GOLDENEYE 64

So I'm currently watching Goldeneye while writing this and my god it makes me want to play Goldeneye 64 again so badly! Anyone who grew up with a Nintendo 64 had Goldeneye or at least had a friend who owned a copy, it was 'The' game everyone had and everyone loved. Studio Rare outdid themselves when they took the leap into the 3D world of the 64 bit era. One thing I have to give extra credit for also was that it was a movie based game of all things too and generally movie based games are fairly below average. So I can pretty much guarantee that anyone who still owns Goldeneye is going to want to play it after this review. Yes it's an oldie, but it's a classic oldie that will go down in history as one of the greats of its time. Now let's think back to 1997, the N64 hadn't been out for long and the E3 convention that year had given Goldeneye the thumbs down thinking it would be a mediocre movie game that would never compare to the like of Doom or Quake. Well on August 25th that year everyones mind would soon change as the game would revolutionise the first person shooter genre and go down in history to be the 3rd best selling N64 of all time (Mario 64 and Mario Kart were 1 and 2 obviously). Being someone who hadn't seen the movie I had no idea what to expect, all I knew was that James Bond was this cool, stylish and suave secret agent who fought baddies; what more could you ask for as a 7 year old boy, he was my hero!

Taking the leap into the new era for Rare would have been a treacherous one to say the least but considering it was their first attempt at a three dimensional first person shooter I'd say they nailed it perfectly. Rareware claimed such great recognition from the international market after releasing Goldeneye that they soon began work on other fantastic projects such as Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64 and my personal all-time favourite, Perfect Dark. Interestingly enough a few people from Rare left and founded Free Radical, the development would then go onto their own project which we all know as Time Splitters, however since then Free radical has been bought by Crytek and is now a subsidiary. And as we all know unfortunately Rare has since been bought by Microsoft who now seem intent on keeping Rare locked away in a cage somewhere far, far away. But anyway getting back to the game, they truly did revolutionise the first person shooter. The story mode was balanced and reasonably accurate and what they did make up was a great addition to the story, my favourite still has to be Siberia. This is one of those instances where the developers actually stood back and said 'ok, we have a fantastic movie with rich content and lore, let's not change too much, but add in some great stuff too' and it worked. The multiplayer still to this day rivals any Call of Duty or Battlefield game hands down and many people will agree with me.

Let me just reel off a few memorable words and experiences from Goldeneye for you...the Facility level and killing the guy who was in the toilets at the start of the game, Oddjob and Jaws in multiplayer, slaps only, the list go on and on. Everyone has their own memorable experiences from this game, for me it was that exceptionally satisfying moment when I completed all the levels on 00 Agent, including the two secret levels. This was one of those times when I just sat back and went 'Damn I'm good!'. The level of difficulty in Goldeneye was high but very rewarding; each level built and paced itself well, with the exception of Facility and Control, god I hated Control and protecting Natalia! the train level was always a stand out; frantically trying to burn through the grate in the floor with your laser watch while the timer counted down was some of the most intense seconds of my life. No matter which way you look at this game it's a masterpiece and I'm so proud of what Rare did and how far they went to make a great experience for us gamers. It's unfortunate that there aren't more games like this these days and I get the feeling there never will be. You would have some pretty big shoes to fill if you wanted to take on this bad boy and besides I think this one should just be left alone. Goldeneye is a classic that will always have a place in every gamers heart and I hope I've inspired everyone to go and play it now. Enjoy your weekend all and have a great time gaming it up!

Genre: First Person Shooter

Platforms: Nintendo 64

Score: 9.8 / 10