GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

Written by John Scalzo  on May 04, 2004

Early Impressions: I spy with my little GoldenEye...

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Let's get one thing straight right away. This is not a sequel to GoldenEye. It can't even be considered a spiritual sequel to GoldenEye, as neither Rare nor Free Radical Design (the team that designed GoldenEye and split from Rare) have anything to do with the development of GoldenEye 2. There's a good chance we will never even see James Bond. It's EA treading on the name of the greatest FPS ever and laughing all the way to the bank as they do it. It's a despicable manipulation of the industry's need for franchise titles and characters that can sell not just one game, but many. It also has the makings of a fantastic new take on the Bond universe, so I'm completely torn.

GoldenEye 2 takes a very different track than any previous Bond game. For starters you are not playing as James Bond. You will be a disgraced former MI6 agent that was expelled from the 00 ranks for "reckless brutality". When you consider the fact that 00 agents have a "License To Kill" and use it quite liberally, you have to wonder just what this unnamed agent did to be removed from MI6.

Rather than go back to civilian life, our (anti)-hero turns to a life of crime and strives to climb the criminal ladder. He will interact with some of the Bond series' greatest villains, with classic Bond supervillians Dr. No and Auric Goldfinger heavily featured. In fact, there have been some reports that speculate that the game's official title will be GoldenEye: Dr. No vs Goldfinger. Of course, EA has not commented on that.

EA has hinted that other villains will make appearances as well, including Pussy Galore, Blofeld (and his giant volcano hideout from You Only Live Twice), Oddjob and Xenia Onatopp. The mention of Xenia is actually the only piece of information that has been leaked that connects GoldenEye 2 to anything in the original game or movie. The GoldenEye of this title is supposed to appear in the form of a literal golden eye that is implanted into our main character to allow him to customize his villainous traits.

There are also rumblings that the game's final battle will pit the disgraced MI6 agent against James Bond himself in a fight to the death. Although this could just be wishful thinking on the part of your average game journalist. But you have to admit, what an ending that would be.

While Xenia (which could lead to an appearance by Trevelyan as well) forms a tenuous connection at best to GoldenEye, I still believe EA is just milking the title of the greatest Bond game to make a few extra bucks. Any of the previous Bond games could have been titled GoldenEye 2 and actually connected the two with just a few slight tweaks to the storyline. It's sad that the actual GoldenEye 2 is using such an untapped premise and basically being anchored to the expectations of fanboys the world over. "Playing as the bad guy" is a twist that isn't used much, and I like EA's idea to have the main character of GoldenEye 2 live out an entire criminal career throughout the early Bond universe and beyond. This idea has a lot of potential, and if executed right, could be just as influential as the first GoldenEye.

If nothing else, a game that bears the title GoldenEye has to include some form of multiplayer, and GoldenEye 2 will definitely have a multiplayer component. EA officials have boasted in GamePro and EGM that "multiplayer is a significant portion of the GoldenEye 2 package." This package is said to include straight deathmatch and team based battles. The PlayStation 2 version is also said to be the only version that will feature online play. But for the full details, we'll definitely have to wait and see what EA has in store for GoldenEye 2's multiplayer at E3.