The best first-person shooter ever created.
The names Bond, James Bond and it seems he has finally made it into the world of video games. It was only a matter of time before we got to step into the shoes of the smoothest secret agent around, drive his cars, play with his gadgets and sleep with lots of beautiful women. Ok i guess two out of three ain't bad. The game follows the movie so closely at times you feel you're living through it but in your own unique way and that is what makes this game so special. This is the first time that Nintendo can say "this is what our machine can do" and do it with their heads held high.
This game is fully polygonal and has some of the best graphics seen on any gaming system. It is sure to impress fans and cynics of Nintendo and perhaps convert a few people along the way. Each character has been created in stunning detail and unlike the majority of games on the market every character in this game has intricate facial details. Not only do they look fantastic but when you aren't firing at your enemies you can only be impressed by the character animations. They will do everything from swating flies to scratching themselves in all kinds of places.
This game has very much went for realism and pulled it off with great success and with so many first-person shooters on the market can only give it an edge above the rest. No other game can match the graphical and realistic details portrayed in this game and this is one of the key factors which possibly makes this one of the best first-person shooters of all time.
It isn't only the games graphical power where it excels, the clever level designs and the array of weapons on offer is a big part of it too. From the sniper rifle with it's powerful zoom which can spot the smallest of details to the standard PP7 with silencer you start almost every level with, each has it's own unique attributes and style and really adds variety to the gameplay. You won't just find guns floating in mid-air here like you find with a lot of first-person shooters out there, you have to earn your weapons by killing an enemy and taking their weapon or stumbling across a cleverly hidden crate. This again adds realism to the gameplay and detaches itself from the arcade style gameplay many shooters suffer from. Some levels even allow you to dual-wield weapons but unfortunately only certain weapons have this option for some reason.
This game has great sound effects that can really put you on edge and a great soundtrack filled with all the classic bond themes to go with it. The sound really helps create the perfect atmosphere and gels the game together really nicely. If there can be one criticism however it is the lack of speech in this game, everything is text text text and this can get repetitve and boring. It is a shame something like this has to tarnish what is a near perfect game and sure to be a timeless classic.
The multiplayer side of this game is the jewel in the crown and can result in endless hours of fun between friends. The action is fast and frantic without losing it's tactical abilities, it's fun for beginner players and can reward veteran gamers all in one polished package. The multiplayer level designs are superb, this adds variety and a tactical edge to the gameplay while keeping with the Goldeneye theme. You can customise your weapon choices in multiplayer mode too and this can completely change the way you play against your opponents and utilise the various maps. You could set all your weapons to just grenades and mines, my personal tactic is carefully laying mines around the map at bottleneck points while maintaing a vantage point to launch grenades at your enemies. Alternatively you could stick with all the powerful machine guns and rocket launchers and see who makes it out alive. If you get bored with all this multiplayer content you could always play through the story mode again and complete levels in certain times to unlock some pretty cool rewards which then become available in the multiplayer, this also adds replay value to the single player missions. "Paint Ball" mode is one of the many "cheats" that will become available to you with the right commitment and will see all your bullets turn into large paintballs which can have multiple uses, you could blow your enemies away with them or just as easily create works of art on the walls.
This is easily the best first-person shooter ever created and arguably one of the best games ever made. Whoever thought of adding James Bond into a computer game should be patted on the back because they may have changed the way shooting games are made, certainly the way they are perceived and this can only help push this genre in the right direction.
