‘Goldeneye: Rogue Agent’Genre: First-person shooterPlatform: Nintendo 64Publisher: Electronic ArtsPrice: $46.95Two and a half out of five stars

For decades, James Bond has been tearing up the silver screen, entertaining audiences with his charming wit, his penchant for women and his precision with a pistol.

In 1996, when ‘Goldeneye 64’ was released for the Nintendo64 gaming system, developers knew they not only had a hit on their hands, but they also had a franchise. Since its release, the ‘007’ franchise has relinquished eight other titles for a number of different systems.

The latest games in the series, ‘Goldeneye: Rogue Agent,’ released on Nov. 17, uses its title to invoke memories of playing the granddaddy of the series in the minds of potential gamers. Unfortunately, this comparison isn’t even a close one – though the game really can’t be blamed for these faults.

The campaign mode is an intense single-player, first-person shooter that follows the standard Bond garb, with objectives to complete and plenty of mindless enemies to shoot down along the way. While each enemy has been upgraded with a more intelligent artificial intelligence, it still closely resembles similar procedures and tactics that were completed in previous games. In an attempt to alter the storyline, the game’s developer, Electronic Arts, created an evil traitor of Her Majesty’s Secret Service as the game’s main character. They hoped that the concept of being the person who gets to kill Bond would be more entertaining than being the famed agent himself. Unfortunately, this concept falls flat as, in many aspects, the game remains the same; players are simply completing objectives given by evil geniuses as opposed to ones provided by the British government.

The multiplayer mode, where the original ‘Goldeneye’ game thrived, also leaves something to be desired. Developers added a dual-wield gun feature to the game play, but the multiplayer modes just comes off looking like a wannabe ‘Halo’ game with one major flaw – the maps aren’t as interactive, expansive or manipulative as ‘Halo’ maps are, and are simply not as fun.

The game does have a few saving graces, though. Fans will have a chance to finally play a number of characters they have forever admired in the movies, like Goldfinger, Dr. No and Pussy Galore, as well as play on some maps derived from these movies.

Nonetheless, fans of this series will be disappointed with the game. While the rest of the industry has found ways to keep similar games fresh with its newer renditions, EA has allowed the Bond series to grow stale.

Published on December 5, 2004 at 12:00 pm