Goldeneye  

by Nintendo  Reviewed by: Darren Mitchell  

Overview

Everyone knows that Bond, James Bond, British secret agent 007, is the most famous international spy of all time (with Austin Powers in a groovy second place, baby!). This game is based on the latest Bond movie, GoldenEye, starring Pierce Brosnan as 007. Here's the story if you haven't seen it: a nasty, radical group of mostly Russians -- the Janus Syndicate -- has stolen control of a sophisticated electromagnetic pulse-shootin' weapon satellite: the GoldenEye. The Janus Syndicate plans to use GoldenEye against the city of London to scramble all the computers and electrical equipment in an effort to cover their tracks after stealing tons of money through illegal electronic transfer. They must be stopped, James!

Gameplay

In the one-player version of this game, you take on the role of 007. Through a series of missions given to you in messages from Q. and Ms. Moneypenny, you must defeat the Janus Syndicate by performing specific mission tasks, gathering objects and information, and wasting all the bad guys you see (since you ARE licensed to kill . . . ). If you've ever played Doom, Myst, Duke Nukem, etc., you probably know what to do: move around in a three-dimensional environment, exploring rooms and landscapes, looking for prizes, and defeating enemy drones. Sounds simple enough, so what makes GoldenEye better?

The first-person 3D shooter interface has been done to death -- so much so, that when I got GoldenEye I wondered how it could possibly be interesting enough to hold my attention any longer than Jim Carrey can act serious. All I can say is, after only 20 minutes of playing the ultimate super-spy, my cheeks were hurting from my new permanent grin. Without a doubt, this is one of the most well-thought-out videogames I have ever played. It's similar to all those other 3D shooters out there, but with an intelligent twist: you don't just run around pummeling everything you see. In GoldenEye you have the freedom to make whatever choices (and mistakes) you like, but you also have the responsibility to respect your surroundings and carry out your mission with not only speed and accuracy, but also stealth and smart thinking. It's not just skill through repetition that will help you succeed. It's your instincts, behavior, and attitude as well. Stay focused on your mission objectives. Don't shoot the hostages or civilians. Don't waste your explosives. Don't throw your covert modem into the river (oh, am I the only one who did that?). My point is that you don't just shoot first and then deal with the consequences, you have to THINK about what you're doing, what could happen next, and carefully -- but quickly -- choose the best course of action. You're not just reacting, you're interacting. This is what makes James Bond great. Intelligence and style make him stand out above all the other action heroes.

There are 20 game levels in GoldenEye, each having two or more specific mission objectives. There are few hidden activities each level, so there's a lot to do besides just killing bad guys: take spy photos, plant bugs, disarm bombs, hack into computers, sabotage equipment, melt things with your watch laser, and even drive tanks. You can also replay any stage to try for a better mission time -- faster completion times will earn you extra goodies. Here's a nice feature: the soldiers don't just wander aimlessly in one area waiting for you to walk around the corner, they actually hunt for you -- even if you're at the top of a tower. Avoid tripping the alarms or using a loud gun and you'll have the advantage of surprise. Speaking of guns, you get lots of 'em, and other cool devices and explosives for each mission. Depending on the weapon you choose, you can shoot through doors, launch grenades, or use the gun's scope to get a zoomed-in view for careful aiming and more precise hits. Plunk the guards on the tower from over 1,000 yards away. Your accuracy percentages will be displayed at the end of each mission to give you an idea of how well you did.

I found it to be a pain switching between weapons and devices in a hurry (I like the spinning weapons wheel in Turok much better). However, with a bit of practice, you'll be doing OK. At the start of each mission, you aren't given anything you shouldn't need in that level, and still you have the freedom to pick up and use whatever else you may find. It's an interesting challenge to figure out the best place and time to set your explosives so you can get the job done right. Also, I love the fact that there is no "pause" button -- press START and you look at your watch to check your devices list, review your objectives, and adjust the controller settings. In effect, this "pauses" the game, but in a more appealing way than to see the word PAUSED flashing in the middle of your screen. You can choose between six different controller configurations (I set mine to be the same as Turok -- read my Turok 64 review to see why I'm a big fan of using the analog stick for fluid head motion). The 5th and 6th setting options are for using two controllers, one for each hand, a cool way to play if you can handle it.

Multi-Player Mode is the best reason to own this game. You've probably seen the awesome split-screen multi-player mode in MarioKart 64 and StarFox 64, so you know what to expect here. Even though the smaller sectional view takes some getting used to, there's no better adrenaline rush than a good four player GoldenEye death match. You get the challenge of using your James Bond skills to compete against up to four of your friends at high speeds and in several environments. There are 8 different player scenarios, like team play (3 against 1, 2 vs. 2, etc.), and other ones like "You Only Live Twice" (where you each get two lives and the last one standing wins), and "The Living Daylights" (capture the flag; the one who can carry it the longest wins). You can choose to be any of the game characters, and a few additional surprise guests will appear as player options after completing certain levels in the one-player game (with a higher difficulty setting and/or a low completion time). You have to earn your bonuses instead of just typing in cheat codes.

[Side note:] There's a new Nintendo 64 cartridge (a chess game) being sold exclusively in Japan right now that actually has a phone wire port and a MODEM inside, for network playability of this game. There's no reported plans for a U.S. game with this feature (so far), but wouldn't this network feature be cool for GoldenEye, or any other Nintendo 64 games you can think of? With the Memory Pak, the Rumble Pak, the 64DD drive (coming soon . . . ), and now this modem cartridge feature, all I can say is it's nice to see that Nintendo is going beyond the games and giving us more hardware options that greatly enhance their already awesome 64-bit system.

Graphics

GoldenEye has a kick-butt gameplay engine behind it, which is good because the graphics are less than impressive overall. The environments seem blurry sometimes, which may be a result of the big screen that I have, but all my other N64 games seem to be a little clearer. There are a lot of cool details and effects to look for though. Check this out: when you shoot holes in the walls or glass, the holes don't disappear when you turn away, or even when you leave and re-enter the area. When I got lost exploring the ship I was able to tell which hallways I'd already been through by the bullet holes in the walls and the floors. The music is cool, and is adjustable (as expected), and the sounds are quite accurate and fit in perfectly, from the bullet shells hitting the floor to the occasional siren echoes. If I could add anything to the audio sensation of this game, it would be more dialogue (I know it eats up memory, but if they can fit all that incessant chatter into Starfox, you'd think there might be some voices behind the conversations in GoldenEye instead of reading the text on screen).

Polygon animation: it's (currently) a sacrifice of smooth, clearly detailed imagery to achieve awesome gameplay, at least when it comes to the speed of home machines. GoldenEye uses polygons, so the images are "not highly detailed" to say the least -- the characters' faces look like masks on puppets, and they have this sharp-edged robotic look to them. But the speed and flexibility of the entire game is worth it -- after a few moments you're having too much fun to notice any loss of sharp details. I must admit that videogame animation technology is getting better all the time; at 30 frames per second (30 fps), GoldenEye is a good example of how the 64-bit Nintendo is getting closer to the look and feel of the big arcade machines.

GoldenEye is also "Rumble-ready," so plug in a Rumble Pak and you can feel your machine gun jolts. This is the perfect companion piece to this game -- the rumbles are not overdone like they are in StarFox (I'd swear Fox McCloud's Arwing must have a nervous condition or something).

Bottom Line

Run, don't walk, to buy this game. Sell cookies, get a second job, use your rent money if you have to. Better yet, use your grocery money, since you'll be too busy playing this game to stop and eat. Seriously, if you like Doom, Myst, Turok, Duke Nukem . . . and you want something better, you won't be disappointed with GoldenEye. Even disregarding the awesome intelligence aspects, the multi-player option alone makes it the best 3D shooter ever. Gather three opponents and "Let's get ready to rumble!!"