest competition is Goldeneye, and this pretty much IS Goldeneye on steroids while smoking some serious mind-expansion.
INCOMING WALL OF TEXT! TAKE PRECAUTIONS! This is hands down one of the best games on the N64. Rock solid shooting with tons of cool weapons that even have secondary functions. There is so much to this game with a strong single player experience with tons of secrets and one of the greatest multiplayer offerings of all time. Never had this game as a kid (I definitely own it now though), but my friends a few doors up had it and we played the hell out of it. Even though I didn't have the game, I liked it so much that I got the official players guide when I signed up for Nintendo Power (I still have it). I just liked looking through it and seeing all the cool things in the game, even though I could only play the game when we went over my friends house. My only complaints with this game are the frame rate (obviously) and the difficulty. I've gotten through Goldeneye completely on Secret Agent difficulty and near the end on 00 Agent (I got really frustrated at the Control mission and gave up). I don't think i've ever gotten to the end of this game though, even though I still really want to and hope to some day (too many games to play nowadays so I dont have time to try again right now). Some of the objectives and things you have to do can be really obtuse considering the sci-fi setting and you can fail objectives really really easily, forcing a restart. Pushing that explosive box around that one mission was the worst and any escort mission can go die in a ditch (it seemed like there were more escorting missions in PD than even in Goldeneye, which had too many as it is). Really sad Perfect Dark never went beyond PD: Zero on the 360. I played through Zero one time and it just wasn't good. Enemies were bullet sponges and just wouldn't go down sometimes. You would shoot dudes and little armor pieces would explode off them all the time. The arsenal of weapons was also butchered with more generic guns and such (I really don't remember any stand out weapons from that game, so maybe i'm forgetting some). The art style wasn't fitting for PD either. Young/sassy Jo was no where near as cool as bad ass/sexy Jo from the original. The wonky ragdoll physics didn't help things either with all the little armor fragments all over the ground combined with the bodies of your enemies wonking out. Only other PD game is the gameboy color game, which is fairly decent. I'd rather play that one than Zero. Never played the 360 remake as I got rid of my 360 long before that remake came out. It looks nice and everything, plus i'm sure the game runs far better, but just like Conker: Live and Reloaded on the xbox, the remake just looks like it doesn't have that special N64 charm that I adore. Conker just doesn't look like Conker in the remake and PD just doesn't look like PD to me.
My all time favourite Nintendo 64 game. Got it as a present from my dad after I finished wearing my braces! Spent hours replaying the missions and the multiplayer was fantastic. Rare were awesome with the SNES too. My top five N64 games: 1. Perfect Dark 2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3. Goldeneye 4. Super Smash Brothers 5. 1080 Snowboarding Another very good review, Glenn. Keep up the good work.
Best game on the N-64 by far. They should have continued development of this console, being cartridge based, it loaded much faster than the newest ps4 or xBox One. Now you have to let it go online and take hours to update or you just can't play the game at all.
@@flyhouseoftruth470 Yeah! Imagine a new cartridge based system with ports of the classics with online multiplayer! (And internet connection wouldn't be forced.)
Being a big James Bond fan I was always told to try Perfect Dark and I loved the game but I just like Goldeneye better because of my love for James Bond
N64 Glenn Plant the most innovative futuristic weapons I ever had the pleasure to play..never played a game that had such an awesome selection of weapons. Turok 2 wasn’t far off though.
INGSOC They did not. Nothing rare did post N64 was very good. Their skills as game makers was outdated by the next generation. Most the key people from rare left and what have they made that was so great afterwards? Yooka-laylie? There's rare at their best, making outdated collect-a-thons. Even pre MS they were showing their outdated design skills. Starfox Adventures for example is a mess. Hopefully Sea of Thieves turn out well.
hollywood21639 I enjoyed starfox adventures, it was an ambitious game, and they did take a risk changing starfox into an adventure game, and it did not sit well with some fans. I know that most of the rare staff have left, but can't help but wonder what things would have been like with rare being a part of Nintendo.
INGSOC Have you seriously played that game? It wasn't even supposed to a starfox game but Nintendo made them cram him in there. It may have been good as dinosaur planet but that change that Nintendo made them make ruined that game. It's an empty game with not much to do, because Nintendo interfered. So there's a glimpse of what rare would have been like.
hollywood21639 may be its just me, but I enjoyed the game, it's not perfect, but it has some of that rare charm, and was good for that era. also can guarantee you, it's a lot better than Kinect sports, perfect dark zero, viva pinata, banjo nuts n bolts, Conker live n reloaded.
INGSOC conker on Xbox was great. Much better and more playable than the N64 version. Is it just because a few swears were bleeped out? I bought rare replay but most of their games just don't hold up anymore. Do you think Microsoft bought rare just to make shitty games for them? They went and made yooka-laylie and everyone didn't like it because that shit it boring as hell. The studio had their era on N64 and after that innovation and game design passed them by.
one of my favorite games on this system,when it came out goldeneye became irrelevant. this improved everything. had sucha impressive AI especially in VS mode! this was a Gem. it's unfortunate some missed the experience.
I still play this game every now and than! I remember when at the time that it came out, there’s that one mission in Area 51 where you have to beat it in under 3 minutes in order to unlock the invincibility cheat. I kept trying countless times until I finally got it! Great memories!
One of the few games where the remake is better in every way compared to the original. You can play it in HD, solid 60 fps, better controls, and a way better controller. Seriously just get the 360 version. It's backwards compatible on Xbox One. You can still play 4 player split screen and it has online multiplayer.
The only thing with the new controls is that the reticule is still the same size as the N64, so with disabling the auto-aim it's like trying to land a sniper shot with every guns. There's also the "swing" effect on the gun so aiming is not what I was hoping for...
Charlie Herrick The remaster is amazing, but I personally prefer to play the original N64 game using 1964 (a modified GE & PD version) in 640x480. The doubled resolution looks great, making the game much easier on the eyes and detailed, but doesn’t look out of place with the low-res textures and models, and doesn’t make the UI look too small. Personally, I’d recommend anyone who just wants to play Perfect Dark should play the XBLA version, but for me I really love the way the N64 graphics look, the models are brilliant and I love the way there faces are just plastered on, I seriously love the N64 look and choose to use that version.
Idk about that. The biggest problem with the XBLA version is they removed some of the cool tricks like sticking a poison knife on a corpse on the player coming back poisoned and die again or the Devastator destroying the content sensitive stuff in mission 7. Some of the new character designs are also weird looking. XBLA is technically better, but I'd stick with the N64 original.
When i was young i didnt know anything about specs, performance and hardware limits. When the action got big, the world would slow down for me and i would literally see bullets mid air, explosions frames on screen longer and men falling slowly. I didn't see it as a performance issue but an experience of my inocente understanding at what magic is happening on my screen with a big smile on my face. Looking back, yeah, the performance sucks, but fixing it takes away my memories.
Really glad to see you back Glenn. I know it must be quite the undertaking to compile and edit these videos, I just wanted you to know that as a long time viewer I appreciate and look forward to every video you put out. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.
It’s actually my favorite game on the system. It takes place in a world I would want to live in. Oh, and your trivia about Joan de Arc inspiring Joanna Dark’s name, blew my mind!!
I missed out on this back in the N64, mostly because I'd stopped playing N64 by the time this was released, and because I thought this was just going to be Goldeneye on steroids. This video has shown me that I missed out on a cracking title.
Dude THANK YOU for your channel. Every time I come back I get a nice trip down memory lane from all these classics from my childhood. Except I get a nice background on the titles too I never even knew about at the time. The N64 will always be my favourite console. Cheers from Canada.
Another great review! I don't think you mentioned the secondary features on each weapon, which was a huge evolution at the time. Loved the double shotgun blast, the magazine discharge on the cyclone, and the drone feature for the laptop gun... And of course the Mauler's charged shot, ZAPP!
I play this game 1st time this year because as kid I did not have it, I was playing Goldeneye and it was amazing. Now when I finished PD I must say this game is even better. Amazing gameplay, great levels, great weapons, great character Joana Dark...The most impressive for me is soundtrack, almost every level have epic music. Also I really love how game is very hard at Perfect Agent and you will die many times but that never stop you from trying again and be better . The only problem I have is sometimes very low and unplayable fps where not even expansion pack helps.
Though the laggy RAM and tiny texture cashe made it not an easy machine to develop for. With how laggy the RAM is you always need to program things to be several steps ahead of the player as you can't just call in data instantly. Also the tiny texture cashe means you have to choose them carefully and apply them efficiently. You can't just throw in huge textures everywhere like you could with Playstation. But in the right hands the polygon pushing power and advanced video feature of the N64 really were impressive.
@@MrMarinus18 Alot of these issue's were resolved using the Expansion pack though. Perfect Dark was a very great game, but it's not the best game on N64. That was reserved for Conker's Bad Fur Day. Well either that or Zelda OOT.
this game was so ahead of it's time, so much tech developed for it, and aesthetically it blended 80's and 90's sensibilities in a way that catapulted them both into the new millennium, especially the soundtrack it really got me into more...unusual genres, this is the kind of stuff games should aim for, proudly displaying their influences and using them as a foundation for a new identity.
I actually preferred to play Perfect Dark then Goldeneye back in the day. I still play PD to this day occasionally. The only complaint I have it the fact that when you zoom in to get a better shot at the targets the system always pulls your aim back to centre and you have to struggle many times to keep the aim in place. I have no idea why they didn’t implement an option to turn that damn “pull aim to centre” thing off. Apart from that, excellent, fun game. Thanks for another incredible in-depth review, mate!✌️👊
Another fantastic game from Rare. I used to use my "circle of death" in multiplayer, which was simply me circling around another player unleashing death and destruction.
Funny enough you mention Goldeneye 007 when if you get gold with every weapon in the firing range you unlock the weapons from Goldeneye and the multiplayer has some maps from Goldeneye 007 redesigned to work with Perfect Dark. A group of modders have also ben turning Perfect Dark into Goldeneye X. A mod that is currently in the works because the MI6 headquarters is unfinished.
Duo analogue control option, secondary weapon function, multiplayer bots, smooth controls, little zoom-in by pressing the shoulder button, fast paced movement, and the weapon in hand not blocking half of the view… even today‘s shooters can learn a lot from this game. Never understood the extreme praise the later Halo received, it did nothing PD did not do before… imo. Still playing the Xbox HD remaster once in a while and enjoy it more than 90% of FPS games from the last decade.
I really loved Perfect Dark. And i still respect that how Rare worked around the console. Now that i watched some of your footage. I'm hooked for the story sake. It looks interesting.
I remember playing this game over and over. The story, the weapons.....just everything about this game was awesome. The multiplayer game was even better. I lived way up in the sticks, so rarely would I have friends over to play with. But like he's saying you could have 12 characters on here. You could mess with everything, you could have 6-2man teams or however you wanted to split up the bots. You could also change the difficulty on each individual bot. Everytime someone brings up the 64 I tell them about this game and not 1 person knew about this game.
Just started playing this game on Switch online. I loved Goldeneye as a kid, but never got a chance to play perfect dark... until now. And man. It truly scratches that Goldeneye itch. I love the gameplay, i love the kind of puzzle solving (finding your objectives in each level and such). Truly, I wish games were like this now. Rare's FPS games really scratch an itch that few other games can.
I think its the best shooter ever made. No game dominated my childhood like this one. Going over to my 2 best friends houses, constructing a screen divider out of cardboard and wasting the whole night gorging ourselves on delivery pizza and pepsi. Making them rage by using the farsight through walls. Good times im glad i was born on this earth.
When my mom bought us the N64. We could only choose one game to buy. My brothers saw spider-man. I saw the this game box and was like. Let's get perfect dark!!! Unfortunately, I lost and never got to play this game. However, spider-man was a fun game to play. So I don't regret not getting it. I just wished I would have bought it later down the road. One day they'll release rare replay on PC.
The Xb360 version definitely is the perfect version. The horrid Fps on the n64 version made it nearly impossible to complete some challenges and Single player levels.
Yet another great review worth wainting for, Perfect Dark is one of my alltime favorite FPS games on the n64 besides Doom 64, the Turok series, Quake 2 and Goldeneye, the atmosphere/setting reminds me a lot of Blade runner and Deus Ex series with an bit of Independence Day(In the Area 51 levels.) and the game has one of the best multiplayers on the n64!
Finally!!! been wondering when you'd do this review! not only is this my fav n64 game, it's also still one of my all time fav video games. own all 3 PD games but I have yet to play through the 360 version [i'll get around to it someday]. haven't played this in a while but I've clocked countless hundreds of hours wasting away in the PD universe, both in multi player and single player campaign. great stuff, thanks Glenn.
I was just watching a Halo retrospective video where it talked about FPS games on consoles and how they never worked as well as PC FPS games until Halo fine tuned dual stick FPS controls (and even then mouse is still more accurate). And it got me remembering all the amazing FPS games on N64. Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, World is not Enough, Turok trilogy, Quake and Quake 2, Doom 64. Maybe they were all a little jankey at times when compared to mouse and keyboard, but I don't feel their quality or enjoyability was impacted much at all by that. These were, and are, amazing FPS games, no qualifiers needed. And I think Perfect Dark sits at the top of the pile. Not only was it amazingly well done in story, level design, features, and gameplay, but it pushed graphics on the N64 that could pass for an early PS2 game.
if only Perfect Dark had been a GameCube launch title, we may have from the start gotten a game more similar to the 2010 Xbox version. No awful frame rate drops and much higher detailed textures and models with a higher polygon count.
I just played through Goldeneye and loved it!!! I immidiately put on Perfect Dark and was like "What the Fuck is this???" Turned it off. Im gong to give it another chance tonight tho. I think I just need to to get used to that futuristic/alien aesthetic. But I didnt like Doom at all tho LOL
sometimes i wonder what younger people think of the game now on the n64. i am 45 years old still play games, have every system from the nes going forward going to a big hdmi switch that feeds a 1080p projector in my basement and i still am awe struck when i see or play this game, even with its low frame rate at times its still a blast. i can still fire this up in campaign or multiplayer have get sucked into this perfect dark world. my only complaints that had when it came out and still to this day is the elvis character. his costumes and script were corny then and even worse now. everyone and thing else was top notch
This is one of the best games of all time. Still to this day has the best offline local multiplayer modes that's ever existed. Games today still don't have this many customizations, definitely not in game. Most of what perfect dark is would be DLC today.
I've often felt like the only reason PD isn't revered in the same level as all the other N64 classics is that it just came out slightly too late in the consoles life span. If they had just never even thought of the idea of the photo accessories option and released it some time in 1999 it would be considered to be still to this day one of Nintendo's best ever single and multiplayer games. But alas, it was not to be, and by mid 2000 a lot of people I know had moved on from the 64 and it was mostly only the true die hards who got to enjoy it. The same feeling applies to Conkers Bad Fur Day, only even worse for him.
I feel proud beating this game on its toughest difficulty as a kid. Just replayed it and beating it on the highest difficulty was not easy. None of my friends could do it back then and I'd venture to guess most of my friends couldn't do it now. They're missing out though because the game was designed to be played at the highest difficulty because you don't do all the objectives unless its played on that level. Its really a different game on highest difficulty. You even venture to different areas you don't on lower difficulty and must use all the tools at your disposal. There is really no cheesing it. You just got to get good
Has anyone noticed a game breaking bug in Perfect Dark that during cut-scenes some of the conversation lines can disappear completely and never come back? My copy of the game has done this a couple of times and i don't know why these things have happened. Even the subtitles from these specific moments have been disappeared and won't show up if the subtitles are on... If i remember correctly, one of these missing lines occur during the beginning of the Area 51 mission when Joanna Dark is speaking with scientists and Elvis the alien needs to be transported away. However, back in the day everything worked well when i got the game brand new back in 2001, though. And before you say, yes, i do keep my (old) games in good condition and never leave them collecting dirt or lying around. Any experiences?
Definitely liked Perfect Dark over Goldeneye. It had SO many bots to play with, secrets, superb dual function weapons, the best cinematic storyline ever, and a serious amount of Polish for a later years N64 game. I played it to death back then, and it took up years of my schooling trying to unlock everything. It was also original. There's no game like it. I was hooked playing multilayer with my brother during school, and remember it fondly. Super high end shooter!!!
Dude this was the best fps back in the day, spent many hours on goldeneye and then I rented perfect dark from blockbuster with a buddy one night and we were blown away. I have very vivid memories of throwing the laptop gun up on the wall and letting it own my friends over and over because they had no clue wtf was going on. Also the campaign was so fun and I loved all the characters you could be, especially Elvis. Great game, I just ordered it for my N64 I just bought :) can't wait to replay.
Perfect Dark is easily my favorite fps on N64, followed by Turok 3. I never managed to play Perfect Dark Zero but I played the demo and saw some gameplay, and I wasn't impressed. It feels...generic, for a lack of a better term. For me TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect are the true sucessors of those Rare-styled fps. Honestly, I think they should just go ahead and make a Perfect Dark 2. Have it set a few years after the events of the first, with a brand new story but keeping in tone with everything that made original great (music style, gameplay, tone, humor, weapons and gadgets, level design, multiplayer options and modes, etc.). I would however, rather have a new team do it because the current Rare is not the same, particularly a team that are fans of the original and have a genuine love of Rare-style shooters. Take the gameplay and formula of the original, and improve and expand from there, without imitating the rest of today's shooters.
Glenn: First off, thank you for your review. This was a very well done review of an awesome and classic N64 FPS. Second: In terms of my favorite FPS on the N64, I've actually got two of them depending on what I'm in the mood for. For options, Perfect Dark is the hands down favorite. Sure, it has its flaws, but you can't customize any other FPS on the system like this one. If I want speed, it's Quake II all the way. Fast paced and brutal, though you absolutely have to have the Expansion Pak in the system. By the way, one question I have for you: In the NTSC version of the game, if you played in multiplayer and you had blurred vision from getting punched or shot with a tranquilizer gun, then got killed and respawned, you still had blurred vision. Poison knives were even worse because if you got killed before the poison took effect, it would drain most of your health after you respawned (I think about 75% if I remember right), AND your vision got extremely blurry. Did this happen in the PAL version?
Wow, great review. Interesting info about the start of free radical (time splitters folks) in there. Too bad you need Xbox live to purchase the remaster on Xbox 360
Goldeneye supported the same widescreen options as Perfect Dark. Additionally, both games had proper modern dual analog control natively by making use of the 2.4 control scheme with two controllers. In fact, Goldeneye was the first console FPS to have dual analog control.
Perfect Dark had such wonderful level design that gave you clear objectives but left it up to you where you went and how you achieved them (mostly). Perfect Dark Zero was much more "set piece" oriented forcing you on a very linear path closer to something like Half-Life. That really lessened my enjoyment of it. Heck while Gear of War popularized it, Perfect Dark Zero was the first game I'm aware of that had that cover system far too many games used for years afterwards.
Nijishuuduwang check out timesplitters 3.there was a level that seemed very similiar to the first level of perfect dark.you start on the roof of a building in a futuristic city as you make your way down by shooting guards and knocking out the security system.you even run into a woman weilding the same gun and take an elevator into the basement.seriously, go find it.
Whatever happened to the secondary fire modes in games??? This game had the best. Super dragon AR with standard rifle, and then semi auto grenade launcher??? Or dragon with the proximity mine. I could go on
I'm surprised I haven't left a comment when this video came out. Anywho, this was most likely my most played N64 game. Sunk hours of my childhood into it. To my young mind the game looked way ahead of it's time and the fact it was filled with content made it 10x better. I still play it occasionally to this day.
It was definently one of the best looking home console games from its consoles generation (ps1 and n64). By the end of the n64 and ps1 lifetime, there was absolutely no game across either of those platforms that looked better than perfect dark and the legend of zelda majoras mask. Hands down.
I still play this game on the xbox one, its still fun to play but watching this how they aim at you BY POINT BLANK TO THE FACE *misses* thats aslo a reason i love this game XD
Too say Perfect Dark is a ‘fine game’ is a huge understatement. After many years I played it again and I must conclude its really one of the best and most impressive games ever made.
Agree
Agree, for me it's the best
I do think it would have been better if Rare had switched to the Gamecube instead. They did that with Dinosaur adventure which became Starfox adventure. The Gamecube had a much larger texture cashe so it could render all texture from there without significantly impacting performance. It also just has more data as a whole with it's 1,2 GB discs compared to the 64MB of the N64 cartridge. That combined with it's overall just superior grunt would have greatly benefited perfect dark.
Starfox adventure benefited tremendously from the Gamecube's power. The framerate is very high, sound very pleasant and the visuals are very, very nice. It's still has my favorite model of fox with how furry he is.
Sometimes still feel it's ahead of modern shooters of today with its MP variables to adjust and its multi-path campaign layout as you pick harder difficulties. But we're getting a new game and I think there's going to be a new timesplitters so hopefully both will bring back that style of fps
I agree. To me it'd the ocarina of time of fps
2023 felt so far away in 2000.
haha yeah its like body harvest which was set a few years ago
Only 5 years left
Lol I know, right?
Crazy to think about...
Gameplay and Talk why
I still consider Perfect Dark as probably the best FPS of all time. Despite it's technical hiccups, it had something most games lack: Vision.
It has groundbreaking features in a few megabytes that aren't present in modern 50GB+ FPS games.
But the icing on the cake was the multiplayer and the *unmatched* array of sim behaviours. Nothing comes close to this and having 4 players vs. 8 sim matches was the very definition of bliss.
thats one thing with modern games, they can just add expansion download packs and have no limitations in terms of storage. back then devs had to work like hell to get a game to fit on a cart
So true. The ambition Rare had for this game was incredible. Whether you actually like the game or not, anyone should be able to see that Rare put every fibre of their being and soul into this.
Master V best fps on n64 for that time sure but half-life is still many levels better and it came out in 1998 go figure
@@Youskarumbo, no, PD is much better than HL, if you ask me. HL is great, true, and was very influential, but PD is much more replayable than HL ever was. In HL, once you've played through it once, you've seen everything there is to see, whereas in PD, every difficulty level had different objectives (even more open levels, sometimes), HL had the boring mid-game conveyor sections and the *awful* Xen levels (which most people detest), whereas all of PD's levels were really good, PD has co-op and counter-op modes and bots in multiplayer (though modders have done great things with HL), etc. Plus HL has the ubskippable , long train ride at the beginning, the unskippable parts where you have to wait until an NPC or two has finished tallking (fine for your first play-though, but utterly tedious when you've played the game a few times), the NPCs sometimes get stuck on corners or when trying to enter a doorway (I've played through PD's single player capaign *lots* of times, and never saw that happen once), and to the best of my knowledge, Valve never fixed the occasional bug whereby the player would get trapped on the floor of a lift (elevator).
HL did tell it's story much better than PD did, though, and no character in HL was as out of place and as jarring as PD's Elvis (who, to me, was just annoying and lowered the tone of PD with his stupid comments and attempt at humour), I'd say. And the aliens in HL were much more imaginitive than in PD (the Half-Life series always does great aliens), the voice work was better in HL (apart from the fact that the few lines that the guards and scientists had were so often repeated), And Hal-Life allowing you to be able to save anywhere, any time ,as opposed to Perfect Dark's usual console first person shooter methof of only being able to save at the end of every mission (level) would no doubt put HL above PD for many people.
But to me, PD is still the best game on any system ever. I love the HL games, but none of them come close to PD, in my opinion.
I always felt that Halo was the worthy successor to this game.
Much preferred this over Goldeneye. Goldeneye was a good game but Perfect Dark was a much more interesting game, multiplayer was a lot better as well. The soundtrack in Perfect Dark is incredibly good as well.
im glad others enjoy the OST as much as I do
Plus any game with blood is better than a game without blood.
Agreed. And Perfect Dark Zero came it is good just not best game on Xbox 360 now a new Perfect Dark is in the works I’m very excited for it hope it’s good
Says no one
Golden eye was the goat
I feel stupid about never realizing before that Joanna Dark was a play on Joan of Arc.
ED-209 well you just made me feel stupid as well.
You're not alone.
I never picked it up either.
almost makes you want to shoot up a crooked businessman in a meeting room full of people with 2 Gatling guns attached to your arms.
don't worry ED-209, you are just a robot and couldn't process something as wry as that play on words :)
How they managed to fit so much game onto a n64 cartridge just boggles the mind it was pure art . Games like call of duty have 1% of the content in a 150gb game lol
Its because back then u were working with limitations of the hardware and they were forced to optimize as much as possible. Nowadays, they rely so heavily on the hardware and they suck at optimization. There is a guy showing just how much more power the n64 could produce of the code had been optimized with todays knowledge of optimization. It was capable of more than we knew but they were learning how to best optimize along the way and alot of games that pushed the limits of the console didnt come out til later in the consoles life cycle. Perfect dark for instance
Still playing it today!
This is one of the best games ever.
maybe not of all time for me, but one of the best on the console for sure
When ppl ask me what's the best game out there, Perfect Dark always comes to mind. ("What's the best game" is a silly question tho)
Forever ever...
Amen
It's one of my fav games of all time and love to share the passion of PD with others when it came to XBLA their weren't many of us playing online but we all loved PD. In a way I wish it was a pc title back in the day I think it would of gotten a lot bigger fanbase if it had at the time since fps was still pretty new in console world
Perfect Dark is still one of my top 3 favorite games of all time. I played a tiny bit of Zero and was mostly disappointed by its tone and huge step back in terms of quality and polish. The original PD did so many things well that no or few FPSs do today:
Objectives that require thought and increase with difficulty level, great AI for its time, picking up multiple weapons with limited ammo rather than being limited to two guns with near-infinite ammo, gadgets that let you interact with the environment and sometimes be creative (CamSpy to distract, x-ray + door-piercing weapon, etc.), tons of unlockables and options, a separate challenge mode, being able to walk around the place you work at, a completely optional tutorial as part of that mode, cheats, being able to disarm enemies, split-screen co-op, counter-op, the quick menu, enemies generally not knowing where you are until you're spotted, enemies sometimes making mistakes like their gun jamming, commands to control AI allies, bot personalities, Easter eggs, rotating 3D gun models with descriptions, secret bonus missions, sometimes multiple ways to complete or approach objectives, optional actions in one mission affecting the next mission, an option for random weapons in MP, blood and bullet holes that stay, optional mission briefings that give you background lore and hints for completing objectives, being in control of your character the whole time without any forced slow walking sequences or QTEs, general polish minus the low framerate (no bugs that I recall and great improvements over GoldenEye's mechanics, which didn't register rapid hits), a large number of mostly unique weapons, the ability to avoid taking damage if you're skilled enough (rather than instantly being shot the moment you peek out from behind cover), and tons of MP characters to choose from.
Best N64 Fps:
1. Perfect Dark
2. Goldeneye
3. Turok 2
4. Doom 64
I loved this game in 2000, but the framerate was bad back then and it's almost unplayable today, play this on xbox one rare replay :)
4 Great Games. For me DOOM 64 takes the number 1 Spot ;-)
some great titles there...and who said n64 was just platform games hey
Like I said; For me it is the best Video Game Console. ;-)
I had and still have so much fun with it.
For me Doom 64 is on top, but yeah. Add Quake 2 and agreed.
This game blew my mind when it came out!
Was pretty insane wasn’t it
It was absolutely stacked with content, was just nuts it all fit on a cartridge.
did you mention that every gun has a second function to it be holding down "B"?
This review was about just half of why Perfect Dark so good lok
Probably the one N64 game I played the longest. The range of different weapons was super fun (laptop gun, double blast shotgun, the alien XRay-gun etc.)
I think DKR was the game I played the longest, possibly mk64 too because the family enjoyed that also
Easily one of the very best shooters (if not best games in general) ever made, in my opinion. Probably my most played N64 game also, thanks to the epic multiplayer.
And yes, I'd say this is the best FPS on N64 - because it's closest competition is Goldeneye, and this pretty much IS Goldeneye on steroids while smoking some serious mind-expansion.
In some ways I like this better TimeSplitters
After a +20 year hiatus, I finally went back and finished this on Perfect Agent. What a truly amazing and prophetic game!
Picked this up today for just $25.00 Canadian. Cartridge looks brand new. My N64 collection is growing rather nicely.
I got it for 18 CAD.
INCOMING WALL OF TEXT! TAKE PRECAUTIONS!
This is hands down one of the best games on the N64. Rock solid shooting with tons of cool weapons that even have secondary functions. There is so much to this game with a strong single player experience with tons of secrets and one of the greatest multiplayer offerings of all time. Never had this game as a kid (I definitely own it now though), but my friends a few doors up had it and we played the hell out of it. Even though I didn't have the game, I liked it so much that I got the official players guide when I signed up for Nintendo Power (I still have it). I just liked looking through it and seeing all the cool things in the game, even though I could only play the game when we went over my friends house.
My only complaints with this game are the frame rate (obviously) and the difficulty. I've gotten through Goldeneye completely on Secret Agent difficulty and near the end on 00 Agent (I got really frustrated at the Control mission and gave up). I don't think i've ever gotten to the end of this game though, even though I still really want to and hope to some day (too many games to play nowadays so I dont have time to try again right now). Some of the objectives and things you have to do can be really obtuse considering the sci-fi setting and you can fail objectives really really easily, forcing a restart. Pushing that explosive box around that one mission was the worst and any escort mission can go die in a ditch (it seemed like there were more escorting missions in PD than even in Goldeneye, which had too many as it is).
Really sad Perfect Dark never went beyond PD: Zero on the 360. I played through Zero one time and it just wasn't good. Enemies were bullet sponges and just wouldn't go down sometimes. You would shoot dudes and little armor pieces would explode off them all the time. The arsenal of weapons was also butchered with more generic guns and such (I really don't remember any stand out weapons from that game, so maybe i'm forgetting some). The art style wasn't fitting for PD either. Young/sassy Jo was no where near as cool as bad ass/sexy Jo from the original. The wonky ragdoll physics didn't help things either with all the little armor fragments all over the ground combined with the bodies of your enemies wonking out.
Only other PD game is the gameboy color game, which is fairly decent. I'd rather play that one than Zero. Never played the 360 remake as I got rid of my 360 long before that remake came out. It looks nice and everything, plus i'm sure the game runs far better, but just like Conker: Live and Reloaded on the xbox, the remake just looks like it doesn't have that special N64 charm that I adore. Conker just doesn't look like Conker in the remake and PD just doesn't look like PD to me.
You do realise you can just leave the explosive crate at the start and use a Dragon to blow open the wall?
I did eventually
thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed opinion!
Gotta play this game on highest difficulty. Your missing out on so much if you don't. But yeah. Its not easy.
@@benhaney5843 I ended up getting Rare Replay on the XBone so I might try that actually.
I am just discovering your channel. It's like a review of my childhood, keep pumping out this great content.
Thanks Liam
My all time favourite Nintendo 64 game. Got it as a present from my dad after I finished wearing my braces! Spent hours replaying the missions and the multiplayer was fantastic. Rare were awesome with the SNES too.
My top five N64 games:
1. Perfect Dark
2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3. Goldeneye
4. Super Smash Brothers
5. 1080 Snowboarding
Another very good review, Glenn. Keep up the good work.
Can’t believe after 20+ years I never got that Joanna Dark was a Joan D’arc reference!
This game is a classic!
Best game on the N-64 by far. They should have continued development of this console, being cartridge based, it loaded much faster than the newest ps4 or xBox One. Now you have to let it go online and take hours to update or you just can't play the game at all.
@@flyhouseoftruth470 Yeah! Imagine a new cartridge based system with ports of the classics with online multiplayer! (And internet connection wouldn't be forced.)
I love this game to death but after playing the Xbox360 remaster i could never go back to this one.
Being a big James Bond fan I was always told to try Perfect Dark and I loved the game but I just like Goldeneye better because of my love for James Bond
im a big bond fan too although my fav bond is Dalton which many people dislike
Absolute banger of a game! What a game
indeed it was/is
N64 Glenn Plant the most innovative futuristic weapons I ever had the pleasure to play..never played a game that had such an awesome selection of weapons.
Turok 2 wasn’t far off though.
The biggest mistake Nintendo made was letting Microsoft get their hands on rare, Microsoft have destroyed rare, it's now a hollow shell.
INGSOC They did not. Nothing rare did post N64 was very good. Their skills as game makers was outdated by the next generation. Most the key people from rare left and what have they made that was so great afterwards? Yooka-laylie? There's rare at their best, making outdated collect-a-thons. Even pre MS they were showing their outdated design skills. Starfox Adventures for example is a mess. Hopefully Sea of Thieves turn out well.
hollywood21639 I enjoyed starfox adventures, it was an ambitious game, and they did take a risk changing starfox into an adventure game, and it did not sit well with some fans. I know that most of the rare staff have left, but can't help but wonder what things would have been like with rare being a part of Nintendo.
INGSOC Have you seriously played that game? It wasn't even supposed to a starfox game but Nintendo made them cram him in there. It may have been good as dinosaur planet but that change that Nintendo made them make ruined that game. It's an empty game with not much to do, because Nintendo interfered. So there's a glimpse of what rare would have been like.
hollywood21639 may be its just me, but I enjoyed the game, it's not perfect, but it has some of that rare charm, and was good for that era. also can guarantee you, it's a lot better than Kinect sports, perfect dark zero, viva pinata, banjo nuts n bolts, Conker live n reloaded.
INGSOC conker on Xbox was great. Much better and more playable than the N64 version. Is it just because a few swears were bleeped out? I bought rare replay but most of their games just don't hold up anymore. Do you think Microsoft bought rare just to make shitty games for them? They went and made yooka-laylie and everyone didn't like it because that shit it boring as hell. The studio had their era on N64 and after that innovation and game design passed them by.
Hands down my most played N64 game. The countless hours of multiplayer play .... great times. My kids are getting into it now and I am stoked.
Are they playing the rare replay version or OG console one?
N64 Glenn Plant X-box live Arcade version. It is beautiful.
N64 version always and forever
one of my favorite games on this system,when it came out goldeneye became irrelevant. this improved everything.
had sucha impressive AI especially in VS mode!
this was a Gem. it's unfortunate some missed the experience.
I still play this game every now and than! I remember when at the time that it came out, there’s that one mission in Area 51 where you have to beat it in under 3 minutes in order to unlock the invincibility cheat. I kept trying countless times until I finally got it! Great memories!
One of the few games where the remake is better in every way compared to the original. You can play it in HD, solid 60 fps, better controls, and a way better controller. Seriously just get the 360 version. It's backwards compatible on Xbox One. You can still play 4 player split screen and it has online multiplayer.
aside from purists thats what id suggest too
The only thing with the new controls is that the reticule is still the same size as the N64, so with disabling the auto-aim it's like trying to land a sniper shot with every guns. There's also the "swing" effect on the gun so aiming is not what I was hoping for...
Nah. I'll stick to the proper one.
Charlie Herrick The remaster is amazing, but I personally prefer to play the original N64 game using 1964 (a modified GE & PD version) in 640x480. The doubled resolution looks great, making the game much easier on the eyes and detailed, but doesn’t look out of place with the low-res textures and models, and doesn’t make the UI look too small.
Personally, I’d recommend anyone who just wants to play Perfect Dark should play the XBLA version, but for me I really love the way the N64 graphics look, the models are brilliant and I love the way there faces are just plastered on, I seriously love the N64 look and choose to use that version.
Idk about that. The biggest problem with the XBLA version is they removed some of the cool tricks like sticking a poison knife on a corpse on the player coming back poisoned and die again or the Devastator destroying the content sensitive stuff in mission 7. Some of the new character designs are also weird looking. XBLA is technically better, but I'd stick with the N64 original.
When i was young i didnt know anything about specs, performance and hardware limits. When the action got big, the world would slow down for me and i would literally see bullets mid air, explosions frames on screen longer and men falling slowly. I didn't see it as a performance issue but an experience of my inocente understanding at what magic is happening on my screen with a big smile on my face. Looking back, yeah, the performance sucks, but fixing it takes away my memories.
Really glad to see you back Glenn. I know it must be quite the undertaking to compile and edit these videos, I just wanted you to know that as a long time viewer I appreciate and look forward to every video you put out. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.
It’s actually my favorite game on the system. It takes place in a world I would want to live in. Oh, and your trivia about Joan de Arc inspiring Joanna Dark’s name, blew my mind!!
yeah someone else below mentioned that too, I guess she's more well known here in Europe due to France being here
I missed out on this back in the N64, mostly because I'd stopped playing N64 by the time this was released, and because I thought this was just going to be Goldeneye on steroids. This video has shown me that I missed out on a cracking title.
What a bunch of awesome people who made these games
Dude THANK YOU for your channel. Every time I come back I get a nice trip down memory lane from all these classics from my childhood. Except I get a nice background on the titles too I never even knew about at the time. The N64 will always be my favourite console. Cheers from Canada.
thank you! the nostalgia trip is what this channel is all about! :)
Another great review!
I don't think you mentioned the secondary features on each weapon, which was a huge evolution at the time. Loved the double shotgun blast, the magazine discharge on the cyclone, and the drone feature for the laptop gun... And of course the Mauler's charged shot, ZAPP!
I play this game 1st time this year because as kid I did not have it, I was playing Goldeneye and it was amazing. Now when I finished PD I must say this game is even better. Amazing gameplay, great levels, great weapons, great character Joana Dark...The most impressive for me is soundtrack, almost every level have epic music. Also I really love how game is very hard at Perfect Agent and you will die many times but that never stop you from trying again and be better . The only problem I have is sometimes very low and unplayable fps where not even expansion pack helps.
This games really demonstrates how much more powerful the N64 was than the PS1. Nothing on Playstation looked nearly as good as Perfect Dark!
Though the laggy RAM and tiny texture cashe made it not an easy machine to develop for. With how laggy the RAM is you always need to program things to be several steps ahead of the player as you can't just call in data instantly. Also the tiny texture cashe means you have to choose them carefully and apply them efficiently. You can't just throw in huge textures everywhere like you could with Playstation.
But in the right hands the polygon pushing power and advanced video feature of the N64 really were impressive.
@@MrMarinus18
Alot of these issue's were resolved using the Expansion pack though.
Perfect Dark was a very great game, but it's not the best game on N64.
That was reserved for Conker's Bad Fur Day.
Well either that or Zelda OOT.
this game was so ahead of it's time, so much tech developed for it, and aesthetically it blended 80's and 90's sensibilities in a way that catapulted them both into the new millennium, especially the soundtrack it really got me into more...unusual genres, this is the kind of stuff games should aim for, proudly displaying their influences and using them as a foundation for a new identity.
I actually preferred to play Perfect Dark then Goldeneye back in the day.
I still play PD to this day occasionally. The only complaint I have it the fact that when you zoom in to get a better shot at the targets the system always pulls your aim back to centre and you have to struggle many times to keep the aim in place. I have no idea why they didn’t implement an option to turn that damn “pull aim to centre” thing off.
Apart from that, excellent, fun game.
Thanks for another incredible in-depth review, mate!✌️👊
Another fantastic game from Rare. I used to use my "circle of death" in multiplayer, which was simply me circling around another player unleashing death and destruction.
Funny enough you mention Goldeneye 007 when if you get gold with every weapon in the firing range you unlock the weapons from Goldeneye and the multiplayer has some maps from Goldeneye 007 redesigned to work with Perfect Dark.
A group of modders have also ben turning Perfect Dark into Goldeneye X. A mod that is currently in the works because the MI6 headquarters is unfinished.
Truly memorable game with some great missions and music. Was also fantastic to revisit on the 360.
glad to see someone appreciate both versions of the game
I spent more of my childhood on this game than even Goldeneye.
Bet you can’t wait for the new one!
@@n64glennplant you bet.
Same. I spent a good portion and is still really fun. Its ashame not enough players online.😢
I think perfect dark holds up well, I still have fun playing til this day and I've been playing from a bout the time it was realeased.
@@toad8840 I don't really have friends either
Duo analogue control option, secondary weapon function, multiplayer bots, smooth controls, little zoom-in by pressing the shoulder button, fast paced movement, and the weapon in hand not blocking half of the view… even today‘s shooters can learn a lot from this game. Never understood the extreme praise the later Halo received, it did nothing PD did not do before… imo. Still playing the Xbox HD remaster once in a while and enjoy it more than 90% of FPS games from the last decade.
I really loved Perfect Dark.
And i still respect that how Rare worked around the console.
Now that i watched some of your footage. I'm hooked for the story sake.
It looks interesting.
That would be a interesting topic for a new series of videos. The best stories and explaining in details all of them.
@@Clodd1 "the best stories" rare games?
@@malik87breaker No. In gerenal.
I remember playing this game over and over. The story, the weapons.....just everything about this game was awesome. The multiplayer game was even better. I lived way up in the sticks, so rarely would I have friends over to play with. But like he's saying you could have 12 characters on here. You could mess with everything, you could have 6-2man teams or however you wanted to split up the bots. You could also change the difficulty on each individual bot. Everytime someone brings up the 64 I tell them about this game and not 1 person knew about this game.
Favourite game of all time. Thanks for finally reviewing this Glenn.
and thanks for watching George
Just started playing this game on Switch online. I loved Goldeneye as a kid, but never got a chance to play perfect dark... until now.
And man. It truly scratches that Goldeneye itch. I love the gameplay, i love the kind of puzzle solving (finding your objectives in each level and such). Truly, I wish games were like this now. Rare's FPS games really scratch an itch that few other games can.
Try the Xbox remaster update type version it’s very playable too
Why did you kill the president?
That's the best part of the game.
I think it was to showcase the slow frame rate. I used to blow things up and run through the smoke to see if the game would crash.
im trying to think how I can respond to that without the FBI instantly swatting me lol.
Why did you blow up Ryder’s car Perfect Dark version
For the sheer joy of it.
This is one of my favorite games of all time. The N64 is still one of my most cherished game consoles!
I think its the best shooter ever made. No game dominated my childhood like this one. Going over to my 2 best friends houses, constructing a screen divider out of cardboard and wasting the whole night gorging ourselves on delivery pizza and pepsi. Making them rage by using the farsight through walls. Good times im glad i was born on this earth.
Guess what , i'm playing Perfect Dark in the future right now in 2024😅
First time for me ever. Absolutley stunning!
Original version or Xbox?
@@n64glennplant original on N64 . Got it loose for €20
When developers took time to make a game of greatness
I think it was one of those times in life where a game studio had some epic talent all at the same time
When my mom bought us the N64. We could only choose one game to buy. My brothers saw spider-man. I saw the this game box and was like. Let's get perfect dark!!! Unfortunately, I lost and never got to play this game. However, spider-man was a fun game to play. So I don't regret not getting it. I just wished I would have bought it later down the road.
One day they'll release rare replay on PC.
I still don’t know why we can’t map our faces into games. I’ve been waiting for that feature forever.
Used to do it on quake way back in the day on PC
Wish I played this as a kid, I know me and my brother wouldve loved it especially the coop mose, but ill still give it a playthrough
thanks for telling how this game was created!
thanks, always glad when people enjoy a little bit about the dev cycle
Agreed!
The Xb360 version definitely is the perfect version. The horrid Fps on the n64 version made it nearly impossible to complete some challenges and Single player levels.
Yet another great review worth wainting for, Perfect Dark is one of my alltime favorite FPS games on the n64 besides Doom 64, the Turok series, Quake 2 and Goldeneye, the atmosphere/setting reminds me a lot of Blade runner and Deus Ex series with an bit of Independence Day(In the Area 51 levels.) and the game has one of the best multiplayers on the n64!
Finally!!! been wondering when you'd do this review! not only is this my fav n64 game, it's also still one of my all time fav video games. own all 3 PD games but I have yet to play through the 360 version [i'll get around to it someday]. haven't played this in a while but I've clocked countless hundreds of hours wasting away in the PD universe, both in multi player and single player campaign. great stuff, thanks Glenn.
do you think it'll ever make a comeback?
as much as I'd like to say 'yes', it seems the industry has moved on. I think PD zero being mostly a let down for gamers sealed the franchise's fate.
Joanna Dark is back baby!!!
I swear your the only guy that makes so good n64 game reviews
its a console which many don't appreciate, I just enjoy it a lot so do my best to cover it for the world
Your reviews are among the very best on UA-cam in my opinion! Thank you for putting the time into these
I was just watching a Halo retrospective video where it talked about FPS games on consoles and how they never worked as well as PC FPS games until Halo fine tuned dual stick FPS controls (and even then mouse is still more accurate). And it got me remembering all the amazing FPS games on N64. Perfect Dark, Goldeneye, World is not Enough, Turok trilogy, Quake and Quake 2, Doom 64. Maybe they were all a little jankey at times when compared to mouse and keyboard, but I don't feel their quality or enjoyability was impacted much at all by that. These were, and are, amazing FPS games, no qualifiers needed. And I think Perfect Dark sits at the top of the pile. Not only was it amazingly well done in story, level design, features, and gameplay, but it pushed graphics on the N64 that could pass for an early PS2 game.
if only Perfect Dark had been a GameCube launch title, we may have from the start gotten a game more similar to the 2010 Xbox version.
No awful frame rate drops and much higher detailed textures and models with a higher polygon count.
That’s one way of looking at it I guess
The XBLA port may perform better, but what they did to Elvis' model is unforgivable.
poor Elvis :(
Perfect dark was amazing at the time, love to see it hit NSO
Would be great yeah
I kinda prefer Goldeneye 007 then Perfect dark even though it is a good game and my favorite shooter has to be doom 64.
doom 64 is awesome, glad to see so many people in the comments here digging it
Dude, Doom 64 is true masterclass!
I just played through Goldeneye and loved it!!! I immidiately put on Perfect Dark and was like "What the Fuck is this???" Turned it off. Im gong to give it another chance tonight tho. I think I just need to to get used to that futuristic/alien aesthetic. But I didnt like Doom at all tho LOL
sometimes i wonder what younger people think of the game now on the n64. i am 45 years old still play games, have every system from the nes going forward going to a big hdmi switch that feeds a 1080p projector in my basement and i still am awe struck when i see or play this game, even with its low frame rate at times its still a blast. i can still fire this up in campaign or multiplayer have get sucked into this perfect dark world. my only complaints that had when it came out and still to this day is the elvis character. his costumes and script were corny then and even worse now. everyone and thing else was top notch
Last I played this game was in 1999 and recently 2016. Perfect Dark will forever have a special place in my heart.
I still play this on the Xbox occasionally, but not as much as I used to.
Waiting for that new one that’s being made right now like the rest of us 😄
@@n64glennplant me too, I don't have high hopes though unfortunately.
Fingers crossed it's a Banga.
I loved this game so much as a kid I bought it in 2009 factory sealed. Still have it too this day sealed in mint condition.
Also that Chicago streets music is just sublime
Was fun at the time. Was a nice surprise after Goldeneye was so big for so long. Plus a Great story
This is one of the best games of all time. Still to this day has the best offline local multiplayer modes that's ever existed. Games today still don't have this many customizations, definitely not in game. Most of what perfect dark is would be DLC today.
Nice to see there are still good reviews coming out for classic n64 games
thank you Franz!
I've often felt like the only reason PD isn't revered in the same level as all the other N64 classics is that it just came out slightly too late in the consoles life span. If they had just never even thought of the idea of the photo accessories option and released it some time in 1999 it would be considered to be still to this day one of Nintendo's best ever single and multiplayer games. But alas, it was not to be, and by mid 2000 a lot of people I know had moved on from the 64 and it was mostly only the true die hards who got to enjoy it.
The same feeling applies to Conkers Bad Fur Day, only even worse for him.
Sadly, I am one of those hardcore players and Conker Bad Fur Day. I'll never forget Perfect Dark! Long live the game!
I feel proud beating this game on its toughest difficulty as a kid. Just replayed it and beating it on the highest difficulty was not easy. None of my friends could do it back then and I'd venture to guess most of my friends couldn't do it now. They're missing out though because the game was designed to be played at the highest difficulty because you don't do all the objectives unless its played on that level. Its really a different game on highest difficulty. You even venture to different areas you don't on lower difficulty and must use all the tools at your disposal. There is really no cheesing it. You just got to get good
Has anyone noticed a game breaking bug in Perfect Dark that during cut-scenes some of the conversation lines can disappear completely and never come back? My copy of the game has done this a couple of times and i don't know why these things have happened. Even the subtitles from these specific moments have been disappeared and won't show up if the subtitles are on... If i remember correctly, one of these missing lines occur during the beginning of the Area 51 mission when Joanna Dark is speaking with scientists and Elvis the alien needs to be transported away. However, back in the day everything worked well when i got the game brand new back in 2001, though. And before you say, yes, i do keep my (old) games in good condition and never leave them collecting dirt or lying around. Any experiences?
Damn, Perfect Dark one video after Mario 64? Glenn is sizzling. 🤘
im f---ing crazy right now yeah? haha
All Glenn has to do now is review Ocarina Of Time and then he will be the n64 god.
Definitely liked Perfect Dark over Goldeneye. It had SO many bots to play with, secrets, superb dual function weapons, the best cinematic storyline ever, and a serious amount of Polish for a later years N64 game. I played it to death back then, and it took up years of my schooling trying to unlock everything. It was also original. There's no game like it. I was hooked playing multilayer with my brother during school, and remember it fondly. Super high end shooter!!!
it was a hit in 2000 , best game ever , and so many improvment for the time , and the music is just great ..finish all the game in perfect agent ..
Dude this was the best fps back in the day, spent many hours on goldeneye and then I rented perfect dark from blockbuster with a buddy one night and we were blown away. I have very vivid memories of throwing the laptop gun up on the wall and letting it own my friends over and over because they had no clue wtf was going on.
Also the campaign was so fun and I loved all the characters you could be, especially Elvis.
Great game, I just ordered it for my N64 I just bought :) can't wait to replay.
Perfect Dark is easily my favorite fps on N64, followed by Turok 3.
I never managed to play Perfect Dark Zero but I played the demo and saw some gameplay, and I wasn't impressed. It feels...generic, for a lack of a better term. For me TimeSplitters 2 and Future Perfect are the true sucessors of those Rare-styled fps.
Honestly, I think they should just go ahead and make a Perfect Dark 2. Have it set a few years after the events of the first, with a brand new story but keeping in tone with everything that made original great (music style, gameplay, tone, humor, weapons and gadgets, level design, multiplayer options and modes, etc.). I would however, rather have a new team do it because the current Rare is not the same, particularly a team that are fans of the original and have a genuine love of Rare-style shooters. Take the gameplay and formula of the original, and improve and expand from there, without imitating the rest of today's shooters.
Perfect Dark is the Dark Horse best N64 game. The AI bots and multiplayer were revolutionary.
Glenn:
First off, thank you for your review. This was a very well done review of an awesome and classic N64 FPS.
Second: In terms of my favorite FPS on the N64, I've actually got two of them depending on what I'm in the mood for. For options, Perfect Dark is the hands down favorite. Sure, it has its flaws, but you can't customize any other FPS on the system like this one.
If I want speed, it's Quake II all the way. Fast paced and brutal, though you absolutely have to have the Expansion Pak in the system.
By the way, one question I have for you: In the NTSC version of the game, if you played in multiplayer and you had blurred vision from getting punched or shot with a tranquilizer gun, then got killed and respawned, you still had blurred vision. Poison knives were even worse because if you got killed before the poison took effect, it would drain most of your health after you respawned (I think about 75% if I remember right), AND your vision got extremely blurry. Did this happen in the PAL version?
Wow, great review. Interesting info about the start of free radical (time splitters folks) in there. Too bad you need Xbox live to purchase the remaster on Xbox 360
Goldeneye supported the same widescreen options as Perfect Dark. Additionally, both games had proper modern dual analog control natively by making use of the 2.4 control scheme with two controllers.
In fact, Goldeneye was the first console FPS to have dual analog control.
Perfect Dark had such wonderful level design that gave you clear objectives but left it up to you where you went and how you achieved them (mostly). Perfect Dark Zero was much more "set piece" oriented forcing you on a very linear path closer to something like Half-Life. That really lessened my enjoyment of it. Heck while Gear of War popularized it, Perfect Dark Zero was the first game I'm aware of that had that cover system far too many games used for years afterwards.
Really happy with all the reviews coming out, can't wait to see what you're reviewing next!
im not too sure yet, it usually depends on what my "real life" schedule is like to determine what I have time to do
I always wanted Joanna to be a secret unlockable character in a timesplitters game
now that would have been awesome
Nijishuuduwang check out timesplitters 3.there was a level that seemed very similiar to the first level of perfect dark.you start on the roof of a building in a futuristic city as you make your way down by shooting guards and knocking out the security system.you even run into a woman weilding the same gun and take an elevator into the basement.seriously, go find it.
And then Microsoft bought Rare... and did nothing with them. Such a pity.
sometimes i think they bought rare to just hurt the competition, seems like ms buys things just to run them into the ground.
Whatever happened to the secondary fire modes in games??? This game had the best.
Super dragon AR with standard rifle, and then semi auto grenade launcher??? Or dragon with the proximity mine.
I could go on
Perfect Dark is a superior game to Goldeneye in almost every way except for the frame rate. That's a fatal flaw, unfortunately.
I'm surprised I haven't left a comment when this video came out. Anywho, this was most likely my most played N64 game. Sunk hours of my childhood into it. To my young mind the game looked way ahead of it's time and the fact it was filled with content made it 10x better. I still play it occasionally to this day.
its such a classic and one which is always cool to return to
It was definently one of the best looking home console games from its consoles generation (ps1 and n64). By the end of the n64 and ps1 lifetime, there was absolutely no game across either of those platforms that looked better than perfect dark and the legend of zelda majoras mask. Hands down.
Still my favorite first-person shooter to this day.
Most hyped game of my life, never lived up to goldeneye despite the wealth of content
every magazine, website and fanzine was going mental for this before its release
N64 Glenn Plant I had its release marked down in my student planner and I ticked the days away till launch! Still a good memory 👌🏻
I still play this game on the xbox one, its still fun to play but watching this how they aim at you BY POINT BLANK TO THE FACE *misses* thats aslo a reason i love this game XD
it almost adds to the campy sci fi feel of this game at times
So next year from now well have flying cars now 👌
Anyone remember shooting the guy rolling on the floor and he’d have to finish his roll and die afterwards. 😂
Yeah I still remember that one!! Stupid security cop!😂