Aside from fancy HD graphics and newfangled control mechanisms, this current generation of consoles will surely be remembered for its knack at selling old games. Whether it’s true-to-form emulations on the Virtual Console or tweaked upgrades for the 360 and PS3, the old has certainly made a claim for itself. While there is no end to the list of games people want to see re-released (EarthBound, anyone?), one game has come up more often than most: GoldenEye 007. Though licensing nightmares may keep that game from ever seeing the light of day again, with the help of 4J Studios, Rare has opted to bring its sequ… I mean “spirtual successor” out to play instead.

Speaking from personal experience, and having not checked any formal sales data anywhere, I don’t think Perfect Dark was ever as popular as GoldenEye was and is. Was it the lack of the Bond name? Was it the relatively late release into the Nintendo 64′s life cycle? I don’t know the answers, but I do know that this was a game I loved to play.

I worried, though, about this downloadable version. With few exceptions, first person shooters just don’t tend to age so well, especially when they are muddy, frame rate-sucking N64 games. After spending a lot of time with Perfect Dark (mostly dying), I must admit I am pleasantly surprised. Though some of the limitations of its time stand out glaringly, like the CFD! staff at the beach, there are enough positive elements to keep things moving.

Addressing the visuals specifically, Rare and 4J (who worked on the Banjo-Kazooie ports) did everything they could to clean up that old N64 shit-sheen. The characters and world are sharp-looking, if still rather blocky and polygonal. Much improved, however, is the frame rate, which is typically smooth as butter. What this all means is that while the levels and the items within them look overly-dated, there is just enough polish thrown on that it won’t ever bother you. The best way to describe the look is “clean.”

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the AI. Laughable here, nauseatingly frustrating there; the enemies and their behavior are just downright sporadic. Once you can see an enemy, there is a 90% likelihood that he sees you as well, no matter the distance. He will then exercise a few different tactics, including running straight into your bullets, performing the slowest combat roll of all time, and inheriting the will of God while unloading a surprisingly well aimed barrage of bullets into your chest.

My attempts at humor are not far from the mark. Nearly every time you confront an enemy, you will have roughly 15 seconds to dispose of him before he even lifts his gun. But every now and then, and with no warning, you will happen upon Rambo, who will deplete half of your (non-rechargeable) health before you even have the chance to say “ouch.” It may not have been as noticeable in 2000, but this little blip of AI inconsistency just feels like a bad attempt at trying to inject some difficulty into the game.

AI aside, I was actually shocked to discover how well the level design has held up over the years. Each difficulty level adds more tasks to be completed in each individual stage, ranging from bugging a limo to protecting a flying computer, and though the descriptions of what to do are sometimes all too vague, each area has a distinct feeling and goal. While playing at the lowest difficulty level will typically mean needing to simply go from point A to point B and killing everything in your way, the Perfect Agent difficulty will instead play out as a cruel game of trial and error.

The first few attempts at a stage left me absolutely irate, but with time, I began to memorize enemy placement and discover where each of my objectives were to be completed. After about a half an hour of fumbling around, I would then be ready to complete the level. At this point, it felt like a racing game as I turned corners and fired quick shots into spaces I knew would be occupied by enemy flesh and then downloaded vital information from a nearby computer seconds later. In but a few minutes, the level would be over. All that work and preparation for a 5 minute execution. This style of play may not be for everyone, and thankfully, doesn’t have to be. That a difference in difficulty would offer such a degree of change in the style of play is utterly impressive, not to mention brilliant.

Of course, what GoldenEye and Perfect Dark are most remembered for is the multiplayer, and fans can rest easy knowing it’s all here. All the modes and options from the original are present, playable locally and via Xbox Live. The first two modes of note are Cooperative and Counter-operative. As can be surmised from its name, Cooperative has you and up to 3 others playing through the campaign missions together. Conversely, Counter-operative has one player progress through a campaign level while another plays as one of the common enemies throughout said level. The player-controlled enemies still feature the health and ammo restrictions of the AI counterparts, but in return the player gets to respawn as another enemy when killed.

Both of those modes are fun, but it is the Combat Simulator that makes up the real meat of the experience. The settings and scenarios are numerous, as you can tweak what sorts of weapons appear in the match as well as enable cheats unlocked throughout the single-player campaign. If you create an especially fun set of rules, you can save those settings and use them again in future matches. New to this version of Perfect Dark is the ability to play with up to 8 human players online. If your lobby is a few humans shy though don’t fret, as the computer controlled “Bots” are still available for use. While the Combat Simulator is virtually just a death match mode, the insane amount of customization is what makes all the difference. Play a match consisting of only mines with 7 of your friends and tell me it’s not a blas… good time.

In the end, this XBLA version of Perfect Dark is Rare’s best attempt at making all those people who want a GoldenEye port happy. When released originally, it was superior to its progenitor in every category except license, and there can be no doubt that it fares the test of time much better today as well. For anyone who missed this boat the first time, here’s your chance to discover why everyone – and I mean everyone – was so deeply disappointed with Perfect Dark Zero. For those like me, who sequestered themselves in a friend’s basement and rode a pop-induced sugar rush into the wee hours of the morning playing this game, your King has returned.

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Things We Liked: Cleaned up visuals. Inventive level design. An orgy of multiplayer options waiting to be assembled.

Things We Disliked: Very bad and sometimes unpredictable AI. Somewhat clumsy controls.  Oh, and the voice-acting isn’t all that grand, either.

Target Audience: Everyone clamoring for a GoldenEye port.

(Perfect Dark – Developer: 4J Studios, Rare. Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios. Available on Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. New to CFD!’s reviews? Read our explanation here.)