Rare's Explosive First Person Shooter: Perfect Dark N64

Perfect Dark helped revitalize the Nintendo 64 after a lack of serious high-powered games like GoldenEye 007 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I played many N64 games growing up and really enjoyed most of them, but Perfect Dark is one I can keep going back to, despite its relatively older graphics and controls.

Rare, the developers of GoldenEye 007, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Banjoy-Kazooie, already had an established name in the video game industry when they produced Perfect Dark. It is still a title that is remembered fondly by hardcore gamers and newbs alike, thanks to its interesting gameplay mechanics, engaging storyline and creative multiplayer options.

In Perfect Dark, gamers take on the role of Joanna Dark, an agent with the "good guy" organization of the Carrington Institute. She and her collegues are battling against the sinister DataDyne mega corporation, using high-tech science fiction weapons. Both sides have assistance from opposing alien factions, the Maians (supporting the Institute) and the Skedar (helping DataDyne). The plot follows DataDyne attempting to assassinate the President of the United States for interfering with their plans and the Carrington Institute's attack on DataDyne.

Gameplay is fast paced and often frantic, with players engaged in intense fire fights against heavily armed enemies. The storyline progresses nicely, and the cut scenes don't clash with the overall feel of the game, as in some other N64 titles.

Singleplayer aside, the multiplayer gameplay in Perfect Dark is where this Nintendo title from Rare really shines. The company took the basic mechanics of the GoldenEye007 game and made it even better, adding in all kinds of fantastic space-age weaponry and bots. The bots were really a great idea to be added, as they add a ton of variety to each multiplayer match. 007 didn't have this and resulted in some lop-sided games, but the addition of bots at varying skill levels really helped enliven Perfect Dark.

Perfect Dark is an older game but it is still widely available online and in stores. Game reseller websites like eBay and Amazon offer good deals on Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 console, as well as "brick-n-mortar" stores like Game Crazy. The game carries an "M" rating due to violence and language, but it is a definite thriller of a first-person shooter for the Nintendo 64!