An Ode to ‘Goldeneye’ 20 Years Later

Tim Freburg
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

I couldn’t get the locked door open. This was the second level of the second console game I’d ever owned, but I didn’t really care. The experience of traversing the “Facility” level of ‘Goldeneye 007' was so extraordinary — from the bathroom drop-in, to finding a double agent to help with the aforementioned door — was a revelation.

I’d reached the end of the first mission by accident and was stymied by the second. And I was having the time of my life.

Having never owned a game console up until the Nintendo 64 made my appreciation for the wonders of Goldeneye even deeper. Sure, I’d become respectable at ‘Super Mario Bros. 3’ and ‘Super Mario World’ at various friends’ houses, but to be immersed in the luscious 3D world of a James Bond film right in my living room? It was like giving a kid who’d never seen a swimming pool a trip to Oceans of Fun.

Traipsing through snow, jungles, and Soviet parks discovering the hidden layers developer Rare tucked into the game was stunning. And the weapon arsenal? Amazing. The DD44 has the absolute best sound of a pistol in any video game. Ever. Don’t @ me. Or you’ll be looking down the wrong end of my RC-P90.

But then there was the multiplayer. Oh, the multiplayer.

If plumbing the depths of the campaign by yourself was fun, playing against two to four other humans on the same screen as you (just admit it: we all screen-watched) was even better.

The gameplay variants were almost unlimited, ranging from power-weapon-heavy sets to silly modes where all you could do was slap other players. A favorite of mine was playing with only proximity mines, adding a terrifying sense of randomness to the usual combat fare, even if the framerate-killing explosions taxed the poor N64 beyond its limits.

“Where’s the Golden Gun?” “You can’t play as Oddjob!” “Quit watching my screen!” And so on and so on. The arguments never exceeded the fun of the game that caused them in the first place.

The game itself was more than just an adaptation of one James Bond film, but an homage to the entire series with nods like the Golden Gun and ‘Moonraker’ lasers. Pressing pause brought up a menu from the watch on your wrist, something every Bond fan could appreciate.

‘Goldeneye 007’ proved that first-person shooters could work outside of the point-and-click style of PCs and paved the way for games like ‘Perfect Dark’ (Goldeneye’s spiritual successor and still my favorite game of all time), ‘Halo,’ and ‘Call of Duty.’

But most endearingly it brought friends together in a way that few games ever had before (and probably tore some apart as well, but gloating after killing someone with the Klobb will do that).

If any of those friends are out there looking for some action, bring your controller and get over here. It’s sitting in my N64 right now.

Any game mode, any level. Let’s do it.

Happy 20th, ‘Goldeneye.’

)
Tim Freburg

Written by

Member of the Husker faithful. http://NoCoastBias.com writer: http://nocoastbias.com/author/ncbtim/

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