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Cancelled Perfect Dark Core: new details

How Joanna Dark might have looked.

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

The cancelled game that began as Perfect Dark 2 was to feature a very different Joanna Dark.

The image below, unearthed by unseen64.net, shows a more moody Dark than the one depicted in Perfect Dark and Perfect Dark Zero.

According to the site, Perfect Dark Core, what began as the true sequel to N64 first-person shooter Perfect Dark, featured a "more realistic atmosphere than its predecessors, with Joanna having a different and less feminine behaviour (smoking, flirting)".

This isn't the first time we've heard of Perfect Dark Core. In 2009 Mundorare ran an article with a number of prototype videos, below.

Perfect Dark Core changed during the pre-production phase – to the point where it stopped being a Perfect Dark game altogether.

Before it was cancelled in 2009, the player controlled a male character. The game was still an action first-person shooter, but had mechs.

Xbox 360 game Perfect Dark Zero launched in 2005 to a 7/10 Eurogamer review. The original was remade for Xbox Live Arcade last year.

New Rare boss Scott Henson told Eurogamer in an interview that Kinect development is the studio's focus. A sequel to the hugely successful Kinect game Kinect Sports is rumoured to be in development.

A spokesperson for Rare told Eurogamer it has nothing to add on the matter.

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