For those that have never heard of Perfect Dark, first and foremost I must say, “for shame.” Seriously in my top 5 Nintendo 64 games, as well as top 15 Nintendo games of all time. Everyone remembers Goldeneye. Well Rare took everything great about that game, and made it better. Really taking advantage of the four player split screen age, this game was a riot.
Rare revisited this title to spruce it up just a bit. Much faster frame rate and a sharper image. They cheesy voice overs and and mitten shaped hands are still in the game. It also seems like they’ve taken a lot of time to spruce up the faces of all the characters. Which is a nice touch. Lots of fun to revisit this game. Of course this Xbox release comes with some Achievements and the new unlock-able avatar accessories. In the first level I had already unlocked a pretty sweet shirt for my digital counterpart.
In this new port you also have the ability to play four player or eight player over Xbox LIVE. Which is great. Honestly the only “downside” to this game was getting my sea legs back. First person shooters now and then were completely different. It took me a little while not to get dizzy as hell while I was navigating through the stair wells.
Here is a fun side by side comparison of the original and the Xbox LIVE version:
For 800 Points, this is a must have. At the very least you and your friends can relive those close-quarter-arm-bruising days from all of our pasts.
Next up is a little gem I had never heard of prior to starting it up on my Xbox, Scrap Metal. Seriously fun game. This is how all the arcade games should be. Very simple and easy to just jump in and play. Imagine Micro Machines for the original NES meets Vigilante 8 for the PSOne.
Steer your car around a race track from an overhead point of view simply by pointing the analog in the direction you want to go. Hold left trigger for reverse. Just that simple. The fun twist is every car you unlock has its own artillery specialty. You unlock cars by destroying them on the race track. The unlocked cars can be suped up with money you earn racing, as well as customizing the colors and accessories of your cars.
With multiple racing tracks and variations in tasks (demolotion derby and take down the target for example), this game is a great “plug and play” title.
