GoldenEye
Based on the James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan, GoldenEye is one of the most popular first person shooters of our time. Made by Rare, GoldenEye offered a first-person shooting experience unlike any other by allowing you to play as everyone's favorite secret agent, James Bond. In this review, I'll let you know why GoldenEye is considered by many the best James Bond experience to date.

Graphics:

While the game was one of the earliest out on the N64, the graphics aren't lacking. The characters may be blocky, but this doesn't mean the graphics are horrible. The environments, while being pre-rendered, are represented well by looking almost exactly like they did in the movie. The game is also probably on of the first to use face scanning technology. This is when a person has their face digitally scanned and placed on one of the game character models. While this wasn't done for Pierce Brosnan, many of the bad guys you shoot at in GoldenEye have the same faces as the people who worked on the game.

Sound and Music:

The sound and music in the game is top notch. All music is either taken from the actual movie or created specifically for the game. All the music in the game sounds good, especially the good old James Bond Theme we all know and love. The sound effects in the game are nicely done as well. There's nothing I like to hear more than the rattling of bullets as I plow down every bad guy in sight with a high powered machine gun.

Storyline:

While there are a few discrepancies in the storyline between the game and the movie, it's bound to happen when translating a movie into game format. This summary will contain minor spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie or played the game and don't want to story spoiled, continue to scroll down. The story is as follows. When a deadly satellite weapon system falls into the wrong hands, only James Bond can save the world from certain disaster. Bond races to Russia in search of the stolen access codes for "GoldenEye," an awesome space weapon that can fire a devastating electromagnetic pulse toward Earth. But 007 is up against an enemy who anticipates his every move: Alec Trevelyan, also known as Agent 006, a mastermind motivated by years of simmering hatred. As Bond squares off against his former compatriot, he also battles Trevelyan's stunning ally, Xenia Onatopp, an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon. When the extent of Trevelyan's plan is revealed, it is up to you to take on the role of Bond and stop your former ally from succeeding. Overall, the storyline follows the movie pretty darn well, and is sure to please any James Bond fan.

Gameplay:

The gameplay in GoldenEye 007 is what makes the game so compelling. For the first time, you are able to take the role as James Bond and thwart the plans of the bad guy. Throughout the game, you'll go through over fifteen different missions, most of which actually occur in the movie. While some missions in the game are directly from the movie, some are just made up for the game to help move the storyline along. Such an example would the Bunker levels. While James Bond never makes his way to the Bunker in the movie, you'll find yourself there on two different occasions in the game. Another great aspect of the gameplay in GoldenEye is the multiplayer. You're gonna need some friends for this, as there isn't an option to have AI controlled players against you. There are various different modes of play, along with a wide variety of weapons and characters to choose from. The gameplay in the game is extremely addicting, so proceed with caution.

Controls:

While the N64 controller may be very clunky, GoldenEye makes good use of it. Just about every button serves a good purpose. The game even has a bunch of different control setups you can choose from if you don't like the one they give you. It'll take you about thirty minutes to get used to the controls, but once you do, they work extremely well in both the single player and multiplayer modes.

Replayability:

The game has a ton of replay value. You can complete certain objects in the game, which allow you to unlock hidden cheats such as infinite ammo and no damage. Along with that, there are two hidden levels you can go through if you beat the game on the hardest difficulty. You can also invite three friends over and go head to head against each other in the awesome multiplayer modes. While it may not seem like much of a replay value, don't underestimate how addicting this game can be.

While GoldenEye 007 is over five years old, I actually found myself playing it against a friend at my last birthday party. Not only that, but I still enjoyed playing it too! The game is a pick up and play game, requiring hardly any skills at all. While most people have some kind of skill they follow, others will succeed at just randomly shooting everyone in sight with a high powered machine gun. Overall, GoldenEye 007 was one of my favorite first-person shooting experiences, and still is to this day.
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound and Music: 9.6/10
Storyline: 9.7/10
Gameplay: 9.8/10
Controls: 9.6/10
Replayability: 9.5/10
9.6
Out of 10