GoldenEye 007

Platform: Nintendo 64
Developer: Rare
Release: 1997

GoldenEye 007 was the first FPS game to truly distinguish itself on a console platform

During the Nintendo 64's all-important first year, the console saw more than its share of first-person shooters. However, the bulk of these titles consisted of watered-down, generally faulty ports of popular PC games, like Doom and Hexen, and the few originals that did pop up weren't much better. In fact, this problem wasn't even just limited to the N64--most PlayStation FPS titles suffered from the same trend during that era as well. This, of course, all changed late in the summer of 1997, when Nintendo, along with Rare Limited--its then most highly touted first-party developer--released its film-to-game representation of Pierce Brosnan's first outing as famous superspy James Bond. That game was GoldenEye 007, and ultimately, it changed the way we viewed console first-person shooters.

For England, James?

Like any good film-based game, GoldenEye took the most exciting aspects of its representative film, took a few liberties with the story here and there, and essentially turned GoldenEye's story into an absolute blast to play. As the story went, you, as 007 himself, were up against a former 00 agent named Alec Trevelyan, who had concocted a plan to steal a Russian satellite, which contained a weapon that could obliterate all electrical functionality for an entire city. In the game, the plot wasn't really the most important factor, and for the most part, your goal was simply to run around shooting hapless soldiers and members of Trevelyan's criminal organization, while occasionally jumping off massive dams, planting explosives, escaping exploding trains, and driving tanks through St. Petersburg. But then, all of these neat tricks would only matter if the game's first-person shooting mechanics were any good to begin with--and boy, were they.

As with any proper FPS, GoldenEye featured a host of different weapon types, ranging from the standard shooter fare, to the more Bond-inspired gadgetry. Aside from having access to an excellent array of handguns, automatics, shotguns, rocket launchers, and sniper rifles, you could also use things like mines (timed, proximity-based, or remote), plastic explosives, throwing knives, a standard melee knife, a taser, and Bond's always trusty watch laser. Different weapons came into play during different missions, and your available arsenal always kept the action varied and exciting. Of course, periodically being able to drive around a massive tank and run down cars while blowing massive holes in anything that got in your path...well, it certainly didn't hurt.

Claim there was a more satisfying sensation than blowing the living hell out of everything with that massive Russian tank, and we'll call you a dirty liar.

Now, what would any first-person shooter be without a multiplayer component? Sure, the Nintendo 64 predated console online capabilities, and console FPS multiplayer at that point was pretty pathetic, but somehow GoldenEye made it work, and work well. Although the game featured only a deathmatch mode, that was really all you needed. You could select one of several different maps, like an Aztec level and the Severnaya bunker, and you could use character skins of any of the game's enemies as well as a host of classic bond villains, like Oddjob, Jaws, Baron Samedi, and Mayday. Sure, it was just simple deathmatch fun, but regardless of its simplicity, you can't argue with how much fun it really was.

When asked, many people will tell you that to this day GoldenEye is one of the best Bond games and also one of the best games period of its generation. These statements are rather difficult to refute when you consider just how incredibly fun the game was for its time and how well it really still does hold up today. For its era, GoldenEye was a fantastic achievement, and in this era, it stands up as a true classic.