Joanna Dark is an agent for the Carrington Institute, a covert organization dedicated to world security funded by unidentified donors. Carrington monitors terrorists, international powers, and weird occurrences using highly trained operatives and unique technology (gadgets). The institute is becoming concerned about the pace with which the dataDyne corporation has established itself by creating new technologies. When Carrington receives a letter from Dr. Caroll, a scientist who wishes to escape dataDyne, he dispatches his best agent, Joanna, to infiltrate the business headquarters.
Perfect Dark is a 3D first-person shooter in the vein of Rare’s earlier GoldenEye 007 but with a greater emphasis on stealth. Joanna can handle and employ a wide range of firearms, including shotguns, submachine guns, sniper rifles, various explosives, and others. She also carries spy equipment, including IR scanners, night vision, probes, and a lethal laptop. Most weapons feature secondary fire modes, and reloading is depicted in an on-screen animation.
Shields are distributed across the stages and can be collected for extra protection. There are no things that restore Joanna’s health, and she cannot jump. The game offers three difficulty levels, similar to GoldenEye 007, with the higher ones containing more accurate adversaries, less ammo, and more tasks for the player to fulfill inside each mission. Between missions, cutscenes with voice acting enhance the plot.
A training mode set in the Carrington Institute is also included in the game. Completing the firing range challenge, there unlocks the iconic GoldenEye 007 weapons. Furthermore, the campaign can be played in a cooperative mode for two human players or one human player and up to three computer-controlled teammates (in split-screen mode), as well as a “Counter Operative” mode, in which one of the players assumes control of an enemy and attempts to prevent Joanna from completing her mission.
There are several modes available for multiplayer. The basic deathmatch game and the objective-based Capture the Flag and King of the Hill modes are among them. Other situations and objectives include living as long as possible while carrying a briefcase, hacking computer systems using randomly located data uplinks, and teaming up to track down a single player. Players can alter the stages, teams, and weapon placement.
The Xbox 360 port’s graphics have been modified to enable a 1080p full HD quality at 60 frames per second. It also has full multiplayer support via Xbox LIVE.
