The once majestic Goldeney name, has now been brutaly defaced by EA
User Rating: 4 | GoldenEye: Rogue Agent PS2
I am quite surprised that this many people think this is a quality title. I can tell why EA snatched up the rights to the Goldeneye name. They clearly needed the name to fool fans of the original classic into buying this... product. GAMEPLAY- If you like shooting, then shooting, run down a poinless hall, shooting, mixed with a little shooting, add some shooting, with a side of shooting, then this is the game for you. If you like story, puzzles of any kind, environment design or interaction, or even the slightest hint of innovation then this may be the worst case scenario of the year. The dual weilding weapons are a nice touch, and the weapons themselves have some nice variation. The AI is pretty solid at first, though by the end of the second level you figure out their weaknesses. Since these are the same default soldiers you will be facing throughout the whole game, it gets overly repetetive. The enemy soldiers will mele attack when you get too close and find cover when getting shot. You can grab a soldier for use as a human sheild. I wish this would stop them from shooting, but I guess these goons dont care about killing their buddy. The ever changing room layouts and sheer number of sodiers make up the difficulty ramp. The fact that you can take cover for a few seconds to fully regain your health makes it very easy. The levels are fun to run around in due to the great range of elevation, layout, with both open and tight fighting quarters. The game is totally linear kill everything in the room, move onto the next room. Rinse repeat until the credits roll. The multiplayer is the saving grace of this title. Its not as solid as something like Halo2, but it can hold its own against most console FPS. GRAPHICS- I want to start on a positive note, so I will point out the better than average animation. The scripted death animations are especially well executed. There is no consistancy in visual design present here. Weapons rang from looking like Medal of Honor Props from 50 years ago to the Star Trek rocket launcher from the year 4000. The environments are the same mixed bag of randomness. It looks like they outsourced different rooms to 20 different studios, without any reference or plans. From a practical design point, these are some of the most poorly thought out levels I have seen in years. Have you ever seen a room full of tanks with no way in but a man size door? "Lets put these tanks here then build a big room around them." Ever seen enemies in towers that have no ladders or doors up to their position? "you were born up here, and u will defend this post until u die. Dont worry we will throw up some food." Ever seen catwalks that weave around a room then run into nothing but a wall? Or a room full of huge pallets of crates or gold, and the only way in or out is a stairwell. The character models are pretty solid, although very boring design. The environment models are bad for the most part. Not much attention to detail. Most appear very rushed. Some of the textures are well done. Especialy the weapons and characters. Its not even worth discussing how comedicaly bad the lighting is. I guess these are things that most people dont notice, but how does a team of profesional developers not notice. Complete lack of care or planning. SOUND- Mediocre voice acting. zzz...Dull music.zzzz... Decent sound effects.zzzzzz...sorry, difficult to stay awake. OVERALL- Wow. This title really makes you apreciate solid design. This game is the polar oposite of the Metroid Prime series (when it comes to FPS) Its pretty sad when the richest producer/developer in the game industry, can spit out such a poor title knowing full well that the average ignorant consumer will jump on the name and license, so they dont have to worry about the quality of the product. They make their money anyways. Bottom line- If you want a quick kill fix, rent it. Please dont spend $50 supporting this way of corporate business. Let the publishers know that quality is what counts. Not a lisenced name.
