Reviews// Goldeneye: Rogue Agent

There would be a large number of developers who would willingly give their right hand wrist-rests to go to town on the Bond license. There’s a long string of well-recognised films, packed with appealing characters, gadgetry and elaborate under-ground/water lairs. If just the merest hint of these films could be captured in a sympathetic adaptation, many people would be more than satisfied. EA could use its vast resources to breathe new life into old favourites, perhaps offering something like Live Or Let Die or Moonraker in a traditional and detailed FPS form, or even a third-person EoN style title. Indeed, EA has already bought up the Timesplitters development team, which in a different form, had previously created the original N64 gem. Those chaps know how to make a great FPS and how to use the Bond license. It will forever remain one of the universe’s biggest conundrums… why didn't EA give this team the Bond license and a huge pile of cash? That could have been fantastic.

Instead, rifling through the large catalogue of movies acquired with the licensing rights, EA chose one of the only films already covered, and awarded it to a team that doesn't have proven Bond-age credentials. On first hearing that news, we assumed that EA was out to make a point. Surely this would have to be at least as good as the old N64 classic, capitalising on the Goldeneye name without repeating too much of the first game’s content. Otherwise EA would have gone with a film that’s never been done before… surely?

Alas not. Goldeneye Rogue Agent stands as a prime example of how not to make the best creative use of a popular move-franchise. It has sod all to do with the film: a point emphasised by the contrasting fact the N64 Goldeneye made you feel as if you were actually playing around within interactive celluloid. You knew where you were from having watched the film, the doors all made accurate ‘pphhht’ noises when they slid open and everything was balanced and at equilibrium with itself. Rogue Agent, however, seems to have been created by someone who never saw the film (or played the Rare masterwork).