Operation: Pinkeye

First things first - Operation Pinkeye is an incredible title for a game. With a playstyle that threw me back to Goldeneye and Perfect Dark - Operation Pinkeye is load of chaotic fun. The movement is fluid and avoids the motion-sickness side of a lot of modern FPS games. It's great to whip around levels and take out the bad guys. The setting is a good laugh, a very tongue-in-cheek take on an alternate-reality where Scotland didn't join the United Kingdom. Operation Pinkeye never delves into serious commentary of modern British politics - much to its benefit. The writing is extremely funny and makes you want to seek out the terminals in each map for additional world-building. The game is the first to have the Scots language listed on its Steam page. The developer should be commended for that alone, minority language recognition is really important and it was great to see.

BOOMATHON Playthrough stats - [table] [tr] [th]Difficulty[/th] [th]Deaths[/th] [th]Time to Finish[/th] [th]Rating[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Top Agent[/td] [td]11*[/td] [td]2:13:30[/td] [td]2/5[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h1] Review[/h1] I’ll preface this by saying this is the first negative review I’ve ever given, after 94 retro shooters I’ve reviewed. And it’s merely a price vs product issue. If this game was 1-2 dollars, it could easily pass as a meme and be forgiven, but as it stands, 17$ for a 2 hour long experience full of game breaking bugs should be a crime. Also side note, I counted failed mission objectives as deaths as they still resulted in a complete mission restart. But with that out of the way, let’s talk about the actual game itself… Operation Pinkeye is a strange combination of Goldeneye and Virtua Cop, and for the most part it works, in theory. Right off the bat you are presented with 2 control schemes, classic (think goldeneye) and normal (modern shooters) And that’s where the issues begin. Classic seems like the preferred way to play, but after dropping the in-game sensitivity to zero, and lowering mouse dpi to 400, it was still completely uncontrollable, and offered nothing but incredibly blocky movement. So normal controls it was, which was better but not by much, as aiming and shooting are two separate instances. If you try to shoot an enemy without aiming, an “auto aim” comes into play, and let’s just say with every weapon aside from the shotgun, “auto aim” will miss 9/10 shots. (I’ve never seen a rocket fire straight up into the air while aiming forward, this game it does) This brought about its own issues I learned to deal with through the rest of the playthrough. Okay, gameplay! Each mission gives you a set of objectives you must complete within a level before you are allowed to leave, no different from how perfect dark or goldeneye did it. I love this style and am glad to see more and more games are bringing it back. You’d think this would be hard to mess up! Don’t worry, they managed. While this only happens a few times, your objectives are incredibly vague, and while this is also true in the games it imitates, those games have always had an extra screen you could bring up to gather more information about said objective. That does not exist in this game. So when you’re told to “place a tracker on a car,” then lobbed into a sea of 40 different cars with no other information to go off of, frustration sets in quickly. Or when you are told to board a train to end the level, and the specific train you’re supposed to board doesn’t even spawn into the world, it takes on a whole other level of confusion. Let’s talk about that last sentence now. Bugs! Holy crap this game has more bugs than a Bethesda game at launch. Falling through the world, mission critical objectives not spawning in, a weird bug where you can’t shoot enemies through doors, enemies glitching around the map when at a distance, UNBELIEVABLE lag spikes, soft locks galore causing constant mission restarts, the list goes on and on. And this was not only an every mission occurrence, it was an every MINUTE occurrence, for the entire 2 hour long game. I haven’t even mentioned the AI, which will let you run through entire levels without lifting a finger, and both bosses I fought soft locked themselves allowing me a free kill. I will admit, once I started just accepting what this game was, it became just a laughable experience, which feeds back into this next reiterated point. I could completely excuse all this and classify it as a “meme” game, just a complete joke on the genre, if it was way less. Even if all the bugs were fixed, it’s still $17 for a 2 hour long game. When you have unbelievable games like Cultic, a 10 hour long, bug free experience for 10$, this pricing just seems like a slap in the face. Especially when Agent 64, a game that embraces the exact same concept, has a free demo that offers more content, and is by all accounts, a flawless experience. ----------------------------------------------------------- Enjoy my full playthrough found below https://youtu.be/dHnEWiJfrM4 For a Complete list of all RetroFPS / Boomer Shooters, be sure to visit [url=boomathon.com] BOOMATHON [/url] For more reviews on Classic and Retro shooters alike, dont forget to follow my Curator Page! [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42354915/] Boomathon Curator Page [/url]

Steam Stats show 1hr playtime, that doesn't include an hour or so spend with the demo levels (first 1/3 ish of the campaign) so I'd put total clock time on easy/med at around 2.5-3 hrs. Biggest issue is that I want more of it!! Pinkeye feels like an upscale PC port of a N64 Rare shooter (Think Perfect Dark or the obvious namesake Goldeneye) and it hits that target almost perfectly, including much of the jank weirdness those older games include. This includes starting the game out with a few open-ish stealth levels, before closing in to more fast paced and linear shooting at about the half way point, as well as the split between soft-lock hip-fire and the stationary aimed fire that those games included. The aiming system might prove divisive, but I thought it felt pretty natural (outside of a short adjustment period and the occasional targeting bug) and it kept me focused more on moving and shooting rather than precise aiming which made most encounters lots of fun. There are certainly janky spots like some objectives are very unclear in the early levels(a "Tutorial Arrow" option helps clear some of those up), and some shooting in tight spaces being hampered by your weapon lowering when near walls (even when facing away from them), and occasionally getting caught on doors/stairs when interacting with them. Though none of these issues were more than a minor inconvenience. The runtime is a little short for the price, and lacking an arena mode or multiplayer, that is a bit of a drawback. However I'd guess there was/is more planned, as there are mechanics (specifically a section wearing a guard-uniform) that only come up once and then seem to disappear from the game. Some bonus levels unlocked after the main game do exist, but they're not long and there are only a few. Overall, it's a fun, breezy shooter that I really enjoyed. I hope they add some extra levels post-release, I'd love to spend more time in the over-the-top world of Project: Pinkeye

This game has moments of greatness and definitely shows as a labor of love. However, the gameplay is very buggy. The game will randomly make enemies invincible, as they get stuck in some sort of animation. This forces you to break your stealth strategy and get close to the enemy in order to break their stasis. The game also is just a bit too easy, even on difficult modes. The maps are pretty small compared to it's spiritual predecessors. This game feels like it needed at least 4-6 months worth of development to be a real contender. But, right now, I can't say it's super enjoyable.

Pretty solid n64 like shooter some levels are a little to linear but its still a good game

Great little Goldeneye style shooter. An easy pick if you fancy some humorous scottish banter and plenty of action!

Goldeneye 64 + large serving of jank (I like jank). + Decent level/objective variety + Music is great, find the OST on Bandcamp + Voice acted throughout + Runs on a toaster, fast load time, small install The game doesn't take itself too seriously and you shouldn't either. Expect some bugs, weird enemy movement at times, occasional issues with being able to target/hit enemies. I purchased this at 60% off during winter sale, also supported on Patreon for a few months. 2 hours was enough to finish the main story on normal difficulty. I have the option of replaying at a higher difficulty to unlock more bonus levels + achievements. I played through the whole game in one sitting, had a great time. I'll be aiming to unlock the rest of the bonus levels, perhaps do a bit of speedrunning to beat the dev's time, then waiting for Agent 64. If you're on the fence, check out the demo and wait for a sale.

I'm still working my way through this one, but given that it is a brand brand new title I've been itching to fire up a review and spread the word about this absolute banger! What follows is long, so the short version is: this game is beautifully bonkers, nostalgic, and of huge cultural significance to Scotland and the Scottish diaspora, and to champions of minority languages around the world. Firstly, I'll speak to the merits of Operation: Pinkeye as a video game outside of its cultural context. I grew up with games like Goldeneye and Timesplitters and playing Pinkeye is like a fizzing, joyful injection of liquid nostalgia from that era. This is clearly a labour of love with everything you'd want from a throwback tribute to the era - beautiful-ugly graphics, a cool variety of stages (think military barracks, docklands, evil lairs) and objectives (steal the documents, interrogate the general, bug the secret room), and fun shooting gameplay with a great mix of stealth and machine gun firefighting. The aiming mechanic works really well in every situation chucked at you and I enjoyed discovering the various weapons, with even the wee melee attack feeling like a nod to the "slappers only" shenanigans of Goldeneye. Blasting through baddies you stumble closer to the glorious soul of this wee game and the more you play, the more you want to immerse yourself further in the bonkers Pinkeye universe. I haven't had this much fun in ages! The outrageously Scottish voice acting is terrific, as is the original score which both invokes its source material in 90s/00s video game classics while also sounding a bit like experimental electronic stuff in the vein of Burial or Aphex Twin. The rest of the sound design deserves a mention too for taking you straight back to long weekends playing N64 with whirring cameras, grunting guards, thunderous bullets. As you'd expect from a fun game with a name like Operation: Pinkeye, the whole experience is thoroughly tongue-in-cheek; behind the clear passion for game development and video game history there's a cheeky sense of humour and a knowing wink to the player behind every corner. The worldbuilding is absolute class and I love the lore hidden on PCs throughout the game, which function as portals into the unhinged Pinkeye universe, the story of which having obviously been treated with the same love and care as the throwback gameplay and visual style. Given the above, I think anyone with an interest in shooters or retro gaming will have an absolute hoot with Pinkeye. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention the cultural significance of this title. While I live abroad now, I was brought up in and spent most of my life in Scotland. Beyond daft Groundskeeper Willie stereotypes or dour poverty-exploitation crime or social dramas, there is a growing local confidence in some of Scotland's more colourful cultural traditions, which have received limited interest so far outside of the country. At the front of this little cultural renaissance has been a linguistic rediscovery as grassroots revival efforts have spearheaded the rebirth and growth of Scottish Gaelic and Scots. For a title to be released on Steam, for a game to force Valve to modify the language requirements of their whole platform, is a colossal achievement for this little indie game. I also love the sense of linguistic playfulness this breathes into those beautiful languages. Why not "have a wee swatch" at your objectives? Lots of resources in both Scots and Gaelic can feel a little dry or dated, infected with the grey Calvinist spirit of the nation. It feels timely, alongside the release of a sci-fi novel written in the Orcadian dialect, that we can start to see playful, fun, video games released in our own languages. This brings Scots and Gaelic screeching into the 21st (fine, maybe the late-20th) century! Much like the way the aforementioned Aphex Twin played with the Cornish language in dance music, this game breathes life and joy into what can be considered musty or past-it languages by more boring and conservative commentators, and imagines alternative realities where these languages already had mass support and speakership. As such, it's hard to overstate my excitement at seeing a release like this add to the growing canon of these languages. Lastly, this game functions as an interesting piece of satire at a strange stage in Scotland's political history. Nearly 10 years ago, we voted No to leaving the United Kingdom, leaving almost half the country who voted Yes feeling trapped, looking on with desperation at the UK's neoliberal right wing kamikaze mission. We are now in the purgatory before an inevitable second independence referendum, and the sense of Scottishness has solidified for many folk who want to see themselves living in a smaller, kinder, greener nation - one that they could hopefully build to be better at heart than our rotten Imperial past while the English lion refuses to concede its throne and convulses in its death throes. We have watched a procession of zombie Prime Ministers steer us against our will towards the void from their polished offices in Westminster and we have been powerless to stop them as they suck the life out of our communities and impose harsher and crueller austerity and anti-migrant policies on us. Imagining that we have a secret agent fighting our corner against this imperial violence satisfies a certain wish fulfilment as a progressive Scot, as I'm sure it will for many others. Buy this braw game, my friends, yous willnae be disappointit!

So far, this game is okay! The aiming is a little shaky, but nothing too bad It definitely doesn't take itself very seriously The art style and all looks pretty nostalgic despite the fact I've never played a single Goldeneye game before It's also great this has voice acting Overall, from all what I played so far: For something made by 1 guy, it's not bad! 7/10

I'm weak for goldeneye looka like games, N64 style is amazing. I would recommend this very much. 10/10