Reviewed: January 11, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
EA (Los Angeles)
Released: November 22, 2004
Genre: FPS
Players: 1-8
ESRB: Teen
6
6
7
7
6.7
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
James Bond has enjoyed nearly as many game titles as he has films, and there is no denying that the original N64 GoldenEye remains the benchmark by which all Bond games have since been measured. 007 has enjoyed his successes and his failures on all the various systems, and just when we were all about to lose hope in the franchise EA released the stunning Everything or Nothing game that combined feature film cinematic presentation with Splinter Cell third-person action.
Another year has passed and the obligatory new Bond game is now upon us. EA tempts fate by using the precious name, “GoldenEye” (insert angelic choir music here) in the title of their latest game, naturally sparking the interest of every N64 owner on the planet.
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent uses the leverage of name reorganization to slip in some unexpected, and theoretically brilliant ideas by allowing you to play an “evil agent”. You now get to explore the “dark side” of the Bond universe, having access to all the weapons and toys and none of those pesky moral qualms to check your actions.
Rogue Agent returns to the FPS roots of its namesake, which for me instantly takes the game down a notch since consoles just aren’t conducive to playing FPS games. Everything or Nothing was pure gaming delight while Rogue Agent is just another FPS knockoff that gets boring before the novelty of playing an evil agent can mask the lackluster gameplay.
Our gaming alter ego is a cybernetically enhanced former 00 agent who was shot in the head by the evil Dr. No. The entire concept of playing an evil agent is totally lost on the player; actually, it’s never even given a chance to be explored. You’re given a paper-thin plot in the opening movie to setup the character, but there is little story development throughout the rest of the game. When you don’t care about the characters it’s hard to care about the game.
Gameplay now mirrors most of the popular FPS games by allowing you to wield dual weapons and toss the occasional grenade. This gives you some interesting options for experimenting with various weapons combos, and the independent fire control assigned to each trigger allows you to keep firing one weapon while reloading the other. You’ll have fun figuring out a clever mix of long and short-range weapons and wince when you are forced to take a two-handed weapon like an assault rifle or sniper rifle and give up those dual-weapons.
Control was surprisingly good despite my disdain for FPS games on the console. Movement was a bit floaty and the dual weapons often obscured a good section of the screen making it hard to see enemies and pick-ups. Aiming is imprecise but ammo is plentiful. There aren’t a lot of commands to worry about so the few that do exist map conveniently to the controller.
The game rewards you for “evil” actions but it’s hard to distinguish those actions from anything you would be doing if you were playing James or any other video game character for that matter. Whether you are evil or not, the Rogue Agent follows the same, “kill everything that moves” formula, so being evil is a moot distinction. I just never felt “evil”, at least not as evil as I did playing a “dark side” character in KOTOR.
Shooting things is certainly more fun when they offer a reasonable challenge, and the new EVIL AI touted by EA is certainly some of the more impressive code in this game. The enemies are relentless in their attacks but they aren’t stupid. They take cover, fall back, and even try to flank your position when possible.
The “hook” that ties into the GoldenEye title is the cybernetic eye that is implanted in our Rogue Agent. This gives you a cool MRI vision mode that allows you to see through walls or most any other solid object. You get other tricks like a magnetic shield, an EM hacking device, and a gravity weapon that lets you fling enemies across the room in true Psi-Ops style. While the toys are interesting in theory their use isn’t even required until the latter half of the game.
Don’t expect the graphics to save the day. From the disappointing opening movie to the last of the 20-some levels the graphics are hardly worthy of the Xbox. Rogue Agent looks like a mediocre PS2 game ported directly to the system with simple level architecture and even simpler textures.
Level design is uninspired and is generally a sequence of rooms, corridors or other repetitious designs that are merely staging areas for endless encounters with bad guys. No disrespect to the level designers but this game looks like somebody released a level editor to the general public and the results made it into the final game.
The Xbox maintains a fluid 30fps, which is good but not great. There are some lighting effects, plenty of smoke, fire, and particle effects to breathe a little more life into these dying levels. The most impressive art in the game is the gun designs, thankfully since those are right in your face. Despite the progressive scan support the game is plagued with jaggies on angular edges.
Character design is simplistic; at least for the enemies of which there aren’t that many designs per level, so all the henchmen look alike. The major characters like M, Xenia Onatopp, Oddjob, and Goldfinger look great despite their brief appearance in the game.
Sound effects are topnotch, presented in Dolby Digital in all their THX glory. Weapons all have realistic firing and reload sounds and the explosions are deafening. You are assaulted from all sides by 3D positional audio (if you have the home theater rig to support it). My only complaint is the default mix is way off for the dialogue, so you are forced to read the subtitles if you want to know what is going on. That’s a shame because the voice acting is really good.
When I heard that Paul Oakenfold was doing the music my heart skipped a beat. Being a former club DJ myself, Paul is a “god” of sorts, but his music certainly left something to be desired here. The mixing is top-quality, as you might expect, and there are some complex arrangements but there isn’t a lot of quantity and it starts to repeat.
Rogue Agent’s 20-some levels will take most aspiring agents about 10-12 hours to finish, but much like the N64 game that inspired it (or at least the name), multiplayer is what this game is all about. Dive into 20 custom multiplayer maps with support for up to four players locally or up to eight online or with a system link.
Regardless of how many people you can get involved there are a plethora of game options, game modes, and stylish locales. The multiplayer is the only thing that really saves this game from total mediocrity, and is a worthy homage to the original N64 game.
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent fails (or rather disappoints) on most every level and succeeds only on one, the multiplayer. There is virtually no story, so you have no compelling reason to play, and once you resolve yourself to wading through the levels for the sake of completing them, you are met with repetitious design, disappointing textures, over-saturated colors that border on cartoonish, and smart, but generic enemies.
Frankly, I would have liked to seen Rare’s original game receive a next-gen facelift rather than this bold, but failed attempt to expand upon the Bond universe. The concept of being evil might attract you to the game, but unless you are in this strictly for the multiplayer action, it’s best to leave this one on the shelf.