While playing Goldeneye, I thought of all of those articles I've read in Next Generation on how current gaming is a one-sided conversation with the computer. For the first time, this really made sense. Despite Goldeneye's unbelievably complex and detailed environment, the only input that the player has is via the fire button. Want to keep a guard from hitting an alarm? Shoot him, then shoot the alarm. Want to download data? Select the modem and fling it at the computer. Want to save a hostage? Shoot the hostage takers before they unload their artillery into their helpless victim. How do you tell which scientist is an undercover agent? Walk up to him, and if he doesn't raise his arms in surrender, he's your man. Such a one-sided conversation is frustratingly limiting given the astounding environment in which the game takes place.

This reducing of everything to shooting brings me to the issue of the game's rating. Simply put, if the violence in Goldeneye's gameplay was compared to the violence in Goldeneye the movie, the N64 game would definitely be rated R (compared to the movie's PG-13 rating). The sheer number of brutal killings puts it more in line with the movie Commando than any James Bond flick I've ever seen. Not only is this violence overly abundant, but it is disturbingly realistic. Shoot someone in the head, and they fall limp to the ground. Shot someone in the crotch and watch them keel over and writhe in agony. You don't need copious amounts of blood to be graphically violent. Were this game rated M (17 and older), I'd have no right to complain, but it's not. This is not a PG-13 game, this is an R-rated game, and it should be treated as such. It should have been rated M. Before letting their child play, I strongly caution any parent to be sure that their child is mature enough not only to witness realistic violence, but to partake in it as well.

As an older gamer, I'm not as affected by Goldeneye's violence. What bothers me is that the violence itself is the reward for playing. If you successfully blast your way out of a level, all you'll get to see is Bond walk two steps and adjust his cuff links. That's it. No real story development, no sense of closure, not even a sense of flow from one level to the next. Yes, there are notes from M and Q before each mission, but they really only tell you what to do. They are often incomplete, do little to fill out the story, and can even be skipped entirely without affecting gameplay. Even the in-game conversations are poorly done. The lack of reward and storytelling is just one more reason that Goldeneye should be labeled a more complex, realistic version of Doom instead of an adventure in which you get to play an expert secret agent.

Although I have read that Goldeneye's three difficulty levels are different only in the number of "objectives" that must be completed, this is simply not the case. The two higher difficulty levels feature stronger, more numerous bad guys that will make the game more difficult with respect to gun fighting rather than with respect to espionage. In other words, the objectives aren't what will give you problems on harder difficulty settings, the guards will. Several levels in Goldeneye feature difficulty levels almost identical to those in Doom.

With that said, there are some things that actually make Goldeneye a groundbreaking title. As mentioned earlier, the environment is astounding. Crisp, sharp, detailed environments surround the player throughout his or her Goldeneye experience. Using the Sniper Rifle, it is literally possible to seamlessly zoom hundreds of feet into the distance and see everything as though it were right in front of you. This is the one element of the game that truly conveys the most enjoyable sense of being an undercover agent. There are other remarkable details as well. Shoot a light and it goes out. Shoot a wall and the bullet will leave a smoking hole. You can even be behind a door that contains a window, use the rifle to zoom through the window to a nearby security camera and shoot the camera through the window! Not only is the environment detailed, but it's realistic as well. The Goldeneye Satellite control room is exactly like the movie! Even the control screen has moving global maps and I'm told it even contains real Russian words. The game's texture maps don't degrade up close either. In some cases, they actually get more detailed. In most games, the environment helps you imagine that you're there. In Goldeneye, you are there.

Goldeneye's environments do have their bad points though. Anything other than a wall will unrealistically explode when shot. I mean anything. Don't believe me? Even the office chairs in the basement of the first level's dam will explode when shot.

If exploding office furniture doesn't bother you, nighttime navigation will. Night areas (other than Servernaya) are next to impossible to navigate well. In these areas (such as the unrealistically complex Graveyard), you can only see a few feet in front of you. Even the walls are often so dark that you can't tell when you're in front of one.

In better lit levels, the game's polygon glitches will become apparent. While taking refuge behind the door of a storage shed in the St. Petersburg Depot stage, both my friend and I were startled to see a hand with a gun come right through the closed door! I've actually seen this happen several times, and it's very strange. Other polygon glitches are mostly of the flickering type, such as a light along a tunnel flickering in and out of existence.

The last major flaw in Goldeneye's environments is the framerate. Most of the time, it's fine (though not great). However, it does occasionally slow down enough to seriously affect gamplay. This degradation in framerate is most severe in the Monte Carlo Frigate stage and in the Cuban Jungle stage.

As for how the game controls, the answer is not bad. The default controls are a little awkward, but they work OK. There are also a ton of alternative controller setups to choose from, including the ability to play using two controllers (this works surprisingly well). The fact that you can look straight up or down is nice. You can even shoot straight down through metal grating to get enemies below. The biggest problem I had with the controls (aside from the only proactive control in the game being the fire button) was the lack of a jump feature. It stinks to get stuck behind a tiny rock and not be able to move over it. This is just one more limitation to the gameplay.

A unique aspect to Goldeneye's control is its Rumble Pak compatibility. Unfortunately, the only time you're likely to notice the controller rumbling is when you're toting big fire power, you get hit, or your Rumble Pak has brand new batteries in it. In general, the Rumble Pak feels more gimmicky with Goldeneye than it does with Star Fox, but feeling a sudden jolt as Bond gets shot in the back does make an extremely effective impact.

In addition to Goldeneye's one-player mission mode, there is an extensive multi-player mode. Perhaps Deathmatch Mode would be a better term for it, since that's exactly what it is. If Deathmatches are your thing, then Goldeneye's Deathmatches should be a dream come true. There are tons of options including weapons, characters and even complex and varied levels. Unfortunately, if Deathmatches aren't your thing, there won't be anything for you to enjoy in a four-player game of Goldeneye.

As this portion of my review draws to a close, I have to say that it really bugs me that Nintendo put it's seal of approval on Goldeneye by making it a second-party title. The gameplay is just too shallow and violent for it to be on par with Nintendo's standards. If Nintendo wants to make a first-person shooter like this, it should be made clear that that's exactly what it is. It shouldn't be sugar coated with an inappropriately young rating and a popular license such as James Bond. Rare is actually the company responsible for Goldeneye's development, and just like every other Rare game I've played, it's missing that depth and quality to put it in the same class as Nintendo's best.

Don't get me wrong, Goldeneye is the best Doom game out there. Period. But that's all it is. If you don't like lots of killing, then this game is not something you'd want to buy. I do, however recommend that you give it a rental just to see the complex and realistic environments that truly are the first of their kind. It's just a shame that the extremely violent content means that younger gamers won't be able to enjoy Goldeneye's technological achievements until they're older and Goldeneye is a thing of the past.

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