In
August of 1997, the
Rare gaming company released a title known as Goldeneye which is believed to be one of, if not the, best
N64 game created over it's 4 year history. The main piece of the game centers around a
simulation of the
movie by the same name, another great
James Bond movie.
The game takes you through almost every setting in the movie, and even adds a few for flavor. Goldeneye was designed with three difficulty levels - Agent, Secret Agent and 00 Agent. Playing under agent difficulty, the mission is pretty cut and dry, and you rarely have to go out of your way to accomplish a task. Under Secret Agent, the guards become tougher to kill, hit harder and more often, and Bond has more objectives. The same increase occurs under 00 Agent, although the difference is arguably much greater. With 00 Agent, one or two shots from a KF7 Soviet won't work unless they're well placed head shots. Later, a customizable mode known as 007 mode is available. When the game begins, 18 levels are available, although after successful completion of the first 18 on "Secret Agent", a 19th becomes available. Also, on completion of the first 19 levels on "00 Agent", a 20th level becomes available. These levels are as follows, with their respective time cheats:
Dam -- Paintball Mode, Secret Agent 2:40
Facility -- Invincibility, 00 Agent 2:05
Runway -- DK Mode(big heads,arms), Agent 5:00
Surface 1 -- 2x Grenade Launchers, Secret Agent 3:30
Bunker 1 -- 2x Rocket Lauchers, 00 Agent 4:00
Silo -- Turbo Mode, Agent 3:00
Frigate -- No Radar(multi), Secret Agent 4:30
Surface 2 -- Tiny Bond, 00 Agent 4:15
Bunker 2 -- 2x Throwing Knives, Agent 1:30
Statue -- Fast Animation, Secret Agent 3:15
Archives -- Invisibility, 00 Agent 1:20
Streets -- Enemy Rockets, Agent 1:45
Depot -- Slow Animation, Secret Agent 1:30
Train -- Silver PP7, 00 Agent 5:25
Jungle -- 2x Hunting Knives, Agent 3:45
Control -- Infinite Ammo, Secret Agent 10:00
Caverns -- 2x RCP-90s, 00 Agent 9:30
Cradle -- Gold PP7, Agent 2:15
Aztec -- 2x Lasers, Secret Agent 9:00
Egyptian -- All Guns, 00 Agent 6:00
In addition, Goldeneye offers four player combat. Now, while the main game itself is fun, the multiplayer aspect of Goldeneye made it timeless. From a programmer's POV, the latency with respect to having four players is excellent. With an only slightly lower level detail level, and slightly lower frame rate, the difference between multiplayer and the real game is negligible. From a gamer's POV, there isn't anything I'd rather do in games than bank a grenade off five walls Temple to have it land at my friend's feet, cooking them up instantly. At first, the only available characters are Bond, Natalya, Trevelyan, Xenia, Ourumov, Boris Grishenko(THE MAN), Valentin, Mishkin, Mayday, Jaws, Oddjob, and Baron Samedi. (psst, unless you're playing me, use Boris, especially with License to Kill on. He's the business) When the regular game is completed on Agent mode, another 19 characters are unlocked, and are very worth having around for variety. Using Gameshark, it is also possible to get Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton as Bond characters, but not George Lazenby.
Overall, the game play is excellent, the easter eggs are delicious, and the game is well worth spending weeks of your time on.