GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

"This is NOT a sequel to the old one and you are NOT James Bond. That's why I like it."

Intro.

By the name of the title, you expect a sequel to the first game (Goldeneye for N64). No. Goldeneye for the N64 was never supposed to have a sequel. Why? Well, there's no such thing as another "Goldeneye" movie. Instead, we play as a bad guy. That explains the "Rogue Agent" part. Now for the "Goldeneye" part, well. Your character lost his right eye. It has been replaced by a goldeneye instead. But then, you are in the middle of a war of BAD vs. ...BAD?

Story: 7/10

May be the worst story I've ever gone through, but it's okay. Just know the story so you know what's going on. So you're an MI6 agent. You get kicked out. Goldfinger (a James Bond villain) employs you in a war vs Dr. No. That's pretty much it. You will meet some more classic people, but it's kind of strange that you don't have a name. Everybody calls you "Goldeneye".

Game-play: 10/10

This is the sweetest First-Person-Shooter ever! Well... If you don't mention Halo, then it is. This game gives you a really cool dual-wielding system. There's a whole bunch of weapon combos to use. Would you go into a room with two pistols or just one big assault rifle? You really have to keep track of your ammo supply. Dual-wielding the same weapon will use up a lot more ammo. The combinations are almost limitless. You will spend a lot of your time experimenting. Don't expect to dual-wield everything. Some weapons need two hands, so if you want to dual-wield a rocket launcher, you will just have to use only one. Hey, you're not a good guy anymore. Kill your enemies any way you like. It is a bit sad that you still have some objectives, but don't expect some total freedom here. What we already have is good enough. It's just that the pistols are not what you think. They fire really slow, so if you press the trigger as fast as possible, you can't release a bunch of bullets. It's like your bullets are waiting in line to be fired. You won't care about them very much. Your starting pistol never runs out of ammo, but you have to reload. Cool!

But you have to drop weapons to pick up new ones. Swap them with other weapons. Grenades and your starting pistol can never be dropped. They are the only weapons you can holster.

Now once you have your weapons, you need some enemies to bash. Speaking of "bash", melee combat has it's own button. It does the same damage, but you can slam your rifle into some guy's head or give them a closer look at your fist. You can actually stun him, making him look like the "FINISH HIM!" stance from "MORTAL KOMBAT". Everybody already knows this, but you can take hostages. They will actually absorb some bullets for you and when you feel like it, you can trash him yourself. When I mean "trash", I mean "Throw". You can throw your hostage anywhere you want. The really cool thing is that THIS GAME HAS RAG-DOLL PHYSICS! If you don't know what I mean, then play the game and blow people up or throw them around. Just expect some really cool deaths.

You have your melee button, you have your dual wielding system, and you need your goldeneye. It actually comes with some cool powers. It can see through walls, hack machines, shield you, or send enemies flying! This becomes really handy, but to avoid repetitive use, you have to conserve energy. It refills over time though.

Your enemies are really smart this time. They are powered by the E.V.I.L. AI engine. This means that they are really smart. They will run for cover, dual-wield on you, or surprisingly, take their own hostage. You can always mow down both. Don't expect them to sit there counting the last seconds of their lives. They will strike defensively and offensively. These are perhaps the best enemies you will ever see.

Controls: 9/10

You will have to spend a lot of time dual-wielding weapons to get the hang of anything. Why? The right trigger uses the weapon in your right hand while the left trigger uses the weapon in the left hand. Brilliant. Melee has it's own button and everything else works great!

Graphics: 9.75/10

Not perfect, but they are pretty good for a game like this. The guns look great and you just gotta love the symbol on the back of your starting pistol. Explosions look great and characters are pretty good. It's just that you fight the same old bad guys over and over again in the same costume. Whenever you shoot them, a blue spark shows instead of blood. I don't care. At least I knew that I hit somebody.

Sound: 10/10 (If you have surround sound, that is)

Since that James Bond is not here, we don't need that fancy "James Bond Theme" anymore. The music is especially for rogues or pretty much anyone. All you will be hearing for most of the time is gun-shots. That's pretty much it. If you have surround sound stereos, you're in for a blast. The voices are okay, but not ultra perfect. To make a long story short: The sound is great!

Multi-player: 10/10

It's time to kill somebody else. There are plenty of multi-player maps and some bonus weapons. There are even traps to pull off at your opponents. Some maps are designed for a 1 on 1 duel and some are for a big 4 player fight. Dual-wielding rules apply to multi-player as well. Don't forget that this game goes online.

The good, the bad, and the ugly:

The good:

- Everything

The bad:

No multi-player bots

The ugly:

This is too good of a game to have anything ugly.

Buy or Rent?

BUY! BUY! BUY! If you love shooting, get this as soon as possible.

OVERALL: 10/10

Just simply buy this game and invite some friends or meet each other online. Single player is okay too, but just buy this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/05