Everything people remember Goldeneye for being, Perfect Dark actually is. There's an intriguing mix of cyberpunk and X-Files alien espionage in the story, and the weapons are a lot of fun to use. The sound and music are excellent. Between this game and Banjo Tooie, Grant Kirkhope had a career defining year in 2000. Graphically, this pushes the Nintendo 64 to its absolute limits, and it shows. Even with the expansion pak, sub 20 FPS is common when there's a lot of action on the screen.

If you can get past that though, this game is feature rich. The campaign is long and engaging, and sadistic in its difficulty when you're playing on harder settings. The campaign can be played in co-op, or you can have up to 4 bots in co-op with you as well. It has a pvp campaign mode as well called counter-operative, where player 2 takes control of an enemy character. Even modern games don't do that. Combine that with a multiplayer mode that can be played with bots or up to four players across multiple different match types, and you have a total package of a game, and about as much fun as you could have with a first-person shooter in 2000. I wouldn't recommend playing this on a Nintendo 64 though. While I'm used to first-person shooter controls on the console, I also grew up with it. I know it's a tall order for most people, especially with those previously mentioned frame rate issues. I would instead point you to the remake Rare did for the Xbox 360 in 2010. That version fixes the frame rate issues and it's also compatible with the Xbox One and the Xbox Series X. If you don't have an Xbox console, some nice people did an unofficial PC port in 2023 that you can play instead. I will link the github at the end of the review for you to download it.

I feel like this game is incredibly slept on, given how much hype Goldeneye gets even now. This is better in every single way than Goldeneye and is the real best console FPS of the era.

Github for the unofficial PC port:
https://github.com/fgsfdsfgs/perfect_dark

Dare I say it: best racing game ever? Though the Metacritic score doesn't reflect its quality, this is the most fun I have ever had with a racing game.

Variety is the word of the day Setting a racing game in Australia was an inspired choice. We got beach racing, desert tracks, city street racing, racing towns, racing in rainforests, racing in industrial parks, and if you get the DLC, racing in snow and in fantasy Hot Wheels tracks.

There's over 500 cars to choose from, and the difficulty, control, and feel are all just right and completely adjustable if you are struggling. The graphics are incredibly beautiful. The team apparently spent some time in Australia taking reference photos just to make sure the skyboxes were right. The effort did not go to waste.

The soundtrack is an eclectic blend of genres, and you can always use your own music. The aforementioned variety is on display with the kind of racing you can do, too. You got high speed racing, truck racing, dune buggies, you name it, this game probably has it. Depending on how you adjust the settings, you can play it like an arcade racer or make it as simulationist as you want.

Other Forza Horizon games have come and gone since this one, but for its variety in setting and race types, its perfect difficulty curve, and just how fun it is to control, I think this is the best racing video game ever made. Give it a shot!

This was an excellent an influential game. Its combat proved to eb very influential. Combine that with the environmental puzzle solving and metroidvania exploration, and you've got a game I would much rather return to than say Arkham City's open world.

Graphically, it holds up pretty well thanks to its slightly stylized art. It really nails the look and feel of a Batman comic circa 2009. Its atmosphere is also unparalleled in the series. It borders on a horror game at times, especially if the Scarecrow sequences haven't been spoiled for you. The only thing preventing it from being a perfect game in my opinion are the bosses. All of them are very basic, and the final boss is so obnoxious that it sort of hindered my enjoyment of the ending. Still, this is the best comic book game ever made, in my opinion, and well worth your time even now.