Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (Can you say "ouch"?)

[AgtFox]

Gamespot has its review up here: 6.3 (Xbox)

I don't like Jeff Gerstmann as a reviewer but this is a pretty good beat down.  I'm kind of bummed because the game sounded so interesting from a conceptual point of view...I wonder if this will be the end of the Bond games for a while.

I also got my new OXM today and it scored an 8.0 in there, but OXM's reviews can often be way off the mark.

[Calvin]

OUCH!

Scratch this off my list. good stuff, didnt need to spend any more cash.

[JuniorDan]

Thank goodness. I just saved $50.

[AgtFox]

IGN didn't give it much better: 6.5 (Xbox)

[Chaz]

Doesn't surprise me.  Everything I've seen about this game just screams "generic first person shooter".

[Ralph-Wiggum]

The PS2 mag (I don't remember the official name) gave Goldeneye a 6.5. And they inflate scores more than any reviewers I've seen - in the same magazine they gave Killzone a 9.5!

[EngineNo9]

Man, EA is the best!

[AgtFox]

Man, EA is the best!

Well, they did give us Burnout 3 this year.  If Criterion was still with Acclaim, I doubt the game would have been as good and probably would never have seen the light of day.

[Andrew Mallon]

Doesn't surprise me.  Everything I've seen about this game just screams "generic first person shooter".

So true. The previews for this game had "designed by committee" written all over it. Same with EA's LotR game that came out earlier this month. Hopefully, EA will figure out at some point that a game is more than just the sum of its features list.

EDIT: copied some of Chaz's language in my post. Sorry.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Man, EA is the best!

Well, they did give us Burnout 3 this year.  If Criterion was still with Acclaim, I doubt the game would have been as good and probably would never have seen the light of day.

Burnout 3 wasn't that great, imo.  The AI in the game is a cheating bastard and it's painfully obvious.  Hell, GTA:SA has a more "legit" racing system than Burnout 3 did!

[AgtFox]

The AI in the game is a cheating bastard and it's painfully obvious.

Well, if you had played the other Burnouts you'd know what type of AI there would be in Burnout 3, so really this isn't much of an excuse.  I didn't really forsee Criterion changing the rubberbanding AI honestly.  However, you can continue to live in the EA hate community, no problem.

[TheMissingLink]

I knew this game would get shit reviews.  I saw this video of it from GameTrailers...and it looked like crap.  I hope nobody buys this game just because I don't understand how game companies to turn out shit products.  How can they stand by their products and be proud of something?  It's pathetic.  Shame on you, EA.

[ElijahPrice]

Thats a bummer this game doesn't appear to be very good.  Because bond is one of the coolest franchises and I thinkt he games should be great just lik eold days Golden Eye on N64.  I think regardless this will get a rent from me just for that.

[Kevin Grey]

I knew this game would get shit reviews.  I saw this video of it from GameTrailers...and it looked like crap.  I hope nobody buys this game just because I don't understand how game companies to turn out shit products.  How can they stand by their products and be proud of something?  It's pathetic.  Shame on you, EA.

I thought the last bond game, EoN, was pretty damn good.  I like plenty of other EA games too.  Yeah they turn out some clunkers but I have nothing against them as a company.

[Siljanus]

In a way it's good so that's less games to spend money on.  But would have rather have had a good game released since I liked the change in perspective.

[Dinkytoy]

I can't keep straight which Bond games are good..there are some that are good or even really good, right ?

>

[AgtFox]

My opinion with the N64 to today Bond games...

Great:

Goldeneye (N64)

Good:

Everything or Nothing (Xbox, PS2, GC)

Marginal:

Nightfire (Xbox, PS2, GC) - I liked this better than AUF
Agent Under Fire (Xbox, PS2, GC)

Bad:

Rogue Agent (Xbox, PS2, GC) it seems

The marginal and bad ones are the FPS games, EoN was a 3rd person game.

[Purge]

Well, they did give us Burnout 3 this year.  If Criterion was still with Acclaim, I doubt the game would have been as good and probably would never have seen the light of day.

To digress for a moment, I disagree.Burnout 2 was a pretty good game, and there was nothing revolutionary (only evolutionary) in the gameplay of Burnout3. I doubt EA had much to do with anything except the online play, which, IMHO, was poorly done and is still stinky even today. I hate the fact that the game isn't live-aware or that when I log in it then needs to be "LOGGING INTO EA". Crashing? During peak times, it still does.

Everything EA devours has eventually been squeezed out of any IP and then tossed away. Look at Bullfrog, Origin Systems, etc...  Wing Commander, Ultima VII and previous, Syndicate, Theme-house-of-ill-repute, where are you now?

They are the most near-sighted company ever. I swear, they buy a company based on existing IPs, drain it of any market value, and then crush the remnants. They're 3DO, except successful. They don't seem to plant new fields.. they go back to conquering new companies and razing them to the ground.

To sum up : EA has killed my inner child.

Back to the subject at hand. Golden-eye sucking so much ass? No, I'm not surprised. Challenge Everything. It's in the Game. Bah.

[Thin_J]

AgtFox: You forgot The World is not Enough. I think that was EA's first bond game, and it was back on the 64 some time after Goldeneye. Also, it was a turd.

[AgtFox]

Yeah, I'm sure I missed a few in there

[mikeg]

Well, I rented it and I must say I was not impressed at all.  Took it back the same day.  Ugh.  G e n e r i c all the way and uninspiring.  But I was not expecting much, so, I was not disappointed.  

A pass for me at any price.

[Draco]

Man, EA is the best!

Well, they did give us Burnout 3 this year.  If Criterion was still with Acclaim, I doubt the game would have been as good and probably would never have seen the light of day.

I have to disagree too.  EA came on late in the game's development, and all it added to Burnout 3 was a bunch of in-game ads for its own games and a lot of marketing money.

Burnout 3's gameplay is very similar to Burnout 2, and while  a lot of the new features are very fun, it's still very close to Burnout 2 (which was a great game).

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Oh, EA's just a fantastic company, Fox:

After all, they treat their employees so nicely.

And the employees love them for it!

Well, if you had played the other Burnouts you'd know what type of AI there would be in Burnout 3, so really this isn't much of an excuse.

I haven't played the other Burnouts, sorry.  And I'm not exactly sure what kind of "excuse" I need to call Burnout 3 what it is: a steaming turd of a racing game combined with a fun crashing game.

Just because Criterion made the same AI mistake twice in a row doesn't mean it's OK for them to do it again with Burnout 3.  It's amateurish, and suggests both a lack of coding experience and a lacking desire to get any better.

Thus they were a perfect fit for EA.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Hey, I enjoyed the hell out of Burnout3.  I loved Burnout2 so I knew what I was getting into.  The computer cheating?  Yea, knew that going in.  Is that EA's fault?  Nope...they didn't put in one bit of code.

[Rubyeye]

All of the Burnouts kicked ass.  Three is my GOTY.  I like the rubberband AI.  I suspect it was intentially made like that.

[TheMissingLink]

It's amateurish, and suggests both a lack of coding experience and a lacking desire to get any better.

Uhhhhh, lol?  I think they put that sort of AI in there because people like the heat of the battle...making use of that great crash engine...I enjoyed the racing.  Calling it "amateurish" is quite rediculous.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Rubberband AI would be OK if:

-Your lead was capped at 5-10 seconds instead of the 1-2.  It's utterly ridiculous that the AI can have a lead of 30 seconds on you, while the best you can get is 2 seconds.

-AI racers offscreen in front of you actually had a chance to crash.  They don't.  If you can't see the AI, it's either right behind you or driving flawlessly (actually it's being moved along the track by a simple formula which doesn't even account for crashing!)

The "deathmatch" parts of the game are sweet.  The crashing is great.  The racing is amateurish, half-baked, and awful.  Like I said, even the GTA games have better racing models than Burnout... and racing isn't a third of the game in GTA like it is in Burnout!

Head over to quartertothree.com and check out Tom Chick's review of Burnout 3 for an opinion that meshes well with my take on the game.  Tom says it best when he notes it's actually better to drive slowly in the races and take the lead at the last second--otherwise the AI enables god mode (warping behind you with perfect acceleration and once ahead, driving flawlessly) and you lose.

[AgtFox]

Let's get back on topic because this is quickly becoming a Burnout 3 thread instead of a Rogue Agent thread.  I didn't think my little comment would create such discussion.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Let's get back on topic because this is quickly becoming a Burnout 3 thread instead of a Rogue Agent thread.  I didn't think my little comment would create such discussion.

My bad.

I'm half-sad and half-happy about Goldeneye.  Sad because I like the idea of the "Opposing Force" expansion for Half-Life, happy because it's one less $50 game I feel compelled to buy.