'GoldenEye: Rogue Agent' Community Day, Part II

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

1995: The release of GoldenEye, the film that revived the Bond franchise. 1997: The game, GoldenEye, destined to become the greatest first person shooter of all time. Back in 1995, video games weren’t what they are today. Most studios considered them just another bit of merchandising to license out in the hopes it will generate some extra revenue and interest in the movie. The license to make a GoldenEye video game was signed over to Nintendo by Eon/Danjaq, the producers of the James Bond films, who thought nothing more of it. But when Danjaq got a HUGE check in the mail generated from the sales of this single bit of “merchandising,” (it’s been said the game GoldenEye actually out grossed the film) they decided they should take a look see what this game was all about. When they did, they were horrified! This game didn’t feel like James Bond at all – the suave and sophisticated hero turned in his quick wit for an itchy trigger finger with carefree abandon. Had Danjaq known what was in this game, they would have never approved it.

When EA was awarded the gaming rights to 007, Danjaq was more hands on. They told EA that the games had to be more like the Bond movies: gadgets, cars, stealth, honor, and style — not a mad gunman (although it’s debatable that Eon turned 007 into just that in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, but that’s an argument for another day). EA complied and found success with NightFire and Everything or Nothing, but the specter of the legendary first-person-shooter GoldenEye dogged them.

So EA sat down with Danjaq and told them that they wanted to do another Bond game, but more like a real first person shooter. Danjaq knew exactly what they wanted. “You want to make a sequel to GoldenEye, don’t you?” EA did… but Danjaq resisted, explaining that only a villain would act the way Bond did in GoldenEye. So EA began to think… Bond exists, so what about the villains? Do they have lives apart from Bond? If it were a villain doing the shooting instead of 007, would Danjaq approve a first-person-shooter?

Thus was born GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.

THE MISSIONS (warning: SPOILERS)

The levels in Rogue Agent are long and drawn out with lots of missions.

Level 1 (like a tutorial) — Operation Grand Slam (from the move Goldfinger) takes place at Fort Knox. There are 00 Candidates in training being tested to become 00’s, including you (Rogue Agent a.k.a. “GoldenEye”). You find James Bond clinging to a fallen helicopter balanced over what could be a deadly fall. Bond warns you to stay back, but you move closer anyway… and the indestructible 007 falls to his death (this is the only level where we see 007). Despite this, you continue on the mission, and it’s later revealed that it was all just a Virtual Reality testing center (like in Die Another Day). But your violent tactics don’t meet with MI6’s approval. Your 00 status is revoked and you’re asked to leave.

Back-story: Dr. No had once attempted to murder you by shooting you in the head. You lived, but lost vision in one eye. You wanted to become an agent for MI6 so you could get revenge on Doctor No, but as we have seen, that didn’t work out. Now you’re “on your own and out for revenge,” and you turn to one man who hates Dr. No as much as you do… Auric Goldfinger. (The rumor is true, the game was originally called Goldfinger vs Doctor No.)

Level 2 (Low Key) — Auric Enterprises (in Switzerland?): Goldfinger asks you to sign on with him in a war against Doctor No who is a threat to all the villains of the Bond underworld. Goldfinger gives you the “GoldenEye”, which is bigger than an eye and it taps into your brain and body. Goldfinger has a weapon called OMEN (Organic Mass Energy Neutralizer). While Goldfinger is showing off this weapon, Dr. No attacks.

Level 3 (Hard Core) — Hong Kong: Goldfinger sets you up to meet with an informant who will give you a sniper rifle so you can kill Dr. No. But the Informant betrays you. It was a set up. You are alone in Hong Kong and have to make your way across the rooftops in an attempt to meet up with Pussy Galore who is trying to pick you up in a helicopter. You enter the informant’s bathhouse take care of him.

Level 4 — The Mitas Casino in Las Vegas: At Goldfinger’s headquarters Dr. No is again after the OMEN.

Level 5 — Hoover Dam: You go on a sabotage mission. Dr. No has set up a bomb and you have to stop the bomb from going off. Later, after hearing that Dr. No may be hiding in the spill tunnels, what will you choose to do with the bomb?

Later in the game: You get to see Dr. No’s Crab Key compound and Dr. No’s armory lab (designed by Ken Adam). There you must hack into the computers and get the armor codes and formulas for his special armor. Also near the end of the game there will be a handheld prototype of the OMEN.

Multi-Player: These levels are the smaller places in the films (Moonraker, Satellite uplink facility from GoldenEye, The Golden Gate Bridge w/ Zorin’s Blip) and new creations (GoldenEye/Rogue Agent’s private retreat). Most of the multi-player maps have four-player capacity, except for the GoldenEye Uplink facility, which can only have 2 players because the size of the map is so small (there’s a helicopter in this map which you can destroy). Online multi player maps can have up to 8 players. You’ll be able to play against your friends or the EVIL AI.

CHARACTERS:

The villains in their own universe are powerful.

• Currently voice recording is being done on with the game.
• The game characters voices must sound and behave like the characters in the movie. For example the actor who voiced Goldfinger studies the movie to perfect the larger than life effect that Goldfiger has in the film.
• One of the several crucial twists in the game will be recognizable by the white cat in his lap. He comes in the form of Donald Plesance… and is called “Number 1.” Can you guess who this is?

Pussy Galore: She is the love interest in the game. For her voice over, two voice actors were recorded because the first didn’t sound enough like Honor Blackman. Danjaq is very involved with EA during their creation of the games and have say over a lot of the character and plot choices. For example there’s a scene where Pussy Galore said something to the effect of, “I’m eavesdropping on the police.” Eon said she can’t say that line because the sentence is beneath her… she should be eavesdropping on Dr. No. The change was made.

Scaramanga: Bond has his “Q” in Major Boothroyd, and the villains have their “Q” in Scaramanga, the man with the golden gun. He has access to the black market and he’s the one who assembles the “Goldeneye” device and is responsible for it’s upgrades. Christopher Lee is reprising his roll and provides the voice for this character in the game (see CBn’s story).

The Villains Quirk: Oddjob has his hat (which you’ll have some “encounters” with), Jaws has his teeth, you have your “Goldeneye.”

Taking Sides: Dr. No has a mechanical hand, why not a very Para Military Cyborg army as well. Where as Goldfinger’s Army are Elite Gangsters.

GAME PLAY

Action packed, fast paced and cinematic.

FPS: the entire game is a first person shooter, there’s no driving. But you do have to fight against vehicles.

The GoldenEye: It is electromagnetic based and larger than an actual eye and connects to your mind and body. It knows your health and armor. Your health and eye power will recharge (like in the game X2: Wolverine’s Revenge). The eye’s power charges faster when you are using death traps and doing villainous things. It has many powers including a polarity field to deflect incoming projectiles, a magnetic filed to grab enemies and throw them across the room or drag them towards you so you can steel their weapons (kinda like the Force in Star Wars), and it has MRI powers to help you look through walls. A twist that’s reviled in the middle of the game is that the eye is not purely yours — it’s like a black box, the villains know where you are and everything you’re doing.

Melee Attacks: You can punch an enemy, he will become dazed and you will be able to grab him (take a hostage) and use him as a human shield. You can also knock down enemies by throwing your hostages at them or hitting them hard.

Death Traps: You can use the environment to take enemies out. For example you can operate machines to takes guys out, feed guys to sharks, and in the Moonraker level you can trap guys in conference room in the line of rocket engine fire just like James Bond (Roger Moore) did.

Weapons: You have two hand weapon controls to wield weapons independently of each other. You can mix and match your weapons (1 gun, 2 guns -same or different, 1 gun & grenades, or 1 two handed gun). There are twelve weapons to choose from. Some of which are the Shotgun (duel handed), Pistol (the golden gun), the exotic underworld Viper injector (poison/stun gun), an over changer, a weapon that will shoots through objects, Grenades, and Mine like objects.

Amo Reality: There’s no weapon cycling. You can only carry as many weapons as will fit in you hands. If you’re carrying a machine gun (2 hands) they you’ll have to drip it to pick up something else. The only weapon you always carry is the Golden Gun. There is also no ammunition just laying around for you to pick up. If you gun runs out of ammo the weapon will automatically drop and vanish and you’ll have to pick up another weapon. Weapons will reload automatically or you can reload then hen you want to. Weapons will drop when ammo is out. Unlike most first person shooters, if you have no weapons you’re still powerful (physically & with your GoldenEye), but health does not last long so collect armor.

Violence: The idea of playing a villain opens up the game to be more violent, but not sensational violence. Bond villains are sophisticated, they think and are clever. So since the Bond universe is not about being gross or gruesome there will be no blood in the game and the dead bodies will fade out.

Stealth Missions: during a stealth mission, stealth is not requited even if there are cameras. And speaking of cameras, you will be able to reprogram the security systems. This game calls for less sneaking around (unlike the other Bond games) and more aggressive villainous action.

Rated Teen: During the rating process, the game received 9 points; when you get 10 points the rating rolls over to Mature. So Rogue Agent will technically be a High Teen.

Rogue Moves: Where Everything or Nothing had “Bond Moves” (which had to happen in specific places), Rogue Agent has “Rogue Moves” (which can happen anywhere in the game).

No Jumping: The game will not allow you to jump. The reasoning behind this is so that you don’t just jump and then fall off a building and die because that’s no fun – the game is meant to be fun as well. Plus jumping is very un-villainous; imagine you’re getting shot at and your guy is bouncing around the screen.

Zip Lines: There are zip lines in the game. For example in the Hong Kong level, you can slide down the zip lines from rooftop to rooftop. You wont be able to “jump” off the ziplines and fall to your death – no fun.

Destroyable Sets: Things that change the game play are destroyable, but the environment is not destroyable. The game also avoids the use of object interactions. But you can use weapons, machines, buttons, doors and even grab and throw guys, take hostages and use them as a shield against incoming bullets (you take no damage when you have a hostage).

EVIL AI:

• E = Emotion-Based: what you do influenced the enemy’s emotions and behaviors. Their aggression is based on how you’ve acted; you’re nasty, it’s nasty. It will also react based on what king of weapon you’re using. The AI has fear and if pushed will take their buddies hostage and use them as a shield. And if the AI is wounded it will hide and make you think its dead. You can even get the AI to surrender to you.
• V = Visceral Moments: Every time you play different things will happen with the enemy because the players are not scripted, the game is not scripted (AI has a mind of it’s own unlike bots who are scripted). You’ll see enemies loose their composure, flip out and even grab their own guys to use as shields against your onslaught.
• I = Intelligence: Enemies will use their environment, hiding and ducking behind cover and even flipping the switches of deathtraps on you. But you must know that the AI is so good that the game designers had to make it dumb so you could actually have fun with the game and not die.
• L = Learning: The AI can do everything you can do. Your opponents are aware of their surrounding and will learn your actions, use new cover that becomes available, and even vehicles at their disposal.

Xbox: More is being done graphics wise for the Xbox version of the game because it’s technologically possible. Higher resolution, textures, & more details.

AN INSIDE LOOK

GERA is being developed in 3 locations and 2 countries.

Quicktime MOV 33.7MB

View the first in a series of short movies that EA is releasing “GoldenEye Rogue Agent Undercover 1″