GoldenEye 007 - The first (only?) FPS game I've ever played

[OKeijiDragon]

GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64, based on the 1995 James Bond film of the same name, is what I would call the first-person shooter console game that I've ever gave a crap about in my life. It was also the first FPS game I've played. To be honest, I've never really played another FPS game after GoldenEye (except perhaps playing a little of Perfect Dark for N64, the spiritual sequel to GoldenEye, but I'll get to that later). Mostly because I don't have the console for the FPS game that I'm interested in playing (speaking about Halo and Half-Life, iirc both for the Xbox brand, I hear those are awesome), and/or that the video game market is so flooded with the "me-too" FPS games that I'd stop caring about them entirely (Not quite sure if that last part made sense).

But, at least to me, there's something about GoldenEye that stands out from many games. For some reason, at least for me, it actually made sense to put Bond into a first-person perspective of the player, run around blowing and shooting shit up and causing complete chaos and utter mayhem while completing your assigned objectives mostly based on sequences from the film.

I had a blast in some of the levels, especially the ones where you have to save Natalya several times from the enemies, my most favorite of all is the Train level, where you inside one and you get to shoot the living fuck out of the soldiers while hiding behind the wooden crates and -- I swear I was/am intrigued at how much destruction you can cause in this particular level with explosive weapon cheats on -- raising hell from start to finish.

At the end of the train level, you encounter Natalya taken hostage by Alec Trevelyan's henchman, and you are confronted with a deadly, yet easy decision: Stop for the mission, or Natalya dies. Some of you would probably just do both them and you a favor and shoot the bitch for all the stupid mission failures that resulted from her deaths of stupidity (and sometimes hilarity) just cause she got in you gun's way or for running into an explosion or crossfire. But in order to advance, you had to save her, and that was mandatory. So you shoot the henchman (Ourumov), and if you're good enough, shoot both that bitch in the black clothing (Xenia) and that stiff-ass Brit (Alec) for their faggotry against the British government. Once you free Natalya, the doors suddenly become sealed, trapping you inside the room and now that asshole has placed a bomb inside the train which will be set off in one minute (Three/six minutes in the film). At this point, I've felt a sense of pressure and anxiety, and my only hope to escape was though a square hole in the floor. With your handy laser watch, you cut though the hole and escape with Natalya, and watch the train go boom.

Speaking of going boom, I think this game made me a BIG fan of explosions in media. I swear, with a Grenade Launcher, I'm a fucking terrorist (as in, I love blowing shit up). >0< But of course, don't take me the wrong way, I'm not psycho or anything. I just love dealing damage to enemies in games with flash and booms, and with GoldenEye, you can place explosives underneath unsuspecting (indifferent? ) soldiers and watch 'em go. This piece sums up my lust toward destruction in the game.

Going back to what GoldenEye might have that many games even today don't. I think it's its style. One example of this is the death animation. When you get yo' ass capped enough and die, you see this "spilling blood" animation that covers the screen from the top, and a Bond-like theme plays during that animation. I really thought, "if Bond has to go, he shows it in style". Another is some of the character animation, whenever you coming out of a hole or a corridor, you sometimes see enemies jump out and twist their torso and point and aim their gun at you with there other arm moved out. This may be "meh" today, but back then it was both cool and amazing, especially when you consider how realistic the animation was at the time.

And last but definitely not least, the music. OH GOD THE MUSIC. Timeless. Beautiful. The soundtrack is something I could actually dance to. My absolute favorite is the Surface theme (first visit). I swear that theme... that theme has this ambiance that makes it so sexy and epic. I'm actually considering mashing that beat with something, but I've got nothing yet. This soundtrack is god on the N64. It beat Zelda:Oot, yes you heard me right.

All in all, this isn't/wasn't some licensed piece of crap you find at bargain-bins at a goddamn North American Wal-Mart for $10 a pop. This is, and I'm sure many will agree, actually one of the best, or THE best, console FPS video game of the 1990's, and one that helped popularize the first-person shooter genre on the consoles. Truly one of the most remarkable games on the N64 and possibly the best licensed title of the fifth generation of video games, this is a game I enjoyed dearly back in the day.

And after years of not officially owning an N64 until just recently, I've decided to take the time to create my seventh PEMNAS series around this game, which has brought me nostalgic joy and great memories. Hope you enjoy. Also, PEMNAS = PLEASE EXCUSE MY NOOB ASS SKILLS. I invented the term myself.

Here's the playlist to see the series in 19 parts (23 videos):
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...0EDC341774011F

Or just pick one:
(Part 1) Opening Intro + First Stage: Mission 1: Dam
(Part 2) Second Stage: Mission 1: Facility
(Part 3) Third Stage: Mission 1: Runway
(Part 4) Forth Stage: Mission 2: Surface Act 1
(Part 5) Fifth Stage: Mission 2: Bunker
(Part 6) Sixth Stage: Mission 3: Silo
(Part 7) Seventh Stage: Mission 4: Frigate
(Part 8 ) Eighth Stage: Mission 5: Surface Act 2
(Part 9.0) Ninth Stage 1st Half: Mission 5: Bunker Act 2
(Part 9.5) Ninth Stage 2nd Half: Mission 5: Bunker Act 2
(Part 10) Tenth Stage: Mission 6: Statue Park
(Part 11) Eleventh Stage: Mission 6: Military Archives
(Part 12) Twelfth Stage: Mission 6: Streets of St. Petersburg
(Part 13) Thirteenth Stage: Mission 6: Depot
(Part 14) Fourteenth Stage: Mission 6: Train
(Part 15.0) - Vs. Xenia - Fifteenth Stage: Mission 7: Jungle
(Part 15.5) Sneaking In - Fifteenth Stage: Mission 7: Jungle
(Part 16.0) Clearing Out - Sixteenth Stage: Mission 7: Control
(Part 16.5) Hacking the GoldenEye - Sixteenth Stage: Mission 7: Control
(Part 17.0) 1st Half - Seventeenth Stage: Mission 7: Caverns
(Part 17.5) 2nd Half - Seventeenth Stage: Mission 7: Caverns
(Part 18) Vs. Alec - Eighteenth Stage: Mission 7: Cradle
(Part 19 / THE END?) Ending + Credits - Making Out: 64-Bit Style


So would you all agree that GoldenEye is awesome and that it influenced video games in more ways then one? Note that you are not limited to this question.

DISCUSS.

[Stu]

Too long, didn't read, and if it's the only FPS game you've ever played then you've missed one hell of an evolution.

[OKeijiDragon]

Too long, didn't read, and if it's the only FPS game you've ever played then you've missed one hell of an evolution.

It must have been one hell of an evolution, since all those FPS games sure don't look the same as GoldenEye![/dumb sarcasm]

[nemesiswontdie]

Yeah they dont look the same. The newer games have better graphics and better game play!

[rewak]

Stick with Goldeneye, don't play any of the new FPShitters like Halo, you've got perfection right where you are

[Carnivol]

Goldeneye -> Perfect Dark -> Time Splitters, they all have something other FPS games still struggle with and that's proper mission structure and sensible difficulty settings (not to mention how Perfect Dark and Time Splitters' multiplayer modes still piss all over the lack of customization found in most FPS games that don't support mods).

Oh, and they have the lean function... gotta love the leaning function (I'm still upset about F.E.A.R. having it, while F.E.A.R. 2 did not)

They (GE/PD/TS) all have a way of handling difficulty settings that actually makes the games very much replayable on all difficulties (not just for the unlocks). Instead of just upping the damage dealt by the enemies (and their hit ratio) which is what probably 99% of all FPS games do when you up the difficulty, GE/PD/TS adds additional objectives, mission events and fail-triggers to the mission + also adjusts the enemy stats and sometimes also shuffle certain things a bit.


Modern day FPS are often poorly and lazily designed on the gameplay side of things. A genre that is as stale as a statue and slowly moving backwards in most cases.

And, yeah, soundtracks are a bit of a nice thing in those games too (GE/PD/TS, that is). Unlike everyone's favorite, Half-Life 1-2, which quite frankly has some of the worst audio design I've seen (*event starts* - *plays sequenced track; Likely to be a random techno jiggle* - *regardless of outcome, music stops once track is finished*)

Perfect Dark XBLA can't come soon enough (though, I wonder how they'll handle the various control modes... Time Splitters 1-3 did a perfect job of moving things to a default setting w/dual analog while still keeping the manual aim an important feature. Of course, GE/PD did have dual analog support via double controllers... Guess we'll see.)

[WeskerIncarnate]

Man, I was raised on that game. My first FPS also. Then came Perfect Dark, and so on.

And a small correction, Carnivol.

And, yeah, soundtracks are a bit of a nice thing in those games too (GE/PD/TS, that is). Unlike everyone's favorite, Half-Life 1-2, which quite frankly has some of the worst audio design I've seen (*event starts* - *plays sequenced track; Likely to be a random techno jiggle* - *regardless of outcome, music stops once track is finished*)

Half Life 1 did NOT have a single audio track in it. But I can agree with you on Half Life 2 (except for the ambient music that played when you were just wondering around. That fit in nicely.).

[Carnivol]

And a small correction, Carnivol. Half Life 1 did NOT have a single audio track in it.

Maybe you should've bought the original release game and not have pirated it then :p
The game utilized CD-DA audio (Okay, so maybe you've got a legit copy, as I'm not sure if this was axed on the Steam "Source" re-release or not)

[WeskerIncarnate]

I played the Game of the Year Edition to the end. It was a legit copy, somehow still working since it was first bought by my cousin.

There was no music at all. I didn't hear any track play. Or am I missing something?

Wait...the memories, they're coming back to me...

After a quick search, seems you're right. But I played the GOTY edition, and don't remember any music at all...

[Carnivol]

I've got the GOTY box here too (came with t-shirt + opposing force + team fortress classic)

Game uses CD-DA for event scenes. Though... Only way to not hear it would be if you disabled it in the game options or you for some reason had your CD-ROM incorrectly wired up in your computer back when you played it. Can probably find youtube videos or something to see samples of scenes where the music kicks in (or just youtube uploads of the music tracks)

[Daargoth]

While Goldeneye may be an awesome game, you should try Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3-D. The games that made a game like Goldeneye possible.

[nemesiswontdie]

While Goldeneye may be an awesome game, you should try Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3-D. The games that made a game like Goldeneye possible.

Yeah I agree with you. Quake is a very good game and the OST is flat out amazing.

[OKeijiDragon]

Yeah they dont look the same. The newer games have better graphics and better game play!

I don't care. Its still about shooting shit though.

I've played an hour or two of Perfect Dark, and went "meh".

[WeskerIncarnate]

I've got the GOTY box here too (came with t-shirt + opposing force + team fortress classic)

Game uses CD-DA for event scenes. Though... Only way to not hear it would be if you disabled it in the game options or you for some reason had your CD-ROM incorrectly wired up in your computer back when you played it. Can probably find youtube videos or something to see samples of scenes where the music kicks in (or just youtube uploads of the music tracks)

Yeah, I listened to a couple of tracks. To be honest, some of them pretty good, better in comparison to HL2 for the most part.

But that's so weird. Might it make a difference that I just got the standard CD and not in a package with other stuff?

And sorry for drifting off topic...

[nemesiswontdie]

I don't care. Its still about shooting shit though.

I've played an hour or two of Perfect Dark, and went "meh".

So by you playing one FPS other than Goldeneye and you didnt like it you judged every other FPS and figured they all suck?