When the Nintendo 64 was first unveiled amongst the gaming community, one of the first games shown off by Nintendo was the movie licensed game GoldenEye 007, developed by Rare. It was to be one of the first games to be released for the Nintendo 64 and was to coincide with the release of the movie of the same name. However, it suffered constant setbacks. The movie came out in late 1995 and the game arrived in August of 1997. Many believed it was destined to be just another Quake clone with a movie license slapped on. Nothing could be further from the truth.

GoldenEye 007's story follows that of the movie very closely. (It's a pretty cool movie, by the way, and watching it enhances the gaming experience) Rare did a great job of putting the player into the thick of it. I won't ruin the story for you, but here is a quick summary: Bond discovers that a Soviet satellite capable of firing deadly electron pulses is under the control of rogue Soviet agents and a mysterious arms dealer, named Janus. Through his espionage, Bond travels the world trying to thwart the aspirations of Janus, and prevent a major international incident.

Even though GoldenEye 007 is more than a year old, its graphics are still pretty good. It stacks up well against most current games. The levels overall aesthetic design is nice, and textures are quite varied. The levels each have unique visuals, and a true sense of atmosphere is generated by the graphics. Character models are made up of a good number of polygons, and textures give each character model a definite visual quality. The soldiers look similar enough without being generic. Weapon graphics are especially nice. Each weapon looks like the real thing.

Animation in the game is also great. Character animation is very detailed, with enemy soldiers diving, rolling, crouching, and establishing a firing position all in one move! The characters also react realistically to situations. Shoot a soldier in the head and his head snaps back and he dies. Shoot him in center of mass and watch him recoil. Shoot him in his knee and watch him lose his balance. This looks cool and adds a touch of quality to the gameplay. Imagine being able to disable an enemy with a well placed bullet, and taking him out while he's recovering. Empty cartridges eject from the proper slot on the weapons, and shell size is correct. Hammers move back and forth, and shells fly out upon recoil -- pouring out of automatic rifles, and plinking out of bolt actions weapons.

The music and sound effects in GoldenEye 007 are perhaps the best ever in a videogame. The music masters at Rare have managed to take the James Bond theme music and remix it in a lot of new and exciting ways. From a subdued version that plays during subscreen to a jolting rendition that blasts away at your senses, the music adds energy and contributes to the collective atmosphere of being James Bond. The sound effects are top-notch as well. Silencers sound just as silencers do, a muffled shot, and then the plink of the empty cartridge hitting the ground. High powered weapons rattle with solid bass, and pound you with an onslaught of empty shells hitting the ground. Explosions sound appropriately detailed, as do all the other extraneous sound effects.

Now on to the gameplay. I have two opinions on GoldenEye 007's gameplay. It is either the best game of all time, or one of the best games of all time. It's all here. The game is solid as a rock, and game play is exceptional. GoldenEye 007 is not a Quake clone. They have nothing in common aside from the first-person viewpoint. GoldenEye 007 is all about stealth and being like Bond. You try to do as little damage as possible without drawing attention to yourself. Selectable difficulty levels also make a huge difference, with the hardest levels being all but impossible, a real treat for veteran gamers.

Gameplay mainly consists of achieving a set of objectives (amount and hardness change with difficulty levels.) , and making your way through the level. As an example of a level on the easiest difficulty setting, you are to rescue as many hostages as possible and plant a tracking bug on a helicopter. On a harder difficulty setting, you would have to rescue all of the hostages, plant the tracking bug, disarm the engine room bomb, and disarm a bomb on the bridge of the battle ship. You must do all of this while trying not to be detected and trying to survive.

Each gadget and weapon has a time and a purpose. Players must decide whether to storm a room with an automatic rifle blazing or to sneak in, picking enemies off with a silenced pistol. The sniper rifle in this game deserves special mention. The player controls the scope and the rifle. The first time a player zooms in on the head of an enemy and places a bullet into their ear from 500 yards is exciting to say the least. Silent but deadly is the main rule to live by in GoldenEye 007.

The control in this game is impeccable as well. Rare has given the player many different control schemes to choose from, including an option to use both controllers. The player is given control over all of Bond's actions, including strafing, ducking, sidestepping, reloading, and choosing automatic, semi-automatic or standard fire on appropriate weapons. A novice can use the controller to move and shoot, while the experienced player can circle strafe, duck, snipe direct his shots to the specific body parts.

GoldenEye 007 has some of the greatest replay value in a videogame, maybe the best ever. Since the multiple difficulty levels are actually different, not just harder, it adds a real challenge to the game and, in turn, reason to keep playing. Different weapons, hidden characters, and two extra levels await the gamer that keeps playing. Multiplayer also adds immeasurable replay value. The fact that Rare made cheats available also adds to replay value bonanza. All special cheats are earned through good play, not from entering a code. Rare also included tons of options in this game. You can play the game in a 16:9 widescreen ratio, a cinematic ratio and more. In-game volume controls over music and sound effects are available on the options screen as are auto aim options, look ahead, and control styles. All of this can be changed any time, even in mid-game.

GoldenEye 007's multiplayer deserves a paragraph of it's own as it is one of the best multiplayer games ever made. "Live and Let Die" is the name of the awesome deathmatch mode and the name is no misnomer. "Live and Let Die" could stand on its own as a game. Up to four players pick a character from an initial list of 8. (More can be earned through exceptional play) Players also choose the rules of play, set several options and have it out in 8 battle areas (4 more of which can also be earned.). This is one of the most addictive gameplay modes ever made and, with combination with cheats and options, the possibilities are endless.

As I stated earlier- I have two theories on GoldenEye 007 -- It is either the best game ever, or it is one of the best. The combination of graphics, gameplay, and atmosphere would be great on it's own. Add in an amazing multiplayer mode, a ton of cheats and options, and the best use of a license ever, and you have a game that everyone should own. I can give no higher recommendation for this game. And, now that it's priced around $40.00, there is absolutely no reason for anyone with an N64 not to own this game.

(Rare is hard at work to the semi sequel to GoldenEye 007, entitled Perfect Dark. It looks absolutely amazing. They are no longer constrained by the baggage of a license. It is easily going to be one of the biggest games of 1999.)