"A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."
Ah, yes. The classic quote that may or may not have been uttered by Shigeru Miyamoto. With the gaming industry (understandably) experiencing an unusually high number of delays in recent years, the proclamation has been the subject of memes to the point where it's almost lost all meaning.
Yet its prominence at the start of GoldenEra signals just how crucial the extra development time provided to Rare during its work on GoldenEye 007 really was. Without Nintendo's desire to create great games above all else — cross-media release plans be damned — this particular movie tie-in may well have sunk into complete obscurity.
25 years after its release, GoldenEye remains one of the most iconic and influential first-person shooters of all time. Indeed, it's been the subject of documentaries before (or mockumentaries, at least), such is its popularity, and the internet is currently alight with rumours of the game reemerging on modern platforms via some sort of remaster or port of the N64 original (and no, there's still no official news on that). Despite the evolutions provided by more modern franchises like Call of Duty, Halo, and the rebooted DOOM, GoldenEye stood as a benchmark in how to create a game that not only felt authentic to the 1995 Pierce Brosnan movie, but was also exceptionally fun to play.
GoldenEra takes a look at the creation of GoldenEye by the radically inexperienced Rare team during the mid '90s. Featuring the likes of IGN's Peer Schneider, GameIndustry.biz's James Batchelor, composer Mick Gordon, and more along with ex-GoldenEye devs including Karl Hilton, Brett Jones, Steve Ellis, "Dr" David Doak, and Grant Kirkhope, it's a documentary stuffed to the brim with interesting interviews and anecdotes. From the formation of Rare, the development of GoldenEye by devs coming straight out of University, the game's multiple delays, and its eventual release and monumental impact, there's plenty here for everyone, whether you were right there for the game's launch or just happen to be a newcomer here in 2022.
At one hour-forty in length, GoldenEra delves into just about everything you might be curious about with GoldenEye. The bizarre case of Miyamoto wanting Bond to shake the hands of the enemies he'd previously gunned down is discussed, along with the immediate impact that GoldenEye had, specifically on Valve during its own development on Half-Life. We even get a significant glimpse into the work put into the launch of the fan-made GoldenEye Source along with the leak and ultimate cancellation of the Xbox Live Arcade remake in 2007.
It's a celebratory piece that focuses squarely on just how revelatory GoldenEye proved to be upon launch. With this in mind, the documentary perhaps skirts over some of the issues that may have plagued development given the number of delays. For example, the "unspoken expectation" of crunch is discussed at moderate length, but given that the developers were mostly young with no family of their own to support, it was apparently something that they were happy to do in order to create the best game possible.
It would have also been interesting to get more of an in-depth look into the relationship between Rare and Nintendo at the time, too. Despite its lenience, Nintendo was understandably conscious not to delay GoldenEye too much (the film launched in November 1995, although the game wouldn't arrive until August 1997) and apparently pushed for assurances on the game's status, despite the fact that Rare had only just started to implement multiplayer just mere months prior to its intended release. A bit more context behind this and some insight into the discussions between the two companies would have been welcome.
Nevertheless, even if you may have heard some of the stories before, GoldenEra is required viewing if you're even remotely interested in the creation of GoldenEye and its enduring legacy. It's an exceptionally well-made documentary and entertains throughout its entire runtime, making us even more hopeful that GoldenEye may soon get its long-rumoured rerelease.
Thanks to Altitude Film for press access to the documentary. GoldenEra is available to buy or rent on the official Altitude Film website or via other streaming services.
Comments 21
Great game. Perfect Dark is still better though.
More than 20 years that I get together with my friends sometimes to play Goldeneye, Smash Bros and Mario Kart. We're getting older and we're still playing on the same cartridge, same controls and same n64, that's amazing. Life went on for us, a lot happened but we still played together in good old n64
@Gitface Agreed. GoldenEye’s best legacy is Perfect Dark, a game still playable on modern hardware.
@Gitface Agreed. I preferred the theme of Goldeneye but everything else in Perfect Dark was better. One of the best things for me was the addition of Bots in multiplayer. I spend countless hours playing against those darn Bots.
"unspoken expectation" of crunch is true across all of software development. It's one of the primary reasons I have tried to extricate myself from development as much as possible these days.
For me it was the first game that lived up to the promise of the box art. As a kid, games were always a let down compared to the box art. Goldeneye wasn't the first game I loved, it was first game that lived up to my expectations.
@Gitface What about Perfect Dark do you think is better?
Goldeneye is one of my favourite games ever, and I've tried to get into Perfect Dark a couple of times, but it just didn't grab me the way Goldeneye did. The missions and the setting, didn't find them that appealing or exciting. I found Goldeneye engaging and addictive from the minute I played it, and I'm not even a Bond fan in the slightest.
Perfect Dark is excellent, and it builds on GoldenEye's ideas in loads of great ways - multiplayer bots, dual functionality guns, ability to climb.
Ultimately, it's not as good as GoldeneEye for me. GoldenEye has the Bond magic - characters, music, weapons, locations, gadgets. It's such an iconic franchise and GoldenEye captured it remarkably.
If memory serves me right, both games feature a version of Complex on the multiplayer. Complex on GoldenEye is significantly better than Perfect Dark.
@Gitface Perfect Dark did the multiplayer 10 times better, but, the single player campaign of Goldeneye stands out, just for a bit over PD.
I remember after unlocking invisibility, my friends and I would go around levels planting remote mines under guards to see how far we could launch them. That combo of AI and physics kinda made it one of the earlier 3D sandbox games, when you think about it.
Without question one of the most amazing experiences in video game history, where you had never experienced anything like it before. Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter 2 are some of the only games I can compare it to on that level, at least 1985 onwards.
@Raffles Looking at single-player missions only, I can totally understand the preference for Goldeneye, but it was the multiplayer aspect of Perfect Dark that bumped it ahead in my opinion (variety of weapons, maps, bots, unlockables, etc).
@sc100 Super Mario Bros (NES) was the first video game I have memory of playing in my life, and Street Fighter 2 is probably the arcade game that I have pumped the most hours into in my life, so you are totally speaking my language here.
I definitely prefer GoldenEye over Perfect Dark, but that’s mainly for the single player as I haven’t played the multi-player for years. I’m always re-playing GoldenEye’s single player mode, the uniqueness, variety and unpredictability of the missions means I never get tired of playing it.
People saying that Perfect Dark was better when technically PD is a Goldeneye sequel and Time Splitters a PD and GE sequel. All those games are part of the goldenera.
goldeye had everything. brilliant single player, excellent graphics (at the time) legendary multiplayer.. masses of content. I spent so much time unlocking all the special abilities, invincibility etc through replay. Modern games and their DLC ruined this element of gaming.
perfect dark mastered some of the gameplay elements originated in goldeneye and had its own innovations, such as a gun that could shoot through walls/ see heat etc but the games universe wasn't as absorbing to me. I didn't care about Joanna dark
We still need this game playable on modern consoles. Granted I still have an N64 with a copy of the game, but that doesn't help the masses enjoy and experience this classic. Still holding out for news on a remaster potentially inbound for Xbox and Switch. Again, playing on original hardware or even an emulator works for some, but to reach the masses we need a rerelease for such a legendary game.
@Gitface @RadioHedgeFund @Laserbeak1982 It's great to see some love for Perfect Dark. I usually feel like a lone voice when I say I prefer it to GoldenEye.
GoldenEye was brilliant, but Perfect Dark improved on it in every way, with the multiplayer mode especially perfected (no pun intended).
The only thing(s) GoldenEye has over PD for me is the Bond licence and the fact it came first. Even the story and atmosphere were more enjoyable in Perfect Dark. The soundtrack is second only to Ocarina of Time's for the N64. I love the sci-fi setting and inspirations, as well as the humour.
Massive kudos to Rareware for - at the time doing something hardly anyone dared to do - creating an excellent female lead that didn't rely on a massive pair of boobs.
It's interesting reading why others prefer GoldenEye though. All valid comments!
GoldenEye was ahead of its time, but so was Perfect Dark.
GoldenEye: 9/10
Perfect Dark: 10/10 (or close enough)
P.S. Perfect Dark was set next year!
Goldeneye / Perfect Dark proved how silly it was that licenced games had been so shoddy until then. Everything about Perfect Dark was technically better than Goldeneye - including the cutscenes (so much speech!) and story told within them. But Goldeneye didn't need fancy cutscenes or story. We knew the story, we knew the characters, because we'd seen the movie or at least knew who James Bond was. As a result, Perfect Dark's narrative ends up feeling a bit cheesy and amateurish by comparison, even though Goldeneye puts almost no effort into narrative. That's the built-in benefit of making a game based on a movie, but most other developers before and since have pretty much wasted it (or perhaps over-relied on it?) by plonking the license into a low-effort generic game.
Perfect Dark nails details like every weapon having a secondary function, and the truly gorgeous lighting in the level designs that still holds up. Also the music in that first level is awesome and sets the tone brilliantly. Everything about the beginning feels epic. The guards even talk which was a novelty for the time (although some of their lines were cringe).
The later levels don't hold up their end of the bargain, particularly the momentum-killing "rescue the captured President in the snowy mountains before he gets shot" level. That one screams for a checkpoint system and it's a real shame Rare didn't bother adding one for the XBLA re-release. That level is twenty or so minutes of just trudging from one location to the next, until you finally hit the do or die moment with the President having been taken hostage. If you fail, it's back to the beginning to start trudging all over again. It's an absolute slog to play through and is not fun at all.
The Elvis alien character is Perfect Dark's version of Jar Jar Binks, for better or worse. His attempts to bring levity to the story feel off with the rest of the game's tone, although the franchise would go even further in goofy directions with Perfect Dark Zero, e.g. Joanna's quasi-anime appearance and Doctor Carroll being a drone for some reason. (I haven't played the game in fifteen years or so so I might be misremembering if he was actually a drone or just controlled a drone remotely. Either way the whole thing was hokey.)
Perfect Dark's multiplayer hits technical heights beyond what Goldeneye could achieve, namely the bots. The Farsight XR20 is also neat, albeit skill curve breaking. Also there's that cool shooting gallery you can access by walking around the Carrington Institute.
There are so many individual things done so well in Perfect Dark, but as a whole it just can't outdo the charm and allure of the Bond license. Rare never quite fully realized Joanna Dark's world (turned farcical in Perfect Dark Zero) or herself as a character. Maybe she suffers from PD having too many blatant Goldeneye callbacks for its own good, and no one else can be James Bond.
All this to say Perfect Dark remains an awesome game and a worthy achievement, but on the whole Goldeneye still reigns as the game I'd rather pick up on any given day.
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