GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

"Slapping "GoldenEye" on the title broke my heart after I played it."

When I hear the word "GoldenEye", I automatically think of GoldenEye 64, which is in my opinion still one of the greatest first-person shooters ever made. So when I heard of the new GoldenEye game that EA LA was making, I was a little leery. But the more and more I read about this game in Nintendo Power, who was hyping it for all it was worth, the more and more I became interested in it. It seemed that EA had some good ideas to go with the game, so I picked it up, anticipating an amazing Bond game. Sadly, the game was hyped too much.

Story:

Basically, you're a rogue MI6 agent who got kicked out for reckless behavior. After getting kicked out, you go looking for revenge on Dr. No, who took out your eye during a mission. Goldfinger gives you an invitation to work for him, which you accept, and he gives you an eye replacement, called the GoldenEye (real clever). From that point on, I didn't really get it. Goldfinger sends you on random missions that apparently tie into the story. I think the rest of it is just two bad guys clashing for supremacy, getting a 6/10.

Graphics:

I think the best word to describe the graphics in this game is bland. They aren't necessarily bad, but they're definitely not jaw-dropping amazing-ness. The guns and buildings look very generic, and even the cutscenes aren't anything special. At least the framerate doesn't slow down at all. 5/10

Gameplay:

One of the features that was very hyped in this game was the new E.V.I.L AI. I don't know what that stands for, but it was supposed to be more human-like than any other AI out there, making the game realistic. Sadly, it doesn't really work. Computers are still very easy to predict, making the game pretty easy.

The other "new" feature that was overhyped was the dual-weapons system. It also isn't that great. Since you normally use L and R on the controller to shoot, it essentially gets rid of manual aiming controls. Also, you can only hold two weapons at a time (one in each hand), making weapon swapping tedious.

The "GoldenEye" really serves little to no purpose except when you're forced to use it. X-ray vision can be useful at times, but is severely limited by its range. Weapons hack also doesn't serve much of a purpose unless you let yourself get cornered by a bunch of bad guys. The third power you get basically lets you send a person fly across the room and die. Fun to use for a little while, but not necessary. The fourth and final power you get is puts up a shield around you that protects you until it runs out. I never really used it except on the higher difficulties.

Finally, all of the levels use the same technique. Grab two machine guns, shoot everything that moves, reload, grab ammo from the dead guys, and run into the next room to do the same thing. Definitely not classic GoldenEye there. 6/10

Sound:

This one was done right. The fast-paced music serves the well game with its fast paced action, and the guns shooting sounds pretty realistic. Voice-overs are alright, some you may like and some you may not. 8/10

Replayability:

Get friends. That's all I have to say. The single player is only fun once (or maybe not even that), and not of the missions give you the drive to just want to play again and again. The multiplayer, however, is very fun, as long as you have friends. For the multiplayer, replayability gets a 6/10.

Recap:

Story: 6/10
Graphics: 5/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Sound: 8/10
Replayability: 6/10
Total: 31/50 x2 = 62/100

What can I say? While a decent shooter, it simply does not compare to the original GoldenEye, and slapping that title on this game was a terrible decision by EA.

Final Score: 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/05