The Gold of My Eye
Goldeneye 007 is probably the most influential first-person shooter of all time. In 1998 it was praised highly for its gorgeous, lush visuals, gun selections, single-player stealth mechanics and who could forget the insanely addicting deathmatch? Goldeneye 007 revolutionized shooters, and made the genre the most popular amongst Americans.
I could praise the campaign all day, but when it comes down to it - you played Goldeneye for multiplayer purposes. Most of us will never forget racing to the Golden Gun in the basement, or killing a guy with the laser through a door in one shot on the temple while playing license to kill, or stalking a weaponless friend who re-spawned in front of you with an AR-33. Goldeneye was made for great times, and precious memories.
I've been playing Goldeneye since I was seven years old, and I still play it today. It just goes to show the VALUE games once had. Now, for me at least, games seem rather… disposable. I've got tons of 360 games, tons of PS3 games because I need new content constantly to stay satisfied. Back in 1998, all I needed were a couple games. Pokemon, Goldeneye, Banjo, Mario 64, Zelda and Final Fantasy VII were all I needed to stay satisfied. They had a certain magical value that's hard to explain. The last game I was completely intrigued by was Metal Gear Solid 3 on the PS2. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a contender as well I suppose. I believed it was my own personal swan song to video games.
I know this is starting to sound like a rant so I will get back to Goldeneye. Goldeneye is one of those games where I paid my dues. I learned from my mistakes, I took my beatings and I took it like a man. I got my ass handed to me when I first started playing with my friends in 1998. But I got better. A lot better the more I kept playing. It was the first rewarding experience in my short gaming career (other than maybe beating Link to the Past, we'll talk about that later though) and I began dominating my friends in a glorious fashion. But whenever I did die, I felt that the death was because of a mistake on my part. Now when I play shooters online, I'm one angry kid. The influx of grenades have broken my spirit, the pernicious latency has torn me apart, the glitchers, unfair weaponry and unbalanced mechanics have left me in an everlasting dark abyss of doom and despair. Call of Duty isn't fun. Goldeneye is.
It's also easy to believe that player count is a huge reason shooters aren't fun anymore. Goldeneye = four players. Most shooters now = AT LEAST 16. For squad-based shooters, that's fine. But since most people don't use headsets for communication, the purpose of squad tactics are largely diminished. It's also easy to feel "safe" when there are more people competing in a single bout, so people will run their way through a map and get obliterated to their dismay.
I'm gonna go play Goldeneye now.
Oh, I almost forgot the score!
Score: 10/10 but seriously, who didn't see that coming?