Hands down best game!!!!
Written: Dec 20 '99
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Everything
Cons: none
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| drspaz85's Full Review: Golden Eye 007 for Nintendo 64 |
I thought the legacy of Bond would die a slow cheesy death after Sean Connery. At least I
was hoping so. I still cringe whenever I see Roger Moore smirk his way through a Bond
flick. Timothy Dalton just put me to sleep. Well, neither of them could help the silly scripts
they had to deal with. George Lazenby was OK in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and
how could you go wrong with Diana Rigg (better known as Emma Peel in The Avengers)
as his femme fatale? But the biggest knife in the back for Bond-dom was Pierce Brosnan.
Exsqueeze me, Remington Steele? His hair is too perfect.
OK, rant over. I thought that a video game with the Bros-man on the cover would be on
par with the recent Bond dreck coming out of Hollywood. I was wrong--so wrong I
should've been sentenced to the ejection seat in an Aston Martin. This is one case where
the video game is actually better than the movie--much better.
GoldenEye is the best first-person shooter available on any console system, period. It
outdoes all pretenders in the graphics department, has better controls than Turok, and
has excellent integration between gameplay and the plot (yes, there is one). It isn't
perfect, but the challenge and gameplay are good enough to get it top marks as one of
the best Nintendo 64 games yet.
Developed by the quality team at Rare for
Nintendo, the actual game roughly follows the
GoldenEye movie plot: renegade agents and
military types are still out to destroy civilization
and profit from their evil. You'll recognize all the
film's main and secondary characters, including
Xenia Onatop, Natalya Simonova, and Alec
Trevelyan. The movie's locations are in the
game as well, from the frozen tundra of Siberia
and tropical forests to Trevelyan's high-speed
train. But most of the time, you'll be poking your
way around the belly of yet another underground
bunker. While most of the action takes place inside, the outside environments add some
good variety to the gameplay mix. There are 18 sequential missions in the game, plus 2 bonus missions. While GoldenEye
is a first-person shooter, and there's plenty of killing involved, the missions require more
skill than merely charging into a room and blowing everything to bits. Actually, there are
many sequences that require planning, quick reactions, and precision; you'll have to do
more than just flip switches and open doors. For instance, you have to destroy security
cameras before you're spotted, or you might have to free hostages held at gunpoint. At
other times, you must download information from a computer, or you'll have to minimize
civilian casualties while destroying a chemical refinery--so spraying bullets everywhere is
a definite no-no.
On the whole, GoldenEye's world is more immersive than most, especially when it comes
to the specific mission objectives; but the mission briefings rarely tell you everything you'll
run into. At times, it's unclear what you need to do to complete a mission. For example,
you're told you have to "unmask the enemy agent Janus," but you're not told that you
have to disarm yourself and surrender to him in order to do this. In hindsight, there's no
way Q or M could tell you exactly what to do in every mission, and the sense of the
unexpected does add to the fun.
The enemy AI in GoldenEye is so-so, but it's
better than what you'll find in many 3D shooters. Guards will come running after you, but most will duck behind available cover, crouch, or do a tuck and roll to dodge your fire. You'll find the game a challenge, especially when you notice that hitting a guard in the arm won't kill him.You've got to go for a chest or head shot here.
Multiplayer games take on a whole new meaning
in GoldenEye. There are a number of different
games you can play with up to four people on a
split screen. There is the basic free-for-all deathmatch, but you can play teams as well. In
addition, You Only Live Twice gives all players two lives, and the last player standing
wins. The Living Daylights has you try to carry a flag around for the longest period of
time, but you can't shoot anyone while carrying it. License to Kill games make one shot
for anyone lethal, while Man With the Golden Gun lets the person carrying the golden
gun kill with one shot. You can also handicap the players for even footing by adjusting
their health menu.
There are 18 sequential missions in the game, plus 2 bonus missions. While GoldenEye
is a first-person shooter, and there's plenty of killing involved, the missions require more
skill than merely charging into a room and blowing everything to bits. Actually, there are
many sequences that require planning, quick reactions, and precision; you'll have to do
more than just flip switches and open doors. For instance, you have to destroy security
cameras before you're spotted, or you might have to free hostages held at gunpoint. At
other times, you must download information from a computer, or you'll have to minimize
civilian casualties while destroying a chemical refinery--so spraying bullets everywhere is
a definite no-no.
On the whole, GoldenEye's world is more immersive than most, especially when it comes
to the specific mission objectives; but the mission briefings rarely tell you everything you'll
run into. At times, it's unclear what you need to do to complete a mission. For example,
you're told you have to "unmask the enemy agent Janus," but you're not told that you
have to disarm yourself and surrender to him in order to do this. In hindsight, there's no
way Q or M could tell you exactly what to do in every mission, and the sense of the
unexpected does add to the fun.
The enemy AI in GoldenEye is so-so, but it's
better than what you'll find in many 3D shooters. Guards will come running after you, but most will duck behind available cover, crouch, or do a tuck and roll to dodge your fire. You'll find the game a challenge, especially when you notice that hitting a guard in the arm won't kill him. You've got to go for a chest or head shot here.
Multiplayer games take on a whole new meaning
in GoldenEye. There are a number of different
games you can play with up to four people on a
split screen. There is the basic free-for-all deathmatch, but you can play teams as well. In
addition, You Only Live Twice gives all players two lives, and the last player standing
wins. The Living Daylights has you try to carry a flag around for the longest period of
time, but you can't shoot anyone while carrying it. License to Kill games make one shot
for anyone lethal, while Man With the Golden Gun lets the person carrying the golden
gun kill with one shot. You can also handicap the players for even footing by adjusting
their health menu. Control is usually where an otherwise excellent game can fail; however, GoldenEye's
controls are arguably better than the intuitive mouse/keyboard combination that works so
well on PC shooters. There are a number of different setups, but the default is best. You
control your body movement with the analog joystick, which lets you creep forward for a
peek around a corner, or run for cover, depending on how far you move it. Holding down
the shoulder button brings up a crosshairs and lets you aim your weapon more precisely.
This will also zoom in for the scoped sniper rifle.
GoldenEye also supports the Rumble Pak. Unlike in Starfox, where the silly thing doesn't
stop buzzing the entire game, the Rumble Pak actually adds to gameplay in GoldenEye.
You'll feel the buzz of bullets flying out of your gun, and the thump when you get hit.
Man With the Golden Harp
GoldenEye strikes a chord with music and sound. The looped ambient music is fantastic,
even if it can't really compare to a full orchestra doing the theme from Thunderball.
Nintendo has done a great job, giving the game a very good atmosphere and mood by
using authentic Bond music. On the other hand, there are no digitized voices. All
character interaction and mission briefings are done through text menus. Obviously, there
was a trade-off here, but Nintendo made the right choice, saving room on the cart for the
great music.
Graphics in GoldenEye are generally excellent, yet there are some problems too. There
is some frame breakup in places, and you will definitely notice some slowdown in
multiplayer battles. In addition, there is some clipping. At times, you can see parts of
enemy soldiers sticking through doors.
Digitized faces are clearly mapped onto the
characters. Though you won't see facial
animations like expressions or lip movement, the
body animations are very smooth. On the other
hand, the guards and other characters are
limited to a few actions like a simple tuck and roll
to avoid fire. There are a number of different
death animations that are well done, but they
aren't nearly as gory or cool as all the
blood-spewing in Turok.
The game engine uses a very good fog effect
that only partially obscures objects in the distance, as opposed to completely cutting them
off. Objects beyond the fog wall have a monochrome look, but at least you can still see
them, which is especially important if you're using a gun with long-range capabilities like
the sniper rifle or the AR-15.
Though GoldenEye won't outdo the coming crop of 3D shooters on the PC, for a console
system this game is simply tops. The single-player game will completely suck you in, and
multiplayer games have a variety that exceeds any PC or console multiplayer game on
the market, which should extend the replay value tremendously. GoldenEye should be on
your short list.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
drspaz85
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Reviews written: 8
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