GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

"Only one word can accurately describe this game: boring."

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent gives you the opportunity to play the role of the bad guy. Calm down, because it's really not that exciting. Seemingly endless streams of enemies and simple mission objectives help make this game quite possibly the most boring first-person shooter I've ever played, and it does not even come close to being as good as the original GoldenEye on the N64.

Controls - 4/10 - Any movement using the control stick is extremely stiff and slow. Using the control stick just does not feel natural. Aside from that, it's fairly easy to access your golden eye's powers, and it's actually fun using two weapons and having two separate ‘fire' buttons (one for each gun).

Graphics - 8/10 - The graphics are descent, but certainly nothing special. Like in the original GoldenEye, if you're outside you can see far into the distance without fog. However, all the enemies in a given level look the same. Other than that, I have no real complaints.

Sound - 5/10 - Sure, you can sometimes hear your enemies yelling to each other as if they're planning a way to get you, which is a nice touch, but everywhere else the sound is average at best. The music does not stand out at all, and the gun sound effects are simple and uninspired.

Gameplay - 3/10 - This is where the game stumbles. My dislike for this game came mostly from the fact that you do the same thing over and over: you'll enter a room and just blast away at the seemingly endless number of enemies that keep coming in. After what seems like forever, you'll finally defeat all of them, and then you go into the next room and repeat the process countless times in every level of the game. Half-way through you'll likely not desire to finish the game because, as I unfortunately found out, the second half is just as boring. That's reason enough to stay away from this game. But if you need more reasons, check this out: the objectives are simple and boring, the powers that your golden eye have are neat in theory, but in practice, you'll find that the frenzy of killing so many enemies leaves little time for actually using the powers, and the enemy A.I. can get annoying as you often have to literally chase down the bad guys as they run away from you.

Frustration Factor - High - Nothing is more frustrating than getting so bored with a game that you dread playing the next level simply because of how boring you know it's gonna be. Games should not be a chore to play, and you'll procrastinate playing this as if it was biology homework.

I realize how tempting the name GoldenEye is, but don't be fooled like I was. Rogue Agent is, simply put, just not much fun to play. The Gamecube has many first-person shooters that are better than this. Try any of those, and avoid this one.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/02/05