GoldenEye 007

The Good
Story: An helicopter that is not effected by E.M.P blasts is stolen and MI6 agent of the devision 00 James Bond, code number: 007 has been sent in to find this helicoptor, the plot thickens as an outpost on the coast of Russia is destroyed and an foe emerges, such a foe that Bond will find hard to kill.

Menu: A crosshair style cursor on a dossier menu. Very nice.

Difficulty: Each setting brings more objectives and more harder to beat foes.

Graphics: Very good. The textures are real and add alot of character to the game. The game's levels have been lifted straight from United Artist's movie set blueprints and recreated piece by piece for the game. (more on that later). The guards are all in their lovely brown overcoats and wearing deer hunter hats, just like in mother Russia. The weapons are well detailed too, from the lines on the ammo clip to the tiny sight bump on the end of the barrel. The guards all have different facial expressions, these are all done at random and look very real, the faces on the main stars match up with the ones from the movie almost perfectly. The levels range from the famous bunjee jump at Arcangel dam at the start of the movie to the battle atop a suspended antenna array. Also when you get hit, you stay hit. Nice touch that, body armour can be found to act as a shield. Bullet holes and burn marks from weapons apppear on the walls and floors. And reflective glass shatters

Sound: Brillant: Each level has a different trademark theme to it. The third level even has a remix of the Bond theme halfway though the music track. Weapons are good as well, from the clink, clink of a grenade to the sound of a gun being dropped from a guard all adds to the bond atmosphere.

Gameplay: This game made a new name for first person shooters back in 1998. Firstly was the stealth option, sneak, and we mean sneak. Make too much noise with that weapon and guards will fill you with lead. The guards also react to where they are shot. In the arm: They will grab and wince, Foot, hop about a bit, hand, shake it, head...die. This can also be an advantage, low on ammo? shoot in foot, then take to the head. The A.I of these guards is incredible, they are not just drones, they duck, jump, weave, roll and simply side step from you. They also duck behind crates as well as do this annoying charge attack. Cameras play a vital role to steal, while you may not fail your mission, it will be harder with more guards in the house. Glass can be shot through, many panes in fact with any weapon. Speaking of weapons there are about 20+ different weapons, from the PP7 (PPK) to the Sniper rifle's butt. All have different strategy and reload times. Some can be paired in each hand for an Arine akimbo style play. Multiplayer is the jewel of this game's crown. With up to four players in 8 arenas, slugging it out with weapons from throwing knives to timed mines. There are also different types of gameplay from "You only live twice" (You can die only twice) to "the man with the golden gun" (the golden gun kills instantly). All are very enjoyable, the characters that can be chosen are huge in range, from Bond to Goldfinger's mute handyman: Oddjob.

The Bad
Some weapons were either too crap (The Klobb) and some were just too killer friendly (RC-P45). Some graphical glitches, such as the sprites (2D carboard cut out like graphics) did not react to explosions and often remained infront of the explosion. But that is all that there is to this great game.

The Bottom Line
Not just for fans. I became a Bond fan AFTER I played this game. You will love it.