Perfect Dark thrusts gamers into a futuristic world run by an evil corporation called dataDyne. As a field agent for the Carrington Institute, you will embark on a series of missions that begins with a mysterious kidnapping and culminates in an intergalactic conflict between two alien races. The game takes place in the year 2023, where the future is bleak and grim (is there any other kind?). It is also a time of despair. Animals are being mutilated for no apparent reason, people are being abducted at alarming rates, and the planet seems to have become one giant playground for forces unknown. These events have not gone unnoticed by the Carrington Institute.
Led by the benevolent Daniel Carrington, the institute was created in order to research and develop new technologies for the greater good of mankind. That's not all they do, however. The Carrington Institute takes it upon itself to investigate certain actions that threaten society, and Daniel believes dataDyne may very well be responsible for some of the aforementioned problems. To that end, he has assigned his best agent to investigate: Joanna "Perfect" Dark. (The "Perfect" comes from her stellar test scores as an agent-in-training.) Joanna's male counterpart, undercover agent Jonathan, may or may not play a significant role in the events that follow.
It is widely suspected that Cassandra De Vries has somehow found a way to contact an alien race in order to ensure that her company, dataDyne Corp., remains competitive far into the future. She openly despises Daniel Carrington and will stop at nothing in her quest for power. Joanna Dark will have to be on full alert in her dealings with the corporation, as the amount of security and defenses will most assuredly prevent her from strolling right through the front door.
Joanna's first case involves one of dataDyne's trusted scientists, Dr. Caroll. It seems Caroll had contacted the Carrington Institute with an odd request: he needs to be rescued from the very same company he works for While researching a particularly sensitive project, Dr. Caroll became increasingly uncomfortable with the subject matter. After voicing his moral objections to the project, the kind people at dataDyne responded the only way they knew how: by ordering a mental restructuring operation How's that for a company morale booster?
Now Joanna must infiltrate the corporation, find and rescue the frightened doctor and make it back in one piece. Along the way, she'll need to dispatch various guards (with artificial intelligence that is reportedly 200 times better than the AI found in the game's predecessor, GoldenEye 007). Ms. Dark will, however, be able to use various tools of the trade to help her. The weapons arsenal includes all of the armaments from GoldenEye as well as the expected new "toys" a futuristic agent needs to complete multiple missions.
Perhaps the most notable weapon in Perfect Dark's arsenal is the FarSight XR 20, a gun that allows you to "see" opponents through walls or barriers. The FarSight automatically targets a motionless individual, allowing the player to take out any would-be "campers" (a term used to describe players who stand still to ambush their opponents). The benefit is clear: once the enemy has been targeted, the gun will take care of the rest. The drawback is that it takes a long time for the gun to zero-in on a player, so don't expect a lot of cheap kills.
Perfect Dark also features an array of multi-player modes in 30 different arenas. Simulants can also be added into the mix as either friends (they will fight alongside you like Natalya in GoldenEye 007) or foes. The single-player game features nine missions spanning 17 levels with cinema-style cut-scenes (60 minutes worth) to help immerse gamers into the story.
Two players can go through the single-player game using a split-screen viewpoint in the Cooperative Mode, or two players can compete against each other in the Counter Operative Mode. While the Cooperative Mode is self-explanatory, the Counter Operative Mode is a bit different.
By selecting this mode, one player can play as Joanna Dark while the other steps into the shoes of an enemy character. The goal if you're playing as Joanna is to beat your foes and complete the level. The goal as the enemy is to take Ms. Dark out The "bad" player can also assume control of random enemy characters until the level is over
Another new feature is the Challenge Mode. For players who want a breather in between the traditional multi-player and single-player games, the Challenge Mode offers 30 different contests that will have you gunning for computer-controlled simulants under a variety of conditions (such as King of the Hill or even user-defined challenges). Up to four players can play the Challenge Mode, and each contest can be played four times (with one, two, three and four players). ~ Scott Alan Marriott, All Game Guide