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Friday 25 January, 2008
SUMMARY
Goldeneye 007 is one of the very first first-person shooters for Nintendo 64 and became one of the most popular N64 games to date. The game is played in both single player and the ever popular multiplayer. The single player story is an adaptation of the seventeenth Bond movie of the same name, with added missions not seen in the movie. There are a variety of weapons to use, including Bond's signature Walther PPK, and most of the single player missions consist of mowing down waves of Soviet guards with automatic weapons while completing mission objectives which involve the usage of stealth and spy gadgets.
GAMEPLAY
Goldeneye has a large variety of mission objectives and locations which sets a precursor for an interesting story progression. While there is no audio for the character interactions, the dialog is authentic to the 007 theme. I'm hesitant to say that the most fun to be had in Goldeneye is the mass killing of guards - their various cries when being shot make killing sprees even more entertaining. Given the technology, the graphics and settings are rather impressive.
The missions are rather large and spread out, its much more than guns blazing down a series of hallways. Sometimes, to complete mission objectives, the usage of Bond's various gadgets such as a laser watch is necessary. This adds a new element to the shooter genre, as it requires more than weapons to complete mission objectives.
Goldeneye was very fun to play and each time I completed a mission I could expect an entirely different series of objectives and interactions in the next one. Enemies change in appearance in accordance to their surroundings as does Bond, his outfits change mission by mission, as do the weapons available. This kind of variety is one of the most compelling aspects of the game.
SECOND GAMEPLAY
Halfway through the game, and its still as compelling as ever. The game has great replay value due to the fact that you can go back and play missions that have already been completed, which was great because there are some levels I just had to run through again. Suprisingly, the levels never got repetitive, though I'm not sure I could play this game for hours straight. The story was interesting to follow, and I felt as if the missions not seen in the movie made its progression even more interesting, as well as providing even more variety for the mission settings.
DESIGN
The game features three difficulty settings - Agent, Secret Agent, and 00 Agent. Each progressive setting means more mission objectives, harder enemies, and less health. However, it is possible to unlock cheats by completing certain tasks under a specific difficulty setting. If you have a gameshark, I must admit, the single player missions are incredibly more fun with cheats. The developers put time into their cheat code design in making it actually enhance gameplay instead of watering it down.
GoldenEye has a revolutionary rendering of space. The missions range from outdoor jungles and deserts of snow to the streets of Russia and secret satellite facilities, and often are vast in content and texture. Goldeneye does an excellent job of maintaining the secret agent theme and the soundtrack is complete with the signature James Bond music, played throughout the level.
The player navigates through the menu through a series of secret agent dossiers and has the choice of playing single player or multiplayer. Multiplayer allows up to four players to engage in a variety of free-for-all skirmishes, incorporating different elements of the game to define what the players will experience when facing one another. For instance, you can change what type of weapons will be available, such as all throwing knives or automatics or just the golden gun (a one-shot-kill pistol). Even players new to the game can challenge veteran gamers - it is possible to adjust the player handicap to increase or decrease their health during combat. A few levels from the single player campaign are available in multiplayer, and each participant can choose from a huge variety of characters to play as. In light of these features, it is understandable why multiplayer in Goldeneye is such a timeless classic.
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