Bond.. James Bond
Unlike most of my 10's games, I'm not entirely sure where to start with Goldeneye.
On one hand, it's a favorite target, possibly THE favorite target, of the "aged poorly" people who absolutely despise this generation of gaming for some unknown reason. It's funny, to me at least, that a good majority of people with this mindset either weren't born or were very young when this game came out. But by the same token, it was such a cultural phenomena and so many people are so nostalgic for it that they are often unable to overlook its flaws or realize that, yes, certain aspects of the game are "dated."
I'm going to be honest, if I split hairs and actually ranked my 10's games, Goldeneye would probably finish near the bottom. I wasn't about to go out and say that it was terrible, but I had to really sit back and evaluate whether nostalgia was clouding my opinion of the game before I fired it up again. When it was all said and done though, I can still say that it deserves its place in the pantheon of great games. Before I get into why, I do have to talk about the worst part of my experience with my most recent playthrough of the game...which happens to come from what was once considered its greatest strength.
That would be the single player game, which absolutely stands the test of time and is still a phenomenal experience more than 20 years later. I don't know if I would say the levels are necessarily well designed, but they are nearly perfectly paced and allow for different paths and strategies. Mission objectives are usually throwaway wastes of time in games like this, but here they all make sense and most feel like real accomplishments when you complete them. There are a few escort missions here and there, but they aren't frequent or especially egregious. And what's more, you can avoid them if you use proper planning and strategy. That's a common theme in Goldeneye and it makes a ton of sense. Remember, James Bond is a spy, he is going to try to use stealth and cunning first before resorting to all out gun battles.
Goldeneye features 20 levels, two of which are hidden, and follows the plot of the film fairly closely. There are a few additional stages, like the missile silo and water caverns, but these are at least based on scenes from other Bond films. Some of the film's scenes are altered or extended to make them more functional as levels in in a video game, but that is to be expected. The stages increase gradually in difficulty and only one really stands out as truly awful. I dread the control center level every time I see it, I have nightmares about that place. It was really nice to see them follow the plot of the film as closely as they could, that didn't always happen at the time.
The game is designed to encourage a variety of play patterns. Some section are easier done by sneaking around, using your silenced PP7(Bond's signature Walther PPK, no real names of guns here) to take out enemies with one well placed shot. Other times your best bet is to simply avoid confrontation, memorize the guard's patterns and sneak by unnoticed. And of course, there will be times where your only option is a hail of gunfire. It adds a lot of variety and it makes each playthrough feel unique.
Speaking of gunfire, Goldeneye may have my favorite lineup of weapons in any video game. There are tons of them, though some need to be unlocked via cheats, and almost all are fun to use. There is a good mix of realistic weapons and more out there stuff, with various other throwable or placeable objects to round out the arsenal. Some of the guns are based on real life firearms, I'm not really a gun person but I recognized analogues to the AK-47, M16 and Uzi. Which weapon you use also plays into the whole strength vs. cunning dichotomy as well. The AR33/M16 will make mincemeat of your enemies with its high power and rate of fire. However, it's also incredibly loud and will attract guards from throughout the level. In some situations, just hearing a weapon fire will trigger a guard to throw and alarm, which will lead to the level filling with infinite enemies. Definitely not ideal.
Graphically I think the game looks okay. The character models are certainly dated and almost every person in this game looks completely ridiculous. This isn't a "dated" thing, they were ridiculous by 1997 standards too. I remember the issue of Nintendo Power where they took points off of the game's review score because it was "so realistic it might make some gamers queasy." That was as laughable then as it is now. The levels look good though and there isn't nearly as much fog as there is in other N64 games. Some of the levels are a little sterile, but when you have a game set in cold war era Russia that's to be expected. The developers did a good job finding ways to make everything stand out. Sound is very good as well, it fits the game perfectly and has plenty of familiar sound cues from the Bond movies.
I should also mention that I really miss FPS' with levels like this. Modern FPS' lead you by the nose on a set path through set piece after set piece, essentially taking away your freedom to explore. I personally blame Halo for this, it was the first console FPS I ever played that was laid out that way. Not here though, exploring is a blast and on higher difficulty levels its often a necessity. I think it's great for balance and accessibility that you don't have to do all of the objectives on the easiest difficulty, with more added as the game gets tougher. This also makes playing through the game on all three levels feel different.
I was a little worried that the control scheme would throw me off after years of playing with more modern twin stick controls. But it was like riding a bike, I never had any difficulty adjusting to the unique setup, even on the N64's ridiculous controller. The auto aim certainly helps, but I never had an issue finding my targets and strafing with the C buttons was way more seamless than I thought it would be. Like Doom, Goldeneye has far less focus on vertical aiming and shooting than modern FPS' and the controls are set up accordingly. It also helps that some of the game's limitations balance things out. You may look and turn somewhat slowly, but enemy soldiers don't always fire immediately when they see you. They have to stop, aim and fire and many of them do (hilarious) rolls or jumps before they even try to do so. One of the most commonly exploited techniques to make the game easier is derived from the programming itself. Enemy AI would see walls if you shot them from a catwalk or on an open area and wouldn't return fire until you were directly in their sights. It was a bit cheap, but this is a pretty difficult game and we had to do what we had to do to beat it.
I don't think there's too much else to say. Goldeneye was revolutionary and while some of the shiny new features have lost their luster over the years, the core game still sparkles. This was one of the last FPS' I remember having a this kind of open structure focused more on level exploration and different paths than set pieces and scripted gun battles. Honestly, I don't think we will ever see another FPS like this again. I guess I get it, most people that play games in this genre do so socially and competitively, so having stronger multiplayer is more important than the single player experience. A lot of these folks are the kinds of gamers that are more concerned with frame rate and resolution than they are with variety and uniqueness. Again, that's understandable, those things are more important in an FPS where every frame matters than they are in something like an RPG. When you're playing online, milliseconds can be the difference between a satisfying victory and a verbal assault by a 12-year old in DeMoines who just learned what swearing is.
But I still swear by Goldeneye, even 23 years later. It's multiplayer mode may not offer much anymore, but it's still a great single player experience, even when you do put the nostalgia aside. But why even bother doing that? What's wrong with a little nostalgia? Grab a Surge and some Cheetos, dust off your old N64 and fire this old favorite up, you'll be glad you did.
But wouldn't you rather play?:
Halo - For a one player experience, no. I am not going to go too deeply into it, because I actually think this is going to be its own post somewhere down the line. But it's all going to boil down to the structure of Halo and other modern FPS' is just not my cup of tea. If I'm playing multiplayer, I would definitely go with Halo first. But I don't play many multiplayer FPS anymore, they stress me out and why should I let my hobby stress me out?
Call of Duty - See above. And Halo at least has a great story with some cool lore, COD...doesn't. Well, for the most part it doesn't, I always thought Modern Warfare 2's campaign was pretty great. Even the older COD games, which are more similar in layout to Goldeneye, just don't do as much for me. Maybe it's that they always felt like knock offs of Medal of Honor. Good knockoffs, but knockoffs nonetheless. Again, I will go with COD first for multiplayer, but not for a single player experience.
Comments
Post a Comment