In the opening mission of GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, you find yourself loosely recreating a scene from classic '60s Bond film Goldfinger. The villainous Auric Goldfinger is threatening to detonate a nuclear bomb in Fort Knox, and you have to stop him before the explosion irradiates the world's gold reserves and devastates the global economy. But here's the twist: you are not James Bond. You're playing as another MI6 agent, and 007 is your partner.

As you approach Fort Knox in a helicopter, it's hit by a rocket and comes crashing down. When the level begins, you see Bond hanging precariously from the wreckage, pleading for your help—but you do nothing. He falls to his death and is crushed by fiery rubble. It's a bold James Bond game that kills James Bond mere minutes in, but that was Rogue Agent's whole gimmick. You're a bad guy, and after this disastrous mission you don't stay with MI6 for long.

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It was all a holographic simulation, of course. There's no way the owners of Bond would let some video game kill off their star agent. After being shot in the eye by Dr. No, the unnamed player character is consumed with anger, and the Fort Knox simulation is a test by M (played by series stalwart Judi Dench) to determine whether he's stable enough to remain an MI6 agent. The fact James Bond dies and Fort Knox blows up seals his fate: he's off the team, forever.

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

It's interesting how, despite M saying you were 'directly responsible' for Bond's death when the simulation ends, all you really do is stand there silently and watch him fall. I wonder if the original pitch for the game suggested players took a more active role in offing the famous secret agent, but series owners Eon Productions were against the idea. Even though you watch him fall to his doom and do nothing, you never really feel responsible for killing him.

In the 1995 film, the titular GoldenEye is a key used to activate an orbital weapon. But this game—which has no connection whatsoever to the game or movie it shares a name with—takes it more literally. Your rogue agent's missing eye is replaced by a gold-coloured cybernetic, meaning he has, yes, a golden eye. This was widely mocked when the game first launched on Xbox, PS2, and GameCube back in 2004, and time has not dulled how ridiculous it sounds.

EA's use of the GoldenEye name was pretty brazen. Besides being an FPS, there's nothing linking Rogue Agent to Rare's classic N64 shooter. The shooting is pretty stiff—and the levels are stiflingly linear and scripted—but your cyber eye's powers elevate the action somewhat. With it you can disable weapons, throw enemies around with a magnetic field, deflect bullets, and see through walls. It's a neat idea, let down by being attached to a very average FPS.

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

But I admire Rogue Agent for trying something different. This is a rare piece of Bond media starring a clear-cut villain, rather than everyone's favourite misogynistic tuxedo enthusiast. Also, as a fan of the series, I got a cheap thrill from hanging out with famous villains like Goldfinger, Dr. No, Blofeld, and Scaramanga. GoldenEye's Xenia Onatopp, a relatively minor character, makes an appearance as well—perhaps in an attempt to justify the name.

A lot of talented people worked on Rogue Agent. Ken Adam, a legendary production designer who created some of the most beautiful, distinctive sets in Hollywood history (including Goldfinger's Fort Knox), worked on the environments. Matrix costume designer Kym Barrett was behind the character designs. Paul Oakenfold, Grammy-winning DJ, provided the music. It's a classic example of a pre-recession EA gleefully throwing money around.

Rogue Agent is a real one-off, and I doubt we'll ever see a James Bond game like it again. According to EA it had sold a million copies by the end of 2004—although I can only imagine how many GoldenEye fans traded it in after realising they'd been tricked into playing an inferior game. As underwhelming as Rogue Agent is as a shooter, the ludicrous concept and lavish production values make it one of the most interesting attempts to turn Bond into a video game.

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