Game Spotlight: Perfect Dark

Recently the Xbox Live Arcade version of Perfect Dark was released and everyone except Perfect Dark fans who don’t own a 360 rejoiced. It’s taken me awhile to download it but I did a few days ago and have been playing through it and enjoying it just as much as I did back in the day when it was a Nintendo 64 game.

So how does this revamped HD version stand up to the original? It seems like a stupid question considering the fact that crisp visuals, solid frame-rates and online support are all a very big plus for the game… but as I have been playing through Perfect Dark, I have been noticing some small factors that seem oddly different… or just plain MISSING from the Nintendo 64 version.

It’s funny how the XBLA version of Perfect Dark is a prime example of a game viewed through nostalgia goggles. You remember a really old game that you thought looked completely awesome and superior to anything else out there. In your mind, it’s the same way, you’ve convinced yourself that the said game is still the premium in many ways… of course, if you ever get around to popping that ye olden game back in and taking it for a spin you end up screaming “MY EYES! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!”… reality sets in and you see how blurry and horrible everything is since you’ve experienced much better visuals and audio over the years.

4J Studios, the folks who have recreated this N64 classic for XBLA have pretty much taken those figurative nostalgia goggles and made them a reality. Of course it’s not a perfect representation of what we remember, there are still a few flaws…

The biggest flaw at this point in time are the controls. I still have my copy of Perfect Dark for the N64 and FIVE different N64 controllers, all with varying degrees of wear and tear. I have to say honestly that my most used and closest to death N64 controller still handles better than the 360 controls do. My preferred control scheme for Perfect Dark N64 was 1.2 (using the C-buttons to move and the analog stick to look) and I could easily perform head-shots with ease with auto-aim turned off. On the other hand with the 360 controller this is an extremely difficult task to perform and can be a real hindrance in Secret Agent and Perfect Agent difficulties.

Of course, this can and will be easily fixed with a simple update to the game, but I still feel that the controls should’ve been one of the most important points to consider in the making of this game so it’s strange that we have to start off with such loose controls… I mean, if you’re the kind of player that simply relies on auto-aim for everything, it’s no big deal… but at this point in time, anyone and everyone who plays FPS games hates the thought of having auto-aim assist them.

It’s actually amazing how familiar this game feels, yet you still get a feeling that some things just don’t feel quite right. The biggest example I can cite about some of these “inaccuracies” stem from certain effects that occur in the original N64 version but are missing from the XBLA version. For example the ocular holograph display device that Joanna wears in the N64 version is fully animated complete with wiring effects and display refresh are all missing from the XBLA version. There are also a few other smaller effects that seemed to be missing or overlooked, and interestingly some camera zoom effects have been taken out and replaced with simple camera movements.

Oh, and the lighting in the game can blind you very easily. If you thought the lighting in the original version of the game was annoying then you’re in for a horrific time in the XBLA version. There were times when I purposefully shot out the lights in some areas just so I could see where the hell I was going.

I also have to say that some of the updated textures are a little strange… for one thing, I don’t think any of us really wanted to see Elvis’ butt crack and weird wrinkled alien face… though Jo’s updated face is pretty hawt. I also like the way they kept the fist hands and no lip movements to sync with the voice acting (as it should be for a game this old), though I find it strange that they’d add a little curl to Mr. Blondes hair when in the N64 version it seemed more like a grown out buzz cut. Another very noticeable change are the faces of the enemy… I’m assuming the new faces are members of the dev team from 4J Studios.

Finally, the online component, while being a welcome inclusion still seems to need a bit of work. So far I’ve only tried counter-op which was a horrible lag filled experience, though I’m sure the reason for this was because I’m in Australia connecting with someone in the US or Europe. I’ve looked around the net and found that there have been quite a number of people complaining about lag during co-op and counter-op online play. Hopefully this along with the controls will be fixed in the upcoming update… I have a feeling that a lot of people are avoiding the harder difficulty settings and online play because things aren’t as good as they should be for now.

In the end, it is what it is, a very old game with practical nostalgia goggles attached. Fans of the original will be the ones to appreciate the XBLA version the most but I still feel that folks who haven’t played the original will still find something to appreciate… for example, the added objectives and complexity added to the missions the higher the difficulty you select.

800 Microsoft points well spent… though it’s a shame that there’s no version of the game coming to Wii Virtual Console… if there was I’d instantly buy a copy of that version as well since it would be the original version as we knew it but with sharper visuals.

(You know, as horrible as it was the first time I played through it, playing through Perfect Dark XBLA kind of makes me want to get Perfect Dark Zero just to have a “complete” collection for the 360… ugh, I can’t believe I just thought of doing that just now… I must be going mad.)