Perfect Dark

About Perfect Dark

Perfect Dark (2000) is Rare's spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, in which Carrington Institute agent Joanna Dark uncovers dataDyne's alien conspiracy, one of the N64's most technically advanced games.

Perfect Dark in Depth

Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research centre, tries to stop an extraterrestrial conspiracy by rival corporation dataDyne. A campaign of levels tells the story, while multiplayer offers a co-operative mode and traditional deathmatch with computer-controlled bots. Players can lean left and right, look up and down, crouch, crawl and drop from most ledges, though there is no jump, and a single button operates computers, lifts and doors.

As a spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007, it shares many of its features and runs on an upgraded version of its engine. One of the most technically advanced Nintendo 64 games, it requires an Expansion Pak for the campaign and most multiplayer features. Shortly before release, a feature letting players put a photograph of their choice on their multiplayer character's face was cut because of sensitivities about attacking images of real people. Critics widely praised its graphics, AI and range of multiplayer options, but some criticised its inconsistent frame rate. GameSpot called it "unparalleled" as a console first-person shooter, and it is occasionally cited among the greatest games of all time.

Making Perfect Dark

Rare developed and published it for the Nintendo 64 in 2000 after a development cycle of nearly three years. It was critically acclaimed and sold relatively well, joining Nintendo's Player's Choice line, and won the Golden Satellite Award for Best Interactive Product in 2001. It was re-released on Nintendo Classics in 2024.