GoldenEye 007

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Game Information
Name: GoldenEye 007
Genre: Shooter, Stealth
Release Date: 23 August 1997
Developers: Rare
Publishers: Nintendo
Series: James Bond
Modes: Single-player, Split-screen
Console(s): Nintendo 64

Plot
The game begins with James Bond being deployed to a secret base in Russia along with his associate Alec Trevelyan. The two have been tasked with finding out about a rocket launch the Russians planned on acting out. However, the mission goes wrong and Alec Trevelyan is captured and assassinated by the Russians and James Bond only just escapes with his life. The story continues with James Bond travelling to a few locations and completing tasks to help track the where the rocket is but he is eventually caught and put in prison. He escapes from prison with a programmer who was thrown into prison for betraying the operation called Natalya Simonova. The two escape the facility just before it is obliterated. The game continues and Natalya Simonova is captured twice more, both times being rescued again by Bond. In the final missions of the games James Bond finds out that Alec Trevelyan was actually undercover for the Russians and not only was he not really executed but he was running the whole operation. James Bond destroys his armoury and assassinates his top men before tracing down Trevelyan who was frantically trying to regain contact with the GoldenEye missile and defeats him in a gun fight, ending the game.

Gameplay
GoldenEye 007 has a very long storyline for a game which is so old and so many different features you wouldnt believe it was developed in 1995. Throughout the story, the player plays as James Bond and plays through twenty different missions, each on different maps completing a set number of objectives and then escaping the level to earn maximum points. The game offers a lot of variety with different enemies which wear uniforms to match their surrounding environment, a massive variety of different weapons and a large amount of unique gadgets which resemble gadgets used by James Bond in the movies. The game has three different difficulties ranging from easy to hard which can offer more experienced gamers a better experience. Another point definitely worth noting is that the game offers multiple save files so the player does not have to erase all of their progress if they want to re-play the game unlike most older games. The game is also highly factored around remaining undetected to complete most missions, this means that the player must try to take out their enemies whilst not alerting other guards to their presence, else risking an alarm being set off which will make the mission near impossible to complete. Another great advantage about this game is that it is a free-roam first person shooter so the player can spend as much time as they like exploring each map for different and unique weapons. This game also has a split-screen mode with a decent variety of game modes where players can play against each other in a game set up exactly how they like. Split-screen mode allows the players to choose from a huge variety of different characters from James Bond movies and a very large variety of guns.

Graphics
This game had average graphics when it was released and although they were nothing special, this aspect of the game was definitely redeemed by the outstanding gameplay. The game was developed nearly twenty years ago hence the fact that graphics would obviously be a joke if released nowadays, however, the game can still easily be played today and the graphics can easily be suffered through as the game is so great. The graphics are quite jagged and rough but what does anyone expect from such an old game?


Controls
The controls are fairly simple alike most first-person shooters on the Nintendo 64. There are a few control techniques which may take while to pick up such as changing and using gadgets, however most features like jumping, shooting, aiming and moving around which are the essentials are very easy to pick up and can be mastered after only playing for a short period of time. Overall, there are no problems with the controls.

Ratings (Personal)
Plot: 8/10
Game play: 9/10
Graphics: 5/10
Controls: 6/10
Overall: 8/10