Ok, before I start some of you may know I'm not the biggest fan of the N64 or it's games, but I approached this as open as possible.

So here it is. The long awaited follow up to Goldeneye. Played similarly to it's 007 sibling, Perfect Dark follows the fortune's of Joanna Dark, an agent associated with the Carrington Institute. She and other must protect the Institute from the Datadyne group who are trying to steel Carrington's secrets. The level's are varied and each has to be approached in a certain way. Most are quite large, complex and rely on you completing a number of mission objective's. Also the weapon's are thought out and although not real weapons, behave as you would expect them to. (i.e. no stupidly powerful rocket launchers etc..) In terms of enemies, they are not as intelligent as you would find in Half Life. Most you could sneak up on, and take out quietly or even dodge and shoot since they don't think of moving themselves much. The only enemies you'll have difficulty in are the ones in pocession of powerful weapons, although if you manage to take them out, that weapon is yours and now you are the all powerful one.

There are extra options in Perfect Dark however, such as two player co-opertive play and counter-operative play. Some combat simulators help you practise the controls although I found the controls fiddly even after being in the simulator and having played Goldeneye before.

Now let me get one thing straight before I continue. Goldeneye was good, nay excellent. However, note the 'was'. Games have moved on, there are more impressive shooters on PlayStation than Goldeneye now just out in the last year. The soon to be released Alien Resurrection is one of these. PC of course, is another story. Dreamcast is getting Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament. PlayStation 2 has TimeSplitters and Unreal Tournament. Shooters have moved on and that is the trouble with Perfect Dark, it's too similar to Goldeneye to be a proper game. Ok, maybe the weapons have changed, but I have noticed similar level structures and the enemies all behave in the same way even though their skin has changed. Why this game took so long to produce and why it was delay so many times is beyond me. Marginal graphic improvement and some new levels just doesn't justify this. In my view, it's just Goleneye with some new mods on.

To sum up, it is a good game but not an excellent one. Had this game being not delayed, yes I would have been impressed. Games move on, it just appears this one hasn't.

My advise is if you have Goldeneye, don't buy this game because it's just too similar. Rent it if you are curious but don't buy is, it would be the biggest waste of £50. If you have neither, you could go the cheap option of Goldeneye, but perhaps Perfect Dark would be better with it's co-operative play and extra options.