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GoldenEye 007 (N64)
by brdisley
Goldeneye 007 is a computer game from makers Rare and developed as a tie in to the James Bond film of the same name. The game was released over a year after the movie but was definately worth the wait. Goldeneye revolutionised the first person shooter genre with fantastic weapons, varied and mind blowing gameplay and multiplayer that ... changed the future of gaming.
*Plot*
You play as James Bond and the plot of the game generally followes the plot of the film, with some sections being identical to scenes in the movie. At other times the plot deviates from the film, with a couple of short sections of the film bluked out into levels (e.g. Bunker, Jungle and Caverns). The plot is classic James Bond, with a Russian General (Ourumov) trying to attack Britain (and the rest of the world) with a hijacked satalite weapon which can create electonic device crippling EMP bursts. As Bond you try to chase down Ourumov and your ex-partner Alec Trevelyan and secure the weapon. Along the way you are helped by Natalya Simonova, a female computer programmer who you must protect during a number of levels.
*Campaign*
The single player campaign takes place over 20 levels (18 story, 2 unlockable). Missions are selected from a military dossier an d can be played on Agent, Secret-Agent or 00-Agent difficulty settings. The difficulty setting effect the starting health for each level as well as the number of mission objectives that must be completed.
Completing missions under a certain time limit unlocks cheat options that can be turned on and add a whole load of fun to the game. For example, Big Head mode means all enemies have giant heads, making head shots easy. There is a slow motion mode which makes all enemies move at about one-fourth normal speed or paintball move where bullet holes are replaced with paint spots as you fire.
*Gameplay*
Each level starts and ends with a cut scene of Boond, and in between all levels are in first person view. You can pick up any weapon you find and there is no limit on the amount of weapons you can carry. Levels are excellent and enemy AI is very good compared to other games from the same period. Weapons are excellent and varied from satisfying pistols to machine guns and explosive launchers. Playing this game is amazing from begining to end. A number of levels have stealth sections were being detected brings waves of enemy reinforcements and near certain death, so these sections require the use of silenced weapons. Other levels can be hectic firefights against machine gun cameras or double oozie wielding guards. In one level - Streets - you get to drive a tank through city streets. Also you use classic Bond watch gadgets like lasers and magnets.
On each level you start with a set amount of life, determined by the difficulty level chosen and there is no way to replenish this during each level. Once it is gone you die and must restart the whole level. Body armour is available as a pick-up throughout most levels and this provides a secondary set of health which becomes depleted before you begin loosing actual health.
*Multiplayer*
The multiplayer on Goldeneye revolutionised the whole FPS genre and changed multiplayer forever. Four players can play split screen over 11 maps and a variety of modes, some of which are simply genious. There is a straight forward deathmatch mode and a "You only Live twice" mode in which surprisingly you only love twice and the last person standing wins. There is a tag mode called "The Living Daylights" where the person to hold the flag for longest wins, though the flag holder cannot use weapons. There is also a "Man with the Golden Gun" where ther is a single weapon - the golden gun. Finally there is a one shot kills mode called "License to Kill".
The greatest thig about multiplayer is how you can tweak the weapon sets to explosive, pistols, maching guns, thowing knives, or the greatest ever called "slappers only" where you can only slap opponants, accompanied by a satisfying slapping noise.
Multiplayer will keep you playing the game for weeks, though the single player campaign takes hours and hours to complete on all three difficulty settings.
*OVERALL*
One of the greatest FPS's of all time and by far the most revolutionary. Simply Perfect.
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Perfect Dark (N64)
by TomRose
A truely brilliant game, perhaps in some ways, an updated Goldeneye. This game was made by 'Rare'. They made Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie and DK.
Set in the future, Agent Perfect Dark is an athletic, attractive, female Agent not to be messed with. Joanna was trained at Carrington Institute, and passed the exams with flying ... colours.
One of the best features of this game is that each weapon has a second function (by holding B). Also, the intelligence of the enemies was advanced for its time. The missions are futuristic and can be very difficult, especially on the hardest difficulty. There are around 15 levels, all very big, and well thought out.
As the game progresses, aliens are introduced - this isn't my type of thing, but worked really well.
The game is certainily challenging, and much harder than Goldeneye. There are also bonus levels if you complete the whole game.
Multiplayer is superb, as you can actually play alone, with Sims from the computer, who all have different abilities. There are also many different scenarios to play in mulitplayer mode, like capture the flag, or king of the hill.
I would highly recommend this game. It really is excellent, and you should play it!
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GoldenEye 007 (N64)
by TomRose
A great James Bond film, an absolutely incredible game.
For its time, Goldeneye was miles and miles ahead of anything else.
The designers, 'Rare' have made some other brilliant games - Banjo Kazooie, Perfect Dark and Donkey Kong to name a few. This was so successful that they've made a new Goldeneye on the Wii - which ... was never going to be as good!
With around 20 missions, you're skills are tested, battling against russian guards, with many, many weapons. The levels follow the film quite well, but you should not compare this to the film.
There are 3 different difficulties - Agent, Secret Agent and 00 Agent. There is also a 007 mode, where (if you win EVERYTHING) you can customise enemy health and reaction speed etc.
The gameplay is brilliant, and on the hardest level, levels are still hard to complete, as enemies get better, and there are more missions to do on each level. However, it is easy to pick up and play.
The controls are easy to use and you can pick up how to play quickly. It is useful to 'strafe' with the C left and C right buttons. You can also run quicker this way. Some guns have a zoom on the aim (holding R). You can cycle through weapons easily, and reload when you want. Ammo is on the floor as a box, or as a gun.
You cannot kill people like Trevelyan and Ourumov, as they are main characters (until you are actually meant to kill them!)
Train is a brilliant level, so is Control and Frigate.
Multiplayer mode is tense and thrilling, where you and your (up to 3 more) other friends can battle in a variety of levels. You can also choose from loads of characters including old favourites such as Oddjob and Jaws.
Also, the cheats are great! I recommend using them, as you can have so much fun with all of them. Invincibility, invisibility, turbo mode, unlimited ammo and all guns are some good ones.
This game revolutionalised FPS games - it set the standard for games to come.
The words timeless and classic are used too much, but this is definitely, DEFINITELY a timeless classic. I would highly recommend this game, and if you can get it quite cheap, then you so should.
Brilliant.
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