Goldeneye 007
Reviewed by Hans Bergengren
Game Review: Goldeneye 007 )))PAL((( Version
What needs to be said about the game's origins, really? As just about everyone
knows, it is a game by RARE, British gamersmaker-house extraordinarily, and the
PAL version is absolutely brilliant. Like Killer Instinct Gold
and Blast Corps before it, Goldeneye uses the *FULL* PAL playfield with no
borders whatsoever. In fact, the game runs in such a large window that it
stretches outside the screen on all TVs I've seen it run on. This is why we all
love PAL (yes, don't we? :-); RESOLUTION. 100 more lines (well, 50 in low-res,
like most games run in) really shows.
FYI, I use the "Turok"-style control scheme when I play (1.2 Solitaire, the
game calls it), so when referring to various buttons, these may differ
accordingly to the layout of the controller. My ratings (listed at the end) use
a 21-graded scale (zero being absolutely atrocious, and twenty being the total
opposite. Ten in the exact middle of the scale means *average*, not "crap", as
most people seem to think one means by an average score).
PRESENTATION
Fairly average in my opinion. The game begins with a screen that makes fun of
the British film classification board, informing the player the game is
"suitable for 1-4 players only". Then a rotating Nintendo logo follows, and a
RARE logo as well. Then the title sequence begins - and it is a pretty good
facsimile of any Bond movie (you've seen it, I'm sure), well-made, but nothing
extraordinary.
There is no FMV - naturally - but every level starts with a short polygon movie
sequence, or a stylish view of a part of the level from a camera view. Then the
camera switches to Bond, and "flies" into his skull (it turns transparent in
the process, ugh :-). After finishing a level, the player gets to see Bond fix
his tie and cuff-sleeves - stylish as ever - or something similar. A rather
good substitute for FMV, in my opinion, considering that at least I always
click my way past FMV sequences after having seen them a few times. These
movies could have been somewhat longer, that is my only wish, but isn't that
always the case? More, better, longer...
Information on the missions is provided as text on a static screen. Quite
boring, even if the game displays the text as "classified" files. Well, carts
do have their limit, as far as storage space go, and I guess that's the reason
for the spartan briefing screen.
GAMEPLAY
As one might expect, this is a game on the movie with the same name. It's even
got the faces of the major actors from the movie - a nice touch. The structure
of the game is like most other DOOM-clones; the player "looks" out of the
character's eyes (in this case, Bond, James Bond, secret agent), with a weapon
sticking out of the lower part of the screen. Aiming is simple, like in Star
Wars: Shadow of the Empire, the CPU helps with that (more so on easier skill
levels). This can be turned off in the watch menus (more on that later), but I
find it rather helpful and thus leave it on at all times.
The player proceeds in part by wasting enemy scum and collecting keys/opening
locked doors, and in part by performing various tasks that more often than not
is *not* killing and/or collecting keys. These tasks vary according to the
level, and are often ingenious, sometimes somewhat frustrating, but always
rewarding. The fact that the game levels follow the plot of the movie quite
well only adds to the experience, although of course, it doesn't help a bit no
matter how closely you've watched the movie.
A few levels (there are 20, in all) rely somewhat on stealth, by using silenced
guns, and by knocking out surveillance cameras, the player can avoid detection
and thus being swamped by enemies. On other levels, enemies come constantly, no
matter how many are killed. I must say that I enjoy the sneaking-around style
much more than simply running around and killing anything that moves (something
you do a lot of in the later levels), it's a pity RARE didn't add more "sneaky
stuff", those levels simply are more exciting and at least I feel more immersed
in the game. Especially the sniper rifle is ultra-cool, picking off enemies at
a great distance by hitting them with a single round smack in the head. Sick,
but fun. 8-)
I also like that increasing the difficulty adds more tasks that needs to be
performed, as well as increasing the overall difficulty (which is rather bloody
high on "00 Agent", the highest setting (there is one more, but it's not
initially accessible), even for a well-seasoned DOOMer like myself, since the
game removes the bodyarmour while making enemies harder to kill and better at
shooting back as well), Goldeneye is not a game one simply cruises through in
an afternoon. It takes a lot of effort to beat a level on the highest
difficulty, I've so far only managed that to level five, but I'm working on it,
of course.
"This is no ordinary wang", to quote another recently released DOOM clone.
Goldeneye certainly has brains *as* *well* as brawn.
CONTROL (and stuff)
For more accurate shooting, the joypad's shoulder buttons can be pressed,
causing a crosshair to appear on-screen. This also activates the zoom lens that
some weapons are equipped with. The sniper rifle even has variable zoom,
controlled via C up and C down. On other guns than the rifle, pressing the
aiming button + C down will make Bond kneel, to what purpose is unknown to me,
other than it allows the player to crawl through airducts and such. Maybe it
makes you slightly harder to hit, but Bond moves slower on the other hand, so
it's no great advantage in any case.
Pressing C left or C right in aiming mode will lean the player left or right,
useful when exchanging fire with several enemies; just stand behind a corner
and pop out, let off a few rounds and then pop back again before the evil-doers
have a chance to react, causing your foes to shoot at the wall in front of you.
Simple! Well, maybe not, I've found this option to be somewhat fiddly, and I
rarely use it.
Jumping is not possible, something I rather miss. Oh well, considering the game
uses ALL the available buttons (that one easily can reach; that excludes the
D-pad and left shoulder button when using the 3D stick), this was the least
useful, and/or needed function to waste a button on. What is funnier than not
being able to jump is the inability to fall down ledges, cliffs or just about
any height difference larger than a few decimeters. Sure, it helps sometimes,
but it also becomes a bother at times. Maybe Goldeneye's 3D engine has more in
common with Blast Corp's than one might think at first glance.
There also are polygon folds that are impossible to cross, this is most
noticeable in the "Statue" level, where the grassy slope closest to the edge of
the level is unclimbable, Bond simply slides along an invisible wall. Most
strange! There are a few other noteworthy items in the "quirks" department as
well, one being the use of the 3D stick when in "Turok" mode (i.e.: looking
around with the stick, not the C-buttons), instead of always centering back to
a level line of sight when releasing the stick like in Turok, the "head" in
Goldeneye stays in whatever angle you last pointed it in. This makes it easier
to aim (especially when coupled with the Auto Aim option), BUT it makes looking
around and turning considerably slower as well, something I don't quite like. I
miss Turok's sensitivity settings for the 3D stick X- and Y-axis. The final
quirk is that the game's menus are somewhat fiddly and inconsistent. Several
different buttons can be used to confirm choices in the menus. I like it when
only ONE button is allowed. START, for instance, that's what it's for anyway.
Bond's Q-Watch v2.01 Beta (accessed during the game via the START button)
contains all the mission briefings, the whole inventory including weapons and
special items like key(card)s that the player accumulates during a mission. It
is also all to easy to start flipping through the menus in the wrong direction.
A little clearer layout would have helped.
GRAPHICS
Best summoned up in one word: impressive. Attention to detail is ever-present,
there are posters and signs on walls, lamps on desks, shadows on walls and
floors cast by railings or window frames. The only thing I miss from the game's
environments are heat radiators under windows and a coffee-maker in the
lunchroom (oh, there aren't any lunchrooms in the game? What a pity!), but now
I'm nitpicking. There's more scenery in this cartridge game than in most PC
CDROM titles. Much kudos to RARE and their thoughtful design and impressive
layout.
Textures are surprisingly high-res and surprisingly varied too, and for once
the hardware's bi-linear filtering actually isn't a problem. Thanks to the (at
least apparently) high texture resolution, the graphics doesn't blur quite as
badly as it does in some other titles, and the polygon edge anti-alias also is
used to great effect, making some scenes look incredibly hi-res.
The game's surroundings always stays sharp and crisp, even when pressing the
nose up to a wall. This coupled with bountiful gouraud shading gives Goldeneye
a look that easily can contend with the likes of GLQuake and relatives. The
only thing missing are dynamic lights; all lightsourcing in the game is static,
and shooting out a light in the ceiling produces a smashed-light texture, but
no change in light levels in the room/corridor.
I especially like the nice explosions, They are very well animated, and are
colourful and pleasing to the eye. Other neat touches include bulletholes in
walls and windows (it actually is possible to fire through several windows in
one shot, puncturing them all without shattering them). Smashing a window
(often requires a large number of shots) produces lots of pretty shards that
unfortunately does not stay around on the ground. Oh well, not even Hexen 2 has
*that*, so why complain?)
There are downsides to all this graphic glitter and glitz, as unfortunate as
this may seem. Framerate is the biggest problem, and then comes polygon breakup
and a few clipping problems as well. The game speed does drop significantly in
areas with much detail, or where the player can see a considerable distance
into the screen. It doesn't quite become unplayable, but it happens a little
too often for it to be quite comfortable. I had hoped more of RARE's legendary
coding prowess in this department.
There is Turok-style polygon breakup in a number of places in the game.
Fortunately never as bad as in Turok, but still pretty disturbing, not to
mention irritating. Where two textures overlap (such as signs, or bulletholes),
the game sometimes can't seem to make up it's mind on which texture should be
on top of the other. The result is that the top texture flickers rather badly.
That fortunately is rather easy to ignore, at least most of the time.
Clipping problems are rarely seen, except at doors. Enemy's limbs (or weapons)
stick right through the door, which can be nice sometimes as you know there is
somebody on the other side, but most of the time it just looks bad. Scenery
occasionally show the odd glitch as well, mostly on the outdoor levels, but in
general it doesn't happen very often, and one sometimes even has to look for it.
I'm not trying to make excuses for RARE, it really would be nice to see a
glitch-free game for once, but maybe I'm asking too much.
In all, this is one of, if not THE best looking game released so far on the
N64. There is a little fog in some levels to hide pop-up (which still is
visible, unfortunately :-), but it's not bad. Also, the strange hardware
dithering many games employ (by necessity?) sometimes make dark surfaces look
grainy, but that is a very minor quibble.
SOUND
Sparse. Oh, there are weapon noises, yells, explosions and stuff, but not much
in the way of ambient sounds. There are quite a few in the Cuba jungle, and the
ship's engines whine on the level with the ship, but not much more, no car
noises and stuff in the city level for instance.
The music all seem to be variations of the Bond theme. Well executed in most
cases (although I don't like the electric guitar remix of the title track), but
it can become tiresome. RARE's license obviously covered character's faces, but
not the film's soundtracks... Well, it is possible to turn the music's volume
down (or even off). On the positive side, there is a fair selection of tunes
(maybe even one per level, I'm not sure).
I really don't know what more to say, what sound there is, is executed very
well, even the MIDI wavetable music sounds good (not as good as the best SNES
scores, but no SNES game sounded as good as this music when the machine was
only 1 1/2 years old, with the possible exception of the first SNES Final
Fantasy game, FF2 in the west). I just wish there had been more sound, some
speech for example. Although, after having watched the beautiful graphics, I
certainly wouldn't have traded textures for sound, that's for sure.
OVERALL
Not without it's flaws, but when it's positive sides outweigh it's negative by
such a huge difference, one can't do anything but love the game. The reader
might note that I haven't bitched anything by the absence of copious amounts of
blood. The reason for that is, who needs blood, REALLY? Games have been built
alone on blood and guts and bodyparts flying everywhere, and failed MISERABLY
(Rise of the Triad is the most noteworthy example, I think), Goldeneye
simulates blood with a little gouraudshading, and that's good enough for me.
It's in fact much more realistic this way, people really don't bleed that much
when shot, and that coupled with the game's large selection of gruesome death
animations, I'm not missing anything.
Rumblepak support is there, but I really don't see the point in it - it doesn't
work as well as in Star Fox (or as it's known over here, Lylat Wars), but it's
always a way to run down those batteries...) The controller shakes when you
fire your weapon, okay, that was fun. Or perhaps not, I'm not sure. :-)
I haven't had time to test the game's multiplayer options (although I have been
running around on a few of the levels by myself, and the framerate seems
impressively smooth, although a quarter-screen is far from optimum,
resolution-wise. Anyway, multiplayer still seems a blast, with all the options
one can play around with, and the selectable characters... A few 'bots would
have been nice, too, but perhaps we'll see that in Tomorrow Never Dies (for the
64DD, anyone?).
Ratings: (Min: 0, Max: 20)
Playability: 18
Presentation: 13
Graphics: 18
Sound: 15
Music: 13
Overall: 18/20