Developer: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Release: 11/22/04 Genre: FPS
To this day Goldeneye is still one of the most fondly remembered first person shooters of all time. For many of us it was our introduction to the first person genre and more importantly multiplayer deathmatch. So any game that invokes that name and presents itself as a direct sequel is bound to undergo intense scrutiny. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is Electronic Arts attempt at giving players more of what they loved on the Nintendo 64. But in all areas outside of graphics and performance it comes up short.
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent stars a former MI: 6 agent discharged for being too reckless after losing his eye during a mission gone bad. This leads him in to the employ of Auric Goldfinger as his enforcer. Outfitted with a state of the art golden eye (hence the name) he is now the central figure in the war between Goldfinger and Dr. No, who plans to use the newly created super weapon the Omen to rule the criminal underworld.
The gameplay in Rogue Agent takes after Halo, which is no surprise as most first person shooters followed in its footsteps that generation. Your health regenerates after a few seconds without taking damage and you can carry two weapons and a grenade. The game allows you to dual wield two separate weapons. There is a wide variety of weapons, from shotguns, assault rifles and even rail guns. The combinations you can wield create interesting possibilities such as stunning an enemy with the venom gun then blasting with the shotgun in your other hand. These combos make up for the game’s lack of precision as the controls and general feel are nowhere near Halo despite their best efforts.
The Goldeneye in the title refers to the protagonist’s cybernetic eye. As the game progresses you will gain access to four separate powers: x-ray vision, hacking, a polarity shield, and a magnetic field to toss enemies around. These abilities use energy which slowly regenerates over time. While cool in theory outside of the shield the game ignores these abilities until its final few missions. Even then their integration is haphazard and not well thought out. I suppose the game needed a “hook” but this one is not very good.
Goldeneye’s single player campaign succeeded due to its fantastic mission design with varying objectives depending on the difficulty. Rogue Agent largely fails in this regard due to poor pacing. There are eight missions but each is split into multiple stages. Each mission drags on far longer than it should to the point of tedium and further highlights the game’s flaws. The levels are bland and repetitive with few standout environments. The few standout missions such as the Hong Kong Rooftops and the Dam are so long I was sure I was running in circles. Enemy variety is extremely low; there are maybe five total with the only differences being their weapons and annoying shields. You can easily chop each mission in half and lose nothing in the process. Hell the game would have been better for it.
The game’s narrative largely falls flat as Goldeneye himself is a blank slate as a character. He does not speak during cutscenes and simply does as he is told. Supposedly he is an evil character with a mean streak and the game tries to incorporate that by allowing you to use the environment to kill bad guys with extra rewards for it. But these kills are no different than what any other video game protagonist does on a daily basis. All the cameos from famous characters throughout Bond history cannot make up for a lackluster plot.
While the campaign in Goldeneye was great it was the multiplayer that gave it legs for years. The multiplayer in Rogue Agent is decent as it offers a wealth of options. The framerate is rock solid even with 4 players which the original Goldeneye could not boast. The PS2 and Xbox versions had online play for up to eight players as well. Sadly I did not get to play much of it back in the day as it was hard to find matches after the initial month or so, at least on PS2. Unfortunately it did not last long as the servers went down a little over a year later. This was due to timing; the game released after Halo 2 and Half Life 2, both games which turned the genre on its head. Compared to Microsoft’s juggernaut everything else at the time paled in comparison.
In Closing
Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is not a bad game per se. It has a lot of likable qualities and is enjoyable for what it is. But it is clear the designers are relying heavily on nostalgia, both for Rare’s title and the early Bond films to sell the game. It is not as if a story featuring old nemeses cannot work: earlier in the year Electronic Arts released the excellent Everything or Nothing to critical acclaim. Goldeneye: Rogue Agent is simply mediocre. I do not regret playing it but will never revisit it again.
