Agent 64: Spies Never Die

Not a bad game by any means. But I thought I’d like it way more than I do. Honestly just makes me want to play goldeneye or perfect dark instead .

It's an incredibly shallow and pale imitation of Goldeneye. the AI is just completely brain dead, And although it advertises it has a single player mode it's basically a bare bones sandbox with enemies that you shoot There's no interactivity there's no anything to keep you really playing. The only reason to get this is if you like the multiplayer and I hate multiplayer so not for me

OK I am old. I owned the original 007 Goldeneye and Perfect Dark and played them tons. Since 2015 I have never written a bad review until now. After playing it I do not understand the very positive reviews at all. I bought this mostly for the multiplayer but it is currently unplayable. There was one lobby to join at the time so I joined my first multiplayer game and it was me and just one other player. Every single time I spawned, I was immediately killed by this player he was throwing grenades exactly where I was continuously. The player never fired a gun the whole game and I could not do anything. If I stayed in the room I spawned in, they just opened the door every time and I was killed by grenades. If I took one step outside the door I was instantly killed by grenades. I could not move anywhere. This was so bad I did not even know where he was the majority of the time. This is not a skill issue on my part. I actually did not get a chance to do anything because I was constantly instantly dead and there is zero spawn protection. I did the first single player mission and that was just OK. It was old school 007 vibes but a mediocre version of it. It feels very, very barebones. The price tag for this game seems way too high after playing and If you are going to purchase this then I would recommend purchasing when on a deep sale. If using a controller, aiming your weapon feels like it was made for Mouse and keyboard and seems overly difficult to precisely aim at enemies. Listen to this review if you are on the fence about this game and want to spend $20 on something better.

I'm sad to give this game a negative review, but I'm frustrated that I can't progress the campaign. Having to speedrun levels to unlock extras is already boring, but having to up the difficulty to progress the game's campaign? I don't want to replay these levels right now, I'll come back to the ones I like later and try to accomplish all objectives. At least let me progress by playing some other mode instead of replaying the same levels. Right now I just want to play an oldschool shooter while the baby and wife are asleep. Other than this progression problem, the game is really amazing, nice old school vibes, fun gun play. I promise I'll change this review if the single player progression changes at some point.

I wanna start off with a negative, I really don't like that this game uses Easy Anti Cheat. They've at least enabled it to be playable on Linux which is appreciated, as many games that use EAC do not allow this. But I really do not think a game like this with a very casual multiplayer requires Kernel level anti-cheat. I find it overly invasive. But onto the good stuff: I have no nostalgia for the Goldeneye era of FPS games on account of being a literal baby; I didn't play Goldeneye itself until a few years ago. Although obviously being a Goldeneye homage Spies Never Die stands well on its own as an excellent first person shooter. It is just a ton of fun. I've long been a fan of the Goldeneye style of gunplay, i.e. being able to aim the gun independently of the camera. I think it is a very fun way of handling FPS controls, immersing you in the game by making you feel like a character holding a gun, as opposed to a floating gun with a camera attached to it. In Spies Never Die this control scheme feels so natural and smooth, you get accustomed to it right away and gun fights just feel so satisfying. The missions are pretty straight forward shooting gallery fare as expected, but they never get dull and they can even be quite challenging at times which is refreshing, as FPS campaigns of recent years have lacked any real challenge. I do think the effort to reproduce a Goldeneye experience as closely as possible isn't always to the games benefit, I'm mostly talking here about the games enemy AI which is veeeery simplistic. Personally I would have liked to see a wider range of enemy behavior to make it feel more like a modern take on the original experience. Overall though I highly recommend this game. AAA games have really dropped the ball on single player FPS experiences and I'm glad to see retro loving indie developers picking up the ball and running with it once again.

The polygon people are back and I'm smiling ear to ear! Of course there's some nostalgia going on here, but it's not a requirement. Someone could have never played a minute of Goldeneye 007 or Perfect Dark in their life and still enjoy this game. I've always thought nostalgia isn't what makes people play old games, nostalgia is a Donkey Kong t-shirt or a Pac-Man wastebasket or collecting cartridges and sealing them up in a box and never playing them. People play old games frequently because they love the style of gameplay. I love the style of gameplay. And the style here is late '90s console shooter, more family friendly than the bloody grimdark stuff that was on DOS and early Windows at the time, but in return you got more of an adventure. They were like blockbuster movies, at least as well as the consoles of the time could pull off. Agent 64 captures this feeling perfectly with with all sorts of pulpy spy fiction action set in ski resorts, art museums, and rich peoples' houses filled with rare wine and twelve bedrooms. Marble floors, smoke frosted glass, helicopters, tailored tuxedos, champagne, nuclear weapons. Perfect. Gameplay wise, it's a '90s shooter. There's no crouch, there aren't many mechanics at all really, just hide and shoot. It's a reaction time thing, but also practice and memorization. Every enemy is in the same place every time, and the object is to get better and faster. Memorization, optimal pathing, quick trigger finger, climb the leaderboard. But also maybe there are some secrets hidden here and there? Of course there are. Besides the decent sized campaign that wants to see you pass every stage on all three difficulties, there is a challenge mode and all sorts of multiplayer and co-op features for some more old school fun. My only downside is I wish there were more environmental sounds and interactivity. No footsteps, no toilet flushing. My heart sank a little. 8/10

Agent 64: Spies Never Die is an old-school first-person-shooter inspired by classics from the Nintendo 64 area, especially Goldeneye, playing this really felt like a throwback. [u][b]Story[/b][/u] The Story is over the top and not fully serious. It definitely takes some inspiration from more over the top James Bond plots, but that also makes it more fun. A fully serious in dept story wouldn’t have fitted the game in my opinion. It serves it’s purposes to string you along but nothing more. [u][b]Gameplay[/b][/u] This game is difficult. You get one life per mission and if you die, it is back to the start. There is no crosshair and the aiming works a bit like a mix of auto-aim and pointing your gun into the direction of the enemies. It sounds a bit weird if you haven’t played the games back then but it works wonderful. There is a separate mode you activate with the press of a key that allows you to move a crosshair around for more precise shots. The whole systems works well together and it feels intuitive right from the start. Before each mission you can select one of the three difficulty modes, which changes for example, that you have to complete less or more objectives. But it isn’t possible to just finish the game with playing all missions on the lowest available difficult, since you get “Ciphers” per completed mission and you need a certain amount to unlock the next Act of the Story. Beside the Story, there are also challenges, coop…multiplayer, the game has a lot on offer. [u][b]Graphic/Audio[/b][/u] The game captures the look and sound of the Nintendo 64 near perfectly, playing through Agent 64, feels a bit like time travel. But if you don’t mind the graphics as someone who hasn’t played back then, I think you will appreciate the feeling the game gives you, and take you back to a place where shooters were still very new on consoles. (which you can now experience on pc!) [u][b]Final Thoughts[/b][/u] Agent 64: Spies Never Die is an excellent shooter that accomplishes exactly what it wants, making you feel like you are playing an N64 game. The difficulty spike in some missions could need some balancing though and through the one life mechanic the game can become very frustrating at times unfortunately, but it only released recently, so I hope the devs will listen to community feedback and work on the game where it is needed. Nonetheless, Agent 64 provides a unique gaming experience for players like me, going back in time to when they were young or newer players who want to go on a little travel back to the late 90s. The game as a ton of content unlockable’s, like many of the classic cheats, including big head mode and much more and is well worth the experience if you can handle the moments of frustration.

Kernel-level anti-cheat prevents from playing online co-op. This thing has no place in an indie game.