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Everyone have their rose tinted goggles of nostalgia on? Dust off your N64 and let's compare two of the most beloved games on the system: Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. While I myself will be doing mini-reviews of both and giving out my honest opinion on which one I like more, I am throwing in a poll and requesting that users join in and make their argument on who should win. Note that when I make references to graphics/sound, which are very outdated by today's standards, I am putting myself into the time frame and at the same time judging them by the standards of the console itself, so don't take me too seriously when I take into account those factors.
Let's start with the one that came first, Goldeneye.
Okay, imagine the year is 1996. A year has past since the release of the film Goldeneye. The film itself probably wasn't getting much attention anymore, I for one liked the film but it seemed that a lot of people didn't find it anything special. So what was the reaction when Rare announced a video game adaptation for the brand new N64 console? A resounding "Ehhhhhh." Movie to game adaptations have always had a bad rap, plus no one seemed interested in the license. The game would be delayed by a full year, and almost no one really cared, not until the day the game finally landed in stores and in the hands of reviewers who gave the game nigh-perfect scores. The rest, is history. Everyone knows this game and everyone who has played it loves it. It truly revolutionized console shooters, it controlled well, it looked great running on the N64 hardware, and most importantly it was a blast to play. It was even more fun when you would grab a friend and play the games legendary multiplayer mode, it wasn't "new" by any means, but the great design and the appeal of playing as your favourite Bond character - or beating the crap out of them - made it memorable. I can actually recall a time when I was at a party, and someone walked in with a Nintendo and a GoldenEye cart and everyone shifted the focus of the party to the game, holding a tournament. There's no denying it, the game is a classic and will always remain a classic. However, Rare wasn't finished with the system, not by a long shot. They made many other great games for it and most of them ended up being more memorable than even what Nintendo was making, and their days with the N64 was truly the highlight of their companies career. A year and a half after Goldeneye, Rare announced a spiritual successor, not having the Bond license anymore they decided to create a new IP all together, and that would become Perfect Dark. Now, let's give Goldeneye a quick score before we go on.
Hmm... let's say a 9.0 It looked great (for the time), it played great, and it made incredible use of the beloved Bond licence, while revolutionizing the console shooter, a sub-genre of FPS games that until then, was dreaded and hated, and with good reason. The game lives on in many forms, hell there are still get-togethers for the game, and there is a modern Source based recreation of the games multiplayer which is actually worth checking out.
Now let's scuttle on to the year 2000 to take a look at Perfect Dark.
PD had a troubled design history, it was started as a direct sequel in 1997 under the covers, but Rare lost the Bond license and had to start over. It would be announced in mid 1998 to much applause, but the game never made its date. The game would not arrive until the year 2000, which put it in a bad position: The PS2 would come only a few months later [and was already out in Japan], the DreamCast was out, and Microsoft had already given the X-Box a codename, and even Nintendo's own GameCube had been announced. The N64 had past its prime, so only those who clung to the console or had stayed the course through the many delays on Perfect Dark actually got hold of the game. It was successful, but when compared to its older brother, it didn't do well. Many people seemed to overlook it or forget it in the rush of the next generation, which saddens me because the game is even better than Goldeneye. I said it, better. 10,000 times better. Perfect Dark took everything Goldeneye did and perfected it. The graphics squeezed the N64 for all it got, the game had a full voice cast which was unheard of on the system, and it brought the great controls of Goldeneye back. The gameplay was even better due to the impressive and massive arsenal, each gun in Perfect Dark had two functions and played differently, adding for some extreme variety. With some skill, you could even unlock some of the more memorable guns from Goldeneye. About the only flaw I can find with Perfect Dark is that the framerate was a bit shakey, but it impressed me at the time and is easily the best looking shooter on the console. It would win best looking N64 game period, if it weren't for Conker's Bad Fur Day a year later. Perfect Dark's multiplayer once again drew from the strengths of PD's campaign, which had more variety, gadgetry, and length than Goldeneye's which was already a strength the game had over GE, and made for an incredibly fun multiplayer romp. The expanded arsenal made it even more fun for me, though a little appeal was lost because of the license change and losing the ability to play with Bond characters, but in the end, that didn't hurt multiplayer all that much. It was so much more fun. Perfect Dark, to me, is the greatest console shooter of all time. Before you all start shouting "HAAALLLOOO," let me say I like Halo, but Perfect Dark is still better. I feel like Halo is simply an "OK" console shooter, but it could never touch Perfect Dark in a thousand years. Sure its better than Perfect Dark Zero, but Perfect Dark Zero is a sob story I'll save for another time capsule. However, we can all enjoy the original PD, and in my opinion its console shooting perfected. The only thing that could make it better is if it had a mouse and keyboard. It's one of the greatest shooters of all time regardless, and my favourite shooter right next to the original Doom.
10/10
Let's hope that the revamped version coming out for Xbox live later this year fixes that framerate problem and comes with online play, because that might rekindle interest in the franchise, and then, maybe Rare can go about making a REAL sequel. (I don't blame Rare for the flop of PDZ, I blame MicroSoft since MS made Rare scrap 4 years of work and finish the game in 6 months to be a launch title. You need more than 6 damn months to make a good game >_>)
So, what do you guys think?
Let's start with the one that came first, Goldeneye.
Okay, imagine the year is 1996. A year has past since the release of the film Goldeneye. The film itself probably wasn't getting much attention anymore, I for one liked the film but it seemed that a lot of people didn't find it anything special. So what was the reaction when Rare announced a video game adaptation for the brand new N64 console? A resounding "Ehhhhhh." Movie to game adaptations have always had a bad rap, plus no one seemed interested in the license. The game would be delayed by a full year, and almost no one really cared, not until the day the game finally landed in stores and in the hands of reviewers who gave the game nigh-perfect scores. The rest, is history. Everyone knows this game and everyone who has played it loves it. It truly revolutionized console shooters, it controlled well, it looked great running on the N64 hardware, and most importantly it was a blast to play. It was even more fun when you would grab a friend and play the games legendary multiplayer mode, it wasn't "new" by any means, but the great design and the appeal of playing as your favourite Bond character - or beating the crap out of them - made it memorable. I can actually recall a time when I was at a party, and someone walked in with a Nintendo and a GoldenEye cart and everyone shifted the focus of the party to the game, holding a tournament. There's no denying it, the game is a classic and will always remain a classic. However, Rare wasn't finished with the system, not by a long shot. They made many other great games for it and most of them ended up being more memorable than even what Nintendo was making, and their days with the N64 was truly the highlight of their companies career. A year and a half after Goldeneye, Rare announced a spiritual successor, not having the Bond license anymore they decided to create a new IP all together, and that would become Perfect Dark. Now, let's give Goldeneye a quick score before we go on.
Hmm... let's say a 9.0 It looked great (for the time), it played great, and it made incredible use of the beloved Bond licence, while revolutionizing the console shooter, a sub-genre of FPS games that until then, was dreaded and hated, and with good reason. The game lives on in many forms, hell there are still get-togethers for the game, and there is a modern Source based recreation of the games multiplayer which is actually worth checking out.
Now let's scuttle on to the year 2000 to take a look at Perfect Dark.
PD had a troubled design history, it was started as a direct sequel in 1997 under the covers, but Rare lost the Bond license and had to start over. It would be announced in mid 1998 to much applause, but the game never made its date. The game would not arrive until the year 2000, which put it in a bad position: The PS2 would come only a few months later [and was already out in Japan], the DreamCast was out, and Microsoft had already given the X-Box a codename, and even Nintendo's own GameCube had been announced. The N64 had past its prime, so only those who clung to the console or had stayed the course through the many delays on Perfect Dark actually got hold of the game. It was successful, but when compared to its older brother, it didn't do well. Many people seemed to overlook it or forget it in the rush of the next generation, which saddens me because the game is even better than Goldeneye. I said it, better. 10,000 times better. Perfect Dark took everything Goldeneye did and perfected it. The graphics squeezed the N64 for all it got, the game had a full voice cast which was unheard of on the system, and it brought the great controls of Goldeneye back. The gameplay was even better due to the impressive and massive arsenal, each gun in Perfect Dark had two functions and played differently, adding for some extreme variety. With some skill, you could even unlock some of the more memorable guns from Goldeneye. About the only flaw I can find with Perfect Dark is that the framerate was a bit shakey, but it impressed me at the time and is easily the best looking shooter on the console. It would win best looking N64 game period, if it weren't for Conker's Bad Fur Day a year later. Perfect Dark's multiplayer once again drew from the strengths of PD's campaign, which had more variety, gadgetry, and length than Goldeneye's which was already a strength the game had over GE, and made for an incredibly fun multiplayer romp. The expanded arsenal made it even more fun for me, though a little appeal was lost because of the license change and losing the ability to play with Bond characters, but in the end, that didn't hurt multiplayer all that much. It was so much more fun. Perfect Dark, to me, is the greatest console shooter of all time. Before you all start shouting "HAAALLLOOO," let me say I like Halo, but Perfect Dark is still better. I feel like Halo is simply an "OK" console shooter, but it could never touch Perfect Dark in a thousand years. Sure its better than Perfect Dark Zero, but Perfect Dark Zero is a sob story I'll save for another time capsule. However, we can all enjoy the original PD, and in my opinion its console shooting perfected. The only thing that could make it better is if it had a mouse and keyboard. It's one of the greatest shooters of all time regardless, and my favourite shooter right next to the original Doom.
10/10
Let's hope that the revamped version coming out for Xbox live later this year fixes that framerate problem and comes with online play, because that might rekindle interest in the franchise, and then, maybe Rare can go about making a REAL sequel. (I don't blame Rare for the flop of PDZ, I blame MicroSoft since MS made Rare scrap 4 years of work and finish the game in 6 months to be a launch title. You need more than 6 damn months to make a good game >_>)
So, what do you guys think?
