Review #26 How Vectorman Pushed The Sega Genesis’ Graphics in 1995

If there’s one thing people will always talk about for the end of time in video games, it will always be the graphics. After all, you wanna look good and have great presentation. No one really wants to play a “bad” looking game right? Rather it it’s the most realistic looking polygons or sprites that take a interesting and different art direction that stands out, graphics will always be a hot topic when it comes to just about any gaming topic when it comes to how good a game is. Graphics are very important and often a selling point for some games to see what a system can do or push the limitations on what is possible in both graphical peak and preference. Graphics was something that makes a game stand out above the rest, this was very apparent in the gaming market in 1995 in an 2D age of bits and sprites.

1995 to some might be gaming’s peak of the 2D era. At this point, The Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were at their peak. Developers have now had a few years under their belt to understand and test the limitations of the systems. The mid 90s were a fascinating time for both the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis along with other systems like the 3DO and Atari jaguar, trying to get a piece of the gaming pie. Of course many of these other brands besides Sega and Nintendo were met with mix to negative returns.

In 1994, Nintendo would release their smash hit, Donkey Kong Country. Donkey Kong Country used pre-rendered graphics to give the game a realistic and cool look unlike anything seen before and for the time was a graphical achievement in its own right. Oh and the game itself is pretty good too! The game ended up being a massive success for Nintendo.

Of course when there’s success, comes others wanted a piece of that success. In 1995, one of Sega’s attempts to capture the per-rendered crazy was a little game called Vectorman. Vectorman might not have the exact realistic look at say Donkey Kong Country due to the Genesis being not as powerful as the Super Nintendo or having the pre-rendered process that Rare and Nintendo did for Donkey Kong Country, but it has its own cool look to it and I think it’s a game people might have overlooked.

In 1995, Sega was starting to lose momentum in their gaming clash with Nintendo. Nintendo with their mega hit in Donkey Kong Country gave Nintendo a major advantage. Not to mention Sega’s failure of the Sega CD and 32X in the states did not help their cause either. Sega needed to do something or they would get left in the virtual dust. However, there was a conflict of interests between Sega of Japan and Sega of America. Sega Japan wanted to move on from the Genesis and get ready for their next generation system in the Sega Saturn. Segaof America however still saw promise in the Genesis and believing that the system still had some gas left in the tank. In other words, the Genesis needed new and cool looking games and fresh ideas for it to stand out. One of those ideas ended up being Vectorman. This also was a case where Sega NEEDED games like Vectorman to be major hits in 1995 at least until the release of the Saturn was set to hit in the holiday… Or the Saturn gets surprised dropped in the Summer before Vectorman was released later in the fall of 95. Releasing the Saturn months before Vectorman kind of gives the idea that there was not much stock in this game from Sega. It’s a shame because Vectorman is not a bad game at all. However, Vectorman I think is more of a site to see rather than a site to play. Let me explain.

Vectorman is a 2D action platformer, very much to the likes of say Capcom’s Megaman games or Konami’s Contra, when you do platforming along with shooting. You play as Vectorman, our hero that can jump, but also do a double jump with rocket boots, and can shoot energy out of his hand to attack enemies. You go from point A to point B but you are in a very open 2D environment, meaning there’s different branching paths you can take to get to point B. It’s not as simple as a straight line, making Vectorman much more open for exploration and finding hidden areas and power ups.

The story is it’s the year 2049. I wonder if it’s in the same year as Blade Runner 2049? Anyway, Earth has become an inhabitable mess. Humanity has left and have mechanical “Orbots” to clean up the mess. One powerful Orbot who oversees the operation gets involved into a error as attendants connect a nuclear bomb to it. Why did these attendants they think this was a good idea at all? WHO CARES? PLOT! Now we get “WarHead”, who’s goal is to get revenge on humans and making Earth a death trap for when they return, starting with mind contorting other Orbots to start a massive resistance aginst humanity. Some real Terminator stuff going on here. However VectorMan returns from a trip, not affected by the mind control. Being the last hope and all that fun sutff, Vectorman now must stop the evil robot upraise and save the day. Simple enough.

What makes Vectorman I think stand out is how the game looks and feels. Most times with sprites, it’s just one or two parts moving in the sprite. However this is what makes Vectorman different. Vectorman’s body is really not just one, but 23 individual sprites programed in unison, giving Vectorman a really smooth and realistic look. Other bad guys also have multiple sprites that function at once to also give them a cool look and animation. Kind of think of it as lots of little parts moving something in unison rather than one giant part moving. Graphically, Vectorman on the Genesis looks amazing. Everything is animated smoothly, especially Vectorman himself. Each level has it’s own theming and look along with some graphical effects that again, look phenomenal on the Genesis. Also the game runs on 60fps, something that you did not see very often on the Genesis. Vectorman is one of those games that just pictures don’t do the game justice. You have to see it to really appreciate the technical mastery is with this one.

Vectorman shooting bad guys and looking damn good while doing it. Pictures don’t do the game justice with how smooth and clean it looks and plays.

The game itself is pretty good but does get a bit repetitive seeing how the game has a whopping 16 levels to beat. However you can collect multipliers to give your blasts more power. Vectorman in some levels will have to change forms, anything from being a helicopter for combat in the air, or a car like form for massive speed levels. A different form of Vectorman whatever the situation, this adds some variety in the game and is more than just running and gunning.

Vectorman transforms into a steam train in order to fight one of the game’s first bosses.

I will also say the game does get quite hard at times and can be frustrating. Once you fail a level, you can turn down the difficulty with no cost. However the game will give you a “lame” message for doing so. Even in 1995 there was a “get good” mentality in gaming.

One thing I do love about the game is the music. The soundtrack goes for a futuristic techno soundtrack and for the sound chip on the Genesis, sounds fantastic. Personally having some of my most loved music on the Genesis. Here’s a personal fav of mine. Some might not like the techno style soundtrack but personally this is my kind of jam, so I dig it. really matches with the futuristic feel the game is going for.

If you look up box art Vectorman, there was some “play to win” versions of the game. If you can beat the game without cheat codes or going to “lame” mode, the game would give you a screen with a phone number, call the number and you could sign up to win some cool prizes. To do this, you had to send that copy of the game and get a normal copy in return. Likely to prove you did it and so you’re not sharing the cart/prize with others. It was nothing more than a a marketing strategy to get people to buy the game as if the game’s graphics were not enough of a selling point. I swear Sega had no hope for this to be good. The “play to win” thing is something to at least bring up and is quite amusing.

TV Ad for Vectorman, “The most revolutionary game ever!”

Vectorman would sell a half million units so it was not exactly a bust, but not really the major hit Sega was hoping for. Not to mention that year Donkey Kong Country 2 would come out only a month later and blew Vectorman out of the water, getting nearly double the sales that year. It was good, just not Donkey Kong Country good. Hell of an effort but, just not enough to take down the big ape.

In the end Vectorman game play wise is not the greatest, the game can get repetitive and quite frustrating at times. It’s not the funnest game on the Genesis personally but the look and feel of the game still stands out today and is quite impressive that the Genesis can pull off a game that looks this good and animates this smoothly. I would not call it a massive hit, but it’s still a good little hidden gem to find. Vectorman would get an awesome sequel in Vectorman 2 also for the Genesis, around the end of the Genesis’ lifespan. There were plans for Vectorman 3, likely would have been released around the time of the Dreamcast, but was scraped, likely due to the lack of sales of the Dreamcast, causing Sega to get out of the hardware market and stick with software.

If you love Genesis games, Vectorman is no doubt one worth checking out, but know that it’s a case where I don’t love the game, but I appreciate it in a technical achievement that it is. It looked cool and different, and for a 1995 on a system that some put in their rear view mirror, VectorMan is quite an impressive looking game.

Vectorman gets 3 out of 5 stars

Review #25 Marble Madness Might Be My Favorite 80s Era Arcade Game.

For all the marbles

As I look back at old cultures and eras of time, there’s one that always puts me at awe and that’s the era of the 1980s. You see I was born at the start of the 90s so part off me feels like it was a time frame I just missed. The thing that really got me into understanding the culture and aesthetic of the 80s was Grand Theft Auto Vice City, but that’s for another day.

During my college days, there was an old retro-cade downtown from where I was living, in fact it was walking distance from me. Not a small walk but a walk. The theme of the arcade was it was all games from the 1980s. So we’re talking OLD school mo
stly Atari era games like Q-Bert, Paperboy, Pole-Position, Pac-Man, that kind of era.

As my friends were either surviving in Gauntlet, trying to go home but could not get my friend off the Joust cab, or others dropping endless amounts of quarters in pinball classics like Medieval Madness or Black Knight 2000, I mostly spent time looking around the arcade at all the cool 80s themed stuff. I’ll admit this old school era of gaming was let’s say not my style. I get the 80s the idea of a video game arcade was a new and exciting one, as most games were simply bare bones. However there was one game I tried that kept me coming back for more. Something different that help me understand that there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this ear.

The game was Marble Madness.

Marble Madness as a concept is quite simple. You play as a marble. You have to go down slopes, tight paths, and avoid many dangers to get to the goal within the time limit. The trick of this game is momentum and control. However you don’t play this game with just a simple joystick or buttons on the cabinet.

This is your controller layout.

The track ball controller of Marble Madness, and look at that 80s decal.

You have to use this trackball like controller in order to control the marble. The game has a two player mode if you’re wondering why there’s two balls here. The challenge besides the clock is having to deal with uphill and downhill slopes. Too much movement will make your marble go too fast, often resulting in falling off course or your demise. Not enough movement and you won’t be able to get past the slopes and other challenges the game throws are you. Oh yeah did I also mention you can lose time/die from falling too far? You can take some small falls but the bigger falls will leave you breaking your marble and costing you time. The trick of Marble Madness is balance.

So seems simple enough, use the ball to control the marble on screen and do each level in the time limit. How hard can it be? As Marble Madness only has 5 levels to beat, the game quickly becomes quite brutal. Keep in mind this was an era where arcades were designed top be quarter/token eaters. Something you were challenged to beat but if you wanted to be a Marble Madness wizard, it’s going to take a pocket full of coins.

So let’s start with the first level.

The game starts you with 60 seconds. This level is very simple as it has only a few slopes and the path is pretty easy to understand. Even first time players can/should clear this level with ease. A easy understanding as to how Marble Madness works. It’s the next level where I feel the training wheels come off.

Level 2 the game now introduces you to some enemies. What you thought this game was just going to be a balancing act? The first bad guy you meet is another marble that’s black and will chase you to knock you off course. You then shortly after meet these green mouth things (best way I can describe it) that will jump up and try to eat you whole. Don’t underestimate these things, they are more accurate than they seem and could end your run before it really starts. The end of this level has a large patch of ice that of course makes your ball super slick. Something that could catch you off guard right before the finish if you’re not careful.

The next level I think is where most people will met their end when trying to beat this game before mastering the controls and feel of Marble Madness. It starts you in a very cramped maze with little to no room to move your marble. This often results it getting bumped into the walls and killing your momentum. I should also mention the left over time you have from earlier levels gets added to your time, so if this is your first try on this level, you are likely low on time, meaning you’re more stressed out into racing against the clock, resulting in more wall hits and mistakes.

This is also where understanding what you can get away with when it comes to fall damage really helps. You can take little falls but larger falls will result in your marble breaking. There’s times it feels like you get away with more of a drop than others but maybe that’s just perception of the moment.

This level also has more of a darker music track to it. The first couple of levels were very mellow to being catchy. Here it gets much more creepy. There’s also a part where the song gets faster and faster, causing you to get stressed out and rushing things. This level I feel is way harder than people think as it really messes without not just in skill but mentally as well.

This maze is a run killer

Aerial race is where you will have to master the art of falling. Early into this challenge you are hit with sound speakers that come out from the side of the course that will likely throw you off if you don’t know it’s coming ahead of time. This is where the game really throws some curve balls at you (or in this case marbles). Understanding how much of a fall you can take is a necessity here.

Next up is the Silly Race, where “Everything you know is wrong”. This is where the game really picks up with the mind games. Every level before this you are going down, but here you are going up instead. This level also throws some mental and visual mind tricks at you.

Finally, you are meet with The Ultimate Race. This is where the game throws almost everything at you. Also a very rude part in the end where there’s teleporting/changing platforms that you have to pretty much memorize the pattern to. No doubt the last gear check before beating the game, look at it as a final boss if you will.

Don’t forget the game also has two player mode and not each player takes turns kind of thing, nah you both are playing at the same time, adding to even more of the chaos Marble Madness brings to the table.

Marble Madness would get many ports, but it’s just not the same without the trackball. You could get a trackball controller for the NES if you’re really needing that Marble Madness fix. Marble Madness is a very short game if you know what you are doing but this is the ultimate game of trial and error. I don’t know if it was the gimmick with the trackball controller, the 3Dish look of the game, or what but it’s an older 80s era arcade game that always caught my eye and is a fun game to try to master. It was just something new and different compared to everything else in that era. As I said, it might be my favorite 80s era arcade game and every time I see it either at a retro-cade or wherever, I always spend a few credits giving this a try.

Marble Madness gets 3 marbles out of 5

Review #24 Mother / EarthBound Beginnings Is a Game I Want to Enjoy, But…

 

The first of what would be a cult classic trilogy

When you think of the term “cult classic”, what do you think of? Maybe a movie or TV show that never really got the respect you think it should have got back then. A piece of media that has gain a small, but very loyal fan base. A kind of fan base that understands what they are seeing is something only few can realize. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If there’s one game I can think of that is likely video game’s cult classic. It would be EarthBound for the Super Nintendo. So what in the world even is EarthBound?

EarthBound is a turn based Role Playing Game (RPG) created by Shigesato Itoi. However what made/makes EarthBound/Mother different than most RPGs at this time is that it is set in a realistic America. Most times in media we see America’s idea of what Japanese culture is but with EarthBound, it’s the other way around. As most RPGs at the time focused on more of a fantasy setting, EarthBound is set in a more modern realistic world. However it still has a very cartoon like friendly feel to it. So instead of items being magic potions and whatnot in most RPGs, your healing items might be hamburgers or other kinds of food. Instead of magical spells, some playable characters have telekinesis powers, or psychic abilities. This results for your elemental attacks such as PSI/PK Freeze or PSI/PK Fire. Instead of statues your character can gain in most RPGs like poisoned or confused, EarthBound you can get heatstroke by standing in the hot sun too much, smell something bad and get sick, or even get homesick if you don’t talk to your mother for a long period of time, preventing you from attacking. EarthBound without a doubt is a very witty game. Where EarthBound shines is it’s funny and very smart writing and story telling. There’s so many great moments in EarthBound that I can’t say them all here alone. One day I’ll take a more in depth look into EarthBound because there’s so much I want to talk about in this game.

However, what if I said that game was the second game of the series? You see, EarthBound was called Mother 2 in Japan. This of course begs the question, where is/was Mother 1 for the US?

Mother 1 was a game on the original NES that was going to be called EarthBound in the US. The game was translated and complete, however it was never disturbed and released in the US as it would have been one of if not the final NES game in the system’s lifespan in the states, as most of Nintendo’s focus in the states was on the Super Nintendo, trying to edge out their toughest challenge yet in SEGA with their SEGA Genesis. So sadly, the NES EarthBound game (Mother 1) was never released.

A rom was leaked years ago (under the name EarthBound Zero) from a build of a beta copy of the game. There was tons of speculation if the rom was legitimate or not. Either way if you were in the US, the only way to play it was to download the rom and play it on an emulator that had the English translation on it. That or learn Japanese and play the original.

However, on the June 14th, 2015 Nintendo direct, we were given a very shocking surprise. We got a trailer for the unreleased Mother game and that it was coming to the Wii U virtual console under the name “EarthBound Beginnings”. As someone who absolutely adores the SNES EarthBound (Mother 2), I was more than excited to at last try out the game that spawned one of my all time favorite series. I was excited for the game that has been in the dark for decades that we now get to see in the light and I was ready to enjoy this game…

… Then I didn’t.

I really did try to enjoy this game since I loved EarthBound for the Super Nintendo, so why can I not get into this game? I know many that do adore this game so I guess this review might be seen as my first “hot take”, but I do want to be careful with this as I don’t want to give the idea that Mother 1 is a “bad game”. There’s some good stuff in this and I fully understand why there are fans of it. I don’t want to paint the picture of “this game is awful” and want to make sure my message is more “this game wasn’t for me” or simply put, something that just never got its hooks in me. So let me try to make sense as to how and why I think Mother 1 was something I wanted to love, but in the end I failed to do so.

First of all, lets lay the foundation of what Mother/EarthBound beginnings is by starting with the game’s introduction.

The game gives a story of a young couple in the 1900s named George and Maria. The couple out of nowhere mysteriously vanished. Two years later, George returns and begins to do a study in private, Maria however never returned.

Fast forward 80 years (so 1980s America) where we get to play as a young child named Ninten (What a creative name). As you try to leave your room, the first room you start in. A lamp attacks you… Like I said Mother/EarthBound is not like most RPGs where you would have fantasy monsters and settings. Here you fight things like lamps, angry dogs, and even your common hippie. I’m dead serous. The Mother/EarthBound games are truly something else and I love them for this alone. Here we enter our first battle of the game. The UI is much in the likes to say Dragon Warrior at the time where it’s a first person point of view looking at the enemy that you are facing.

Very first room in the game and the lamp wants to kill you.

As standard, you have your heath and your commands like many RPGs. You also have PP that acts as this substitute to magic where Ninten can use his psychic abilities to do some special damage depending on the fight. Of course you don’t just get these right off the bat, you earn them by leveling up as in doing more battles. You can fight that does a standard attack, goods where you can use an item in your innovatory, Check to see the status of the enemy you are facing and their health, auto that puts the game into an auto attack mode, guard that bulks up your defenses, and run if you want to get out of the battle, but is not always guaranteed.

Seeing how weird things are happening in the house, you get a call from your dad via telephone. He tells you that it sounds like a Poltergeist and that your great grandfather studied these weird psychic phenomenon and that it might be worth talking to him. You also talk to your dad ala telephone to save your progress of the game. We now got our first main quest! Now it’s time to go out into the world.

A little kid on an adventure to save the world, what can go wrong?

One thing when you play Mother 1 that’s odd is being able to run. If feels very off balanced like the game is going faster rather than you. Apparently this was added to the US version of the game as there was a fear that US players would find the game too slow and boring I guess? If that’s the case then yeah I could understand that as the normal walk speed is quite slow. However this fast running comes at a price. The rate you run into random battles did not accommodate for this, so you will be running into random encounters… A LOT.

That’s one of my issues with Mother 1. There’s so many random encounters that it’s kind of ridiculous. There’s times you can’t take 2 steps without running into a battle. I get that random encounters are a part of RPGs of this era but it feels really unbalanced here and can become very aggravating when you’re trying to just get to the next spot to save or rest.

Another issue is the battles themselves. If feels like some battles are just a coin flip as to rather you are going to win or get a game over. It’s as if fate decides in some fights that you’re not going to win this. There’s times I will make it out of the home and play for a good half hour and make good progress, then once I game over next time I play, I don’t even get past the opening route because the hit/miss ratio is so intense. Mother 1 is the kind of game where I feel like you need to have more accuracy than power because if you miss even two or three times in the early game, you’re toast.

Later in the game it is learned that all the weird stuff is happening due to powerful forces beyond the stars (so aliens). Ninten’s adventure gets him to a mystical land known as Magicant. There he meets Queen Mary that tells Ninten to collect the 8 melodies need to stop the evil that will soon invade Earth. So the quest is on. As you go on, you will gain party members. Some stay for the long hall, others are just temporary.

One thing I will give tons of credit in Mother 1 is the music. It’s some of the best and most mystical tunes you can find on the NES. Tons of uplifting to strange music that really is a plus here.

There’s tons of different kinds of great characters, places to see, and great moments. It’s quite different than most RPGs in its time. There’s much to like here that there’s times I feel like maybe I gave up on the game too soon and it’s one of those games that is absolutely brutal at the start but if you stick with it, it gets better. There’s stuff I love about Mother 1 but man the issues with the battles are just too large of a pill to swallow for me. I’m glad in the end the US did get to officially enjoy this game. As it might not be a game I adore as much as others, I’m glad people at least get the chance in the US to at least see where the EarthBound series started.

Soon I want to cover Mother 2/EarthBound in the future because that’s the game I adore. Maybe one day I’ll even look at Mother 3 as well… Maybe when that game gets a US release… but after over a decade of waiting… who knows? Then again, I thought the same for Mother 1 and here we are.

In the end I’m glad I did get the try out the first Mother game, just to see the baby steps were for its sequel, a game I love. I don’t want to say I hate this game because again, I don’t think it’s a bad game, I just could not get into it. Kind of a shame really, but that might be more on me than the game itself. Give Mother 1 a try if you’re into old school NES RPGs, you might get what I’m missing.

Mother/EarthBound Beginnings gets 1 out of 5 stars. Could not get into this one.

GoldenEye 007: The Gold Standard of the First Person Shooter

 

The name is Bond… James Bond

When you hear the term “First Person Shooter”, what’s the first game that comes to mind? For many now a days it’s likely something like Call of Duty. Older generations might tell you Halo. For me however, there’s one that I felt like was the FPS at last realized and showed the potential this kind of game can bring. Not only one of the most legendary multiplayer games of all time, but to me one of my favorite video games of all time in general. GoldenEye 007.

GoldenEye is a spy/action movie, released in 1995 and the seventeenth James Bond film. Hey when you’re one of the pillars of early action movies, you can have this many films. This was in fact the first James Bond movie in six years and the first in the 90s, so there’s kind of a sense of a reboot of the idea of a James Bond action movie. This isn't your grandpa’s 007. The story is about a UK secret agent James Bond (Code name 007) as he tries to stop a rouge agent who has defected and want to use a satellite in order to send am election pulse (EMP) onto London and shutting down all electronics. resulting in as you may guess, all hell breaking loose. GoldenEye is the code name of said satellite. The movie is full of twist, turns, over the top bad guys, and of course a fair share of bond girls and cool secret agent gadgets.

The video game adaptation was not released until 1997 by Rare, nearly two years after the theatrical release. Rare was just coming off their high from finishing their Donkey Kong Country trilogy. But how would they fair in the evolving 3D gaming revolution? Also how how well could they do something like a First Person Shooter? oddly enough, The fact that when you say GoldenEye, more people likely think of the video game first before the movie itself, that’s how you know you’re in for something special, when a game based on a piece of media has more of a pop culture impact that the actual piece of media.

Standard game play of GoldenEye 007 in the game’s first level of the single player mode.

GoldenEye was originally going to be a rail shooter in the likes of Virtua Cop, but then was made into a first person shooter (FPS) where the player can freely walk around wherever they want, making the game feel more like the likes of Doom and Wolfenstine at the time. GoldenEye thanks to the power of the Nintendo 64 could show that a more realistic setting for an FPS could be possible and I think that’s one of the biggest appeals to Goldeneye and why I think people prefer it’s multiplayer over other games.

Another big appeal involves the controller. As you might know the Nintendo 64 controller is… kind of strange, but it has the Z-button that’s on the back of the control where your finger sits. hitting buttons with fingers is not new with most cases L and R buttons being on the top, but Z being behind the controller was quite new at the time. The Z button is what you use to shoot your gun. So it’s like you are using your finger to shoot as you would a real gun. This blew my mind back then and adds an element of immersion in GoldenEye that was not done before it. A great example of innovation by design.

GoldenEye is a first person shooter. You are in a first person camera and in the eyes of James Bond. You can pick up different types of guns and other items to help shoot bad guys who are also of course shooting at you. Trying to complete tasks/missions in each level in order to complete the mission and move on to the next level. You can fail these missions if the task is not met, leaving you locked out from beating the level, meaning you have to abort the mission and start over. The mission is also a failure of you of course, lose all of your health and die. GoldenEye 007 has a streak of blood go over you as you fall to your death in first person much like the infamous intro to each James Bond movie. Even dying in this game is freaking cool as it’s a neat spin on the famous intro to Jame Bond movies with blood dripping from the top of the screen down.

There are all sorts of guns you can use. Anything from 007’s standard pistol, to machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, land mines, you name it. Part of the fun of the game is finding that new gun and seeing how it can be used to shred the bad guys and finding fun ways to take down opposing forces.

There are three difficulties to pick from in the single player/story mode, where you play some of the best moments from the movie. The difficulties are Agent, Secret Agent, and 00 Agent. Agent is the normal and easiest mode. Once you beat a level on Agent, you unlock the next level and get the Secret Agent difficulty on the one you just beat. Beat said level on Secret and you can pick 00 Agent, the hardest of the three and always has the most objectives to do. There are often times you might have 1–3 missions in the Agent difficulty but could be 4 to 5 on the harder levels. Not to mention there might be harder enemy placements, cameras or extra turrets that were not there on Agent, and a few other small changes to makes the objective much harder.

The first level in “Dam” that has you crossing on top of a giant dam is very straight forward while not feeling too much on a single rail, you can veer off and find other areas. You will need to do some searching in order to beat this level on the later levels. This level ends with James Bond bungee jumping off the Dam, one of the most iconic moments in the movie. Doesn't look as cool as the movie because low-poly Nintendo 64 graphics but hey it’s still cool to see a big movie moment in the game. Something that was not done that often at this time.

                   

James Bond recreating the bungee jumping scene from the movie.

The next level is Facility, this is where first time players will most likely hit their first gear check. There’s 4 objectives you have to do this time. Also don’t shoot the scientists or else that will also result in a failed mission. Luckily for you they are not very smart sciences and sure love to get right in the middle of the crossfire and getting killed, resulting in you failing. I’m being sarcastic here but for many first time players, this might be where they start to struggle as you can just run and gun down everything here like you could in the first level. I would recommend having this level later as the next few levels are not too bad but this is kind of a major part of GoldenEye’s story in movie and game so it’s a necessary evil here.

Here we get a major plot point where you and Alec Trevelyan, another MI6 agent to help James Bond in a mission. Sadly he is killed in the process (so it seems) as Bond escapes in a airplane, this being the set piece for the third level in the game in Runway.

The single player campaign has you going from level to level some being from scenes from the movie and some filler levels in there to boot. One of my favorite levels is “Surface”, that has you in a massive snowfield. It’s so fun finding the high ground with a sniper rifle and getting the jump on people. It’s one of the most open world like levels in the game and I love it for it.

“Surface” is a level that puts 007 in the wide open space to freely walk around in.

At one point in the story mode, you are captured and put in a jail cell along with a cellmate. There we meet up with a Russian hacker named Natalya Simonova. She will play the roll of our main Jame Bond lady today. You both decide that you need her hacking skills and James Bond’s spy skills in order to stop the GoldenEye satellite from causing havoc to England and possibly the rest of the world.

Meeting Natalya in the start of “Bunker 2”

Unfortunately, this is where we hit GodenEye’s main issue and I think what is many people’s issue is with the game. As you both escape, you have to leave the hidden bunker with Natalya. This will be an escort mission where you not only have to keep yourself alive, but her as well. Let’s just say the AI for Natalya is… questionable. At times getting stuck at doors, not going where you want her to go, even at times getting flat out stuck, making completing the mission impossible, or just walking right in front of you into the cross gun fire. Computer AI was not the best in 1997 and with no way to give commands, it feels like more of being on a leash than being able to go around freely and shoot bad guys. It takes away something I think GoldenEye thrives in and that’s being able to go around anywhere at anytime, there’s a sense of the open world. These protect Natalya missions takes that away from you. I can’t get super mad at the game as computer AI in video games in 1997 is bound to have its issues but I feel like it’s too much of a red flag in this game to not discuss it.

One level that goes into everyone’s mind that have beaten this game is the level known as Control, where you once again, paired up with Natalya and have to protect her as she uses her computer hacking skills for you to get deeper into the level. The level starts in an elevator with some fun elevator music, almost as if it’s putting you into a false feel that this level won’t be bad… oh no! Between some pretty tough solders to shoot down, turrets around annoying corners, and a very annoying part of the level where you have to protect Natalya from what seems to feel like a never ending onslaught of people trying to gun you and her down, Control is the mother of all gear checks when it comes to this game. Back then I use to rent this game at a local store. More times than not, there would be a file that would always be stuck on Control and just hit a brick wall. It was a rarity to find a file that had the game beaten. Likely the lowest point of GoldenEye for me as it kind of exposes the issues I have with the game all front in center. It’s not bad enough to the point that it runs the overall experience of GoldenEye 007, but it can be quite annoying. Just a unfortunate case of video game AI not quite being where it needed to be at the time.

Computer AI issues are not just with Natalya, there’s a level late in the game called Caverns, where you have to compete missions all while avoiding killing any scientist. You’ve had to deal with avoiding scientists before but here it feels like they are always next to explosive equipment or will like Natalya walk into gunfire or if something blows up, just walk into the explosion and die. Again, you feel like you’re on the luck of the AI hoping they don’t do anything absolutely stupid that costs you from competing the level. Besides GoldenEye having its escort missions and friendly CPU AI issues, the single player mode is quite fun and ends with an amazing level with an iconic scene from the movie. Single player has its highs and lows but overall is a great experience.

A race against time in the game’s final level in the main story mode,

There is one thing I want to point out before I get into the games legendary multiplayer that’s in the single player mode. And it has to do with how this game does cheat codes. Yes, GoldenEye has cheats you can earn. Things as small as starting with a rare gun, to flat out invincibility. However, you don’t just enter a special code your friend or you find out about. You gotta EARN these by beating a specific level on a specific difficulty within the time limit. For the way cooler cheats, you have to speed run you way into the level because these times are very tight that require no room for error. I like to think this was responsible for bringing up a generation of speed running for some. A very cool way to do cheat codes as it’s something you have to earn and be really good at the game. Meaning you will consistently be replaying levels out of choice in order to get beat that time limit.

Now the moment some readers have been waiting for, let’s talk about the multiplayer game play that made GoldenEye 007, the stuff of legend. Thanks to the 4 controller ports on the Nintendo 64, you can have 4 player multiplayer mayhem. You can do classic death match where the most kills within a time limit or hit a number of kills wins the match. You can pick from a per-load of guns for each game. Sadly you can’t pick what guns specifically you want, so you’ll have to make due with the let’s call it a playlist of guns provided. A little annoying that you can’t just pick your favorite weapons in the game but we make due. There’s also tons of modes and playable characters in the 007 universe that you can play as. Sadly none of the older Bonds are there (were scraped likely do to actor/license reasons) and don’t be that one friend that picks Oddjob, who’s smaller than everyone else therefor makes him a harder target to hit. You know who you are.

As I said you got your standard death-match, but other modes too based on older Bond films. One mode being where everything kills in one shot, capture the flag, and one of my favorites, Man with the Golden Gun where the only way to score is to kill with the Golden Gun, a one shot instant kill gun, but only has one bullet in the chamber before needing to reload, so you better make your shot count. GoldenEye’s simple yet fun multiplayer game play is very addicting and it’s easy to see why it was a must play for any party in the late 90s on the Nintendo 64. I feel like GoldenEye’s multiplayer is what’s made it stand the test of time. Some may say the game has aged like milk, and that may be true, but I’m always down for playing some GoldenEye with the guys.

Throughout the years, GoldenEye 007 had gain a reputation for being one of the greatest multiplayer video games of all time. With it’s free movement, tons of fun guns to play with, 4 player non-stop fun, and a pretty good single player mode. It’s easy to see how and why GoldenEye was such an influence game in the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre. There were other spinoff games like GoldenEye /Rouge Agent that tried to recapture what made GoldenEye so legendary, only to come up short. A good chunk of the GoldenEye team would later in the PS2 era make in TimeSpliters, another game I would love to cover one day.

Sadly, we would not get another James Bond game from Rare as EA would pay a pretty penny for the James Bond license. However, that would not stop Rare from making a new FPS game like GoldenEye. That game would become GoldenEye’s spiritual successor in “Perfect Dark”, but that’s a mission for another time.

GoldenEye 007 gets 4 out of 5 stars