It keeps going, and going, and..

Winner of the The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences's 1998 game of the year award, Goldeneye for the Nintendo64 home video game console set a new standard for FPS (first-person shooters) software. The development team at Rare in Twycross, England take great pride in this fact, as well they should. For it was Goldeneye that also outsold nearly every other game in it's second year of release as well as it's first, something very rare for any mainstream title. Even today, it retains it's popularity and quite a fan following.

The plot of Goldeneye is similar to the 007 film of the same name, with exact blueprints from the movie used as field models in the game, adding to it's authenticity. Preceding each increasingly difficult mission are lists of briefs from such key characters as M, Q, and Moneypenny (the latter's remarks usually limited to often clever innuendo), detailing the objectives for the particular operation ahead. Once the mission has begun, it is up to you as the player, however, to carry out each objective systematically whilst staying at full health.. thus, alive.
Your mission stats, as well as options for sound and video controls, are ingeniously integrated into 007's high tech watch. Playing through Goldeneye is likely the closest fans will ever get to being James Bond, difficulty included, which brings up my next point.

The game was designed to be "challenging". Most (if not all) titles developed by Rare have this trait. Goldeneye takes this admirable quality one step further and manages to put itself in a challenge level all it's own. The learning curve is steep, but in the early missions nothing to become frustrated over. As the story progresses, however, your character is ambushed more often than not and unless you use stealth and a good silenced weapon like the sniper rifle, you're going to attract attention from the hordes of enemy soldiers throughout the stage (in some levels, these particular soldiers are without limit, meaning you'll run out of bullets before the CPU runs out of enemies). In the later stages like the special Aztec stage, you'll be lucky if you can get through the gauntlet at all, much less having completed your mission objectives without looking like swiss cheese. If you like a challenge, I guarantee you will love this game.

Multiplayer: What better way to settle an argument with a group of friends than by shooting each other? In the game, of course. The multiplayer mode of Goldeneye is one of the main reasons the game received so many good reviews. I don't often participate in multiplayer, but I have a few times and it is a blast. The screen is a bit cramped with 4 windows on one television vying for space, but if you enjoy multiplayer games in general, you owe it to yourself to try the 4-player mode with a group of friends.

Graphics and sound: Aside from the rather blocky ugliness of the majority of the character models (which for it's release date in 1997, were quite acceptable), the graphics are wonderfully detailed and the animation is excellent. If you have anything against watching your wounded enemy slump to the floor in pain after a bullet to the face or grunting quickly before dropping to the snow, dead, then you may want to rethink your purchase or rental. If you can stomach the death animations of the enemy soldiers (I'm normally pretty squeamish and I hardly notice them anymore), you have to play this game. I, among dozens of people I know personally, are still playing Goldeneye so many years after it's release. I would even go so far as to say it has the best replay value of any software action title on the market in the past 10 years. Regarding sound effects and music, if you have kept up with Rare, you know their track record for audio excellence. The 007 theme is astoundingly re-created in full synthesized stereo and as the game progresses, variations on the famous tune are played in the background, subliminally coercing the player to become even more immersed in the role of Bond. The weapon sound effects have also been carefully developed, including every muzzle fire and ricochet.

A quick note about the control; while not flawless (it takes some time to turn around when you're under heavy enemy fire), it is very intuitive and the like of which I have not seen since. "Honey" is probably the best control scheme available from the options menu.

Much like the film, Goldeneye for the N64 is a classic that you'll dig out of the closet again and again, no matter what new games and systems come your way. It's that good. If you haven't already, buy this game. You won't be disappointed.