GoldenEye: Rogue Agent – 71% - 1st Play

Blunt … This seems like a good word for the first Play Rating in my Progressive Review for GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for the Nintendo DS. My experience so far simply has not been sharp, slick, polished or inspiring. That being said, it has been a relatively fun little romp.

I had been secretly looking forward to this title for quite some time. My expectations were rather low. I didn’t expect great graphics, sound or an immersive story. Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt has been so grossly overplayed, that I just couldn’t wait to see how a full release first person shooter would play. So when I read the news some time back that control of GoldenEye: Rogue Agent would mirror that of my overplayed FPS demo of choice and that the game engine moved at a pretty good rate, my secret desire to pick up this title grew. I resisted the temptation to pick this up on day one; however day two came and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent came home along with a copy of Kirby: Canvas Curse.

Now, I need to come clean. I actually played GoldenEye before Kirby. I’m sure the Nintendo faithful are shaking their head; however my curiosity was too strong. I also had many good reasons to believe that Kirby would be a fantastic play so there was a mystery factor at work. The unknown always has such a strong pull. Would this be a sleeper? Well, the answer is no yet I still want to play this title.

The story is weak and not much of it is worth restating in more than a sentence or two. You are GoldenEye, an ex MI6 agent who’s just too brutal for the good guys and therefore a prime candidate to join Auric Goldfinger’s crew to take on Dr. No. Okay so that’s what you need to know as you fight your way through multiple levels taking on pretty generic baddies.

Let’s get the rest of the bad out of the way, shall we? The sound both in terms of music and effects is quite poor. Turn the music down and only have the sound effects just loud enough so you can hear them when you are hitting with your shots (baddies go ugh) and when you’re being shot at (you go ahh). I found the AI so far to be pretty poor as well. Yes, some baddies will duck and move to take cover, although more will sit reloading a foot in front of you while you unload countless bullets at them. Oh on a side note, did I mention that sometimes I seem to get shot at through walls and not with rail guns mind you? … hmm.

Wait, that’s not all the bad, there’s more. The save system in the campaign is not really conducive to portable play. The only time you can save is between levels and the levels happen to be quite long. There are checkpoints so if you are shot down you don’t have to start at the beginning though once you power down the checkpoint memory is wiped. This means you need some dedicated time to finish a level in you want to get to a point where you can save your progress. Finally, the user interface is inexcusably designed. They designed the game with the default control being the thumb-pad and yet they created and layed out the buttons so close to the edge of the screen that you have to tilt your thumb to ensure the thumb-pad is positioned just right so you can click it. This was done in the menus and in the game UI, in particular when trying to access one of the “GoldeneEye” powers that your character has.

So what do I like? I like playing a FPS on the DS. There is something about playing this type of game on a handheld with good control and a smooth and impressive 3D engine. The visuals are really pretty nice (the screenshots don’t due the title justice). The game moves at a very solid pace and so far I have only experienced slow down on one level when I was on a rooftop in Hong Kong chasing after Dr. No. That’s pretty much it. Now, let’s get back to the rest of the not so hot with some positives weaved in.

I’ve completed three of the campaign levels so far and there are some nice details and interactive elements in them such as zip lines and being able to fire off jet engines to torch some bad guys. However, like the story, the levels are just there: a necessary part of the game yet that don’t have any character to them or creativity that draws me in.

The control that I am using for this Progressive Review is the default control where the thumb-pad is used on the touch screen to control the point of view of your character and the digital pad is used to move forward and back and to strafe left and right. The left and right triggers are used to control the firing of left- and right-handed weapons and, in cases of two-handed weapons such as rifles, the left trigger often engages a secondary effect like zooming. There is no jumping ability; however, you can crouch by double-clicking down on the digital pad and then do the same up to return to standing. Reloading as well as picking up new weapons is handled via the touch pad. And finally, you have a series of special abilities that are gained for your mechanical eye. The only one I have used so far is the MRI vision, which lets you see enemies behind walls. This feature has proven quite handy when a rail gun is in your employ.

Using both triggers, the digital pad, and the touch screen has been an interesting experience. I haven’t yet figured out the cause, but sometimes I can play for a while and be quite comfortable and responsive and at other times it is quite the opposite. I hope further play will reveal the source of my cramping, as comfort is crucial to any gaming experience. The other struggle I’ve had is that my accuracy shooting with the right trigger is weak due to the fact that when I pull the trigger my thumb often moves slightly messing up my aim. Having all of this functionality in such compact and intricate quarters seems to be a challenge. I actually would have preferred if the game only had single hand wielding associated with the left trigger and maybe an alternate fire on the right. Having the right be the primary trigger has been a little problematic.

I’m starting to swim in the technicalities and if I do so I know I’ll drown. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent so far strikes me as an easily replaced title once a better FPS comes along. But until that day comes it is simply fun to play a FPS on my DS. I feel like I am part of an experiment and I’m observing and exploring the possibilities what the unique capabilities of the DS can do. I’ve never been this adventurous in my gaming before. I am so intrigued by the DS conceptually, that I am compelled to try games that I might have generally avoided or had no interest in. Yoshi Touch & Go and even Kirby: Canvas Curse would be two other experiments in gaming I’m not sure I’d be so interested in if it wasn’t for wanting to experience the new gameplay possibilities they presented. GoldenEye has a pretty fun level of control and running around with a cool assortment of weapons to use is good for a mindless play.

I’m looking forward to exploring GoldenEye: Rogue Agent some more and will be sure to put up another Play Rating in this Progressive Review in the near future. I’ve only beaten 3 levels but it claims I’m 71% of the way through; so maybe my next post will be sooner than I think.

Your Thoughts?

I’d love to know what other gamers think about this title and/or are curious to know about it. Leave a comment below.

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