Agent 64: Spies Never Die

Gotta give credit where it's due: the vibes are on effin point. This game nails the smoothness and the accuracy of the era it's paying tribute to. You can tell the dev genuinely cares about GoldenEye/Perfect Dark. The coop and splitscreen options are honestly impressive too, even if barely anyone's gonna use that stuff in 2026. Maybe once or twice? Still cool that it's there tho. Where it loses me (and apparently others) is the design philosophy. This thing is built almost entirely around speedrunning and time attack. There's no real campaign you can just boot up and enjoy. It leans way too hard into what GoldenEye eventually turned into later on, with unlock after unlock stacked on top of each other just to artificially pad out playtime. Huge respect for the dev putting in what was clearly years of work, but ending up with maybe not even 2 hours of actual "just play it" content? That's rough. If you're into time attack / speedrun stuff, you'll enjoy it. But if you were hoping for a chill campaign that recaptures that relaxed GE/PD era, you're gonna be disappointed. For that reason, I decided to get a refund. Also worth noting, GoldenEye got fully decompiled not that long ago, so it's really only a matter of time before a proper modern recomp drops. They're popping out like baby boomers.

This is more of a neutral review, but I feel like I have to balance out the positive reviews by pointing out aspects I'm really not enjoying. I just have a lot of expectations for a game following the pedigree of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, but it's also true there aren't many others actually attempting to even make a game like this anymore. In general the feeling of the guns is perfectly fine, the aim assistance is very faithfully recreated, but a lot of quality of life features from Perfect Dark make no such appearance here, there's no equipment wheel for quick switching, for instance. A lot of the stage design feels very disjointed and like a series of rooms with no real connection or purpose to each other, to me it feels more like how stages are designed for Doom than for Rare's shooters, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but means the locations never really make much cohesive sense or feel like places you can explore. The stages are incredibly linear point A to B affairs with the occasional stop to use a gadget on an item and that's as complex as it gets early on. The way you unlock new stages is incredibly obtuse. It's not just enough to beat a previous stage on the desired difficulty level, you need to have earned enough currency by beating previous stages on *multiple* difficulty levels. I hit the point where just playing on Secret Agent wasn't enough, I'd have to replay stages on Agent and I just... Felt no desire to. So I decided to take a moment to check out the multiplayer and challenge modes. The multiplayer is a mixed bag. There sure appear to be a lot of unlockables, which is wonderful to see, and they even have a multitude of AI types, similar to the variety of simulants in Perfect Dark, including bots that will pick up every weapon they can find and then only use melee. However, the stages are very small and not really suited to the game modes on offer. King of the Hill, or Zones, is very welcome, but less so when the enemy team continuously spawn inside the zone you're protecting. Weapons respawn incredibly quickly too, giving you an abundance of ammunition and leaving little room for guarding their spawn points or denying opponents access to them. It's definitely a game you may want to check out, but having expectations in check is important and having recently replayed through both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, this game feels like what you think those old shooters were like and less what they actually were. There's a lot of room for improvement.

[h1][b]『FOR 00 AGENT CUSTOM』！！！[/b][/h1] [h1]あの頃の触り心地を徹底再現した、親切設計で歯応え抜群の「ゴールデンアイ64」クローン[/h1] [b]1997年に発売されたFPS史に残る超名作『ゴールデンアイ64』の作風をUnity上で徹底再現しつつ、新たな物語を描く古くて新しいブーマーシューター。[/b] ゴールデンアイのクローンといえば最近はいろいろ発表されていて、あの頃に青春を過ごしたインディーズ開発者によって『Operation PINKEYE』とか『The Spy who shot me』とか『Secret Agent No. 6』とか『SOE 64』とか日々いろんな作品が発売されたり発表されている。 そんな中でも本作はかなり[b][u]原点となるゴールデンアイの手触り・空気感をうまく再現した代物[/u][/b]で、ここ最近のクローンタイトルの中でもダントツで一番優れているといっても過言ではないだろう(そろそろDEEP STATEが出そうだし、そうなったら変動するかもしれない)。 全14種類の各種ミッション、そして(おっさんにとっては)白熱のオンラインデスマッチで'97年の空気を満喫しよう。 [h1]まらすじ[/h1] 老いたエージェント、ジョン・ウォルターはある日、滞在中の本部ビルを謎の特殊部隊に襲撃される。 武装した兵士たちが研究者を襲うなかを潜り抜け、出口に辿り着いた彼は、ある男に拘束されてしまう。 その男は、かつて死んだはずの同僚ドミニク・パルプだった… パルプに連行されたジョンは、牢獄の中で娘のダナ(デイナ？)と再会。どうやら彼は、娘の持っていた母の形見のネックレスを強奪するつもりだったようだ。 ネックレスの謎を追い、パルプを追跡するジョンとダナ。しかし、そこには巨大な陰謀が待ち構えていた… [h1]雰囲気も操作もあの頃通り[/h1] 「ゴールデンアイらしさ」といえばやはり、やや強めのオートエイムとクロスヘアがぐりぐり動くズーム照準のふたつを駆使して軽快に駆け回る爽快感と奥深さを保った遊び心地だ。 本作はパソコン向けタイトルながらその辺を丁寧になぞり、WASD移動とマウス操作(右クリックでズーム照準)を駆使しつつもバリバリ連射し、慎重に狙撃するあの体験を忠実に落とし込んでいる。 武装もサイレンサーピストルに始まり、TMPサブマシンガンやらマグナムリボルバーやら、あんまり原作で出番のなかったショットガン、さらには『パーフェクトダーク』由来と思われるFAMASっぽいマシンガンや『タイムスプリッターズ』でおなじみのトンプソン・サブマシンガンまで多種多様。 命中精度や威力はけっこういいので、群がる敵兵をばりばりと打ち倒していけるようになっている。 グラフィックも最高だ。荒いテクスチャを張り付けられたローポリの人間たちが手を振り回しながらテキストで会話し、金属は90年代の3DCGみたいな気色悪い光り方で、どのオブジェクトも攻撃を与えると爆発しながら破壊される。 ゲームエンジンはUnityなのだが、フォグやら反射やらを頑張って「古臭く」仕上げており、まったくUnityっぽさを感じさせない仕上がりになっている。かなりの気合の入りようだ。 また、あの頃のパロディ要素も満載。規定タイムより早くクリアできれば頭をでっかくしたりするチートがアンロックされるし、敵のリアクションもやたらオーバーだし、撃たれた時の声も「うぇっ！」とかなりマヌケで原作での愉快なソ連兵を彷彿とさせる。 なんかダクトを進んでトイレの個室に降りるアーカンゲル化学工場みたいな場面もあれば、ところどころに小屋の並ぶ雪原を歩き回る場面もあるし、そもそもイントロシークエンスなんてパーフェクトダークの「データダイン本社」と「キャリントン協会防衛」の巧妙なミックスだ。 全体的にあの頃のFPSタイトルたちへのリスペクトが強いので、そういうのを楽しむためにも「ゴールデンアイ64とかを遊んだことのある人」向けと言える。 [h1]翻訳完備！ミッション説明も読めて快適なゲームプレイ[/h1] これぐらいの時期のゲームのクローンとなるとやはり気になるのが翻訳。特にゴールデンアイ・パーフェクトダークあたりをリスペクトしたゲーム群はミッション目標が複雑なことが多く、翻訳なしの英語で遊ぶのはそれなりに骨が折れる。 しかし本作は[u]メニュー画面から字幕、ミッション目標表示まで全て日本語に対応済[/u] 少々翻訳に難はある(娘のダナがティーンエイジャーというよりブースロイド少佐みたいな口調でジョンと会話している)ものの、全体的にすんなり内容が飲み込める、まともな品質の翻訳となっている。 また、一時停止メニューから「ブリーフィング」を選択することで、なんとミッションの達成に必要な方法が読める。 ミッション開始時にこれを読んでおけば、もう(一部のおっさんにとっての)あの頃みたいにどうやって目標をクリアすればいいのか分からずに右往左往する必要はないワケだ。すごいぜ！ [h1]それなりに腰を据えて遊ぶことは要求されるが、期待した通りのゲーム体験が味わえる逸品[/h1] 難易度は結構高めで、原典と同じく回復方法が限られているので慎重な行動を要求される。難易度ノーマルでも初見では何度も死ぬ羽目になるだろう。 しかしレベルデザインはかなり良好で、導線のしっかりした迷いにくいもの。慎重に行動し、適切に対処していけば、大量の衛兵たちが待ち受けるアジトもそのうち突破できるようになっている。 ボリュームもちゃんとあり、またカスタムミッション要素やbot対戦、タイムアタックによるチート解放やSteam実績などのやりこみ要素、さらにはオンラインサーバーを介してのデスマッチまで網羅。 やや高めの定価にも納得のできる、丹念に作られた良作FPSだ。 かなりの原典再現のオンパレードはやや人を選ぶものの、「ゴールデンアイ」「パーフェクトダーク」「(初期の)メダルオブオナー」「タイムスプリッターズ」などのニンテンドウ64～PS2初期のFPS群にノスタルジアを感じている人であればのめりこめること間違いなし。 レトロな質感と現代的な設計を両立させた、今後のレア社リスペクトのインディーズFPS界隈においてお手本となり得る…かもしれないタイトル。

The Cipher system is really bad. You can only play a mission on the easiest difficulty and at the end of an act, you need to replay the missions to collect more Ciphers so you can continue with the story. To do that, you need to play on a highter difficulty. It is a stupid system that makes me stop playing the game each time i finish an act. The game is fun to play, put the moment I have to go back to 'earn permission' to continue in the story breaks the flow each time and i stop playing. Basically I play for 20 - 30 minutes, reach the end of an act, would have to replay a mission but instead i quit the game and don't touch it for days. Haven't even tried multiplayer or coop because i get frustrasted after each act. As long as the system is in place, i can't recommend the game.

If you want Microsoft and Rare to get a clue and release their classics on Steam buy this and support the golden age of N64 shooters. I never thought I could EVER go back to the feeling of N64s wonky but wholesome controls but this game has done it and masterfully. It looks gorgeous as well and plays like a dream. We need way more developers doing things like this!

I played A LOT of Goldeneye back in the day, and even recently played both GE and Perfect Dark with KBM controls, and I'm going to do a lot comparing to GE/PD since those games are clearly its inspiration. This game is just not it and a lot of issues I have with the game were present merely on the first few levels: [list] [*]Movement is way too "sluggish" and doesn't feel right. In GE, you could move normally with the joystick/C-stick or move faster by moving diagonally (strafe). Having a way to strafe would really improve this game, whether it helps to save your ass from dying or creates more movement options/tech for speedrunners. [*]Lack of crouch in a game made in the modern day is just inexcusable. Even GE, a game made in 1997, had a crouch feature. The ENEMIES in this game can crouch, but I can't. What sense does that make? I think it's fine to not have things like R-lean, as much as that would be really cool, but not having a crouch is just insane. [*]Speaking of enemies, the enemies/enemy AI, especially on harder difficulties, are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, borderline unfair. They can gun me down from the most ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ angles or distances possible because they have the line of sight like a hawk, very quick reaction times, and the accuracy of a sniper. Some enemies are placed VERY far such that you have to shoot longshots and hope to God they don't hit you first (chances are they do). Others are placed in very weird angles where they can see and shoot you, but you don't have a clear shot. Perfect Dark perfected the enemy AI that was created in GE: their LOS is reasonable and not too far and their reaction time and accuracy are both fair in relation to how much damage they can deal if they hit you. Made it feel like any hits you take are mostly on you. The modern-day lighting and graphics also don't help either because the enemies can be harder to see but they can see you crystal clear. [*]I'm not far enough in the game to see for myself, but apparently there's a "cipher system" where you basically have to play missions on harder difficulties to progress the main story. That is absolutely asinine. GE had something similar, that was mostly for the BONUS missions, not the missions for the base game. It's such a weird way to pad out game time. [*]Less of a comparison to GE, but I've had a few instances where enemies just spawn out of nowhere behind me and get a free hit, which on 64 Agent difficulty could result in an easy death. [*]Since everyone else is pointing it out, I will too: Easy Anti Cheat in this kinda game is kinda ridiculous. [/list] I can acknowledge there was A LOT of love put into this game and properly pays homage to GE/PD. I really want to see this game improve, but as it stands right now, it's a no for me and I hate that this is how I feel.

Fun gameplay but the locking of next campaign chapters behind unlocks instead of just beating the previous mission is decidedly unfun.

The unavoidable EAC slows down my internet to point of being unusable by other people in my household. This is ridiculous and unacceptable. Why a great indie game would need EAC in the first place? A sketchy decision.

For a game in development this long, it’s a bit rough around the edges. The UI is fairly barebones, there isn’t a good way to track unlockables for this Paradox Mode (fairly certain I unlocked Big Head but it’s nowhere to be found), I shot a “face” in the first level but there was no follow-up on that. Completing a mission on its hardest difficulty should clear all easier difficulties. Also, the game advertises several MP modes but I can only select Deathmatch. The shooting is fun enough- I just think the game should have gone through a couple more quality passes around the periphery. Not recommending for right now.