After the fairly successful 1995 film “GoldenEye” appeared, in which Pierce Brosnan donned his first trademark tux, Rare realized that the success Bond had found on the silver screen could be captured in their own medium. So, their first (and last) Bond video game, entitled GoldenEye 007, was born. But, unlike it’s cinematic counterparts, despite the video game sequels and knockoff attempts, there’s little that doubt that Goldeneye is the best of Bond games.

James is on a top-secret mission, but this time something goes wrong and his fellow agent and friend, Alec, is killed. Who would do such a dastardly thing…? But, that was a long time ago and now Bond is on vacation, though as a spy it’s never truly time to relax and he quickly finds himself embroiled in a high-tech plot to highjack a very deadly satellite. And who would do such a … well you get the picture.

Whoever it is, it’s highly likely it involves Russians, a slew of lovely but dangerous vixens, silly personality stereotypes, and an army of gun totting recruits for cannon fodder with the underlying goal potentially being a very large explosion, centered over London. Uh oh, that’s pretty close to home James! In top secret global espionage, things aren’t always as they seem. Who’s trying to help you? Who’s trying to see you to an early grave? Who’s the real man behind this insidious plot? How many weapons will I get to play with? And is it remotely possible to find a girl that doesn’t have to be rescued constantly?

These are all serious questions posed in GoldenEye the movie, but really only the last two are relevant in GoldenEye the video game. Instead you’ll be asking things like: Where can I get an invisible enemy-generating machine? How is it physically possible to get shot with a gun torrent thirty times and live? And of course, why can’t that dumb broad get hit thirty times and live too? Or at least get out of the way?

Like most first person shooters, GoldenEye has a simple game play structure centered around shooting lots of people. The game also has huge replay value because only by completing all the missions on each difficulty and under a certain time can you obtain and use all of the game’s 20+ cheats. The missions (there’s 20 of them, altogether) see Bond running through a hail of enemy bullets while completing several guiding requirements such as snapping photos, disarming bombs, and nighttime rendezvous’ with non-playable characters to unlock the secrets of the sinister plot being formulated against the world.

Though the situation is far more dangerous than what occurred in the movie, for the most part the story remains fairly accurate to the movie. In the face of such odds, getting out alive becomes the main objective. However, unless you trip an alarm, the enemies will always appear in the same place and with Bond’s huge arsenal of weaponry, ranging from his characteristic pistol, the PP7, all the way to a tank, the most fun usually comes from trying to improve your marksmanship.

This doesn’t mean GoldenEye is an all out shoot-fest. To keep yourself alive and get the job done correctly, in some situations you’ll have to employ strategy, as well as restraint. Knowing when, where, and how to strike is one of the game’s secrets to success, a factor which is even more apparent on higher difficulty levels.

Originally GoldenEye was one those rare games with addictive qualities, though some of it’s appeal, especially visually, has worn off now. It probably wouldn’t have been odd to find oneself getting frustrated by an enemy’s overly aggressive antics, letting out a few choice words, slamming of the power switch, then sitting quietly, staring at the blank TV screen for a moment before reluctantly bending over and switching the console back on. Even after completing the game once, you won’t be satisfied until you’ve mastered all the missions with the coveted “007 Agent” ranking. Each of the three consecutive spy ranks will see the enemy’s intelligence, aggressiveness, and sometimes even their numbers increase, while your own abilities decrease (switching from auto to manual targeting and reducing the amount of damage you can take). Bond’s workload also increases and new requirements will be needed for mission completion.

Perhaps the game’s most enjoyable feature, and certainly it’s most vaunted, is the multi-player death match mode. While the number of arenas and game options may be a bit sparse by today’s standards, there is a wide cast of playable characters to select from (33), including a few of the “stars” from previous Bond films such as Oddjob and Jaws.

Multi-player combat consists of picking which weapon type to use, how long the shootout will last, and how much health you’ll have, which ranges from “one shot kills” to maximum health for the less than skilled. There’s nothing more enjoyable than donning a protective vest and blasting your opponent from point blank range for a full ten minutes with a machine gun. To top it off, after each scenario your skills (accuracy, number of kills, deaths, etc.) will be tabulated and each player will receive a title and ranking.