Perfect Dark

Ever wonder where the daring, beautiful Joanna Dark came from? Thanks to Perfect Dark for the Game Boy Color, you can now find out. Not merely a port of the advanced Nintendo 64 sibling, but rather its prequel, players here will first meet the lovely Ms. Dark while she's completing her training at the Carrington Institute. After that, she's off to South America to investigate an illegal cyborg factory and finds herself in a vortex of conspiracy and intrigue.

The game will take you through seven missions designed exclusively for the Game Boy, incorporating puzzles and minigames among the shoot-to-kill action. And speaking of action, the makers have included a two-player deathmatch mode that's played against a friend's copy of the game via the separately sold Game Link cable. As if that weren't enough, you can use the separately sold Transfer Pak to share information with your N64 version of Perfect Dark too.

The adventures of Joanna Dark, Nintendo's favorite superspy, have made the jump from the Nintendo 64 to the Game Boy Color. Unfortunately, despite having some occasionally interesting gameplay and okay visuals, this Perfect Dark is a huge misfire that disappoints on many levels.

Sneaking about and trying to take out the enemy is the secret agent's art and should be fun in itself. Tragically, it becomes almost immediately apparent that the use of stealth here is less than an exact science. It's too hard to tell whether or not the enemy can hear or see you. Combined with mushy controls and inaccurate targeting for the gunfights, what you have is a game that feels unfinished and rushed. The action switches to a first-person view for target practice and for picking off enemies in sniper mode. These few-and-far-between moments feel like they might've been "borrowed" from another game entirely.

The sound effects, for the most part, consist of the usual gun blasts and mortally wounded soldiers screaming "Medic!" and other cries of agony. There is quite a bit of speech in the between-level mission briefings. Unfortunately, the Game Boy speaker is so pitifully lame that nearly every sound is garbled and devastatingly warped. Even Joanna's death moan is a comical, high-pitched chirp.

Perfect Dark allows you to exchange data and unlocked maps with a friend's copy of the game via the Game Boy Color's infrared port. You can also engage in two-player deathmatches on special maps via the separately sold Game Link cable. The only problem is that while the maps are decently drawn and a human opponent is (hopefully) smarter than the Game Boy, the same control issues of solo play still linger.

One redeeming quality of Perfect Dark for the GBC is its compatibility with the N64 Perfect Dark via Nintendo's Transfer Pak, which supplies easy access to guns and other cheats. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Access to weapons and other cheats of Perfect Dark for the N64 via the Transfer Pak
• It's in color

Cons:

• Mushy controls and inaccurate firing
• Horrendous sound effects
• Thoroughly forgettable and unremarkable