Developer Rare had an absurdly prolific output during the Nintendo 64’s lifespan. They made classics likeConker’s Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64,GoldenEye 007,andPerfect Dark. The two last games mentioned are directly connected to each other since they are both first-person shooters.
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GoldenEyecame out first andPerfect Dark, though not aJames Bondgame, directly builds off the ideas Rare toyed with inGoldenEye. Does coming out after make it better, though? Both of them are classics, but certain aspects of one are better than the other. Which game is superior comes down to personal choice, and it will alsodepend on what one values in a first-person shooter.
7GoldenEye Is Better: Performance And Frame Rate
To get one thing straight right off the bat, neither of these games deserves an award for the smoothest gameplay. The frame rate was not a priority when making these games.
They both look great for the time, but both games regularly run below 30 frames per second. Still, with all it has going on,Perfect Darktends to run worse thanGoldenEye.The Bond adaptation also runs at hilariously low frame rates when a lot is happening on screen, but it still manages to outdo its spiritual successor.
6Perfect Dark Is Better: It Has Co-Op
Perfect Darkfeatures the ability to go through the single-player campaign with a friend. This was a big novelty on the Nintendo 64. Of course, players needed the system’s expansion pack to access any aspect of the story, but it made sense for how ambitious it was.
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Playing through the single-player cooperatively or a separate co-op mode would become more common in the next generation, so it shows just how ahead of the curbPerfect Darkwas. Even if it does run poorly with the extra player, going through a good game with a friend always makes it better.
5GoldenEye Is Better: The Music
Grant Kirkhope and Graeme Norgate were the two main composers for both games.They both have stellar soundtrackswith hummable earworms. Deciding which one takes it is tough, butGoldenEyehas the advantage of several decades' worth of history to draw from.
There is a new interpretation of the mainJames Bondtheme and the original pieces draw cues and inspiration from the films' musical past. Some of the tunes themselves have become cultural phenomena unto their own, such as the pause music. As great asPerfect Dark’ssoundtrack is, it did not insert itself into gaming life the wayGoldenEye’smusic did.
4Perfect Dark Is Better: The Remaster
Perfect Darkwas cleaned up and remastered for Xbox consoles.GoldenEyenever had the same luxury. A remaster was in development but was canceled due to licensing issues.
The re-release on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox is welcome and fun, but it lacks the refinement of a true remaster.Perfect Dark’sremaster is undoubtedly the definitive way to play it. The graphics are improved while maintaining the same aesthetic and the game manages to feel like it did back on the N64 despite a completely different controller.
3GoldenEye Is Better: Levels
The levels inPerfect Darkmight be more complex and have more moving parts coming together to create a cohesive environment,butGoldenEye’slevels are just iconic.It helps that most of them are recreating classic locations from the movie. The Dam is a legendary opening mission that establishes how the rest of the game works since all the other locations feel like real areas.
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Even though the mission is action-packed, it has alarms that enemies set off which teaches players that stealth levels also have alarms that can call more guards. Then, there are the numerous multiplayer levels, some of which are based on single-player missions. The Facility was so highly regarded, it was remade forPerfect Darkas Felicity.
2Perfect Park Is Better: It Has More Content
GoldenEyehas 20 single-player levels and then a robust multiplayer suite with several game modes and weapon loadouts to keep the action going with friends.Perfect Darkhas all this and then more. When players are done with the campaign, there is a challenge mode to further extend the playtime for those going solo.
The multiplayer also one-ups its predecessor with more customization options and the ability to add bots into levels for more action-packed games. It has more in common withTimeSplittersin this respect.Perfect Darksimply has more content for players to explore thanGoldenEye.
1Verdict: Perfect Dark
WhileGoldenEyeis revered for what it did for theNintendo 64 and console first-person shooters as a whole,Perfect Darkfully took advantage of the opportunity to grow from whatGoldenEyestarted. The ambition Rare put intoPerfect Darkmight have held it back technically, but this can be forgiven when one looks at all it achieved.
GoldenEyesold better and had theJames Bondlicense behind it to make it more memorable, but that does not make it the better game. Regardless, players will not be disappointedif they decide to try out either of these retro first-person shooters.
