Having looked at getting this game for a while I ended up procuring it for the Xbox for cheap, rather than the Gamecube which was my first choice. Having wanted to replay it for some time, having some enjoyable memories of it, and oddly enough one of the few remaining DS games I had was of this. I wanted to play the big boy console version for the review though.
Honestly there isn’t much to this game. I remember having some frantic gunfights and dying a lot from there being too many enemies at one time or because I was young and just shit at games. This is the most likely conclusion for that. The frantic gunfights though straight up don’t exist, and for a game that came out around the same time as Halo 2 it miserable falls short on the shooting. I mean the aiming is stiff as anything, and I’m convinced half the time I don’t actually hit the enemies that are coming for me but they still somehow succumb to my barrage of wayward rounds. The less said about drones and helicopters you have to shoot the better. To try and balance out the rigidity of the moving, you have to crank the sensitivity right up just so you can at least attempt to aim somewhat proficiently.
The strongest aspect for this game does come from the dual wielding of weapons. As you go along shooting people, you can equip the dropped weapons, this ranges; from pistols, SMGs, shotguns, stun guns, and remote explosives. There are snipers, assault rifles and grenade launchers as well. Plus the best one, the rail gun. As the missions progress you gain abilities from your fake eye, all of which are kinda naff, and don’t really aid in the game. The most useful is the first one which allows you to see through objects to locate hidden enemies. Which when combined with the railgun as you can just shoot through the walls to clip them. The combat isn’t only limited to just guns, oh no you can pistol whip them and take them hostage as temporary protection until they are shot or you launch them into unsuspecting guards. As you move through the levels occasionally you can activate environment triggers, like dropping cargo carts.
The game doesn’t look particularly good either, it’s fairly dated. Even the cutscenes between missions isn’t that great to look at either. These are slightly bolstered by the magnificent voice of the late great Christopher Lee though. An odd choice here as well is that the entire plot to the game is told via those cutscenes. All the missions are just linear maps, that you walk to point A to B killing waves of enemies as you go between them. The only variation comes from the zipline mechanic which you can shoot from but I wouldn’t bother you’ll just be aiming at the sun or just taking in the sites of the sky. Two features that really rustles my jimmies in the wrong way is, you can’t fucking run, or jump. Absolutely mind boggling that these were just overlooked. An unstoppable ex MI5 agent who can’t run. How did he pass the fitness tests.
One thing the game does do well, is use film related locations so you get some sense that you are in the James Bond universe. As outside of this there is just a selection of past bond villains and side kicks that are dotted throughout the game. Get rid of that, it’d just come across as a piss weak generic shooter with 8 missions with no story link and a low sense of replayablity. The only reason you’d might want to replay the game is you get points for how you kill everyone and the more brutal the better. If you get a high enough score you unlock game art and stuff you can look at in the extra menu.
Honestly I’m truly disappointed with this game, I would’ve liked to talk a bit more about it and it’s good points though they are few and fair between. It’s all hampered with missing features with the developers clearly trying to recapture the magic of the OG that is Goldeneye on the N64. This could’ve been a promising new series back in the day, but it got to the starting line and sat down.
I certify this game a dismal 4/10 just beginning to get taste. This is for bad shooting, shoddy graphics and a boring linear game, with out basic features.
Released, Microsoft Xbox November 26th 2004.
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