The spiritual successor to Rare’s legendary Golden Eye, Perfect Dark was a landmark title for the Nintendo 64 when it was released in 2000. Now, after one lackluster sequel and over twenty years later, Joanna Dark is poised for a triumphant return with a new title being developed by The Initiative.
But if the new Perfect Dark is going to live up to the original’s legacy, The Initiative needs to nail several key aspects of story and gameplay that made the N64 shooter great. And simply trying to recreate what made the original excellent won’t cut it, either. Gaming has evolved dramatically since the initial war between The Carrington Institute and dataDyne, and players eager to step back into the boots of a super spy expect to be wowed.
As The Initiative stated in its initial interview and reveal trailer for Perfect Dark, finding the right middle ground between reverence for the past and future innovation is a tricky balancing act. But if the developer pays attention to these key five areas, Joanna Dark will be on the right track for success.
Perfect Dark wowed gamers with its enormous arsenal of cool firearms, and its innovative use of alt-weapon fire capabilities. Armaments like the wall-puncturing, target seeking, Farsight sniper rifle, and the turret-transforming Laptop Gun were the first of their kind and many gamers maintain fond memories of firefights featuring those weapons to this day. At the time, few games could compete with the creativity and breadth of the guns on offer, and in success, Joanna’s arsenal in the new Perfect Dark should resemble the versatile offerings of Borderlands, without the filler and fodder guns that result from that game’s randomized stats.
Between the bevvy of weapons, cheat codes, and broad options for both dedicated multiplayer and campaign missions, Perfect Dark had a seemingly limitless variety of gameplay on offer. The fact that a 16-year-old Perfect Dark gaming record was broken in 2020 is a testament to the game’s tremendous versatility and longevity. If The Initiative wants to craft a sci-fi spy-thriller for the ages, they will need to give players plenty of options for setting up custom competitive and co-operative matches. Halo‘s Forge mode and Overwatch‘s custom game workshop capabilities would be useful points of reference.
The original Perfect Dark was one of the first FPS titles to allow players to use a variety of gadgets as well as firearms to complete their missions, and this is one of the areas where The Initiative stands to contribute the most growth to the franchise. Now, the toys Joanna had access to in 2000 seem rather primitive, which is understandable given the many changes that have occurred since Perfect Dark. But an updated version of the flying CamSpy could serve a greater purpose than mere reconnaissance, especially if its capabilities are expanded to be able to hack or remotely trigger objects. Superspy gadgets will not only help realize the thematic espionage promise of the Perfect Dark, but also help the game stand out from other entries in the crowded shooter genre.
Plenty of titles allow players to raid Area 51 and sabotage mega-corporations, but Perfect Dark was in a rare weight-class when it came to a unique blend of conspiracy theories and science-fiction. In the first game’s plot, two competing corporations were being used in an elaborate, extraterrestrial chess match with the fate of earth hanging in the balance. While The Initiative does not necessarily need to bring aliens back into the mix, it should pull out all the stops when it comes to telling an espionage thriller filled with technological twists and turns. The developer’s focus on ecological sci-fi seems like a promising hook, though the game will be weaker than its predecessor if it takes itself too seriously.
As protagonists go, Joanna Dark follows a fairly straightforward formula cribbed from the likes of Lara Craft, Claire Redfield, and other skilled female gunfighters. But video games have matured since 2000, and titles like The Last of Us and 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot have raised the bar for characterization and nuanced storytelling.
If The Initiative’s reboot is going to succeed, the game’s heroine will need more than a svelte catsuit, quippy one-liners, and a cleverly punned name to wow audiences. It would be great to see the developers delve into Joanna’s backstory as the Carrington Institute’s leading operative, detailing her personal motivations and aspirations to inject some personal stakes into the narrative.
The Initiative’s Perfect Dark is now in development.
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