Friday, June 3, 2011

GoldenEye: The Facility

How many times have you shot toilet man? You know the one: the hapless guard who opts for a dump just as James Bond pops through an air vent. I've lined my PPK sights over that bobbing green hat so many times, it's become reflex - hold L, tweak stick, tap z and 'PFFT'. But don't pity the guy, he's a bit of a weirdo. Note how he never actually sits on the toilet. He just stands there, AK-47 in hand, swaying and staring at the door. A great start to a great level.
Facility is perfect for mischief. Its small cluster of rooms - and the guard placements within them - are easily memorised, letting us slink around popping off headshots like, well, James Bond. Forget Sam Fisher and his magical marker kills, GoldenEye lets you learn your prey and take them down manually. Silence the guards and then move on to the scientists. M doesn't want Bond to off them, but then M hasn't seen how well their white coats red up. Get your moneys worth from that licence to kill.

Devs behind every failed Bond game since GoldenEye (aka: every Bond game since Goldeneye) could learn a lot from Facility. Their error was to force Bond through their own setpieces. Silly. No one tells Bond what to do. Leave him, and us, to his own devices in a laboratory full of nerds and bullies, and he makes setpieces of his own. And then some.

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