Perfect Dark Tips - Dominate Xbox Live Arcade - PD N64 on XBLA

How to win more. Perfect Dark tips for Xbox Live Arcade!

Written By: Graham Douglas

Introduction:

Who am I? A big fan of GoldenEye and Perfect Dark for the N64. I consider myself a veteran player at both games, especially Perfect Dark. With PD XBLA, I'm going to write up some Perfect Dark tips. I will help you win more I promise. If nothing else I hope this information will help refresh your Perfect Dark knowledge if it's been a while since you last played.

Perfect Dark Tips - Dominate Xbox Live Arcade - Perfect Dark Tips Guide

It's been a while since you last played I bet. That's fine, there is plenty of time to remember.

Xbox Live Perfect Dark vs. Nintendo 64 console Perfect Dark

The key difference plays a major role in strategy and approach. It's called single screen multiplayer vs. split screen multiplayer. It requires a change in thought process. Character selection is an important strategy element in Xbox Live Perfect Dark. Yes in some levels like Villa, it won't matter, but overall darker is better. Tan is a great color character in levels like G5 Building. There are instances where your color choice in character will allow you to hang back, wait, and evade in battles by sticking in the dark areas of the levels.

The other main difference between Xbox Live Arcade PD and N64 PD is that you are going to see the default weapon settings when using Xbox Live matchmaking. Is this lame? Some say so. I still enjoy it even though we NEVER used the defaults when playing Nintendo 64 Perfect Dark. The key is to know the lay of the land. In other words, at least have an idea where the shields are and the power weapons are. If you don't know these keys, then you will never dominate. In fact you will get smashed badly against a player with simply better knowledge of the layout. That's not cool.

You are going to need some time adapting to a new controller also. Is there a perfect fit? Not exactly. Perfect Dark was created with the N64 controller in mind so remember that. Microsoft has brought in a few new variations and advanced options so you can get your own settings as good as possible. It's almost an endless amount of sensitivity settings and configs.

A GoldenEye classic Complex match is never a bad idea.

Head to Head Matches

With the matchmaking in Perfect Dark XBLA you are going to see a lot of head to head matches. Want adrenaline? Head to head provides that in spades. It can be gut wrenching especially if you're against a top player. Key thing here is get the top weapons and fast. If you die early, make it hard for the other player. Hide, duck, and stealth until you can arm properly and get the shield. If you respawn and think the other player hasn't restocked, then you are going to lose often. Assume the other player is a good player and as you're respawning they are getting to the best single wield or the best dual wielding weapons in addition to getting a shield. A smart player will get to the choke points after making a kill or get to the areas where the best weapons are. Sooner or later a player will come to get a shield or a top weapon on the map. The second you know what map is being played, have a small strategy in mind about what you grab first depending on where you spawn. Don't give away your position!

Disarm

Perfect Dark and the disarm function. Remember the dizzy spell? Always worth a laugh. Not. Anyways, disarm will be more important on Xbox Live Arcade simply because there will be more players running around. I don't know about single screen or split screen, but if you can't see your opponents screen then disarm just became a much more important skill than the original Perfect Dark for the N64.

Camping

If you've spent time in Perfect Dark multiplayer with friends, I'm sure you know some of the juicy camping spots. The biggest advantage now is that you will probably be playing on XBLA with single screen multiplayer. Now nobody can see where you're camping! Is camping cheap? I suppose only if you are the one who is dying and losing. The fact is camping is only effective if players are not playing smart. Round a corner without any consideration and blam you're dead. The point is be aware of dead ends or popular camping spots. You can use those spots for your own camping or you simply can avoid them. Perhaps clear out a known camping spot with a well placed laptop first before proceeding around a corner. Pictures of the popular camping spots coming up soon!

High Traffic Zones

You need to be active to win in Perfect Dark multiplayer. Xbox Live Arcade will be no different. If you are used to playing Perfect Dark on your Nintendo 64 then you could always see where the action was happening. It's time to start thinking differently. Think single screen multiplayer on XBLA. You need to know where to go and what areas of the map to dominate. If you know these high traffic zones, you can rack up massive kill counts. Remember humans are not bots. If you are an expert playing single screen multiplayer against bots on the original Perfect Dark on your Nintendo 64, that experience will be of little help to you. I know human nature, not bot nature on the Perfect Dark multiplayer maps. I'm here to help you! Pictures of the high traffic zones coming up soon!

Two Guns Beats One Gun - Duh!

Sounds simple right? Holding two guns at one time vs. holding one gun. Who wins? All things being remotely equal the dual wielding player wins in those exchanges. The point here is that in a head to head Perfect Dark game, be sneaky until you get dual weapons or a top weapon. If not, get ready to die fast and die often. You may only have that initial game spawn to get a best weapon or duals so act quickly as a game starts.

Know Weapon Locations

Okay, a refreshed for Perfect Dark maps and weapon placements. The lower the number, say weapon slot 1, there are lots on the map. As the slot number increases, there are fewer weapon placements. In slot 5 and 6 there are usually only 1 location no the entire Perfect Dark map. If you are playing the default Xbox Live matchmaking, you are going to be seeing the standard weapon sets which you probably never ever played. If you're in a head to head situation, you're toast if you don't know where the best weapon is on the map. You can either learn ahead of time, or you can learn out of frustration of losing on Xbox Live all the time. Yes, shield locations are pretty key to know also!

more Perfect Dark tips coming...

Soon I promise!