History VideoGame / PerfectDark

''*Weapons malfunction*''\\
'''Elvis:''' ...Uh-oh.\\
'''Joanna:''' Watch what? Will you stop playing around and shoot!?
** Joanna's Horizon Scanner has the same display as Luke's binoculars in ''Film/ANewHope''.
** The Psychosis Gun, which injects enemy soldiers with a drug that makes them go crazy and start attacking each other, is a reference to the movie ''Film/JacobsLadder''.
** The Alaska mission, where Air Force One is hijacked, the President gets away in an escape pod and Joanna has to find him using his medical scanner, is very similar to the plot of ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''.
** The physical layout of Air Force One is very similar to [[Film/AirForceOne another Air Force One from a film that Harrison ford starred in]].
** As humorously pointed out by Eurogamer, at least in the Remastered Edition, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72myD9ecgYY&t=10m0s guard Joanna knocks out]] at the beginning of the second mission looks amazingly similar to Creator/PeterMolyneux.

* ShoutOut: Numerous ones to other sci-fi and {{cyberpunk}} works.
** The sound effect of weapons and ammo respawning in multiplayer mode is exactly the same we hear in ''Videogame/HalfLife'' 's Deathmatch Classic mod.
** The design of Area 51's laboratories, hallways, and even the autopsy rooms is lifted straight out of ''Film/IndependenceDay''.
** The entire level "Chicago: Stealth" is an homage to ''Film/BladeRunner'', with flying cars and neon billboards, Chinese characters everywhere, Joanna (and half the people she encounters) wearing trenchcoats, and [[CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain constant pouring rain]].
** The flying taxi cab you have to blow up in the Chicago level looks identical to the one Korbean Dallas flies in ''Film/TheFifthElement''. Also, a trailer for the game shows Joanna's apartment, which is not unlike Dallas' in that movie (hidden compartments, monitors everywhere, the WallOfWeapons).
** The K7 Avenger is visually based on the design of the pulse rifle from ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
** The Skedar attack ship is based on the ''Auriga'' from ''Film/AlienResurrection'', and their dropships are like the brown shuttle from the same movie.
** The cloaking device and other elements (the RC-P120 and the interior of the G5 building) are taken from ''Anime/GhostInTheShell''.
** As a CallBack to ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', all of the guns from the game appear in glass cases on the firing range, and some of them can be used in single player with cheats.
** Joanna's auto-targeting HUD and the [=MagSec=] machine pistol; both make it clear that somebody on the design team had watched ''Film/RoboCop1987'' before. The Laptop Gun is used by the drug dealing child in ''Film/RoboCop2''. The X-ray scanner is also very much like the one ''Franchise/RoboCop'' has.
** The multi-player level "The Grid" is borrowed from the building Neo and Trinity storm in ''Film/TheMatrix'', complete with columns and an elevator. Plus the name of the level is a dead giveaway.
** The concept of a railgun that fires through walls seems to be borrowed from ''Film/{{Eraser}}''.
** A very subtle one: the names that are mentioned over the intercom in Area 51 are actually the members of the rock band Music/ThePixies.
** And the announcements themselves ("Dr. X, go to location Y") may be a reference to a scene from ''Film/{{Tron}}''.
** In the first bonus level, Mr. Blonde does an Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger impression. The level's music even [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong sounds kind of like]] the theme from ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''.
-->"Go to the helipad if you want to live."
** The Maian aliens are based on the classic sci-fi "[[TheGreys greys.]]" Elvis even has a flying saucer.
** In Mission 5-2, the outro cut-scene pays homage to the part in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' when the Millennium Falcon fails to enter hyperspace.
-->'''Joanna:''' Elvis! Elvis! I can't detach that tube from the fuselage! Can you take it out?\\
'''Elvis:''' Piece of cake, Joanna. Watch this!\\

* XRayVisor: There is an item called the X-Ray Scanner that can see through walls. One of the weapons (the infamously overpowered [=FarSight=]) is a railgun with one of these scanners built into it.

* CoolGuns:
** The "AR 34" bears a noticeable resemblance to the FAMAS, playing as the Carrington Institute's {{good gun|sBadGuns}} to dataDyne's [=XM8=]-esque "Dragon" and "Superdragon". Like other games, it's nerfed to have a much slower firing rate than in real life. The "K7 Avenger" also bears some resemblance to the FAMAS, though to a much lesser extent, being closer to a generic bullpup weapon with a carry handle that just so happens to vaguely resemble the FAMAS'. ''Perfect Dark Zero'' meanwhile features the G1, almost entirely unmodified except for removing the magazine and sticking some [=LEDs=] on it as the "Plasma Rifle", with [[BottomlessMagazines a slowly-recharging energy source]] and an InvisibilityCloak mode.
** The Falcon 2 pistol is a Colt Double Eagle (a multi-caliber version of the 1911 re-designed to fire in double action) with a metallic appearance and a LaserSight. It can also be [[SniperPistol fitted with a scope]] for extra accuracy, and [[GunsAkimbo used two at a time]] for MoreDakka.
** One with a extended barrel and a blocky LaserSight mounted underneath shows up as the "Falcon" in ''Perfect Dark Zero''. It has an 18-round capacity, double that of the [=P9P=] or Mag-Sec 4, but in return it has lower power per-shot and doesn't have any fancy optics for long-range shooting. SecondaryFire tosses the magazine entirely, setting off the rounds still in it as an improvised "Firecracker" grenade.
** The machine gun is the only weapon to appear with its real name in ''Zero''. Oddly, the usual belt-box is replaced by a belt of only 7 rounds that [[BottomlessMagazines somehow lasts for 80 shots without decreasing in length]], and it's also able to sacrifice a few bullets to launch a caltrop as an area-denial weapon.
** A machine pistol based on the [[JokeWeapon infamously-useless]] Klobb from ''Goldeneye'' is available as a secret weapon in this game, now as the [=KLO1313=].
** The Colt Python is described as the most powerful handgun in the world. Each round has an impressive penetration factor and knocks the target back with the weight and power of the shot. Custom models are made for valued clients.
** The [=DY357=] Magnum. It's one of the game's more powerful sidearms, although it has a very slow reloading sequence. In a reference to ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'', the previous FPS by the same developers, NSA director Trent Easton gets the "[=DY357=]-LX", a [[BlingBlingBang gold version with tiger-print grips]], that kills anything that ''can'' be killed in one bullet. It returns in the prequel ''Perfect Dark Zero'', this time without the gold-plated version; the player can use one with wooden grips (which Joanna fires in single-action), while her father Jack gets a slightly-customized one with synthetic grips and a triggerguard-mounted LaserSight.
** Along with the original ''Goldeneye'' version unlockable, an upgraded RC-P90 appears in ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', here called the RCP-120, which has a 120 round magazine and can also spend ammo to generate a cloaking field. ''Zero'' also features the weapon, once again under the RCP-90 name, though with slightly reduced mag capacity (40 rounds) and different secondary modes (a threat detector that makes the weapon less accurate but highlights enemies, and a reprogram function to turn automated defenses [[HoistByHisOwnPetard against their owners]]).

The first game, ''Perfect Dark'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64, takes place shortly after Joanna has graduated the training program, and is sent to meet an insider from the [[MegaCorp dataDyne corporation]]. The events that unfold quickly reveal a plot against the US President involving [=dataDyne=], the NSA, and a mysterious third faction. Things rapidly become more complicated and she soon finds herself in the middle of [[SpaceColdWar a war between two alien races who have allied themselves with different factions on Earth.]] It would end up being the first M-rated game ever to be distributed by Nintendo, creating [[https://archive.org/details/newsweek-2000-06-12-rethinking-the-death-penalty-red/page/n25/mode/2up some light controversy among consumers and industry analysts]] due to this clashing with the company's family-friendly image.[[note]]Though Nintendo would market the game, it was self-published by Rare. Nintendo themselves wouldn't publish a M-rated game themselves until ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' two years later. Even now, Nintendo retains a family-friendly image and boasts ''far'' fewer M-rated titles in its catalog than their rivals, with these few games being developed outside of their internal teams.[[/note]]

The third and final game in the original Rare trilogy, ''Perfect Dark Zero'', was a launch title for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 following several delays and platform shifts. Another prequel, ''Zero'' is set 3 years before the original and has Joanna working as a bounty hunter with her dad, setting out on a mission to rescue a defecting [=dataDyne=] scientist, before getting mixed up with the Carrington Institute. While well-reviewed, fans deemed it an underwhelming follow-up to its predecessor. In March of 2010, the original game was [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased]] for UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, with new features such as updated graphics with 1080p resolution and eight-player online multiplayer. Both console games were later re-released again for UsefulNotes/XboxOne on 4 August 2015 as part of the ''Rare Replay'' {{compilation|Rerelease}}.

After being dormant for fifteen years, a new installment in the series, simply titled ''Perfect Dark'', was announced in 2020 for the [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series X|S]]. Rather than being developed by Rare, it is the first project of Microsoft's new first party studio Creator/TheInitiative, and has been described as a "AAAA" game.

Released the same year was a now all-but-forgotten UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor game that, despite having a title that was identical to the N64 game, was a prequel showing Jo's training and first mission with the Institute. Rather than being a straight-on FPS title like the other games, is played mostly from an overhead view with ''VideoGame/MetalGear''-inspired gameplay, along with some stages involving flying/driving vehicles from a similar top-down perspective, arcade-style first/third-person shooting, and even [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Simon Says-esque memory puzzles]] mixed in. It also has full-motion cutscenes and digitized voice-acting provided by much of the same cast as the N64 game.

* DisintegratorRay: two, in the GameBoy Color game. Late in the Jungle/dataDyne level, Joanna obtains a Mayan raygun that completely eradicates anyone she hits in a single shot (she sadly loses it soon after.) Additionally, the game has a rocket launcher weapon, which arbitrarily causes bodies to fade away shortly after death (rather than leave behind a body for Joanna to collect items from). While the rocket launcher effect is most likely a family-friendly version of the ChunkySalsaRule, it's still jarring since the effect isn't present in the far more violent N64 game.

** In Mission 3-1 (Chicago), you must place a Tracking Device on a Datadyne limo. On an additional note, you'll fail the mission if the guards see you planting the device.

** In the first game, body armor and helmet seem to be fashion accessories instead of protective equipment, as the easily killed dataDyne Troopers and G5 SWAT Guards can attest.

* UniversalAmmunition: The game uses the same ammo setup as ''[=GoldenEye=]'', with a few weapons having unique ammo types and the rest drawing from shared pools, differing only in that a third "generic" pool is added for submachine guns. A fairly ridiculous example, not only in that (at least going by the OneBulletClip rules) it already made sense for submachine guns to use pistol rounds, but that the '''alien weapons''' also draw from these pools.

** In the first game, Body Armors and Helmets seem to be fashion accessories instead of protective equipment, as the easily killed dataDyne Troopers and G5 SWAT Guards can attest.

%%* EscapePod

* ETGaveUsWiFi: [[ArtificialGravity Antigravity technology]] and other advances are due to help that dataDyne and the CI received from the alien races. In the second level of ''Perfect Dark'', you must steal some technology from dataDyne that is heavily hinted to be reverse-engineered from the Skedar, specifically the prototype shield and the K7 Avenger and its threat detector. The night vision visor though... we already have that in real life.

** "dataDyne Central: Extraction" begins with a section in pitch blackness which requires the use of night vision. "Area 51: Rescue", "Deep Sea: Nullify Threat" and "Skedar Ruins" have sections where the lighting flickers on and off.

The third and final game in the original Rare trilogy, ''Perfect Dark Zero'', was a launch title for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 following several delays and platform shifts. Another prequel, ''Zero'' is set 3 years before the original and has Joanna working as a bounty hunter with her dad, setting out on a mission to rescue a defecting [=dataDyne=] scientist, before getting mixed up with the Carrington Institute. While well-reviewed, fans deemed it an underwhelming follow-up to its predecessor. In March of 2010, the original game was [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased]] for UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, with new features such as updated graphics with 1080p resolution and eight-player online multiplayer. Both console games were later re-released again for UsefulNotes/XboxOne on 4 August 2015 as part of the ''Rare Replay'' {{compilation|Re-release}}.

The third and final game in the original Rare trilogy, ''Perfect Dark Zero'', was a launch title for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 following several delays and platform shifts. Another prequel, ''Zero'' is set 3 years before the original and has Joanna working as a bounty hunter with her dad, setting out on a mission to rescue a defecting [=dataDyne=] scientist, before getting mixed up with the Carrington Institute. While well-reviewed, fans deemed it an underwhelming follow-up to its predecessor. In March of 2010, the original game was [[UpdatedRerelease rereleased]] for UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, with new features such as updated graphics with 1080p resolution and eight-player online multiplayer. Both console games were later rereleased again for UsefulNotes/XboxOne on 4 August 2015 as part of the ''Rare Replay'' {{compilation|Rerelease}}.

* BloodierAndGorier: The blood is ramped up quite a bit from ''[=GoldenEye=]'', where enemies bled if shot, but it just stained their clothing. In ''Perfect Dark'', they often leave bloodstains on various surfaces; if you shoot an enemy in the head, blood will spray all over the wall opposite the direction from which you shot them. Enemies dealt leathally by the player often have a puddle of blood form under their corpses. This is partly why it was rated M when ''GoldenEye'' was only rated T.

** Save for the ''[=GoldenEye=]'' weapons, every weapon has a secondary firing mode. Some are basic, like the Falcon 2 and [=DY357=]'s PistolWhipping, the Reaper's Grinder mode, the Combat Knife's throw instead of a melee slash, the [[AKA47 AR34's]] scope zoom in non-aim mode, and the Sniper Rifle's crouch (since crouching in the N64 original was done by going into aim mode and pressing down on the D-Pad or C-button layout, except in this case where it adjusts the zoom); to burst-fire modes like the [=MagSec=] 4, Cyclone, and shotgun; to explosives like the Phoenix's small explosive rounds, the [=SuperDragon=]'s underslung grenade launcher, and the Dragon's [[SchmuckBait proximity mine booby-trap]]; to the downright exotic like the "Proximity Pinball" function on the grenade, the Laptop Gun's sentry mode, the [=CMP150=]'s aimbot and [=FarSight=] XR-20's auto-tracking, the K7 Avenger and explosive mines' threat detector (picks up armed mines and booby-trapped Dragons), the Devastator's sticky grenades, and the RC-P120's cloaking device.

* SecretLevel: The secret levels are retreads of previous levels from a different point of view, which reveal different parts of the story. The first one shows how an alien {{Mook}} [[spoiler:kidnapped the CEO of dataDyne (she was later killed aboard the ship) and imploded the building, effectively destroying the company]]. The other two missions let you play as the [[TheGreys grey]] aliens, one where Elvis alerts the Institute of being captured by Area51 and you play through the entire level with diminished health, and the other has you play as a soldier among a platoon who landed on the planet after Joanna dropped the shields. Both missions are ''[[BrutalBonusLevel insanely]]'' difficult.
* SecretWar: The novels indicate this has been going on between the Carrington Institute and dataDyne, out of the public eye. ''Zero'' shows it, with the last set of missions being an all-out battle between the two.

* SecretGovernmentWarehouse: Area 51.

%%* UnguidedLabTour: [=dataDyne=] Central, Area 51, the Pelagic II.

* DeadlyEuphemism: "[[Film/BladeRunner Retire]] presidential clone."

* ArmorIsUseless: Body Armors and Helmets seem to be fashion accessories instead of protective equipment, as the easily killed dataDyne Troopers and G5 SWAT Guards can attest.

* BioluminescenceIsCool: The Cetan ship.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: "Skedar Ruins". There are [[AlienGeometries collapsed archways and off-kilter floors]] all over the place, as well as random chasms and dead ends.

** Becomes DenserAndWackier when you turn on the Paintball cheat. Especially with ''rockets''.

-->"Go to the helipad if you want to live." Also, [=dataDyne=] = Cyberdyne?

* IrrelevantImportance: {{Inverted}}. One level requires you to carry a crate of bullet-sensitive explosives for a while to blow a hole in a wall. If they blew up while still relevant, you got the "Mission Failed" message, but it turns out they were never really relevant to begin with; there were other ways to blow the hole in the wall, and doing so would give you a "Mission Incomplete" message as the game realized you still had a chance.

** But, in ''Zero'' this is the secondary mode of the rocket launcher.

* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler:Joanna, when she gets abducted by the Skedar after the attack on the Carrington Institute.]]

** Played straight in ''Perfect Dark.'' For some reason, the weapons that you get will never carry over to the next mission. (Example: Joanna picks up a [=CMP150=] in Mission 1-1 but she no longer has it at the start of Mission 1-2. Joanna is riding an elevator between these missions.)

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Just because the Maians are cute and fond of humans doesn't mean they're pacifists. The deadly [=FarSight=] XR-20 alone proves [[DontMakeMeDestroyYou they know how to use their weapons]]. They fought a space-faring race ''who relish war'' into a stalemate. Once the sacred Skedar shrine is uncovered, they unleash [[DeathFromAbove their unbridled fury]] upon the extremists, [[TheKingslayer perform regicide]], and [[OrbitalBombardment flatten the place]] to cripple their enemies morale foreverafter.
* BigBad: dataDyne in the series, [[spoiler:and Skedar]] in ''Perfect Dark''.

* BigYes: Joanna gives one when she [[spoiler: kills the Skedar leader]]. Which leads to a LittleNo.

* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: A shield generator will completely protect you. Even from explosions.

* BoringYetPractical: The Falcon 2, your default weapon, is fairly accurate, has a good rate of fire, and is easy to get headshots due to little sway. There's plenty of ammo for it, too. The [=CMP150=] is a bit weak for a semi auto weapon, but every goon carries it so there's plenty of ammo. You can [[GunsAkimbo dual wield]] both of these weapons, too.

** In the Game Boy Color game, checkpoints only occurring after you reach a VERY specific part of a mission, such as a boss battle or when you pass through certain doorways. Good luck getting far enough to reach those points without dying.