GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

Hell, you can't even choose which side to be on in team games. On the PS2, this is disappointing, but on the Xbox - where most games figured this stuff out over a year ago - it's inexcusable. [Jan 2005, p.100]

Then there's the mostly drab level design, the 'who cares' story and the often repetitive gameplay.

Unappealing because you are a villain that doesn't seem like a villain. I mean, you are taking orders from Goldfinger like Bond does with M. The villain concept could've been thrown out of the whole picture, and Rogue Agent could've been a bit of a better game.

It tarnishes the hallowed GoldeneEye name that gamers have held close to their hearts since 1997, and is the equivalent of tossing a martini into Bond's face and then shooting him in the family jewels with a tranquilizer dart. [Jan 2005, p.114]

There is virtually no story, so you have no compelling reason to play, and once you resolve yourself to wading through the levels for the sake of completing them, you are met with repetitious design, disappointing textures, over-saturated colors that border on cartoonish, and smart, but generic enemies.

The repetitiveness of the levels and sub-par AI makes the 8 missions seem a lot longer than they should be.

Aside from the number of flaws that are too hard to ignore and its repetitiveness, this one hardly comes close to the outstanding N64 original in terms of level design.

An empty vessel of a game missing personality, charm, story or any kind of distinguishing character.

It's a simplistic run and gun gameplay requires less of the spatial awareness and mental agility that the more refined games can dishearten youngsters with.

Unfortunately Rogue Agent has turned out a bit flat. All of the ingredients should have delivered a novel twist on the Bond universe, but rather than being a villainous spectacle, it's merely a competent shooter that lacks any genuine thrills.

RA suffers from a boring "bad vs. bad" storyline, the game play is more annoying then anything else, and the graphics still look like they are stuck in the 90's.

An uninteresting story and lackluster gameplay, both online and off, leaves this latest adventure feeling rather flat.

The single player campaign of Rogue Agent leaves a lot to be desired, if you were thinking about buying this game for the story mode, do yourself a favor and ditch that idea.

Even an excellent video game would be presumed somewhat bold to rashly take up the moniker of "GoldenEye'. But Rogue Agent actually has the flagrant hubris to attempt to fool us into believing it's fit to wash the feet of the original title. Predictably, it falls some way short of not only the name GoldenEye, but it's also a largely forgettable shooter-at best.

Rogue Agent just isn't that fun of a game because of the somewhat sluggish gameplay, the lack of a real good story, and pretty average multiplayer.

A short and simple minded FPS shooter that will fill the void if you need some mindless run and gun action, but if you are looking for game play that is a little more mentally challenging and in depth, or even fun, than you will need to keep on looking.

A case of an incredibly stupid concept averagely executed. Just who this is supposed to appeal to, we do not know. [GamesMaster]

Hardly groungbreaking, but it is a laugh. In an increasingly bleak world ("Killzone"), that's enough for us.

Aside from dragging it through the mud, Rogue Agent does almost nothing with the GoldenEye name.

Rogue Agent doesn't just feel like it should be better, it yearns for it. It is so close to being a good game, but just falls short in every major category of gameplay.

It has its fun moments, but on the whole, there's nothing new here and nothing to warrant even a rental, let alone a purchase. It's good to be bad, but not *this* bad.

If there is a sequel to GoldenEye Rogue Agent, and I really hope there is so they can redeem the name, then I would expect that EA and the involved developers would take a good look at the gameplay mechanics, weapon system, and level design to really come out with a title we can all be proud of, and long to play.

Rogue Agent is the result of design by committee: a safe, reasonably accomplished but uninspiring offering which neither excels nor progresses its genre in any way. [Christmas 2004, p.82]

Wearing a no-holds-barred sense of literalism on its sleeve, this mostly mediocre affair fails to bring anything new to the genre or even match its many peers. [Feb 2005, p.104]

Everything about RA is average: the weapons, the levels, the graphics, the controls. In fact, this game should be the new benchmark for average.

Or how about the single-player in general? It's boring, consisting mainly of shooting hundreds of uninteresting thugs. The baddies are supposed to be endowed with "Evil AI," but heck if I could tell. They just seemed dumb.

Playing as a villain should lift away the restraints that normally accompany the good guy role, and thus provide for a more liberating and refreshing gaming experience. Instead, EA has given gamers a window into mediocrity, and an affair that simply isn't fun.