Perfect Dark: Fear

before i start this story, i would like to explain how i got the copy of this game. i am a big rareware fan, owning many of their games, such as banjo-kazooie or donkey kong 64. the one game that i loved the most, however, was goldeneye 64. the run-and-gun style was very addicting, but i saw room for improvement. i found out shortly after playing goldeneye that there was a "Spiritual successor" to this amazing game, named perfect dark. as many of you may have guessed, i raced around the web trying to find a cheap copy, when a guy on craigslist, whos name i do not wish do disclose at this time, was selling one for fifteen dollars. i really dont trust the people on craigslist, hearing many stories, so i bought a small pocket knife with me, just in case. when i arrived, the guy showed me the game and the box, both of which were in poor condition. he showed me on his own n64 that it worked fine, so i bought it and went on my way. but the thing that struck me, was that he talked with depression in his voice, as if he had nothing to live for. he owned quite a bit of various gaming paraphinalia, such as statues of certain video game heroes and villans, like songbird from bioshock infinite. he obviously cared very much for his "art", as he called it. so why was this game in such poor condition? i really didnt care, as long as i got what i was looking for. when i got home after going to the grocery store, i went to my room and turned my old n64 on. thats when things got a bit strange...

the game started up, normal as ever. until it came time to create a new profile, that is. when the picture where the protagonist, Johanna dark, usually stands in a black outfit with the text "new profile" underneath it, was replaced with a blank white square with the text "new" in it. this was not at all normal, but I was curious, so I kept playing. I know, facepalm, right? it just seemed like the thing I should do, to make sure it was a real working copy. I named my profile, and started up. almost all of the rectangles, other than "Carrington institute" and "single player" were grayed out. when I tried to go to "combat simulator", a text box popped up that said "no.". I tried again. "just give up, you cant get to this yet." the game was speaking right at me, and I was seriously creeped out. this was NOT normal. I knew someone who had the capabilities to record this, so I called them using Skype. "hey buddy.", I said. "sup?", he replied. "I need some help." I explained the situation to him, and he replied with a "nah, I cant." "why not?" "I have somewhere to go later, my grandpas funeral." "oh, ok.", and with that, he was offline. my golden opportunity was gone. I kept playing. I walked around the Carrington institute. the voices were pretty low quality, as expected. I laughed at a few of the voices, but other than that, everything was pretty useless. I started playing the first level, datadyne extraction. I skipped the cutscene and got right into it, shooting a unsuspecting guard in the back of the head. I proceeded to pick his machine gun up and run into the building. I shot a guard right in the face and was horrified to see what happened. chunks of his face started coming off as I shot it with the gun, causing quite a mess. I was SO startled, I paused the game to collect myself. what the hell was that? I had a mix of fear and excitedness. I didn't know that the n64 could do such things as that, but was disgusted at the sight of his exposed skull. I unpaused, and his lifeless body toppled to the ground. I picked up some extra ammo, reloaded, and went around until I found Cassandra de vries, whose necklace I had to collect. I shot her point blank in the head with my falcon and failed the mission. I realized I had to punch it off of her, which I did the next time around. as I punched her, some blood spattered on the screen, throwing me back in my seat, shocked, but I laughed as I saw her ragdoll of a body fall down in quite a funny fashion. it lightened the mood a bit, and I played through the rest of the level until I got to the last level in the chapter. I was escorting the robot-laptop guy out of the building when Cassandra surprise attacked me. I was almost there, at the end. about 6-10 guards were with her. cool, I said in my mind. the lights went out, and I turned my night vision on. I took them all out as Cassandra stood up on the stairs, staring. Johanna asked her, "why are you still here? I am going to kill you!" "go ahead. im not scared. if you do, you-" BAM! Cassandra's head was blown clean off her body, due to the force of the shotgun. I was sickened as I heard the blood spatter on the screen. the game glitched as a video started to play. it started off with Cassandra de vries, who I thought was dead, talking to a blonde man. "you are sick." she said it as firm as she could. "yes, I know. soon all of you humans will know." she sobbed as he took a futuristic looking pistol out. "have any last words?" "as a matter of fact, I do." she looked at the screen, and started to speak. "turn it off, and never play it again. it is not a game. they have a plan." she said it quickly, as if she needed to get the info out as quickly as possible. "it is all a lie, jen." she knew my name? "they have a PLAN. its so diabolical. fist the weaklings go, then the stronger ones. its up to you. they are coming right now. NEVER. PLAY. AGAIN." she was shot. I never played it again, and I am still deeply haunted by her speech. its a matter of time... until it all happens.