Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Video game number seventy three: Perfect Dark XBLA

Video game review number seventy three in my 365 Games in 365 Days project is "Perfect Dark".

Is this a new game, or isn't it? That is the question.

I played Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64. It was new back then.
It's been "redesigned" for the Xbox 360, and re-released as an arcade game. Frankly, I can't see a big difference between this game and the N64 game. I'm not saying I couldn't tell them apart in a side by side comparison, but other than the achievements (which are always great to have), I'm not sure I've found any big changes. For Perfect Dark purists...that's awesome. For me, it just made me wish they'd skipped this one and done a GoldenEye reboot.

Perfect Dark was a good game, but playing it again reminds me how dated it is (and how old I am). They haven't really re-imagined it, they've simply tweaked the graphics a bit and put achievements in. In other words: Shovelware.

If you were dying to play Perfect Dark again, this is the game for you. I wasn't dying to play it. I still own my N64 and I can boot that sucker up any time I want to. Playing this game was fun for the first few levels (I beat the first 4), but then...I realized I could be playing some more Battlefield Bad Company. Or any other game out there. Just not this one.

Maybe I'll finish this when I'm bored sometime, but right now...it's just not interesting enough to keep playing.

Overall score? 5/10. Purely average game by today's standards (maybe lower than average), but the nostalgia factor keeps the score from going lower. Still, if Rare wants me to give me nostalgia, then give me GoldenEye (that's a game I really loved on my N64). I will be much more excited if that ever happens.

Achievements? Yeah..they're here...but frankly, I don't care about them.

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