Perfect Dark (Game Boy Color)

Gameplay

Perfect Dark is an action game that is presented from an overhead perspective where the player can move and shoot in eight directions, similar to Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. The player assumes the role of Joanna Dark, who must initially complete a training mode where she will be provided a fixed sequence of challenges so that the player learns the game mechanics. These mechanics include the use of stealth, in which players are challenged to kill enemies by sneaking up behind them without making noise (e.g. running or reloading weapons), complete a memory type game that involves pressing various buttons in a specific order to open up doors, and shoot targets from a first-person perspective.

The campaign is divided into several missions that the player has to complete while fighting enemies and completing objectives. Objectives range from rescuing hostages to exploring areas and recovering items such as keycards, explosives or laptop computers, which are useful to hack into electronic devices. The player can pick up new weapons, health and ammunition dropped by enemies if necessary. The game also features several mini-games, including a driving level and a sniper mission, as well as numerous boss battles that the player has to defeat in order to progress through the next level. By beating any of these mini-games, the player can access them in the game's extras menu.

In addition to the single-player campaign, Perfect Dark features a multiplayer mode. With the help of a Game Link Cable, two players can link together and compete in four different types of deathmatch modes, ranging from the standard kill-the-other-person on a pre-set time to the Counter Force mode, where the first player must rescue two hostages while the second player has to guard them. Various multiplayer maps are unlocked as the player progresses through the single player mode. Additionally, with the use of the optional Transfer Pak, players can use the game's cartridge to alternatively unlock some cheats in its Nintendo 64 counterpart. Players may also use the Game Boy Printer to print out character profiles.

Plot

Perfect Dark is set in early 2022, predating the storyline of the Nintendo 64 game by one year. Joanna Dark is a student at the Carrington Institute and she is eager to complete the final stages of her training. After completing her training successfully, Carrington Institute leader Daniel Carrington sends her on a mission to destroy an illegal cyborg manufacturing facility in the South American jungle. The facility is headed by Mink Hunter, a highly dangerous terrorist whose purpose is to produce high-tech weaponry for terrorist operations. Joanna manages to complete her mission by eliminating Hunter and destroying the entire facility. When Carrington contacts Joanna, she reports that, during her landing in the jungle, she witnessed an aircraft being shot down and made a note of the co-ordinates. Carrington soon learns that there is a UFO in the area at the time and that dataDyne, the world's leading developer of new technology, is getting away with the alien wreckage.

Joanna is then ordered to snoop around and investigate the crash site. In the process, she is captured and taken to the Pelagic I ship, along with the alien wreckage. Nevertheless, a mysterious alien rescues her and convinces her to sink the Pelagic I with the wreckage and escape. She succeeds and when she contacts Carrington, she tells him that she discovered that the wreckage belonged to an alien race called the Skedar. The situation changes abruptly when the Carrington Institute is stormed by a dataDyne strike team who hopes to destroy any clues of the conspiracy. Joanna manages to defend the Institute and her work earned her enough recognition to take part in her next mission. The game ends with the Carrington Institute carrying out further investigations of dataDyne, setting the stage for the Nintendo 64 game.

Development and release

Perfect Dark was developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. The game was officially announced on January 13, 2000 when its Nintendo 64 counterpart was still under development. At the time, Rare had its Game Boy Color development team split into two: one for the Game Boy Color version of Donkey Kong Country and the other for Perfect Dark. Since Perfect Dark is one of Rare's latest games developed for the Game Boy Color, the developers wanted the game to support every Game Boy Color accessory and technology, including the Game Boy Printer, Transfer Pak, Game Link Cable, and infrared transmission of data between machines.

Rare originally planned to include a face-mapping Game Boy Camera feature that would have allowed players to place a photograph of their choice onto the face of a multiplayer character in the Nintendo 64 game with the help of a Transfer Pak. However, the company ultimately removed this feature due to events such as the Columbine High School massacre. The game also features a built-in rumble functionality into the game cartridge, which provides force feedback while playing the game. Perfect Dark was presented at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2000 and was initially scheduled for release on June 12, 2000. According to Rare, "What could be a better accompaniment to Joanna Dark's [Nintendo 64] debut than an exclusive Game Boy Color title that delves into her previous exploits?" However, the game was ultimately released in August 2000.

Reception

Perfect Dark received generally mixed reviews from critics. In their "Planet Game Boy" section, N64 Magazine compared the game favourably to Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, noting that Perfect Dark has less emphasis on stealth and more on killing. Nintendo Power praised the game's detailed graphics, fluid animations and creative environments, while Chris Hudak of The Electric Playground highlighted the game's fully voiced conversations and numerous sound effects like footfalls and gunshots. Frank Provo of GameSpot also praised the game's audio, but criticized the fact that there is no music during gameplay.

Criticism was leveled at the game's difficult gameplay due to the scarcity of health and ammunition. The weak artificial intelligence of enemies and superficial stealth mechanics were also noted. According to GameSpot, "in theory you should be sneaking up on enemies, defusing bombs, and saving hostages. In practice, however, enemies turn around and attack even when you're sneaking up on them and defusing bombs requires no effort, so the suggestion of strategy is moot." The size of the player character was also a subject of criticism because it does not allow players to properly see their immediate surroundings, prompting them to accidentally alert nearby enemies. Although the different mini-games were highlighted, reviewers felt that they were clearly imitative of games like Spy Hunter and Operation Wolf.

In a very positive review, Planet Game Boy magazine praised the multiplayer mode for its selection of competitive games, concluding: "Perfect Dark is one of the biggest handheld games ever made, and for fans of the [Nintendo 64] version it's a vital purchase." IGN also praised the multiplayer mode and extras, but remarked that "there's no real strategy involved in these deathmatch games other than to find the other person and open fire until one dies and respawns elsewhere on the map". In a retrospective review, Jon Wahlgren of Nintendo Life felt that Rare "did a great job on squeezing so many features and technical magic into the little cart, but by focusing so heavily on the tech they seem to have sacrificed a lot of what would make it more fun to play". In 2012, GamesRadar ranked it the 47th best game available on the Game Boy and/or Game Boy Color. The staff praised Rare for its adaptation of the Nintendo 64 game.