"You'd be ignorant to dismiss "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" because of its title; this is a true gem for those with refined tastes..."

AN OVERVIEW TO GET THINGS ROLLING...

James Bond... 007. A world wide success in many areas ranging from the original novels, films, and finally in the most modern media; videogames. True, many of the early, less known Bond games such as "Licence to Kill" for PC, or "James Bond: The Duel" for the Sega Master System didn't fly, but Rareware (the once great developer) changed all that after Pierce Brosnan's initial Bond film, "Goldeneye" in 1995, at which time Rare had began to develop the videogame adaptation to hit the N64 later on. This game finally secured the Bond license on consoles, and thus, making the franchise branch out even more to the public. Not only is "Goldeneye 007" for the N64 often considered the best use of the Bond license in videogames to date (and rather ignorantly so), but it is also looked at as one of, if not the best first person shooter of all time. Oddly enough, Rare gave up the Bond license after this title, and EA (Electronic Arts) took the wheel from there. Well, after years of trying, I guess EA decided that, no matter what they did, people wouldn't stop clinging to the past and comparing their games to "Goldeneye 007", so they thought, "The hell with it, we'll make our own damn Goldeneye!!" And here it is, in the form of the critically spat on "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent".

...AND SO WE BEGIN.

Where can I begin with this game? Such hatred surrounds it, and such angry fans of the original "Goldeneye" titled game. Well, I guess I ought to state the obvious; this isn't "Goldeneye 007", or a sequel in any way to the N64 original... Surprised? Of course not, this review is pretty late, so if you even cared about "Goldeneye 007" beforehand, then you'd know already that this game came along and, "mocked" your beloved classic. Just for the record as well, before you start to hate me for being somewhat sarcastic and bitter in the way people talk about this game, hear this; I own "Goldeneye 007" for the N64, and had played it and enjoyed it years before the release of this game, and I still enjoy it to this day... But that doesn't mean I don't like "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent". In fact, I can say that, without a doubt, I like "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" more than the well known N64 classic... But before you start gathering your torch wielding mob; let's move on to the actual review, shall we?

THE CONCEPTS... THE GAMEPLAY.

As for the whole concept of this game, EA has tried to make a new spin-off really within the 007 series, and in it, you play the lead role of an ex-MI6 operative turned big time villain who might as well be in a film titled, "The Man with the Golden Eye". Why exactly? Well, as the title truly implies, the game is all about... A golden eye. Nope, it isn't a satellite, but an actual used-for-vision golden eyeball. Interestingly enough, this is where one of the major gameplay elements comes from; the power your eye holds. Unfortunately for our main character Johnathan Hunter, this power does not include the ability to see through the caps of soft drink bottles or look through women's undergarments, but instead, it offers the player a wide array of seemingly sci-fi like skills that involve such things as magnetic hacking and a polarity shield... It's supposed to seem scientific, and not magical by the way... But the powers are over the top, so if you can hold back the urge to state the obvious outrageousness of your eye causing a guard to launch half way across an opened room and remember that this is a videogame, then none of this should be a problem to you, but more of a fun little feature that you'll no doubt find yourself using in tight situations.

For the bare-bones of the game, it is safe to say, this is pretty much just another first person shooter in terms of controls. Like the ever so popular "Halo", you have the ability to dual-wield weapons which adds for a little more chaos than previous entries in the Bond series, like "007 Nightfire" for example. This is great though, because chaos is probably what this game could've have been titled initially, as it is all about suiting up with two full powered machine guns and blasting your way through countless foes fighting to keep your life bar afloat.... And before you argue that this isn't what makes a good game, just consider that it is more likely than not that you are amongst the group of people that consider "Resident Evil 4" to be the superior of the "Resident Evil" series, or that the more players a developer can pack into their run-of-the-mill online deathmatches, the better. Whatever the case, just remember that, this is what "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" was meant to be, a ridiculously chaotic adrenaline rush from start to finish, or in short, kill what moves. Often, this type of game doesn't actually appeal to me, but the way it is presented within "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" just makes me crazed with excitement... It is that intense. Obviously, the higher the difficulty, the better it gets in terms of fighting for your life (which can end in the blink of a 'golden' eye if you don't watch out... Get it?). Before you get confused, note that I'm talking about the single player mode here, which is a loosely story driven ride through eight almost overly long, (but never dull) action packed missions.

Some of the other things that really add to "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" are the options to hit people with your guns (melee attacks), use guards as human shields, and throw people. All of these abilities kind of branch off from each other, but it starts with the melee. First, you can hit a guard, and choose to keep hitting him until he dies. If you choose to simply knock them out however, you can press the "A" button (when the icon flashes indicating you do so) to grab the enemy and use them as a shield, at which time they will cry out, "What are you doing!?" as if you are trying to molest them in some way or other... But anyway, as useful as this is in providing you with a second coating of armor (which you'll find painfully necessary at times), it also hinders your left hand from using a secondary gun, so be sure to have something useful in your right hand to keep your body double alive as long as possible, because in a game of evil people, no body really cares if you're threatening the life of their best friend Tommy while they shoot relentlessly at you. If you find you need to suddenly toss away the dying corpse in your arms at any given time, you can do just that by pressing the "A" button again resulting in an effective throw that'll actually knock down opposing enemies that it hits... So try and use it efficiently.

GRAPHICALLY... IT'S GOLD.

There are a lot of bad looking games that come out almost weekly in the world of gaming, and thinking back to Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox... Neither of those consoles lacked the power to actually put out fantastic graphics, it is just that, well, developers are lazy on most occasions. EA has always made the Bond games look pretty damn decent ("007 Nightfire", "007 Everything or Nothing"), and though "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" does tend to look a little less refined than those in some areas, it still looks a lot better than many games if you look at it on a full scale. Let me start by saying that, there are some damn great graphics in this game... Like the gun and character models, which all look superb and far outweigh those present in something like "007 Nightfire" (with some exceptions), however, the scenery honestly could look a little better. If you just play the game like you're suppose to, you probably wouldn't even notice some of the muddy textures and... It hurts me to say this... The God awful water graphics present within the game, but it doesn't ever look harsh in any way. Like I say, there are actually some very above average models and the like here, but I'll admit, it isn't perfect. Strange though, that the scenery within the Multiplayer maps all looks considerably better than the scenery of the campaign mode stages, but EA themselves had stated in early interviews that they had began production on the Multiplayer portion of the game before starting with the single player modes, so this is probably the best explanation for the drop dead gorgeous maps like the Golden Gate Bridge (my all time favorite videogame stage), or the Satellite Uplink level which all have rather crisp textures and lovely backdrops that are quite the contrast of such levels like the Midas Casino (muddy city backdrops) or the rooftops of Hong Kong (muddy everything). I guess to be fair though, there are about one thousand things taking place at once within the single player stages, so maybe the game runs better when the scenery isn't so high in detail, as it is in the significantly less frantic multiplayer maps. However you look at it though, I'm going to call "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" quite above average overall in terms of graphics, just because everything looks quite good in its own respective way.

WHEN YOU WANT TO SHOOT YOUR FRIENDS...

"GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" does have a pretty great rush of a single player mode, but if you have the proper setup (extra people... Hopefully ones you like, extra controllers... Hopefully ones that work, and most content unlocked!!) then the multiplayer experience can possibly outweigh the fun of it by a pretty large margarine. First of all, I was initially turned off by the lack of AI Bots in this game like "007 Nightfire" had, but once you actually try the mode out with another person who is serious about it, it can be an insanely fun time. What makes the multiplayer in "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" so excellent, is that it is rather compact, but extremely option heavy and user friendly. You have a few base modes, like Showdown, Team Showdown, Domination, and Tug-of-War (absolutely ridiculous by the way), but then, outside of that, you have all kinds of variation modes like License to Kill (Timothy Dalton was an excellent James Bond may I remind you), Golden Gun, You Only Live Twice (didn't care for the theme song in that one), and uhhh... Normal. Either of these additional tweaks can be added to any of the main modes, but none of them really make the game that different, that isn't to say that they aren't nice to have though (and also ripped directly from Rareware's "Goldeneye 007" multiplayer options if you didn't notice). The other options include the basics like score and timer modifications, whereas in this game, only one of these can be set to unlimited while the other must have a limit. The weapon set is 100% customizable in this game as well, save for the Spec 9, which is always your default weapon (just like in the campaign). The weapon set in "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" is also my favorite to appear in any shooter since "Perfect Dark" for the N64, as it includes many unique guns like the MK2 Detonator, or the Venom 200ml. What is a shame though, is that the Longbow SR (sniper rifle) from the campaign mode isn't available here, as well as the less concerning Tesla EM... But as far as sniping goes, none of the 22 multiplayer maps (that's right people, TWENTY TWO!!) are that huge in size, so it would be nice to have, but not completely necessary. Also, there is an assault rifle that has a scope feature, so that ought to do you well enough for shooting people from afar. To conclude, there are a few other neat options you can adjust here like power-ups and just plain different stuff like deathtraps (whether they are present or not) and turbo speed.

Honestly though, it is the map selection that really makes the multiplayer in "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" click, as there are just so many high quality ones. They may occasionally lack in size, but the way they are laid out is genius, most notably the Golden Gate Bridge stage which is a callback to Roger Moore's final Bond film, "A View to a Kill" (Not the best Bond film mind you... But at least this map came out of it!). Amongst the other great ones are Carver's Press ("Tomorrow Never Dies"), Pyramid Showdown ("The Spy Who Loved Me"), Atlantis (also "The Spy Who Loved Me"), and Satellite Uplink ("Goldeneye"... Also known as the Cradle for those who know the N64 game). What is a bit on the unusual side though, is the stages are kind of divided into showdown specific, or duel specific. What this means is, well if you ever unlocked the Egyptian multiplayer stage in "Goldeneye 007", you'd know it was a two player only level... Well this is kind of like that. When selecting a map, you'll notice a little icon at the top right-hand corner of the screen indicating exactly how many players are allowed to play that particular stage. For the Golden Gate Bridge for example, a maximum of two people can join the game no matter what the mode may be. So, this is kind of a letdown if you really enjoy a map and what to bring it beyond two player, but most of these limited levels are actually still loads of fun even with just two players, it is just a bit of a shame as, well... There are some really nice ones that would make for great team deathmatches had they the option. In contrast, the showdown stages allow for a maximum of four people, which means you can have two, three, or four player games to be customized however you wish. Also along the lines of stage selection is a nifty Map Rotation option which allows you select a particular order for any number of maps to play through consecutively... Whether it be linear of random.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE?

Aside from the Campaign Mode and Splitscreen Mode, well, there isn't really anything. Your profile options just include stuff for the Campaign, with some actual interesting things like a status screen for your progress. Most everything you unlock through single player is multiplayer content, which is great if that's what you're into. Outside of that though, there is some unlockable artwork packs that'll most likely just have you saying, "Just how much bigger was this game suppose to be?" If you enjoy the Campaign, you'll probably spend a fair bit of time with it trying to beat it on harder difficultly and maybe even trying to unlock the optional One Life Mode. Just to clarify, "GoldenEye: Rogue Agent" is in no way supported for online play by EA anymore, though it never was on Gamecube anyway. I had had the privilege of playing this mode on the Xbox once, though all it was was a bunch of people racing around throwing grenades about to seemingly no end... But I killed someone with a shotgun, just to let you know. Anyway, if you enjoy the game for what it is, then the current modes should be enough to satisfy you, as the multiplayer can potentially add tons of hours onto your play time if you get it going.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/07/08

Game Release: GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (US, 11/22/04)