Perfect Dark (series)

Perfect Dark
The original Perfect Dark logo
Genres	First-person shooter, stealth, action
Developers	Rare
Publishers	Rare, Nintendo, Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms	Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Xbox 360
First release	Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) May 22, 2000
Latest release	Perfect Dark (Xbox Live Arcade) March 17, 2010

Perfect Dark is a science fiction video game franchise created and developed by Rare. The series is set in the 2020s and focuses on the experiences of Carrington Institute agent Joanna Dark, code named "Perfect Dark", as she uncovers numerous conspiracies by rival corporation dataDyne. The franchise debuted in 2000 with the Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Perfect Dark, which received strong acclaim from critics and players, leading to the franchise's expansion. Due to Microsoft's acquisition of Rare in 2002, the development of subsequent games in the series was transferred to Microsoft video game consoles.

In addition to video games, the series has also expanded into other media, including novels and American comic books. These supplements to the video games have resulted in significant development of the series' fictional universe. The series has been commercially and critically successful, and the games have sold roughly four million units worldwide.

Setting

The Perfect Dark series takes place in the 2020s and focuses on the activities of powerful organizations that secretly fight between themselves in order to achieve control over humanity. Such organizations possess their own heavily armed private armies and usually ignore the law to attain their goals. The most notable of these organizations are the Carrington Institute and dataDyne. The Carrington Institute is a research and development center founded by Daniel Carrington, and dataDyne is mainly a defense contractor corporation founded by Chinese Zhang Li, though it is also involved in other fields of production, such as the pharmaceutical and transport manufacturing industry. Several thousand years before the beginning of these events, an advanced extraterrestrial life form known as the Maians discovered life on Earth and great potential, but decided to let humans develop undisturbed. Another life form, the Skedar, who were bent on fighting, encountered the Maians and soon a war began between them. In 1985, Daniel Carrington discovered and contacted the Maians, and gradually a mutual interest began to grow between them.

The campaign mode of the series has focused on the character Joanna Dark, a highly skilled but inexperienced agent of the Carrington Institute, whose impeccable scores in training have earned her the codename "Perfect Dark". Before joining the Carrington Institute, Joanna worked as a bounty hunter alongside her father Jack, an ex-marine, former cop, that runs his own organization, Dark Bail Bonds. Throughout the series, Joanna primarily fights against dataDyne, which is responsible for her father's death.

Games

Game releases by year

2000–		– Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) – Perfect Dark (Game Boy Color)
2001–
2002–
2003–
2004–
2005–		– Perfect Dark Zero
2006–
2007–
2008–
2009–
2010–		– Perfect Dark (Xbox Live Arcade)

The first game in the series is Perfect Dark, released for the Nintendo 64 in 2000 as the spiritual successor to Rare's earlier first-person shooter GoldenEye 007. Set in the year 2023, the story follows Carrington Institute agent Joanna Dark as she uncovers dataDyne's mysteries through 17 missions. A spin-off, also titled Perfect Dark, which is the only one in the series not to be a first-person shooter, was released for the Game Boy Color shortly afterwards. It takes place one year prior to the Nintendo 64 game and centers on Joanna's attempts to prove herself as an agent for the Carrington Institute.

A full second game, Perfect Dark Zero, was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 in 2005, taking place three years prior to the original game. The story revolves around Joanna and her father Jack, working as bounty hunters, and their efforts to stop dataDyne from taking possession of an alien artifact which endows individuals with superhuman powers. In 2010, a remake of the Nintendo 64 title was released as an Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360. It features improved graphics and online multiplayer.

Development

Artwork of Joanna Dark for the canceled video game Perfect Dark Core.

Rare began development on Perfect Dark in 1997, shortly after the release and success of GoldenEye 007. The development of the game was led by Martin Hollis, who explained that they rejected the prospect of working on the GoldenEye sequel Tomorrow Never Dies "without hesitation", as the development team felt they had spent too much time immersed in the James Bond universe. Using a modified version of the GoldenEye 007 game engine, Perfect Dark made its debut at E3 1998, but it was not released until May 2000 due to its troubled development cycle. The game was accompanied by a handheld game for the Game Boy Color, released shortly afterwards.

Perfect Dark's critical and commercial success led Rare to begin development of a prequel titled Perfect Dark Zero for the Nintendo GameCube. The project was led by Chris Tilston, who previously worked on Killer Instinct and the original Perfect Dark. In September 2002, Rare was purchased by Microsoft. As a result, the development was subsequently transferred to Microsoft's Xbox. As the game was still far from completion, it was then decided that it would be released as a launch title for the Xbox 360. The overall development of the game took five years to complete.

Although it was never officially announced, development of a sequel to the Nintendo 64 game, entitled Perfect Dark Core, began in 2007 for the Xbox 360. Chris Seavor and the team that developed Conker's Bad Fur Day were in charge of the project. According to Indian site GameGuru, the intended game would apparently introduce a morality system where the choices players make would branch the storyline and the plot would be unveiled entirely through the player's perspective without cutscenes. It was later revealed that the title would also feature a more realistic atmosphere than its predecessors, with a "smoking, flirting" Joanna Dark. Near the end of the project's life, the game's concept was changed to a mech first-person shooter where the player controlled a male character. The project was eventually cancelled due to Microsoft's restructuring of Rare earlier in 2009.

A remake of the original Nintendo 64 game, also titled Perfect Dark, was exclusively released as an Xbox Live Arcade game for the Xbox 360 in March 2010. It was developed by 4J Studios, the same studio that previously handled the Xbox Live Arcade ports of Rare's platform games Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

Music

Main article: Music of the Perfect Dark series

The music of the Perfect Dark series primarily features two soundtracks. The first soundtrack, Perfect Dark: Dual CD Soundtrack, was composed by Grant Kirkhope and contains the complete score of the Nintendo 64 game, whereas the second one, Perfect Dark Zero Original Soundtrack, was composed by David Clynick and contains most of Perfect Dark Zero's music.

Adaptations

Further information: List of Perfect Dark media

In addition to video games, the Perfect Dark series is supported by numerous printed adaptations which have resulted in significant development of the series' fictional universe. Although a novel trilogy was announced in August 2005, only two novels were released. The two novels, Perfect Dark: Initial Vector and Perfect Dark: Second Front, were written by Greg Rucka and published by Tor books in 2005 and 2007 respectively. The first novel is set six months after the events of Perfect Dark Zero and focuses on dataDyne's new CEO election, while the second novel follows Joanna Dark as she attempts to stop a clandestine group of hackers responsible for some major accidents that allowed dataDyne to take over involved corporations.

In November 2005, it was announced that Prima Games would publish a six-issue comic book series written by Eric Trautmann and illustrated by Cold FuZion Studios. The comic book was released in six monthly issues from August 2006 to January 2007 as Perfect Dark: Janus' Tears, and revolves around Joanna's attempts to unmask a mole in the Carrington Institute's Los Angeles office. Trautmann also wrote a comic booklet included in the Limited Collector's Edition of Perfect Dark Zero, entitled Hong Kong Sunrise, which sets the scene for the game.

Reception

Aggregate review scores

Game	GameRankings	Metacritic
Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64)	95%	97%
Perfect Dark (Game Boy Color)	66%	—
Perfect Dark Zero	82%	81%
Perfect Dark (Xbox Live Arcade)	79%	79%

Along with the Banjo-Kazooie series, the Perfect Dark series is one of Rare's most successful franchises. The Nintendo 64 game sold 2.5 million units worldwide, ranking among the best-selling Nintendo 64 games. The game was met with a substantial level of critical acclaim, and its release on Xbox Live Arcade neared 410,000 units sold as of year-end 2011. Perfect Dark on Game Boy Color received mixed reviews from critics, who particularly criticized its difficult gameplay and lack of strategy. Perfect Dark Zero received overall positive reviews from critics, though not as high as the original game. Total sales for Zero exceeded more than one million copies worldwide. The games were generally praised for their customizable multiplayer modes and replay value.