Game Information

Nintendo Quote: "Tense and realistic, prehaps best playability on N64 "
Nintendo Score: 94%

No of Players:1-4
Exp Pak: NO
Memory Pak: NO
Rumble Pak: YES

Price: £29.99
Released:
1997
Extras:

GoldenEye 007 is a first person shooter, meaning you look through the eyes of James Bond. Unlike most first person shooters, GoldenEye 007 differs in that there are no health pick ups, meaning you have to finish the level with the knowledge that you can't afford to take any silly hits. Needless to say, this means you start sneaking around the levels ala Metal Gear Solid style, popping your head around the corners seeing what lies up ahead. This also means that the game generates a great deal of tension, you can't afford to just go out there all guns blazing...true you can complete the early levels this way, but use this technique on the later levels and you won't stand a chance.

"thus if you hit them between the legs, always a favourite, they will fall to the ground holding their privates, lovely"

The other main difference in GoldenEye 007, when compared to other first person shooters is in the weapons department. On most first person shooters you pick up weapons as you progress throughout the game, and you can keep all these weapons from the time you find them until the end of the game. Bond does it differently, yes you pick up weapons hidden around the levels, or as you kill guards, yet as soon as you finish the level...that's it, you go back to having just the weapons that the next level allows you to start with. In some cases, just a tiny little pistol, yet this actually makes this game what it is...as it means that each level offers a challenge. There's non-of this, using the biggest gun the game has to offer all the time making some levels easy, as in other first person shooters.

The controls are sometimes the difference between a good and a great game, and this is oh so true of first person shooters. GoldenEye 007, you will be pleased to hear, does it to perfection...every button on your N64 controller does something, you can walk, run, duck, crawl, side step, dodge from side to side, reload your weapons, carry out actions, such as opening doors via the action button and aim the various weapons, via the analogue stick. However, it somehow never gets complex, everything is just placed where you want it, meaning it soon becomes second nature. You'll soon be running around, dodging bullets, firing off rounds, picking up a key card and quickly blowing the place up as you make your escape using that key-card...satisfaction, oh yes, fun, oh yes, tension...you bet ya!

The visuals and sound are perfect, it has a very movie like feel to it with each level having its own intro, overhead cameras are the order of the day here, but these intros aren't just there to look good, some of them actual show you locations on the level you have to reach. The music and sound effects are also movie like, with the 007 music playing in the background, seamlessly unnoticed, and every so often the sound of a gun firing, peeoww! It makes for a great experience.

There are loads of weapons, the obvious pistols, machine guns and granade-launchers are in here, but there's also a whole host of unusual and great weapons at your disposal too. Knifes, sniper rifles, bombs and a nifty secret agent weapon that looks like a watch, which is one of the most powerful weapons on offer as you can destroy almost anything with it, are all in here too. The sniper rifle is great at taking out enemies from a far, but it has to be said, it looks pretty poor when compared to Metal Gear Solids stunning sniper rifle.

There are loads of levels too, each offering different challenges, different enemy AI and some of the best real looking locations ever seen on the Nintendo64. The game takes you on board ships, into secret under cover bunkers, into the jungle and you even get to drive tanks.

"What is it about this game that makes it so good then? Well, it's hard to explain...in fact it's a bit like all them other classics, you sometimes can't describe it...but it just feels right!"

There are some nice little touches, which you expect from Rare and Nintendo, you can't help but smile when you find out that you can shot your enemies hats off. Some enemies die a nice, lovely, slow death right in front of your very eyes and the enemies even react to the body parts you aim at, thus if you hit them between the legs, always a favourite, they will fall to the ground holding their privates, lovely!

The characters all interact with each other, and so sometimes you will meet up with someone who you have been told has a key-card you need. You walk up to them, and then you read the text bar across the bottom to see what they are saying. It would have been nice if the characters actually spoke, as in Metal gear Solid, as this would have made the game feel even more movie like. Another minor problem is with the pause menu, this is very unresponsive, meaning you sometimes take shots as you wait for the game to actually pause. The problem is, the pause menu is used quite a lot, as it is where you select and use items, and also where you view your mission objectives and current game status.

Each level comes with three difficulty levels, however, unlike usual first person shooters, this doesn't just mean you have less health, less ammo and tougher enemy AI. You actually get more, harder mission objectives, meaning there are more then enough reasons to play the game from start to finish on all three difficulty levels, which of course means the game lasts a very long time.

The game has a great frame rate and is very smooth, add to this the bonus of wide-screen and cinema views, the great explosions, and you have one of the best looking games on the Nintendo64. The wide-screen and cinema views make the game look even better, and they are not there just to look good, they actually improve the game-play by allowing you to see more of the enemies on screen at any one time...meaning, you have no excuses for dying!

Attention to detail is stunning, you can fire at almost anything and destroy it! TV sets, windows, toilets, ropes, boxes...if you can see it, you can destroy it! However, unlike some games...you can actually destroy certain objects, which you need in order to complete your mission objectives. Meaning, you have to restart the level again, its actually funny to do sometimes, especially when you're doing a mission that involves another character. Its great fun to see your partner go to hack into a computer mainframe, that you've destroyed, and watch there reaction. Watch the character scratch there head and then simply say, "hmm, come and get me when you've finished playing around in here", and then simply walk off!

"you know that you've just experienced one of them classic games-playing moments!"

There are just so many different objectives...one minute you might be blowing up helicopters, firing padlocks open, placing bombs around the level and then setting them all off in one mighty satisfying explosion. There's even one scene where you find yourself locked in a train, the train is about to blow...the clock starts ticking, all the windows and doors have been sealed...your locked in a single carriage with no clear way out! I'm not going to tell you what you have to do, but needless to say its one of them experiences where you find yourself thinking "this is impossible"! Then, your brain ticks and you solve it...with only seconds to spear, you make it and you can't help but smile as you see the train blow and you know that you've just experienced one of them classic games-playing moments!

Fortunately this game offers plenty of these moments, and it's all the better for it, you seriously never know what to expect next...and no matter what you think could happen, it just always seem to outweigh your expectations.

There's a whole lot more I could talk of, such as the stunning multi-player modes, the wide range of characters to find, the stunning visuals, the feeling you get as you beat a level you have been on for what seems like years, but I'll leave that for you to find out! This game may be getting on a bit now, but it is still one of the best experiences to be found on Nintendo64, and once completed, well...there's more then enough to come back for.

Kevin Preston

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