GoldenEye 007

, representing Bond's health and armour levels respectively. Ammunition information is displayed at the bottom right corner.|alt=A room with a large monitor displaying a world map. A hand holding a gun is shown at the bottom. Around the image are graphic symbols representing the player's health, ammunition, and armour levels. GoldenEye 007 is a first-person shooter in which the player takes the role of Secret Intelligence Service agent James Bond through a series of levels. In each level, the player must complete a set of objectives while computer-controlled opponents try to hinder the player's progress. Objectives range from recovering items to destroying objects, defeating enemies, or rescuing hostages. Some objectives may also require the player to use high-tech gadgets. For example, in one level, the player must use Bond's electromagnetic watch to acquire a jail cell key. Although the player begins each level with a limited amount of supplies, additional weapons and ammunition can be acquired from defeated enemies. There are no health-recovery items, but body armour can be acquired to provide a secondary health bar. The game features more than 20 weapons, including pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, a sniper rifle, grenades, and throwing knives. Most weapons have a finite magazine and must be reloaded after a certain number of shots. Although each weapon has its own characteristics, ammunition is interchangeable between some weapon types. For example, pistols and submachine guns share the same ammunition. Weapons inflict different levels of damage depending on which body part they hit. Head shots cause the most damage, while arm and leg shots inflict the least damage. The Klobb, a submachine gun with a folding stock, possesses a high rate of fire and a wide bullet spread compared to other weapons, but is severely underpowered with a heavy recoil. The Klobb can be dual-wielded for additional firepower. Stealth is often encouraged, as frequent gunfire can alert distant guards, and alarms can spawn enemies. Certain weapons incorporate a suppressor or a telescopic sight to aid the player in killing enemies discreetly. Each level can be played on three difficulty settings: Agent, Secret Agent, and 00 Agent. These affect aspects such as the damage enemies can withstand and inflict, the amount of ammunition available, and the number of objectives that must be completed. Two bonus levels can be unlocked by completing the game on Secret Agent and then on 00 Agent. The player may also replay previously completed levels within target times to unlock bonus cheat options such as infinite ammunition or invincibility. Upon completing the game on the three difficulty settings, an additional mode is unlocked, allowing the player to customise the difficulty of a level by manually adjusting enemies' health, reaction times, aiming accuracy, and the damage they inflict. Multiplayer GoldenEye 007 features a multiplayer mode where up to four players can compete in several deathmatch scenarios via split-screen. These include Normal, You Only Live Twice, The Living Daylights, The Man With the Golden Gun, and Licence to Kill. Normal is a standard mode where players score points by killing opponents. Players can be grouped in teams or compete individually. You Only Live Twice gives players two lives before they are eliminated from the game, resulting in the last surviving player winning the match. In Licence to Kill, players die from a single hit with any weapon. Due to its high rate of fire and wide bullet spread, the Klobb is highly advantageous in this scenario. In The Man With the Golden Gun, a single Golden Gun, which is capable of killing opponents with one shot, is placed in a fixed location in the level. Once the Golden Gun is picked up, the only way to re-acquire it is by killing the player holding it. In The Living Daylights, a flag is placed in a fixed location in the level, and the player who holds it the longest wins. The flag carrier cannot use weapons but can collect them to keep opponents from stocking ammunition. Options such as the chosen level, characters to play as, weapons available, and game length can be customised for each scenario. Additional levels and characters can be unlocked as the player progresses through the single-player game. ==Plot==

In 1986 Arkhangelsk, Soviet Union, MI6 has uncovered a secret chemical weapons facility at the Byelomorye Dam. James Bond and fellow 00-agent Alec Trevelyan are sent to infiltrate the facility and plant explosive charges. During the mission, Trevelyan is shot by General Arkady Ourumov, while Bond escapes by commandeering an aeroplane. Five years later in 1991, Bond is sent to investigate a satellite control station in Severnaya, Russia, where programmer Boris Grishenko works. In 1993, Bond investigates an unscheduled test firing of a missile in Kyrgyzstan, believed to be a cover for the launch of a satellite known as GoldenEye. This space-based weapon works by firing a concentrated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) at any Earth target to disable any electrical circuit within range. As Bond leaves the silo, he is ambushed by Ourumov and a squad of Russian troops. Ourumov manages to escape during the encounter. In 1995, Bond visits Monte Carlo to investigate the frigate La Fayette, where he rescues several hostages and plants a tracker bug on the Pirate helicopter before it is stolen by the Janus crime syndicate. Bond is then sent a second time to Severnaya, but during the mission, he is captured and locked up in the bunker's cells along with Natalya Simonova, a captive computer programmer unwilling to work with Janus. They both escape the complex seconds before it is destroyed—on the orders of Ourumov—by the GoldenEye satellite's EMP. Bond next travels to Saint Petersburg, where he arranges with ex-KGB agent Valentin Zukovsky to meet the chief of the Janus organisation. This is revealed to be Alec Trevelyan—his execution by Ourumov in the Arkhangelsk facility was faked. Bond and Natalya escape from Trevelyan, but are arrested by the Russian police and taken to the military archives for interrogation. Eventually, Bond escapes the interrogation room, rescues Natalya, and communicates with Defence Minister Dimitri Mishkin, who has verified Bond's claim of Ourumov's treachery. Natalya is recaptured by General Ourumov, and Bond gives chase through the streets of St. Petersburg, eventually reaching an arms depot used by Janus. There, Bond destroys its weaponry stores and then hitches a ride on Trevelyan's ex-Soviet missile train, where he kills Ourumov and rescues Natalya. However, Alec Trevelyan and his ally Xenia Onatopp escape to their secret base in Cuba. Natalya accompanies Bond to the Caribbean. Surveying the Cuban jungle aerially, their light aircraft is shot down. Unscathed, Bond and Natalya perform a ground search of the area's heavily guarded jungle terrain but are ambushed by Xenia, who is quickly killed by Bond. Bond sneaks Natalya into the control centre to disrupt transmissions to the GoldenEye satellite and force it to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. He then follows the fleeing Trevelyan through a series of flooded caverns, eventually arriving at the antenna of the control centre's radio telescope. Trevelyan attempts to re-align it in a final attempt to restore contact with the GoldenEye, but Bond destroys machinery vital to controlling the antenna and defeats Trevelyan in a gunfight on a platform above the dish. ==Development==

Design GoldenEye 007 was developed by the British studio Rare and directed by Martin Hollis, who had previously worked as a second programmer on the coin-op version of Killer Instinct. Despite their fictional names, most weapons were modelled after real-world firearms such as the Walther PPK, the AK-74, and the FN P90. The Klobb was inspired by the Škorpion, a Czechoslovak submachine gun with a folding stock. Its name was chosen to honor Ken Lobb, who was Rare's Nintendo-side producer and contact at the time. Another weapon, the DD44 Dostovei (modeled after Tokarev pistol), was named after Doak's initials. Adrian Smith, the game's third and last artist, who had already worked on some games at Rare, was in charge of producing visual effects such as muzzle flashes and explosions. He mentioned the 1995 film Heat as an influence. The final Nintendo 64 hardware could render polygons faster than the SGI Onyx workstation the development team had been using. This helped the developers significantly, as some backgrounds rendered at 2 frames per second on the Onyx without even drawing enemies, objects, or Bond's gun. However, the textures had to be cut down by half. Hilton explained one method of improving performance: "A lot of GoldenEye is in black and white. RGB colour textures cost a lot more in terms of processing power. You could do double the resolution if you used greyscale, so a lot was done like that. If I needed a bit of colour, I'd add it in the vertex." When Super Mario 64 was released in 1996, the 3D collision detection system was influential for Hollis because GoldenEye 007 was originally using a 2D method. The music was primarily composed by Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope. Norgate previously penned the music of Blast Corps, while Kirkhope composed the music of Donkey Kong Land 2. Robin Beanland, the game's third composer, only wrote the elevator music that can be heard in certain levels. All the sound effects were created by Norgate and a lot of effort was put into combining and permuting sounds in different ways to create a satisfying feel. According to Hollis, whenever the player shoots a gun, up to nine different sound effects will randomly trigger. When the game was reviewed by Nintendo shortly before it was released, the company was slightly concerned about the amount of violence and gunplay. As a result, the team toned down the killing and added an end credits sequence that introduces all the non-player characters, giving the game a filmic sense. The game received a Teen rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. GoldenEye 007 was released on a 96-megabit cartridge on 25 August 1997. Although this was over a year and a half after the release of the GoldenEye film, the game benefited from publicity for the upcoming James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Every cartridge of the game contains a ZX Spectrum emulator with ten Rare developed games. This function was originally made as an experimental side project by Rare and was deactivated in the final version, but has since been unlocked through fan-made patches. The development of GoldenEye 007 took more than two and a half years to complete and had a budget of US$2 million. == Reception ==

Despite low expectations among the gaming media and an unsuccessful showing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta in 1997, and remained within the top five best-selling video games for the remainder of 1997. For the entirety of 1998, the game stayed within the top ten best-selling video games in the United States, selling approximately 2.1 million copies. By 2001, it had sold over seven million copies worldwide. Overall, GoldenEye 007 sold more than eight million units worldwide, making it the third-best-selling Nintendo 64 game, behind Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. According to a paper published on the website of the Entertainment Software Association, the game grossed $250 million worldwide, more than 70% of the movie's box office despite having only 3.3% of the movie's budget. Graphically, GoldenEye 007 was praised for its varied and detailed environments, realistic animations, and special effects such as glass transparencies and lingering smoke. Nintendo Power said the frame rate in multiplayer games was high, while Electronic Gaming Monthly described it as somewhat choppy and sluggish. The zoomable sniper rifle was praised as one of the most impressive and entertaining features, with Edge describing it as a "novel twist" and Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot noting its ability to alleviate the distance fog. The music was praised for its inclusion of the "James Bond Theme" and for adding ambience. Some levels begin in lifts and feature transitions from elevator music to full soundtracks, which Gerstmann cited as an illustration of the attention to detail. The gameplay was highlighted for its depth and requiring more stealth and intelligence than earlier first-person shooters. IGNs Doug Perry called GoldenEye 007 an immersive game which "blends smart strategy gameplay with fast-action gunmanship". Similarly, Greg Sewart of Gaming Age remarked that players have "a bit of freedom as to what they want to do in any given situation, and what order the directives are completed in". Reviewers also enjoyed the wide variety of weapons and the multi-objective-based missions, stating that they kept the game fresh. The controls were praised for being more intuitive than Acclaim's earlier well-received Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, though some found the cursor targeting difficult to master. GameRevolution credited the gameplay for being realistic and different from other shooters, but also criticised the campaign for being badly paced. The publication noted that GoldenEye 007 "takes it for granted that you have already seen the movie" and that players may get stuck due to the game's lack of orientation. At the time, GoldenEye 007 was considered the best multiplayer game on the system, "edging Mario Kart 64 by a hair" according to IGN. Edge called it addictive and praised the originality of some of the scenarios such as You Only Live Twice. GamePro said the multiplayer modes "will have you shooting your friends for the rest of the year", while Next Generation highlighted the number of multiplayer options, calling GoldenEye 007 "a surprising killer app, if only for the smashing multiplayer options. The excellent single-player game backing it up makes it well worth buying indeed." The game was also hailed for its accurate and detailed adaptation of the film, with GamePro going so far as to call it "one of the best movie-to-game translations ever". The ability to use numerous signature Bond gadgets and weapons was considered a particularly strong element in this regard. Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly stated that Rare "has packed everything that's cool about 007 into this game." GoldenEye 007 received multiple year-end awards, including the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award in 1998, and four awards from the inaugural AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards: "Interactive Title of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Action Game of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering"; it also received nominations for "Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics" and "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design". Electronic Gaming Monthly named it both Most Addictive Game and Best Movie to Game in their 1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide, and Game of the Year in their Editor's Choice Awards. Rare won the BAFTA award for Best UK Developer. ==Legacy==

Retrospective appraisal GoldenEye 007 has been credited for proving that it is possible to create a "fun" first-person shooter experience on a home console in both single-player and multiplayer modes—when the game was released, the first-person shooter genre was primarily for PC games. Thief: The Dark Project, Syphon Filter, and Deus Ex. GoldenEye 007 is frequently cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. Shortly after its release in 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked GoldenEye 007 the 25th-best console video game of all time, calling it "easily the best movie game, and, more importantly, the best first-person game ever." Edge has featured GoldenEye 007 prominently in several "greatest game" lists. The game was ranked third in a staff-voted poll in 2000, In 2025, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted GoldenEye 007 into its World Video Game Hall of Fame. Andrew Borman of The Strong Museum said "Critics lauded GoldenEye 007 as the premier example of a first-person shooter to succeed on a console rather than a PC, and it is still considered one of the best multiplayer experiences ever produced on a Nintendo system." The Klobb During development, this weapon was called the Skorpion VZ/61 after its real-world counterpart but was changed due to legal reasons. The weapon was renamed the "Spyder" but had to be changed again for legal reasons, as the name itself is trademarked by a paintball manufacturer of the same name before finally, being renamed as the Klobb, in reference to Rare's Nintendo-side producer and contact at the time. The Klobb has been retrospectively described by critics as a memorable aspect of the gameplay of GoldenEye 007, albeit for its negative traits; despite its high rate of fire, it deals a low amount of damage and is extremely inaccurate. Though it reportedly needed only two more months of development before it was finished, the remaster was cancelled because Nintendo, MGM, and Microsoft, which acquired Rare in 2002, were unable to come to a licensing agreement. The Xbox version was remastered by Code Mystics and supports 4K resolution displays, but does not include any of the enhancements from the canceled XBLA remaster. The Switch release is playable in both the original 4:3 aspect ratio as well as widescreen (the same goes with the Xbox version), and is the only one to feature online multiplayer, via the Nintendo Classics emulator's built-in online multiplayer functionality. Players who digitally purchased Rare's 2015 Xbox One compilation Rare Replay received the Xbox version for free. Related games After GoldenEye 007 was released, Rare began development of a spiritual successor, Perfect Dark. GoldenEra On ''GoldenEye 007's 25th anniversary in 2022, a full-length documentary film titled GoldenEra was released. GoldenEra details the chaotic and intense development process as well as GoldenEye 007's'' effect on popular culture and modern first-person shooters. ==Notes==