Rumor: 360's next big thing is Perfect Dark 2

by Justin McElroy { Oct 15th 2007 at 11:50AM }

Update: Rare ain't talkin'. "There's always rumors going around about different games we may or may not be doing but we'd prefer not to comment on rumors at this stage," the developer told GamesIndustry.biz.

Our favorite kind of rumors to post are the ones that make perfect sense to us and this nugget from Indian gaming site Game Guru is just such a rumor. Apparently, the author's "sources" are telling him that Rare is hard at work on a sequel to Perfect Dark. Apparently, in this chronological follow-up to the N64 title, Joanna Dark is, well, darker, and the game has a new built-in morality system to match.

Though completely a rumor at this point, this makes a lot of sense. With no Halo (save for the RTS) title, Gears of War 2 is going to need a little help holding up the tent pole. As far as action titles go, we're not sure there's a more logical successor than Perfect Dark. And hey, maybe this one will even be fun!

[Via CVG]

Tags: gearsofwar2, microsoft, perfectdark, perfectdark2, rare, xbox360

Related From Joystiq

Interview: Dan Amrich of Activision community site One of Swords
18 days ago
Rare: 'No shortage of possibilities' for revisiting IP
21 days ago
The Best of Big Download: January 4-10
28 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

pete @ Oct 15th 2007 11:56AM

The first one was genuinely abysmal drek in almost all capacities. Not looking forward to a second one at all.

NaeemTHM @ Oct 15th 2007 12:03PM

???

It was ok dude...you act like it was Superman 64. Anyway, IMO perfect Dark Deuce is welcome.

But I feel that Rare should get to work on that next Mario game for Microsoft. We already have tons of great shooters. But next to no good platformers.

blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 15th 2007 12:12PM

yeah, i love platformers like spyro, ratchet, dak/jax. tomb raider legend is the only platformer on 360. it was good though

Cellien @ Oct 15th 2007 12:33PM

Tru dat. I also welcome Perfect Dark 2, but I would very much like a platformer... Good news is they are making one ;) Banjo!

The1 @ Oct 15th 2007 12:52PM

I was not IMPRESSED with the X360's Perfect Dark. I got suckered, shame on me. In all honestly, I think MS should let someone else make Perfect Dark instead of Rare. Actually, they should have did that right after PDO was released in 2005. None of Rare's games on the X360 have been up to par with the exception of Kameo which was ported from the XBOX.

MS wasted so much money on this company that its crazy.

DWells55 @ Oct 15th 2007 1:33PM

I don't understand why the poor guy got voted down so hard. I can totally see where he's coming from. Perfect Dark 0 was an absolute disgrace to the masterpieces that were Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for the N64. It had a terrible and completely absurd storyline that couldn't even be followed and didn't even have good gameplay. It didn't resemble Perfect Dark in any way and the multiplayer was a huge letdown. I was so excited to see my favorite FPS ever getting a next-gen prequel, only to be severely disappointed.

I understand where pete is coming from. It's likely that the dev team at Rare is the same one from PD0, so we're probably not going to see a dramatically better game. Like I assume pete does, I fear that this will just be a further insult to the original Perfect Dark.

Joe Schmoe @ Oct 15th 2007 1:42PM

Why not a new IP? Why more Perfect Dark? Since the Timesplitters guys split from Rare, it hasn't been the same company, also since the founders of Rare are no longer with Rare, even moreso the company just isn't the same. I would love a sequel to Conker's Bad Fur Day myself...Banjo Threeie is probably going to disapoint on the humor scale, and the voices are going to be annoying as usual. If they are going to do an FPS, why not come up with something fresh? They keep hanging on to their 007 roots, but they should try something different. Also, nothing has been the same since Halo came out. It's hard to be a first person shooter without Halo or COD in your name these days. They really set the bar this year, and anyone making an FPS will have to match. I'm not even talking graphics here, just gameplay.

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 15th 2007 1:48PM

I agree with Naeem PDZ was good but I would like it better if the achievements weren't so dull, kill 10,000 bots with explosives *yawn

It was an Ok shooter, I enjoy the game play experience, the story well to be honest I only played PDZ for a week, I have it around but like PGR3 and Forza I rarely feel like playing them.

Also what happened to Banjo 3,I was expecting to get that game in November with UR MR GAY,IMO the next big thing is Mass effect but for 08 I dunno Dead rising 2,RE5?

Jake @ Oct 15th 2007 1:48PM

Perfect Dark Zero was very rushed. It has an 81 metacritic score. Good game, just not great and certainly didn't live up to the Perfect Dark/Goldeneye franchise level of quality. Pretty fun multiplayer though. Downloading and playing The Facility with local multiplayer was quite the treat. Old School Goldeneyer's can relate to that.

Hopefully Perfect Dark 2 comes out and kicks ass.

Boss Tempo @ Oct 15th 2007 2:00PM

New Crash Bandicoot is a platform brawler - pretty fun too.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Oct 15th 2007 2:51PM

Why did Pete get voted down? I absolutely hated PDZ. I think it's the only game that really pissed me off.

Grant @ Oct 15th 2007 4:48PM

I agree.
If you compare the original PD to PDZ, it was A MAJOR LET DOWN.
But i look forward to the 3rd installment and hope they get it right.
It was pretty upsetting to see something that was one of the best FPS experiences on a console to only become a barely acceptable experience(it's not that it wasn't playable, it was just too buggy to call fun, and i LOVE FPSs).
Hopefully they will make it what it should have been, and regain some serious faith from gamers.

aka Prof Chaos @ Oct 15th 2007 4:56PM

I know the single player sucked, but I loved the multiplayer. Yeah, it was broke and could have been better, but there was something that I just loved about it. The biggest problem with PDZ was that too many people compared it to Halo and it just couldn't meet anybody's expectations. I'm not talking about people here, but a lot of people got the 360 because it was the first "next generation" gaming system and most of those people's only exposure to Xbox was with Halo and that's what they expected. Here's to wishing for the best, but not getting too excited (yet).

Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Oct 15th 2007 11:58AM

Can't wait for this! Loved the original on N64 & the 360 verison was fun too!

flameofdoom666 @ Oct 15th 2007 12:00PM

YES!!!! My prayers have been answeredddd!

Hello @ Oct 15th 2007 12:01PM

boo, old Joanna Dark is old

Marty @ Oct 15th 2007 12:01PM

Perfect Dark Zero showed signs of effort from Rare, but it was a pretty piss poor follow up to the excellent N64 game.

And now, I just have to say it - is Joystiq saying that Joanna Dark helps "pitch tents?" And that Marcus Fenix helps her? O_o

blooh (CDF - Nipple Ring) @ Oct 15th 2007 12:03PM

i played the demo of zero, and yeah, that was a launch title. hopefully this new one will be much better

megaStryke @ Oct 15th 2007 12:04PM

Moral choices, eh? You mean a good ending or a bad ending?

Word of the street(IDF-Digital Ruler). @ Oct 15th 2007 2:31PM

So PD2 will count with the "Mother Teresa" or "Baby eating" endings?

Moral choices don’t make the game less linear they just give you 2 endings to choose from, the vanilla ending or the raspberry ending.

I’m more biased towards the penalty formula of games like Metroid that rewards experience or the Resident evil formula:

Skills+ time=Good ending
Medium skills=Regular ending
Clumsiness+ waste of time =Bad ending.

Or the Silent hill formula

Time + Gameplay=????
Skills +Gameplay +time+ difficulty =the best ending
Skills+ time=Good ending
Medium skills=Regular ending
Clumsiness+ waste of time =Bad ending.
Clumsiness+ difficulty or gameplay+ waste of time+ =the worst ending.

sorry if I double posted,my stupid internet connection is having troubles.

kingrottenboy @ Oct 15th 2007 12:08PM

not that I am a fan of the series, but doesn't rare still own some IPs like banjo kazooie and that fighting game. like one poster already said the 360 already has enough fps. with microsoft trying to go after a broader younger market you think they would announce a banjo kazzoie game.

Cellien @ Oct 15th 2007 12:10PM

The new Banjo is already in production. ;) Google it!

elmersglue @ Oct 15th 2007 12:08PM

make it like the n64 version, and this game is golden. I have a good feeling about rare making another perfect dark game without the pressure of the whole launch period thing...we'll see.

Cellien @ Oct 15th 2007 12:08PM

I LOVED the 64 one.. and PDZ was pretty cool as well. Kept me entertained for a long time, that's for sure (multiplayer has soooo many options!). I hope this one is closer to the N64 one as far as gameplay goes. :)

McWeen @ Oct 15th 2007 12:09PM

I hope they undo some of the changes to the character in the new one. (How is she not British in the Prequel?) Also where did all of the fun weapons go? (farsight)

Plaid Ninja @ Oct 15th 2007 12:10PM

Maybe this one will even be fun? GameSpot gave PDZ a 9.0 and said "This awesome, high-tech first-person shooter champions the Xbox 360 with its excellent assortment of single- and multiplayer game types, as well as its incredible good looks and dynamic, intense action."

Lots of other reviews were positive as well. It was a launch title. Of course it got surpassed quickly.

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Oct 15th 2007 12:14PM

Christ, not another shooter.
You know, I'm kind of on the fence about buying a 360, but Microsoft having RARE of all companies make a sequel to Perfect Dark of ALL the games in their catalog just seems stupid to me.
Give me Killer Instinct 3, Jet Force Gemini II, a new Battle Toads or even a new Blast Works. There are so many better games they could make sequels t of. Perfect Dark is about on the bottom of that list.

Shmil @ Oct 15th 2007 12:20PM

Jet Force Gemini II would be so bitchin, damn you samfish now my hopes are raised, and knowing Microsoft, they will be crushed in due time

Psaakyrn @ Oct 15th 2007 12:23PM

You know, just because it's a sequel to a shooter, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a shooter too. And the "morality" issue makes it less likely to be a traditional shooter, since most shooters expect you to just shoot stuff up.

Shmil @ Oct 15th 2007 12:43PM

@psaakyrn
bioshock had "moral" choices too, destroy the little sister or let her live,
moral choices are pretty difficult to add into a shooter, in bioshock the end result was the ending cinematic, oh and you'd get a few extra plasmid powers for being nice to little sisters

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Oct 15th 2007 12:49PM

"You know, just because it's a sequel to a shooter, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be a shooter too."

Very true...but come on – the odds probably aren't too good that they're going to turn it into something like a platformer or an RPG.
Odds are they're going to try and make it play like Halo 3 but take a good bit of inspiration from Bioshock, if the rumor is true.

Psaakyrn @ Oct 15th 2007 1:14PM

Irregardless, my point would still stand, since it wouldn't be a traditional shooter no longer. You're better off using Jedi Knight as an example, since that has morality linked to power choices, and not much else.

Frankly though, shooters could do with more adventure in them, like HL2, Bioshock, and other more "modern" ones.

red_cobra @ Oct 15th 2007 4:11PM

First of all, watch the language man. Secondly, everyone needs to remember that PDZ was a rushed launch title! If they actually take their time, I'm sure this will live up to the first Perfect Dark.

WiseGuy @ Oct 15th 2007 12:15PM

I loved Golden Eye and Perfect Dark back in the day. Best shooter on the consoles for it's time.

While Perfect Dark Zero was fun as a launch title... if this rumor is true... let's hope they flesh out a WAY WAY WAY better story for the sequel along with revamping the controls to fit todays standards on FPS. I love all the gadgets and secondary funtions on the weapons. Rare did some things right on their first outting with the 360... especially in the amount of customizations for multiplayer. But now that Halo 3 is out it has once again set a new benchmark that will be a tough act to follow. Rare set one for consoles back in the day. I'm sure with a little more effort this time around and a lot of play testing.. they should be able to develop a worthy successor in the Perfect Dark series.

VampireHunter Z @ Oct 15th 2007 2:59PM

It's not so dated. They did one thing better than Halo and it's the sniper rifle zoom. In PD0 you use the left trigger to do a pressure sensitive zoom. I liked that. In Halo you tap the right analog to toggle between zooms. This gets me killed a lot and I'm not a noob.

James @ Oct 15th 2007 12:16PM

"And hey, maybe this one will even be fun!"

Maybe...

phuink @ Oct 15th 2007 12:17PM

Great...

...

VOS @ Oct 15th 2007 12:19PM

Dude f*** PDZ, make KI3 (KI3 = gold mine).

Cellien @ Oct 15th 2007 12:27PM

I want them all. PD2, KI3, JF2, Banjo 2, RCProAm 3, Viva 2, Viva DS... Rare is/was awesome!

Kazi @ Oct 15th 2007 12:28PM

The 2D fighter genre is slowly dying. KI3 wouldn't be a goldmine. Fighters are now of the niche genre.

Psaakyrn @ Oct 15th 2007 12:33PM

The fighter genre is not dying, it's just mostly stale. SSBB would wake things up a little, but fighters in general needs to grow past the "memorise moves and string combos" mentality. IMHO a sequal to Power Stones 2 would be a major seller... (though granted SSBB is starting to get some elements from that into it as well)

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Oct 15th 2007 1:19PM

"I want them all. PD2, KI3, JF2, Banjo 2, RCProAm 3, Viva 2, Viva DS... Rare is/was awesome!"

There was a Banjo 2. No one really remembers it, but it existed.

And Rare WAS awesome. They started being really hit and miss during the N64 era (most notably DK64 sucking so hard) and by the time MS acquired them, they're more or less in full blown suck territory.
Still, I remain hopeful that Banjo 3 will be great and that a potential KI3 and JFGII would be awesome.