Rare — the company that gave the world GoldenEye 007 — will unleash a new first-person shooter in April 2000. Perfect Dark will give gamers an engrossing solo adventure worthy of the silver screen, and a multiplayer mode to die for. Nintendo Power Source recently had the opportunity to play a demo version of PD, and believe us when we tell you that Joanna Dark makes one heck of a first impression.

Eliminating the Evil Empire

Rare flips the script on the predictable plots of first-person shooters, with a twisting storyline where aliens are allies and trust is a luxury which you can't afford. Set in the year 2023, Judging from this police car, we're only 24 years away from mainstream hover cars. Surely this will solve the pothole problem once and for all special operative Joanna Dark receives a distress signal from a troubled scientist in the monolithic dataDyne Corporation.

Throughout the game Joanna discovers that dataDyne is at the center of a global conspiracy, and she realizes that her mission is much more than a simple reconnaissance strike. You control Joanna Dark as she gathers gadgets, completes complex objectives, and sends quite a few bad guys to meet their makers.

Technical perfection.

Rare has already proven that they have a handle on first-person espionage titles, but the development team is determined to improve on its first effort in every technical and gaming category. The combined effect of an intriguing storyline, an enticing leading lady and technological achievement will stagger game designers and players alike.

Rare lives up to its reputation with astonishing visuals and special effects like dynamic lighting, explosions, dust, steam, and sun glare that will knock you off the couch. Rare has obviously taken advantage of its in-house motion-capture studio, creating enemies with eerily realistic animations.

One of the most impressive elements of Perfect Dark can be found in the faces of dataDyne employees. The mugs of bad buys are extremely life-like, with convincingly three-dimensional features. Fallen foes eventually fade away, but they remain on the ground much longer than most first-person shooters on Nintendo 64. Generally, the enemies will not disappear until you leave the room or look away.

Current specifications call for an astounding 60 minutes of cinema scenes, topping off a

sophisticated visual package. During the introduction to the game's first mission, Joanna sneaks into the dataDyne office via helicopterAdd to that Rare's own Surround and Acoustic Shadowing Technology™ and you're playing a game that sounds just as good as it looks. You can hear enemy characters talking to each other during gun fights, and the faint clinking of spent shells has not been overlooked. Other features like the sound of Joanna's boots on metal walkways demonstrate the game's attention to detail.

The struggle to survive.

One of the most appealing aspects of Goldeneye 007 is the great challenge provided by the game's various difficulty settings. Rare claims that this idea came late in the game's development, and as a result they were unable to fully incorporate their ideas into the gameplay. With Perfect Dark, they've been able to make their original vision a reality.

Each stage of Perfect Dark can be played in one of three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium, or Hard. In addition to pumping up enemy AI in higher difficulty levels, players will have to complete increasingly complex puzzles which were included in the level design from the get go.

The artificial intelligence of both friends and foes is an impressive aspect of Perfect Dark. Enemy characters demonstrate long-range team work, cover recognition, and the uncanny ability to assess threats.In the foreground stands one of the masked security guards of the dataDyne Corporation. They must get paid quite well to wear such uncomfortable head gearDepending on their numbers, enemies will either retreat or press forward as your trigger finger twitches.

Certain levels require players to cooperate with other characters (including alien "Greys"), similar to Bond's interaction with Natayla in the Jungle level of Goldeneye 007. Unlike Natalya's frequently frustrating behavior, though, friendly characters in Perfect Dark will interact intelligently with the player and other CPU characters as well.

Four heads are better than one.

No matter how good a one-player game is, Rare knows that great multiplayer action is what keeps gamers coming back for more. Perfect Dark is positioned to set a new standard in deathmatch gaming, with an incredibly rich four-player party waiting to be unleashed.

The world as seen through the Farsight XR20. This remarkable weapon was invented to prevent "camping" during multiplayer action. The gun's sight can slowly locate an opponent who is standing motionless, and then blast through as many walls as necessary to eliminate the camperPerfect Dark will contain at least ten new multiplayer arenas, and special cameo appearances by two of the best battle zones from Goldeneye 007. If there aren't any human competitors handy, a single gamer can play against a crew of intelligent computer-controlled simulants (a.k.a. "bots"). Up to four simulants can be activated during a four-player game. Each simulant can be assigned to cooperate with a human player, and individually instructed to follow specific strategies.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of Perfect Dark is the ability to put your own face into the game. Using the Game Boy Camera and a special Transfer Pak that connects to your controller, you can take a picture of your face and paste it to the polygon head of a multiplayer character. After choosing an outfit that matches your fashion sense, you'll be one of the stars of Perfect Dark. We witnessed this procedure first-hand, and the results are remarkably accurate.

Even though we were only able to test drive the first mission of Perfect Dark, precise play control and outrageous multiplayer action have made us extremely optimistic about this exciting game. Look for more screen shots and information on Perfect Dark as its December release date draws near