Goldeneye 64 (Nintendo 64)

[ActRaiser]

I am curious Goldeneye got downgraded so much given it used to be an A on this site. I would have thought it self evident vintage games be judged against their peers of the time, not weighed up against more contemporary titles or judged in it's subgenre considering a plethora of titles propping up gaming lists since 1997. Goldeneye vs Half Life 2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat would be extremely unfair let alone a modern title like Titanfall 2 or Doom Eternal. Lets be frank, if Pitfall never existed in the 1980's and was released today on PS5, in it's exact Atari 2600 shape, it would be worth a big fat F or one of Jim Sterlings 2/10 special's, and rightly so. Game might be fun, might be a classic, through contemporary eyes, a cute novelty, for modern kids, a junk game for a $10 toy watch. Not saying I think Pitfall is junk, after all, any kid growing up in the late 80's and early 90's would have fuzzy nostalgic feelings for this one. Just sayin...

You bring up a good point. There's no f'in way Goldeneye is a C ranked game among its peers on the N64. Hog wash, I say, hog wash.

[Matchstick]

Great point, 'Raiser. There's some real gems in the N64 library, but I'm not sure I'd put too many of them ahead of GoldenEye. The game having a C+, implying that it's just about average when compared to the rest of the N64 library, seems almost criminal. But the user score is about the same, so who's to say? I do look forward to seeing if the grade changes after The Critic's recent play sessions.

Side note: I honestly prefer GoldenEye over Perfect Dark. Yeah, I said it!! People like to give PD praise for its expanded multiplayer, but I think GE's single-player level designs are much tighter, and I think the Bond license is a great asset to the game versus whatever the heck Rare was thinking with PD's characters, storytelling, and settings. PD's single-player levels were expansive, but I thought they were pretty boring and largely a chore to navigate and re-play.

Plus, the Expansion Pak was required for single-player. And the game had an even worse, choppier frame rate than its predecessor. Meanwhile, EA's The World Is Not Enough worked just fine without the Expansion Pak, and ran pretty smoothly on its own. I'd honestly put it above Perfect Dark in my own personal rankings - but again, just my opinion.

My nephew of 16 years old told me it is one of the worst games he has ever played. Nephew proceeds for a mindless bit of Warzone online, a game I consider one of the worst of all time. Such is life...

My Nephew is 13, Litch, and can I ever relate to this! He plays Overwatch and Fortnite for hours on end. I'm not sure he's ever tried GoldenEye, but I know we had some fun when he was much younger playing the WCW / NWO games for the N64, as well as Mario Kart. I don't know how much his tastes have changed or if he'd be able to appreciate the N64 crop of shooters or not, but now I'm curious. The next time we meet up, maybe I'll break out the N64 and see what he thinks.

I do get a laugh out of people online dubbing certain classic titles "the worst game ever." When I first started posting on here again, there was a thread about Genesis reviews on the site, and how no game (at that point) had been given an A+. While I suggested that Road Rash earn that honor, another user posted a story about a YouTuber they watch, who recently did a Road Rash playthrough and called it - you guessed it - the worst game they have ever played.

And, yes, they complained about the framerate. And graphics. A lot. Going off of your musical suggestion, it reminds me of that Bruce Hornsby tune, myself. That's just the way it is...

[Alucard1191]

This thread is getting pretty long, so I'll keep my addition short:

Agree that in general playing FPS games without dual analog controls are generally pretty tough. Older PC games are the exception to this. Keyboard and Mouse controls still work just as well as they did in the 90s, but loading up Goldeneye or Perfect Dark there is a real difficulty to adjust to the controls.

I would give them a B+ and B respectively myself. (Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.) I agree with the critiques above about Goldeneye being a slightly better game. The storyline gets really bizarre with Perfect Dark later on, and there are dinosaurs (Raptors) for crying out loud. I get that Turok was popular but that was odd and felt really out of place. That's just one of the odd things memories I have of that game.

My friends and I actually outlawed Oddjob. He's so much smaller that he's harder to hit. A bit of a cheap character, lol.

[DrLitch]

Side note: I honestly prefer GoldenEye over Perfect Dark.

Completely agree, in both single player and multiplayer. Perfect Dark was very pleasant but I recollect better Sci Fi First Person titles back then, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex coming to mind and released around the same time as Perfect Dark. Goldeneye stands on it's own, and the other Bond title on the N64 was pretty decent as well.

Goldeneye gets an A, Perfect Dark is worth a B. The other Bond title on N64 somewhere between these two.

suggested that Road Rash earn that honor, another user posted a story about a YouTuber they watch, who recently did a Road Rash playthrough and called it - you guessed it - the worst game they have ever played.

Harsh review for sure given that great Road Rash games outside the Genesis are thin on the ground, save for one upgraded version on the 5th Gen consoles. Road Rash 64 anyone ?

[VideoGameCritic]

Just raised Goldeneye to B- for my new review special.

[Zack Burner]

One kick I always got out of playing this game, was in one of the early levels, you find a commie with his back turned to you, oblivious to your premise, and then just for fun, you shoot him right in the butt! The reaction is priceless, as he jumps holding his shot posterior, and I always add this quote "If you get a medal be sure to show the premier your wound!".

[Herschie]

I'm going to have to try this. Being one with motion sickness I remember taking this game straight to Funcoland after it came bundled with my N64 for All-Star Baseball 99 of all games.

Good thing I'm not GM of any team, God only knows the atrocious trades I'd make!

[jon]

I too was in the underrated crowd. But when I played Goldeneye a year ago for the first time in a good chunk of time I realized how spot on the VGC's grade of C+ was. Now it's a B-. That seems fair when considering multiplayer. I like most people had great times playing this game with friends. Although I think my reputation of being horrifyingly inept at games with multiplayer modes made it fun for them. I have to admit I never got crazy mad and tried to break anything.

The graphics just don't hold up in my opinion. The outdoor locations just can't elevate this game to classic status no matter how rose colored one's glasses are.