When talking about the dark ages of game development (at least regarding the jump between the fifth and sixth console generations), it's not a hot take to say that the games seldom withstand the test of time. From that period, there came the original blueprints for how concepts taken for granted in modern games would come to fruition. Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 is one of the more important games made...but how playable is it...?

Developed by Rare and released on the N64 in 1997, Goldeneye 007 is based on the movie of the same name, featuring the debut of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Among other things, this was also a period in the medium where more quality games based on intellectual properties were getting much better in the mainstream court of public opinion. Along with Judge Dredd, Batman, and the Star Wars line of games, Goldneye does great service in recreating key events from the movie and keeping the story intact, while not getting muddy on pacing. 

Yeah, it's probably old hat to pick on the foggy visuals and ultra-blocky character models, but if I were to give credit where it's due on mapping the actors faces. While there's no expressions or anything, it looks totally fine, one of those elements that came off genuinely impressive for the time, but aged rapidly as rendering textures improved in a really short window.

There's some comical clipping, as models will halfway warp into and out of walls, that remains good for a laugh decades later. There are a couple of nice touches with the physics, like the enemies reacting to the area of damage, something not seen before in first-person shooters. The maps are navigable, and the fully rendered 3D environments get some of the best out of the Nintendo 64. While there's no voice acting, the music composition and sound effects are the stuff that practically gets embedded into the DNA of people who grew up with their N64s.   

Polygons and fuzzy faces are one thing, but when talking Goldeneye, the controls are always the key factor; how do you make these games work on a console? First-person shooters around this time were primarily developed on PC, where the control scheme on a keyboard compliments the style at the time. There wasn't the idea of headshots or aiming at weak points, thus no need to factor this. I've had my opinions regarding the Nintendo 64 controller and its ergonomic design and button layout, it gave game engineers the light bulb needed to change how a first-person shooter could thrive on console. With the directional C-buttons acting as a crude secondary directional pad to accommodate aiming, this leaves more free range motion with the analog stick. 

Mind you, I was never good at this, and remain a little perplexed how people were able to play this game effectively. Being tied to Doom and Quake, which were far more self-explanatory, Goldeneye's various control schemes and names did everything possible to remove any misinformation in its layout and functions. Archaic, sure, but this was very forward-thinking during a time where dual analog controllers weren't commonplace. 

Goldeneye also goes down as one of the most popular couch-based split-screen multiplayer games on not only the 64, but during the time period. I can't think of another game that came even close. NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, maybe, but it wasn't the same. The options it provided were fairly revolutionary, so making certain tournaments (Golden Gun or Snipers Only) things people use to this day. Nintendo 64's were brought to my high school during some of the learner parts of the semester and classmates would have a field day matching up with each other in it. Even the teachers didn't give a shit.

Goldeneye 007 is the Nintendo 64's top-selling game that isn't a Mario or Nintendo IP, and for good reason. The game isn't my cup of tea, I never really liked the way it controlled and veered away from it in favor of other N64 titles (more of a Hexen and Turok guy). I would be completely foolish to not see the cultural impact this game had at the time.

It was also probably the most popular James Bond had ever been with youth. I'd have to look up some hard numbers on this, but I don't really remember many kids talking about James Bond anything until this game hit the shelves. Sure, he was referenced constantly in cartoons, and there was that horrid James Bond Jr. show made to take a character that was certainly geared towards adults and gave him a vapid, cross-eyed nitwit hell-spawn who has the charisma of a decayed squirrel carcass and an accent that's as grating as chewing on tinfoil to appeal to milquetoast 90's youth. If I EVER get a chance to talk about that trash, talk about being unleashed off the goddamn chain. 

I'll shut up now...