You might be thinking that I played this because of the recent reveal of the long-awaited reboot, but nope! I just happen to be in the middle of a long, sort-of chronological survey/replay project of interesting/major FPSs, and I'm up / to / the year / 2000 ... so, just a happy coincidence! I actually have a long history of not giving this game it's due - had friends who had it back in the N64 days and loved GOLDENEYE like nothing else, but only ever tried the first couple levels and moved on. Then when the XBLA remaster came around, I dutifully bought it and ... tried the first couple levels and moved on. And then RARE REPLAY came out in 2015 and ... yep. So a real play of this has been a long, long time coming.
So, what did I find after finally getting fully into it after fourteen years on the backlog? Eh. It's pretty much exactly what I always figured it for - Bond with less juice. Finicky objectives getting in the way of the (very good) shooting. Spending a frustrating hour learning the thousand different ways you can instantly fail a level while desigining the flawless two-minute runthrough you have to execute to beat it. Maybe people like that kind of experience, but it's not at all what I'm looking for in an FPS, sorry.
Needless to say, it's well-made for what it is, and it's got enough of that Rareware ... let's call it charm, to stand out among shooters and games in general, so I see why it's beloved by some. But not quite my tempo.
So, what did I find after finally getting fully into it after fourteen years on the backlog? Eh. It's pretty much exactly what I always figured it for - Bond with less juice. Finicky objectives getting in the way of the (very good) shooting. Spending a frustrating hour learning the thousand different ways you can instantly fail a level while desigining the flawless two-minute runthrough you have to execute to beat it. Maybe people like that kind of experience, but it's not at all what I'm looking for in an FPS, sorry.
Needless to say, it's well-made for what it is, and it's got enough of that Rareware ... let's call it charm, to stand out among shooters and games in general, so I see why it's beloved by some. But not quite my tempo.