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| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent Reviewed by Pirate Yoshi Over-view: GoldenEye was the revolutionary first-person shooter that started it all. Based on Pierce Brosnan's first appearance on the silver screen as James Bond, it led to a massive wave of new shooter titles on multiple platforms, including an entire series or two, such as Time Splitters and--more obviously--and entire 007 series. Hailed as one of the greatest titles made not only for N64, but even for all-time, GoldenEye was a gem to compare all other shooters by. Now, in 2004, a sequel has been made...a "sequel" to end all sequels, even those that are hardly connected at all to the last. Today's target: GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. And working closely with my co-operative, Fierce Deity, our mission objective is to acquire, by any means necessary, the game time required to construct a full report on this title. Lethal force was not only allowed, but encouraged. But there will be no final scores, because these documents are confidential, and if we told you what we thought, we're afraid we'd have to kill you. Graphics: 9.8/10 Great to start on a high note. Better to start at the very tip-top. At first glance, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent will look revolutionary. And it definately should, because at my ninety-fifth glance, it still does. This game features superb animation, fluid movement, dazzling backdrops, detailed characters, sleek-looking weapons, and cut-scenes that can stand up to the very best out there. I suppose this is only to be expected, considering big-name movie bigwigs worked on a lot of the art, including a CGI wizard involved with past Bond films and the costume designer for The Matrix. Major cudos to the Rogue Agent staff, these graphics are to die for. Sound: 9.7/10 Honestly, I'm both "wowed" by the sound, and also a wee bit disappointed with it. First of all, the sound effects are fantastic, with enemy radio-type voices constantly sounding off, authentic gun fire and the clink-clink of bullets hitting the ground, and even the thuds and whooshes from tossing and punching people. The voice acting, however, left something to be desired in a few cases. True, some of the voices from the movies (er, actors) came back to make sure that their characters were constant between both mediums, but some of the dialogue (perhaps that's a problem with gameplay...) was very boring, cliche-esque, and--in the end--not very well composed or ear-catching. The music, too, was a let-down, after hearing such great things about some of it. Of course, that's what I get for expecting the most unbelieveable score ever. Do yourself a favor and don't assume that every piece of music will be your new favorite, and you'll find that I'm just blowing a lot of smoke around; GoldenEye: Rogue Agent has a very solid sound catagory, on the verge of really taking the cake and putting all past Bond titles to shame. In particular is the main theme, which I hope to rip and post as a download sometime soon. Controls: 9.7/10 This is a very genuine catagory, and a hard element to seriously screw up in a game. Therefore, it tends to be a gimmee; the only problems I had with Rogue Agent's controls were some clumsy left-hand handling (throwing a grenade by accident is a little too easy, and such an action is a little too deadly to be so easy to do unaware) and some rough GoldenEye power controls, specifically with changing powers rapidly on the fly, but using the X button to activate them after each switch. However, crisp handling and strict movement that pretty perfectly adheres to your controller makes this a hard one to put down, and if you go down during a mission, you've got no one to blame but yourself (unless, of course, you threw a grenade into a tight area trying to change weapons...) Gameplay: 9.1/10 Unfortunately, this catagory should have been much higher than it was, for all the hype it received (and that's not to say that some of our YS staff didn't help build it up...because we did). The problems I found were that the game was just too repetitive, and just too dark; running through room after room of puzzling, unfamiliar terrain can grow old quickly, and the ability to get lost in a level has never been easier. The level design is far from memorable; it's simply not so much fun when you play as an anti-Bond, apparently. Shameful as it is to be so disappointed by lackluster level design, however, congratulations must be awarded to other hard-working staffers who put some extra fun-factor into this game. The weapons are very distinctly different, but cleverly equipped with special talents that make some combinations more favorable for certain events and scenerios; mixing and matching has never been so much fun! The Rogue Bonuses add a lot, also, but I have yet to discover just which are best for your score, and also often wonder if they're all a little too easy to achieve. In the end, this is a fun title, but not to the level that some past Bond games have been. Replay: 7.2/10 A major upset here, mainly because the multiplayer (which the game was more based on, finally) disappointed. Saving the multiplayer aspect for below, however, there's not a whole lot of fun to squish out of this game over and over, and because no levels stand out as especially fun (unlike some of the levels in previous Bond games, mainly driving levels), you won't get any more out of it the second time than the first. It's awful that a catagory that would normally be strong for Bond, and especially strong for this title, really turned out to be a weak point. Check out my multiplayer bonus for more reasoning. **Story: .9/1 Let's be serious for a moment: GoldenEye is too dangerous for MI6, gets a job offering from Goldfinger, joins his mob with the likes of mythical Bond villains Oddjob, Scaramanga, and Pussy Galore, and then goes out and battles the forces of the hideously-evil Dr. No, who has his own militia aimed at defeating Goldfinger for control of the underworld. What kind of plot does that sound like? Well, for starters, a pretty wild one! Who'd have thunk it...I mean, I VIVIDLY recall hearing the first news of it, around April 1st, and we even had a poll up asking who thought it was a joke, who thought it'd be cancelled, and who thought it'd live to see the light of day. I'll tell you what, the results were torn between it being cancelled, and being a lie. Ridiculous, random, and unbelieveable, it's so darn outrightly absurd that you HAVE to give it points, because it dared to go to territory that nobody would dare take a Bond game...and the relations, plot, and characters really were put together in a complex, yet clever, manner that forces admiration to be shined on it all. The last .1 of a point it didn't receive? That's for going over the edge and ending up almost cheesey at times, so badly, in fact, that you can't take it seriously anymore. **Multiplayer: .4/1 This is essentially a perfect score, the highest Rogue Agent could have possibly gotten in this catagory from me...simply because it lacked the one of the most essential elements in multiplayer gaming: the bot. I know some will protest, and I acknowledge and agree with them: I do not have a generic no-bot penalty I curse all games with, nor would I take half the multiplayer points off on any other existing game because of a lack of bots (well, save a few titles). This is a Bond-specific complaint, and perhaps even unfair of me. However, having computer-controlled participants in the multiplayer mode is a long-standing tradition of past Bond titles, and to DARE to make an entire game emphasizing the multiplayer mode and KNOWINGLY disclude bots as an option requires strict punishment and penalization. This is a mistake that just can't be overlooked. And while it's true that other great Bond games (Everything or Nothing and also, notably, the original GoldenEye) had no bots included, THIS game was MADE for multiplayer, not a single-player campaign with a multiplayer tacked on. An extra .1 was cut off the score because of some maps being limited in the player number (many of the coolest require two players only), and also still a lack of extra unlockable characters--I'd much rather play as more Bond characters than as random guards and creepy stealth agents... Graphics: 9.8/10 Sound: 9.7/10 Controls: 9.7/10 Gameplay: 9.1/10 Replay: 7.2/10 **Story: .9/1 **Multiplayer: .4/1 Total Calculated Score: 9.36 Total Assigned Score: 8.2 Final Score: 8.78 Last Words: The problems that arrose, I think, with most reviewers (this reviewer included) was that the game was hyped to be so great, so big disappointments, like a lack of bots--an obvious addition that wasn't even considered something possible to take out--made public approval dip madly. This is a fine game in its own right, but after Everything or Nothing, it just doesn't have a leg to stand on as "acceptable," and I certainly hope that EA recognizes that there is a price to pay for putting everything into EON, then TAKING everything out from under Rogue Agent by dropping its mulitplayer value, the element it was famed for, below that of several previous Bond games. It would appear that only the original Rare team can save multiplayer Bond now... Rent, Buy, or Pass: Certainly, fans of the Bond series, and FPS games in general, should look to RENT this at a local store, but you may want to think twice before shelling out hard earned cash on this title when other great games continue to drop in price. Pros: Excellent gameplay, fantastic music, and hard-core graphics = a high production value. Cons: Who cares about production value?! Where's my multiplayer options and bots?! And what about better unlockables, like GoldenEye's? Needs: Bots and options for multiplayer, as well as more Bond Move-like scenerios.....and JAWS. |
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