Does GOLDENEYE 007's Single Player Still Hold Up Today? - REVIEW

[@Vakantscull]

Subscribe if you enjoyed and let me know what you thought, socials in the description!

[@manicsforever]

Wonderful use of Partridge, sir. Most enjoyed.

[@Dark_Jaguar]

Protip: This game is best played in the 1.2 configuration.

[@toxicmanbaby1069]

Came here to say that. lol

[@dirty-moto]

Y'know, I totally understand the part where you said you bought just the game cartridge, but in the age of the Internet you can easily get a PDF version of any game manual. ;) The best strat for Natalya is leave her in the cell until you're ready to end the level. I also will mention, if you were to use the manual aiming for the KF7, you can shoot in single shot mode and avoid alerting all the guards in the level. It's only the burst firing that gets them all running toward you!

[@W7F0N6]

I've yet to replay Goldeneye myself, but it doesn't surprise me that it hasn't aged well. Although it's worth noting how novel Goldeneye's mechanics and level design was for its time, and not just for an early console FPS either. For instance, you didn't see shooters on any platform with story-driven mission objectives to the degree Goldeneye had. Goldeneye might've been the first shooter to emphasize stealth over indiscriminately mowing down every enemy in sight. Goldeneye was one of the few shooters to have grounded environments that to some degree felt like they took place in the real world rather than contrived spaces made up entirely for the game. In many ways, Goldeneye was the precursor to a lot of modern shooters such as COD.

[@RMMilitaryHistory]

Janus should have gone with the first name Hugh 😅 Top review bud 👌

[@Vakantscull]

Moe Szyslak would like a word with you, something about prank callers? 😂

[@Adze]

It's also worth noting that Goldeneye was one of the titles that helped popularize speedrunning back in its infancy. It wasn't the biggest player there (that would probably be Doom since it was so easy to share the replays due to small file size), but it definitely left its mark on gaming history in more ways than one. I personally have no interest in playing the game (retro console FPS games aren't really my thing), but I do respect the hell out of it.

[@Vakantscull]

I think that's where I fall too, I respect it for its role in poularising multiplayer for the console fps, but as someone who isn't a bond fan and values the single player experience above all else, I have zero desire to go back to this. I am ridiculously proud of the mission title card edits in this one though hehe

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

Lovely review, funny and fair! Well played, sir!

[@anticitizenone6740]

I think what I like about Goldeneye's single-player was its gunplay and enemy behavior. Shoot an enemy in the hand or foot or whatever, and they'll give an appropriate animation; a nice and cheesy stun lock. One that will interrupt any of their attacks or movements. And speaking of their attacks, I really like how they telegraph them. Gives you plenty of opportunity (when the level design and encounters permits it) to interrupt or dodge their attacks. Their predictable cooldown before they can take their next shot at you gives a satisfying moment for a counter-attack. It's less of a LOS shooter, where you tank damage while taking out a tanky enemy before it takes you out, and more of the shooter equivalent of bull baiting. Very enjoyable stuff. But, as you quite rightly point out, its level design sucks, and I'd add that it fails to play off its strengths: the magic of its gunplay. You will fail a lot because of technical issues like that escort AI, and it has a lot of memory "difficulty" nonsense throughout its campaign to trap you and pad its length. Lesser criticisms of mine is that it looks quite drab throughout (especially compared to Perfect Dark) and its enemy sets are limited compared to its contemporaries (okay it's Bond, so I shouldn't expect Doom variety). You haven't even got to the worst of the mem "difficulty" BTW. The Aztec level, I think. Imagine trying to collect a mission-critical item... that's surrounded by invisible mines... that has a complex path to remember in order to nab the thing without stepping on those mines... If it spent a little more time on play testing its levels and playing to its strengths, it would've aged a lot better. Perfect Dark kinda repeats some of its issues, but to a much more tolerable level, and is the better game that I still enjoy playing through these days. EDIT: Oh yeah, I remember near the end of that cavern mission before the cradle mission, there's a mission-critical radio surrounded by enemies with explosive barrels... and these fools love to either blow up the barrels (and the radio... and themselves... and civies) with a poor shot or a dodgy 'nade throw. Thanks for that one, level designer.

[@thedigitalsymphony3585]

It sucks that you didn't really enjoy the experience all that much, it's one of my favorite games of all-time. If I had to give some advice to make the experience more enjoyable, (that is, If your hell-bent with playing on the N64). I'll say that I greatly prefer the 1.2 control scheme over the default, has you use the C-buttons to move up down, left and right, and the control stick to look around, mirroring modern dual-analog shooters. Or if you wanna go the PC route, get the keyboard and mouse mod, plus you have a much better frame rate to work with then the 15-20 fps that GoldenEye chugs on. The other thing I can say is that while the mission objectives are pretty cryptic, the mission briefings do help clear those up a bit if you read them closely, and help you accomplish them more effectively. All in all though, this was a nice review of one of my favorite games, I'm just glad you didn't hate it or think it was terrible.

[@RetroSegaDev]

Haha great review! Golden eye has never really appealed to me but then I was more a PC person at that point 🙂

[@vampiricpig1392]

I only recently beat the campaign with the rerelease on xbox one I thought id have to use guides for objectives but i only used it for one Other than that its pretty simple, if theres a new gadget in the inventory than thats part of the objective. Makes me feel good to put things together myself For my first time playthrough of it i really loved it, and beat every difficulty except the aztec level, but im a person who hates hand holding in games, and the constant on screen button prompts and characters telling u how to solve things that newer games tend to do too often. Like even spiderman ps4 to me was annoying cuz it always has on screen buttons , like dude stop ive played for ten hours i know already

[@AFriendRemembers]

Agree with you completely on obscurity of missions. I played through the 1st level on hardest difficulty a few months ago. Just about reached the end, but the mandatory side missions were obscure and I had soft locked to completion. Had to die and restart if I wanted to manage it.... THe later levels are worst. I didn't proceed any further with that particular run

[@SamuraiJax]

Definitely a game of its era, it didn't just advance console fps but the genre as a whole, but it hasn't aged well

[@00DeadZ]

What a classic game . I spend so meany hours playing split screen co-op with friends back in the day . Goldeneye is like one of the only james bond movies i enjoyed

[@00DeadZ]

Ahh the days of games not hilding your hand 🤣 drops you in & figure it out

[@danielhathaway8817]

Goldeneye is probably the most enjoyable James Bond film, along with Skyfall. I heartily encourage you to watch both of those. You wont come away all of a sudden a Bond fan, but they are both so very much fun to watch. If you only watch one, watch Goldeneye. I'm honestly curious to see if you enjoy it. I'll bet my last five dollars that you do.

[@HussCraft]

100% such a awesome game in my mind I was 5 when this came out so that says a lot because I was not playing it when I was 5 was I lol, so this game lasted sooooo damn long, I love that you gave your honest opinion and obviously I respect it, for me I would love it just for the nostalgia, but I wouldn't constantly go back to it unless I am playing multiplayer with friends or family and I probably won't play the single player because I would not want to ruin my nostalgia memory even watching this slightly ruined it because got to say I agree with you with the no o man lol, great video and sorry about the big comment hope its understandable I babble a lot

[@Vakantscull]

no its cool, I expect I'm heavily in the minority with my opinion of this game, glad you enjoyed!

[@viddysgamingviddyos4710]

Cool stuff. I was surprised that Goldeneye even got into the showcase I did. I think it was mostly for its multiplayer mode though. The single player campaign does have a few good levels and I can get used to the controls, but I agree. Some of the levels are too easy to get lost in, the objectives not understandable to a degree, and gosh darn it the escort missions. Well, maybe I was a bit lucky with the escort mission, except for the occasional bunker moment or when she had to disable the Goldeneye.

[@Vakantscull]

That disabling the goldeneye part... That wore me down to a point where I almost gave up.

[@sakuwantstofight]

*Bungee jumps* Me: "WOW, JUST LIKE THE MOVIES!" (Yes I did this ironically. Up yours chap lmao)

[@RoseTintedSpectrum]

It's got to the point where I read your video titles in your voice naowww.

[@Vakantscull]

That black country accent ain't shifting no matter how hard I try

[@RoseTintedSpectrum]

@@Vakantscull You crazy southerners

[@n64fan60]

Goldeneye 007 is difficult for me to go back to. IMO it hasn't aged well for a multitude of reasons. The big one is performance.

[@jonbourgoin182]

I never cared for this game, even when it came out I remember being in the minority who preferred DooM 64. Of course these days DooM 64 has aged much better than Goldeneye. Funny how that worked out.

[@Vakantscull]

I think if I'd played both in 97 I'd have picked doom 64 over this easily too

[@PlayCONtent]

You're not really attached to the franchise.....you don't have much of a BOND with it. Oh lord.

[@Vakantscull]

🤣🤣🤣

[@ItsCrapContent]

Classic

[@00DeadZ]

Urg escort missions 🤣 i hate them

[@yetanotherrandomviewer]

Yea, the single player campaign has some annoying segments.