Quick Read: The Other Goldeneye
[Midweek Read] A look at The World Is Not Enough on Nintendo 64
I am a connoisseur of Nintendo 64 shooters. This publication was started for the purpose of looking back at them and I own most of the FPS games made for the console; I grew up playing shooters like TimeSplitters and Medal Of Honour: 2 franchises in which that N64 DNA runs strong, so getting into this wonderful subgenre was a natural progression for me as an adult.
Rare’s Goldeneye 007 released on the N64 in 1997 and is far and away the most popular FPS on the console (in fact, it’s one of the most beloved N64 games full-stop) on the other hand, The World Is Not Enough, developed by Eurocom: the studio that would later release the beloved 007: Nightfire, has been completely forgotten by all but ardent Bond fans, N64 enthusiasts and those who have nostalgia for it.
Why is that? Today I’m going to be comparing Goldeneye to TWINE and noting what The World Is Not Enough does better, what it does worse and ultimately why I think this shooter has been unfortunately cast aside.
Not For Lack Of Trying
Let’s answer the most important question of all first: was The World Is Not Enough forgotten because it’s crap like the film it’s based on?
Games that live on in popular memory do so because they are either good or awful; average games when not a part of a larger franchise (see Super Mario Sunshine for a bang average game that gets to live on thanks to its IP) don’t occupy the long term memory.
So is The World Is Not Enough average? I wouldn’t say so. TWINE is absolutely a good game: it plays well, looks fantastic for its age and runs better than most games on the console.
Graphics And Performance
If there’s one area where TWINE strides leaps and bounds ahead of Goldeneye 007 it’s in the technical department.
Most Nintendo 64 games run like crap, it’s just the norm when playing this console, in fact, it’s even worse for us in Europe running PAL games because while they look slightly better than their NTSC counterparts in the States and Japan they also run at 1/3 of the speed. Goldeneye 007 was made by an inexperienced team on what was cutting edge hardware so while it is one of the all-time greats it’s not a particularly good looking title and certain missions run so poorly it becomes almost unplayable.
The World Is Not Enough on the other hand is strikingly impressive. It doesn’t look quite as good as Perfect Dark (more on that later) but this is a small price to play when that game runs so poorly even an N64 acolyte like me can hardly enjoy it; TWINE runs better than Goldeneye as well. Furthermore, the added reload animations, weapons actually resembling real life firearms now and the improved character models add a great deal to the experience.
Goldeneye levels look like liminal spaces or textured mazes but levels in The World Is Not Enough resemble the curated, naturalistic spaces we would see later in the PS2/GameCube/Xbox raft of 007 games.
Gameplay And Level Design
It’s here where the waters get muddy.
Both Goldeneye and TWINE play very similarly: the player controls Bond from a first-person perspective through a level using gadgets and guns alike to complete a set of objectives; they both use that cursor-style aiming system that the former popularised and they both have that one bastard mission that will have you tearing your hair out: Control in Goldeneye and City Of Walkways II in The World Is Not Enough. In my opinion, TWINE’s individual parts are greater than those of Goldeneye… but it comes out being less than the sum of those parts.
The World Is Not Enough has the better feeling gunplay, the better weapons, the addition of a crosshair and greater verticality but the objectives are quite repetitive with a lot of hostage rescuing and planting devices on computers; enemies seem to stand around waiting for Bond to attack as well whereas in Goldeneye they are more proactive in hunting down the player.
Goldeneye’s levels weren’t always fair and didn’t always make the most sense in the context of Bond’s mission but they were chaotic, fast and fun whereas in TWINE you spend a lot of time doing things that aren’t shooting or using cool gadgets… which are the 2 biggest parts of the Bond power fantasy besides exotic locations and beautiful women.
Goldeneye is perhaps the more enjoyable shooter whereas TWINE is more polished and evokes the feeling of being Bond more, I enjoy Goldeneye more on a moment to moment basis but you could call this one a draw.
Sound And Story
Goldeneye’s mission select/main menu theme
The World Is Not Enough’s main menu theme
We had a category at the start where one of these 2 games utterly dominated the other and now we have a second; Goldeneye’s soundtrack is worlds ahead of TWINE’s, even if I really like the main theme.
I could sit here listing tracks until the cows come home but if you need to refamiliarise yourself with the excellence of Goldeneye’s OST I recommend this remastered version.
You haven’t lived until you’ve grabbed a Walther PPK in VR and stuck this on.
There are many versions of Goldeneye songs that have been ‘updated’ out there but this is my favourite work.
In terms of the guns’ sounds I’d probably give TWINE the edge and it also features full-on voice acting whereas Goldeneye does not, enhancing the presentation of the story. In general, TWINE definitely goes off-script less than Goldeneye does, with its entirely non-canon (but awesome) Silo mission… but that isn’t a plus for The World Is Not Enough, since it follows closely to what is one of the weakest Bond films and my personal least-favourite of Brosnan’s tenure; for all of Die Another Day’s flaws, it is highly entertaining to watch at least.
The Dark Elephant In The Room
I’ve skirted around the issue long enough, those of you who have intimate knowledge of the N64 library will know another big reason The World Is Not Enough didn’t go down in history, it’s the reason too that Rare didn’t make this game and Eurocom took over the Bond license: Perfect Dark.
Perfect Dark launched in May 2000, 5 months before The World Is Not Enough as not only the final big console exclusive for the platform but also as its magnum opus, as far as FPS games are concerned; TWINE had a separate PS1 version but Perfect Dark was an N64 native. Perfect Dark didn’t just improve upon Goldeneye but pushed the FPS genre forward as a whole while The World Is Not Enough just smoothed some of Goldeneye’s sharper edges.
Speaking from a broader perspective, Goldeneye came out during the heyday of the Nintendo 64 whereas The World Is Not Enough came out on its deathbed. By the year 2000 it was clear that A: The Nintendo 64 had been utterly trounced in sales by the PlayStation and B: That Nintendo would be bringing a new platform to shelves soon. Video game consoles tend to have a particular life cycle: a couple of years of steady growth, a surge of hit titles and sales around the third, fourth and sometimes fifth year on the market and then a slowing period before they are replaced; Goldeneye started that peak period.
Rolling The Credits
In conclusion, The World Is Not Enough is an enjoyable, polished, well put-together shooter that you should absolutely play if you have an N64 or are into emulation; I bought my cartridge unboxed for £10 so it shouldn’t set you back much either.
Unfortunately, this game just doesn’t take the risks or reach the same highs as Goldeneye and Perfect Dark completely eclipsed any attention it might have gotten, so while TWINE is a really decent shooter, there’s no wonder it’s been forgotten.
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I remember renting the PS1 port of this way back and enjoying it. I definitely spent a lot more time on the PS1 Tomorrow Never Dies game, which was a 3rd-Person game that handled *very* differently.