There's been rumors for awhile now that a new Perfect Dark may be in the works and it's allegedly being developed by Microsoft's new studio, The Initiative. Assuming it's true, what would you like to see in the new entry? What would you like to see changed or removed entirely? Here some some directions I personally hope the game will take...
Campaign
Rumors persist that it's likely to be a 3rd person shooter this, and despite the original game and prequel being FPS', I'm actually quite okay with this. Put a well told and interesting story behind it and some intuitive and unique gameplay and this could have the potential of being Microsoft's futuristic "Uncharted" or "Splinter Cell" as you will, considering it has always been a stealthy/action oriented franchise. And be it a sequel to the original or a complete reboot, please bring back the Skedar/Maian aliens! The rival alien factions with the humans working alongside the good Maian race severely missed in Perfect Dark Zero. While this could be completely moot if it's a complete reboot, I think it would be a disservice to the 'DNA' of Perfect Dark to include them.
Co-Op/Counter-OP
Both the original game and its prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, were a blast to playthrough with a friend. And the original's Counter-OP mode put a second player in control of the enemies, which made for a much different experience. It would be great to see these modes return!
No Open World (?)
In a gaming landscape where so many games are now open-world or semi-open, I'd hope that Perfect Dark avoids this. I'm not opposed to it if it's done well, but I'd much prefer multiple levels divided into missions like the games two predecessors and Goldeneye. Maybe a bit bigger to take even more advantage of the game's—hopefully!—objective based difficulty. There's more than enough open world games out there without Perfect Dark having to go that route, too, but again, I'm okay with it but just not as excited at the prospect of it as I would be with the smaller "go on this mission and do this Joanna" levels as the other games were structured.
Futuristic Weaponry
Perfect Dark still has a lot of weaponry that is unmatched today. The Super Dragon and the Laptop Gun are two of my favorite weapons of all-time. I mean come on, a gun that you're blasting does with one minute, and then the next your tossing it against a wall to serve as a sentry weapon?! It was awesome! And who could forget about The Reaper or the Farsight with its X-Ray technology that could blast a foe—through walls!—across the entire map! A new game has to have these classic weapons and, of course, a new array of weapons to add to its legacy. Each with secondary functions, of course...
Objective Based Difficulty
This is a big one and one I feel still makes Perfect Dark—and even Zero and Goldeneye—ahead of their time still. The majority of shooters out their have one thing in common when it comes to their campaigns... the difficulty. You select a harder difficulty, you get the same campaign with just harder AI to get through. But PD, PDZ, and GE? No. Rare upped the ante by going above and beyond by doing more than just making the game harder, but also requiring that the player do more! I feel like this is a must for a new game as it really sets it apart from most other shooters and I'd hope that The Initiative (or whoever) takes this into account and keeps this in the game.
The Multiplayer
What is Perfect Dark without a memorable multiplayer component? It offered so many options with different games, a lot of characters to choose from, and so much more that no other shooter really rivals it today in this regard (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here). Of course, if it is third person this go round, it'll be interesting to see how it plays, but I'm cool with that as long as it hopefully maintains the aforementioned things. And let's not forget those Perfect Dark challenges! Man, those were incredibly difficult to complete and to this day I still haven't managed to beat them all, but they're a blast to attempt, especially with a friend!
So how about it Era? What's your hopes and aspirations for a new Perfect Dark?
Campaign
Rumors persist that it's likely to be a 3rd person shooter this, and despite the original game and prequel being FPS', I'm actually quite okay with this. Put a well told and interesting story behind it and some intuitive and unique gameplay and this could have the potential of being Microsoft's futuristic "Uncharted" or "Splinter Cell" as you will, considering it has always been a stealthy/action oriented franchise. And be it a sequel to the original or a complete reboot, please bring back the Skedar/Maian aliens! The rival alien factions with the humans working alongside the good Maian race severely missed in Perfect Dark Zero. While this could be completely moot if it's a complete reboot, I think it would be a disservice to the 'DNA' of Perfect Dark to include them.
Co-Op/Counter-OP
Both the original game and its prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, were a blast to playthrough with a friend. And the original's Counter-OP mode put a second player in control of the enemies, which made for a much different experience. It would be great to see these modes return!
No Open World (?)
In a gaming landscape where so many games are now open-world or semi-open, I'd hope that Perfect Dark avoids this. I'm not opposed to it if it's done well, but I'd much prefer multiple levels divided into missions like the games two predecessors and Goldeneye. Maybe a bit bigger to take even more advantage of the game's—hopefully!—objective based difficulty. There's more than enough open world games out there without Perfect Dark having to go that route, too, but again, I'm okay with it but just not as excited at the prospect of it as I would be with the smaller "go on this mission and do this Joanna" levels as the other games were structured.
Futuristic Weaponry
Perfect Dark still has a lot of weaponry that is unmatched today. The Super Dragon and the Laptop Gun are two of my favorite weapons of all-time. I mean come on, a gun that you're blasting does with one minute, and then the next your tossing it against a wall to serve as a sentry weapon?! It was awesome! And who could forget about The Reaper or the Farsight with its X-Ray technology that could blast a foe—through walls!—across the entire map! A new game has to have these classic weapons and, of course, a new array of weapons to add to its legacy. Each with secondary functions, of course...
Objective Based Difficulty
This is a big one and one I feel still makes Perfect Dark—and even Zero and Goldeneye—ahead of their time still. The majority of shooters out their have one thing in common when it comes to their campaigns... the difficulty. You select a harder difficulty, you get the same campaign with just harder AI to get through. But PD, PDZ, and GE? No. Rare upped the ante by going above and beyond by doing more than just making the game harder, but also requiring that the player do more! I feel like this is a must for a new game as it really sets it apart from most other shooters and I'd hope that The Initiative (or whoever) takes this into account and keeps this in the game.
The Multiplayer
What is Perfect Dark without a memorable multiplayer component? It offered so many options with different games, a lot of characters to choose from, and so much more that no other shooter really rivals it today in this regard (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here). Of course, if it is third person this go round, it'll be interesting to see how it plays, but I'm cool with that as long as it hopefully maintains the aforementioned things. And let's not forget those Perfect Dark challenges! Man, those were incredibly difficult to complete and to this day I still haven't managed to beat them all, but they're a blast to attempt, especially with a friend!
So how about it Era? What's your hopes and aspirations for a new Perfect Dark?
