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PERFECT DARK (GBC)
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Publisher: Rare.
Developer: Rare. Released: August 2000. Genre: Action/Adventure. Other versions: N64. Posted 4th December 2022. By Tom Clare © 2022 |
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Perfect Dark’s experiment with the Game Boy Color in the summer of 2000 would ultimately prove a disappointment. Distilling the multifaceted, blockbuster Nintendo 64 outing into an effective, 8-bit portable game would prove too much even for the talented team at Rare, as dated gameplay and persistent struggles with hardware limitations would hamstring the small-screen version. It isn’t short of endeavour, but Joanna Dark’s GBC outing is left feeling flat-footed and mediocre, floundering in the wake of Konami’s excellent GBC iteration of Metal Gear Solid.
Set in 2022 (we were once the future) and a prequel of-sorts to the N64 title of the same name, Perfect Dark sees Joanna Dark finishing her training at the Carrington Institute, before jetting off to the jungles of South America. Here, she is tasked with destroying a sequence of manufacturing plants involved in the creation of cyborgs, whilst encountering a bevvy of marvellously-named villains (Mink Hunter) and allies (Max Danger) alike. Wisely, Rare opted not to pursue a first-person perspective here, plumping instead for a top-down viewpoint.
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The stealth sections are hard work, with a narrow field of view and Joanna unable to withstand many hits
The game is comprised of a veritable glut of neat ideas, most of which prove too extravagant for its system’s capabilities. That said, we can’t lay all the blame at the feet of the GBC: Metal Gear Solid offered a model example of how to make a stealth adventure sing on the handheld. Perfect Dark, meanwhile, never quite gets off the ground. Take the stealth for example: sneaking out from cover and delivering that Hollywood-esque, one-shot kill on an unsuspecting guard is an alluring secret agent trope, in principle. The trouble is, it works only very occasionally. Joanna is sluggish to control and with such a narrow aspect ratio, it’s sometimes nigh-on impossible to work out where guards are patrolling relative to her position. If they happen to be facing her, they’ll lunge straight for the player, instigating some embarrassingly limp, clumsy gunfights. This is one aspect of PD that feels especially dated: aligning shots is fiddly and without rudimentary aiming or a strafe option, it feels no more sophisticated than adventure games of the mid-1980s.
Survive the surprisingly tricky training sequences and you’ll soon be rewarded with machine guns and shotguns. The latter entirely changes the cadence of the levels, perhaps a little too much, as the player can march around delivering one-shot kills with ease. This feels a lot less restrictive, but also removes some of the tension. The ease with which the player can be extinguished is trying, however, and there’ll be dozens or mission restarts instigated directly from being ambushed by an unsighted foe. In a nice touch, pressing SELECT over a guard’s body allows Joanna to pilfer health kits, key cards and ammo, whilst the inventory screen is smartly presented, allowing the player to check ammunition levels and objectives.
Survive the surprisingly tricky training sequences and you’ll soon be rewarded with machine guns and shotguns. The latter entirely changes the cadence of the levels, perhaps a little too much, as the player can march around delivering one-shot kills with ease. This feels a lot less restrictive, but also removes some of the tension. The ease with which the player can be extinguished is trying, however, and there’ll be dozens or mission restarts instigated directly from being ambushed by an unsighted foe. In a nice touch, pressing SELECT over a guard’s body allows Joanna to pilfer health kits, key cards and ammo, whilst the inventory screen is smartly presented, allowing the player to check ammunition levels and objectives.
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Outside of the rather duff stealth gameplay that forms the majority of the adventure, Perfect Dark tries hard to generate some variety. There are plenty of mini-games, each with their own dedicated attract screens. These include having to replicate colour code sequences from memory to open doors, a frustrating but quite engaging sniper section from the perspective of the gun’s scope, and a host of gallery shooter segments that are sadly (given that they play rather well) limited to the opening training sections. There’s also a shoot-out from a moving boat and a car chase/escape sequence in the mould of Spy Hunter. They certainly add to the variety of the action, though none are especially memorable in the final reckoning.
Boss fights are somewhat emblematic of the game as a whole: at times bombastic, but beneath the surface, a little bit awkward. For a trio of into-the-screen sequences, Joanna must fight heavily-armed attack helicopters. In the first instance, she can take cover behind rocks, allowing the game to paper over the general awkwardness of the control layout. As well as moving the character, the player must direct the aiming reticle around the screen, but can only do so whilst standing still, holding the B button and using the D-Pad. The first fight of this sort, as you seek out weak points, is quite good fun. However, as you can imagine, when the idea is revisited later in the game, there is nowhere to hide for either the player or the game’s mechanics. Elsewhere, there are a couple of reasonable battles against mechanised spiders, where the aim is to wait for them to stand next to an electricity-firing device and then let rip.
Boss fights are somewhat emblematic of the game as a whole: at times bombastic, but beneath the surface, a little bit awkward. For a trio of into-the-screen sequences, Joanna must fight heavily-armed attack helicopters. In the first instance, she can take cover behind rocks, allowing the game to paper over the general awkwardness of the control layout. As well as moving the character, the player must direct the aiming reticle around the screen, but can only do so whilst standing still, holding the B button and using the D-Pad. The first fight of this sort, as you seek out weak points, is quite good fun. However, as you can imagine, when the idea is revisited later in the game, there is nowhere to hide for either the player or the game’s mechanics. Elsewhere, there are a couple of reasonable battles against mechanised spiders, where the aim is to wait for them to stand next to an electricity-firing device and then let rip.
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Perfect Dark tries hard with a number of different game styles, with the sniping section a tricky highlight
There are a few noteworthy accomplishments, around the edges. The use of digitised speech for communications can be considered a success, as can the colourful cut-scenes and attract screens used to give context to each mission, even if Joanna’s character art is weirdly unflattering. The environments, which include factories, a jungle installation and a ship, are all a little drab, but they do exhibit some distinctive flourishes (such as beds, cabinets, tables and machines) that at least help distinguish between one another.
Whilst you might find yourself drawn in for the first hour or two by the prospect of what Rare might deliver with Perfect Dark as a Game Boy Color experience, the novelty quickly wears off. The core stealth gameplay is flawed and workmanlike, failing to evolve. In the portable stealth adventure stakes, Joanna is outflanked by the superior quality, creativity and execution of Solid Snake’s outing. An interesting effort, but one that’s not in the same league as its console counterpart.
Whilst you might find yourself drawn in for the first hour or two by the prospect of what Rare might deliver with Perfect Dark as a Game Boy Color experience, the novelty quickly wears off. The core stealth gameplay is flawed and workmanlike, failing to evolve. In the portable stealth adventure stakes, Joanna is outflanked by the superior quality, creativity and execution of Solid Snake’s outing. An interesting effort, but one that’s not in the same league as its console counterpart.
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VERDICT
"The core stealth gameplay is flawed and workmanlike... In the portable stealth adventure stakes, Perfect Dark is outflanked by the superior quality, creativity and execution of Solid Snake’s outing." OVERALL: 5/10 |