Agent 64: Spies Never Die Review – A Commendable Tribute

If there’s any compliment that I could give Agent 64: Spies Never Die, it’s that I haven’t been hit with such a wave of nostalgia since last year’s Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. Many a day was spent in my youth playing and replaying GoldenEye 007, whether the supremely underrated multiplayer or the campaign and its many quirks (including trying to reach that dam isle). It’s probably the sole reason why I even got into James Bond films.

But even with the polygonal models plastered with real-ish faces that nod along all the time, the aim assist that magnetizes towards targets, the actual aiming that feels downright clunky in this age of first-person shooters, and how closely it mimics the overall flow, Agent 64 is not that game. And expecting it to live up to that, especially when so many bigger developers and publishers have tried and failed, isn’t the best way to go in.

As a throwback to that gameplay, it’s successful. However, as its own experience, there are definitely highs and lows. Occasionally, it feels like the GoldenEye mechanics do much of the heavy lifting to make this an enjoyable experience. If you can accept that, Agent 64 might be a worthwhile retro shooter to while away a weekend or three.

"If you can keep all those caveats in mind, there is a boomer shooter feel to the mayhem, as you stagger enemies and gun them down before they even have a chance to get a shot off."

Except when it comes to the story. You play as John Walter, a secret agent who’s minding his own business and playing Nintendo 64 in his lush penthouse when suddenly, goons led by Dominic Pulp arrive to steal some “key.” He fights them off, naturally, and ends up captured, wherein he rendezvouses with his daughter. They set out to give chase to Pulp, learning about his motive and the larger organization behind him.

I wasn’t necessarily expecting compelling characterizations or voice acting (not that Agent 64 has any of the latter). Nor did I expect much of a cohesive flow between missions (which there thankfully is). Regardless, if you’re going in expecting some deeply impactful story, much less one that’s self-aware beyond a few Nintendo 64 references, you won’t find it here. Then again, it’s the missions and gameplay that made the original GoldenEye, and that remains the case here.

For starters, there are no health pickups or checkpoints in levels. You’ll need to pick up body armor, and on higher difficulties, there’s almost none. Aim assist is a must, both because of the lack of a crosshair and bullet spread. You can still hold down the right mouse button for more precise shots, but it feels just as unwieldy as the old days.

Long story short, the goal is to play through a level on a lower difficulty, learn the layout, and then attempt it again on at least Super Agent. It’s anyways required to earn enough Cyphers to unlock later acts. If you can keep all those caveats in mind, there is a boomer shooter feel to the mayhem, as you stagger enemies and gun them down before they even have a chance to get a shot off. Hanging behind corners, waiting for the right time to pop out, can sometimes get tense on the higher difficulties.

The actual missions, however, are fine, rarely approaching memorable. There is the odd scenario where you need to get a guard outfit and put it on manually – leading to a hilarious moment where I hadn’t done so in front of the enemy who had to open the door. They called reinforcements and just as I put the outfit on, they returned from whence they came, and all was well. Of course, upon calling the freight elevator, all the guards shortly turned hostile anyway, but I digress.

"Sometimes, enemies will react, swarming you very quickly. In such situations, the solution often involves heading back through the previous door and gunning them down as they pass through."

You’ll spend a hefty amount of time gunning down enemies, occasionally tossing explosives onto gate chains or a terminal and hacking a computer with – what else but – the hacktool. Some interesting twists involve fighting a helicopter with a rocket launcher or infiltrating an art museum to patch into a conference before spying on the same from above, and they’re fine, though not particularly exciting.

The AI can also feel inconsistent when it’s not outright dumb. Aside from the variety of foes, which feels about as repetitive as can be, their difficulty is tied directly to their aim. On Agent, they couldn’t hit the broad side of a space shuttle, even when you’re mere feet away. Super Agent cranks this up to a more balanced degree, and it’s here that level layout, combined with their placements, is put to the test. Some additional objectives are also thrown into the mix, so something like, say, the museum, which requires mostly clandestine work, will have a multi-level firefight thrown in where you need to recover some art pieces. That’s all well and good.

The problem is their overall reactions, and I’m not talking about the stylish little roll that adds nothing to their survivability. Some enemies will have clear line of sight but not become aware of your presence unless you cross a certain threshold. I ran into two enemies, both looking in the same direction, one on a higher level. The one on the ground didn’t spot me after a certain point, but the elevated one did. Solution? Take out the one above from a different angle. Will his falling body alert his comrade below? Of course not.

But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, enemies will react, swarming you very quickly. In such situations, the solution often involves heading back through the previous door and gunning them down as they pass through. In other cases, even with unsilenced weapons, they’ll go about their business without a care in the world despite the body count going up. Boss can’t be paying all that well, after all.

"If Agent 64: Spies Never Die, it’s that nostalgia can only really carry an experience so far. But in this case, it’s far enough, with the mission and level design coexisting well with the more archaic elements."

Beyond the Story (which also supports co-op), there are Contracts. Some of these require shooting hidden faces in previous levels, which then unlock special Paradox Mode versions set in the same. For example, Arcade Survivor turns the first level into a survival exercise where you need to keep killing enemies as quickly as possible to extend the timer long enough to extract. Another leaves you with only melee attacks while significantly increasing their damage. The same death timer rules apply, but it’s on the highest difficulty for laughs.

Of course, there’s also a dedicated Challenges mode which involves partaking in Arena battles against different CPU types. Completing the latter unlocks them as bots in multiplayer, and credit where it’s due: there is a pretty robust range of options, from CPU difficulty and starting weapons to available weapon pickups, match types, and so on. I don’t see it having much of a future in the competitive online space, whether it’s in the rudimentary map design or the actual balance, but it can offer some fun chaos now and again with bots.

If Agent 64: Spies Never Die, it’s that nostalgia can only really carry an experience so far. But in this case, it’s far enough, with the mission and level design coexisting well with the more archaic elements. As an homage to a shooter that defined a generation and Bond games for many years to come, it can be enjoyable, and should offer more than enough content for anyone who really wants to earn their 007 status – I mean, 64 Agent stripes.

This game was reviewed on PC.