Goldeneye: Rogue Agent review

It was always going to be considered an odd plan. Did anyone in the marketing office really think that by putting GoldenEye in the name it would generate higher sales and fool everyone into thinking this was a better product than it is? Some people get paid for the oddest things.

First things first

3 images de GoldenEye : Au Service du Mal

This is NOT Goldeneye. I was (and still am) a huge fan of the original N64 game and to see a game get trawled out toting this moniker is hugely galling.

As mentioned in my opening paragraph, I can’t view this as anything other than a shoddy attempt by EA to try and drum up business based on someone else’s success. It’s the cheapest form of publicity by far and all it’s done is put fans of the original on the defensive from the get-go.

I’m sure most will have read Rogue Agent background with interest (and disbelief) but, just to recap, you are accompanying James Bond into Fort Knox in order to prevent Auric Goldfinger from irradiating the gold supply when things go wrong. The copter crashes and Bond is dead. You’re ousted from MI6 and instead hole up with Goldfinger himself. In return for your allegiance you are given a golden eye (I’m not making this up, honest) which gives you certain additional powers such as X-Ray vision and Force type powers.

Alternative history

Bond’s death isn’t the only thing that messes with the timeline. Oddjob, Pussy Galore, Doctor No and Xenia all feature as incidental characters, although your interaction with any of them is very limited. The plot, as would be expected really, is paper-thin nonsense and has simply been put in place to link to the Bond franchise in the loosest sense possible.

The story puts in place keys for various different themed backgrounds, each varying from the last somewhat. Throughout RA you’ll be led through Fort Knox, Hong Kong and a Volcano Lair amongst a few other locations. The levels don’t even number into double figures but are lengthy and provide just enough variety to keep things from getting too boring.

We’ve been expecting you

EA gets accused, sometimes very unfairly, of churning out mediocre product after mediocre product. Often it proves us wrong, with key titles such as Burnout 3 and The Sims 2 this year in particular. Sometimes though, it prove us dead right.

Goldeneye, in almost every respect, is average. I mentioned previously that there’s just enough variety in the levels? Well there’s just enough effort into the rest of the game’s design too. Which is a shame, as so much that’s been done has real potential to excel.

The weapons are varied but merely okay to use and even the dual wielding model (which is more intuitive than Halo 2’s) can’t lift it above the crowd. Similarly, the level design is nice but is too linear, with some points of the game leaving you with a feeling that you’re actually playing a Time Crisis clone.

Good/bad guys by the dozen

Your enemies can’t be criticised too harshly in RA. They’re all identikit models, true, and the paths they follow are very simplistic, but every so often one shines with Halo-like AI and will have you cursing as he guns you down. Once again, these shining moments don’t do anything to lift the game as a whole, but they do act as floats to prevent it sinking into the mire.

I touched on the intuitive dual-wield system, which really works very well indeed and must point out this isn’t the only thing RA has implemented well. The health system is ripped straight from Halo and with the help of supplemental armour dropped by headshot victims, works as well (if not a touch better) here as it did there. In addition, the much-lauded Goldeneye itself is a nice touch too, but it hasn’t been exploited to anywhere near its full potential.

I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you…

The whole experience of playing RA hasn’t left anywhere near as sour a taste in my mouth as expected. To sum up the entire game in one word: average. Everything about RA is average: the weapons, the levels, the graphics, the controls.

In fact, this game should be the new benchmark for average. Nothing excels, which is a shame as beneath the mediocrity there’s an enjoyable game that provides some great set-pieces (trapping triads in steam rooms is a gaming moment I won’t forget). Parents buying for kids could very well do a lot better than Goldeneye, but they could do also much worse.