Designed to be very much like a slightly more modern version of the Nintendo 64’s classic GoldenEye – this is well and truly nostalgia bait, a game that younger me would have no doubt gone absolutely nuts for.
Fans of Golden Eye will feel exactly at home. It even has a manual gun aiming system. On a Steam Controller, this is holding the Left Trigger where your view zooms in and you can pinpoint your gun aim around the screen. This makes it really feel like the classics, and a fair bit like an arcade game. A feature that you don’t use too much, except for little bits like shooting out some locks.
I do have to say, they absolutely hit the nail on the head for the retro experience. Something I’ve no doubt those who absolutely adored Golden Eye will love. The overall game look and feel is close to perfection really. It’s fast, it’s silly and quite fun to just run and gun through all the enemies while windows and crates get smashed to pieces. And occasionally on some levels defend something, like a partner hacking in so you face a little wave of enemies.
If you’re pining for simpler times and want some Nintendo 64 styled action – this is it.
Agent 64 has an interestingly styled difficulty system. It doesn’t exactly make the game any more difficult, but it adds in more objectives to do – which makes things interesting to try completing all of them for each level. Each mode on a level also gives you a certain amount of Cyphers, which you use to unlock more of the campaign. So you do have to eventually do them all.
You also get added challenges to beat levels in a Par time, which can give you unlockable modifiers for more runs through each level. This is part of the problem though – the game just doesn’t explain enough, even though there’s quite a few layers of it to tweak your runs with all the modifiers in the special Paradox Mode for each level.
Really, you can just run and gun your way through it with a cheeky smile. Short and sweet too, as each mission is relatively short so the whole game can be finished in a day.
Agent 64 has solo play, split-screen and online multiplayer deathmatches too. A little something for everyone. This is more where the game shines, just like the old days, where you can mess about with others and do some stupid rules to make things interesting.
I had some good fun but would have liked the AI not to be so basic. Just a little extra challenge would have made it better. The enemies all mostly just stand still and shoot, with an occasional random roll to one side. Good for far less seasoned gamers and a younger audience perhaps. But there’s just no challenge at all to the campaign.
Thinking on it, really, it’s not even so much about the shooting being the point but about finding the little secrets, doing the challenges, and definitely playing with friends to have a laugh and just have a good old time.
It did the job of reminding me of simpler times and younger days, back when I actually had hair and grabbing a new game in a box from the store was exciting while I read the manual on the way home. I miss those days.
Overall, the nostalgia pulls you in and it’s quite charming but the game as a whole just wasn’t enough for me. It’s not bad just not especially interesting when there’s so many more (and far better) retro shooters.
This is one you essentially need to bring friends along for the ride for the multiplayer customization, once you’ve unlocked some of it that is, for the silliness which is where it does really shine.
My play-through was on the Steam Machine (SteamOS Linux), where it really runs to perfection with Proton.
- Survive over-the-top shootouts, steal secret plans, and free hostages as a solo elite operative or with a co-op squad of up to 4 fearless agents.
- Play through an action-packed, 14-mission Story Mode where chaos and covert ops collide across Skyscrapers, Snow Bases, and more exotic locales like Catacombs and Temples.
- Duke it out with friends in adrenaline-pumping local splitscreen multiplayer, or take the action online in customizable 8-player lobbies with 8 additional bots across various game modes.
- Unlock 70+ gameplay-altering modifications, including big heads, slow bullets, randomized weapons, and more, in Paradox Mode.
From the press release sent to GamingOnLinux: “Calling a game a love letter to the ‘90s sounds a bit cliché, but I think there’s no better way to describe Agent 64,” said solo developer Replicant D6. “It’s a brand new experience for gamers who never played Rare’s N64 masterpieces, and instantly familiar territory for anyone raised on the classics, while modernizing a beloved formula.”
One odd choice for a small title like this is also the inclusion of Easy Anti-Cheat which is worth mentioning.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.