Review - Goldeneye - N64
I heard so many good things about this game, so I bought it.
To say I was disappointed would be…a lie. Less than one year after
the N64’s release here, Rare have made a game that in my opinion, betters
Mario 64. Why? I’ll tell you.
For starters, this game is as faithful to the movie as you could hope
for, without it being a cheesy Mega-CD style FMV shambles like Night Trap.
All the key characters have had their faces pasted around polygonal heads
on some brilliantly motion-captured bodies and to great effect. You
want Brosnan? You’ve got him. You want Bean, Coltrane and the two
girls (I don’t know their real names)? You’ve got them. You
want all the staff from Rare including the gardener? Maybe not, but
you’ve got them anyway.
You’re blown away before the game has even started, with a comedy certification
screen at the beginning - rated ‘4’ for 1-4 players, and a brilliant reproduction
of the Bond introduction, complete with blood running down the screen.
Then you’ve got eighteen levels, each of which plays like a set piece
from the film, except you’re the one who has to complete the missions.
Then to this add three difficulty levels which not only increase
how hard the game is, but also progressively add more mission objectives.
The feeling that you are 007, and that you have a license to kill is unparalleled,
better than the faceless nobodies in the likes of Quake and Doom.
Take this run through of level one in 00Agent (Hard) Level:
You start off at the dam, the place Bond must infiltrate before the
film has even properly started. Your mission is to destroy all of
the alarms, install a covert modem, download some computer data and finally
jump of the dam itself. Initially armed with a silenced PP7, it’s
down to you to take out all the guards as well. Just like real life
though, if you want more weapons, you’re going to have to get them from
the people who use them. In this case you get a KF7 machine gun,
which although inaccurate and noisy is quite powerful, as well as having
a magnified lens for better targeting. On further exploration you
will find a sniper rifle and the fun can really begin.
For you see one of the beauties of the game is that wherever you hit
an enemy, they react accordingly - as in real life a head shot means instant
death, while shots to the body or legs are less effective. Thanks
to the rifle’s high powered telescopic sight and silencer, you can zoom
right in on someone’s head and before they can even see you, they’ve been
taken out.
Take out a few more people and you’ll reach the security gate along
with a truck, which you can temporarily use for cover. Into the next
area, and you’ll be spotted by a guard who’ll make a mad dash for an alarm.
With careful aim, a shot to the back of the head should sort him out quickly,
followed by a few shots to the alarm to destroy it. Through
another gate and round the corner, and you’ll find the computer; carefully
aim the modem and you’ve completed one of your objectives.
Shoot the padlock off the next gate and you’re through the final stretch.
Three guards at three individual posts can be taken out with the rifle,
and inside each post is an alarm. Destroy all of those and another
objective is completed. All of these lead to a large underground
bunker, swarming with guards and the end of which contains the mainframe
for downloading the data. If you manage to survive this, your only
remaining objective is to jump off the dam which is situated on the long
stretch where the three towers were. Do that (without a rope,
strangely) and it’s mission complete, and only seventeen more levels to
go (with two secret levels after that). Then repeat x3. This
game’s going to last you.
Some missions are frustratingly hard, such as the Control level, where
you must protect Natalya while she disables the Goldeneye satellite from
a legion of guards. Your line-of-sight never completely covers all
possible entrances, so you’re constantly kept on the run whilst looking
for sneaky buggers that hide behind computers and break through glass,
all of whom are trying to kill her. If she dies you fail, and you’ll
fail a lot.
Talking of breaking glass, the sound is also superb. Each gun
has realistic effects, pinging off walls, whilst empty shells ‘ching’ on
the floor. Different surfaces have different effects when shot (and
you can shoot a hole in everything - spell your name for fun!) and it definitely
boosts the overall atmosphere. Music likewise isn’t irritating and
is always suitable, right down to the cheesy elevator music playing the
Bond theme in the lift.
As is typical with Rare, they have ensured that you get your money’s
worth with some other features. The best one is probably the 2-4
player deathmatch mode. Pick from your all your favourite characters
(and eventually, over 30 more including Oddjob and Jaws), and shoot it
out to the death. The best thing about is that hasn’t been made as
an afterthought and they are a large number of options to choose from including
gun types, levels (including some made especially for it), health levels,
control, no.of lives/time limit, and game type - choose from the Man with
a Golden Gun (one golden gun which when found kills with one shot), The
Living Daylights (a capture the flag game), You Only Live Twice (everyone
has two lives) and team games. The team games are especially great,
eliminating the faceless aspect of on-line gaming with the ability to shout
at your friends because they’re sitting right next to you (and not in Sweden),
and direct them like a real team would.
There’s also the inclusion of a time activated cheat mode for each level,
where a different cheat is acquired for completing it in a certain time
and on a certain difficulty level. Don’t expect this to make things
easier for you though, as you can only use them on levels already completed,
and some even work on the multiplayer mode. They range from your
typical invincibility to the bizarre ones like Paintball and DK mode (which
makes everyone’s head and arms grow to Donkey Kong type sizes). Special
mention must go to the All Weapons cheat which gives you two of everything
(for John Woo style action), as well as new weapons like the Tazer and
the standard shotgun. My particular favourite is the double DD Dostovei,
which makes you feel like Chow-Yun Fat (especially with the Rumble Pak).
This cheat definitely highlights the number of weapons available to you
throughout the game - it takes an age to cycle through them all.
That’s why this game is so brilliant - there’s just so much to
mention, that you could talk about with your friends for months.
I haven’t mentioned the way people fly from explosions (and realistically
too; place a mine behind them and they’ll fly towards you, place one underneath
and they’ll go shooting skywards), the quality of all the textures,
they way people who haven’t noticed you will swat at flies or scratch themselves,
the brilliant way the Bond blood runs down the screen when you die accompanied
by the final part of the theme (complete with guitar "twaaaong"), and the
small amount of pop-up on open air levels (without fogging - take note
Iguana). I’m sure there’s more but I’ll leave it to you to find it
out.
I admire Mario 64 - it’s still a ground breaking title in it’s respective
genre, and redefined games as we know them, but compared to this, it hasn’t
got the realism, the replay value or the visual-audio flair to compete
with this. Controversial I know, but whatcha gonna do? Who
would’ve though the best game in the world would be a movie license? The
irony is almost overwhelming.
Graphics - 9
Realistic and almost glitch-free. The frame rate does suffer
when it gets busy, though.
Sound - 9
Sound effects to die for and the best N64 music yet.
Playability - 9
Completely responsive all the time.
Lastability - 9
Rare are still playing it, ‘nuff said.
Overall - 9
As close to perfection as you can get (for the time being).
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