Historically, most videogames based on movies suck balls. In 1997 that trend took a sharp turn when Rare games introduced one of the first ever multiplayer first person shooters for a console system, which also happened to be based on the first Pierce Brosnan version of the James Bond 007 film: Goldeneye. We could say that the unpredictable success that was to come of this film-game was based on the simple fact that nintendo had insisted on adding a total of 4 controllers to the new Nintendo 64 system, which brought console gaming up to speed with what computer games had already developing for some time. Many a nights in ’97 were spent til 4am with my brothers and I grinding out battles in real time amid the toilet stalls of the facility. Goldeneye64 was an unforgettable game.
Fast forward to 2010. Eurocom releases a bolstered remake of Goldeneye starring Daniel Craig instead of Pierce Brosnan. Although updated graphics and responsive controls make this game a strong title for new generation gamers, for someone like myself trying to create that 4am feeling of 1997, this game falls miserably short in the fun factor area, making it one of the greatest letdowns and certainly anti climactic time wasters in the annals of video game history. So its no surprise that 2 days after buying this game, I turned back to what I felt was the legitimate successor of the 007 franchise: an unexpected classic: 007 Nightfire.
Originally released in 2002 on Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, PS2 and PC platforms, 007: Nightfire was understandably invisible next to the juggernauts of FPS games of its time, dominated mostly by PC gamers. As time went by, however; gamers realized a sort of special quality to Nightfire’s multiplayer mode. 10 years later: there it sits on every shelf for every console in almost any game store you enter, and still making money. To try and revisit Goldeneye 64 is frustrating by 2012 standards, without the ability to even jump, the grudgingly slow refresh rate and overall sluggish movement of the characters, makes this classic (while still funner than the remake) almost unplayable. Nightfire is quite the opposite! You find levels such as skyrail and ravine very in-line with twitchy shooters to be released around the same time like Wolfenstein and Quake. The innovative weapons and AI control also reminiscent of Perfect Dark (recently re-released btw) and Turok. Even games like Modern Warfare have taken the concepts of drone helicopters like we see in Nightfire and expanded the idea to what is now the standard in FPS games. This game has its heap of problems too: AI, even for the time period, were still very undeveloped almost to a pathetic degree, glitches galore exist throughout the game, and an certain oversights leave the weapons and gadgets in this game EXTREMELY unbalanced. Although obvious lag still occurs regularly in multiplayer mode, and granted: the single player campaign operates like a dollar store computer disk for toddlers. But in terms of downright “fun” 007: Nightfire joins the ranks of Halo, Counterstrike, Star Wars: Battlefront and Quake as one of the greatest multiplayer games ever created.
So a few of my friends got together and decided that for the 10 year anniversary of 007: Nightfire we would dust off the old consoles and spend a few weeks brushing up on the controls and have a little friendly tournament. Thus the very first 007 Nightfire Friendly was born.
Rules and info:
This event will take place in a meeting room at the Salt Lake City Downtown Library on February 2nd 2012 to start at or around 5pm. There are 3 technical categories, 1 Player Bot Dispute (Team Arena vs Bots), 2 Player Deathmatch (Team Arena), and 4 Player Split Screen Deathmatch (Arena), the rules of each which are found in the paragraphs to follow, changes to certain rules will require a majority vote among participants, final decisions determined by the master of ceremonies. We want to explore the imbalanced functions of this game, and therefore will be allowing certain options and cheats, but we also want to make this a fun and competitive event for everyone so we are allowing each match to be altered mildly accordingly by the participants given the approval of the MC. This is a free event open to the public but limited competitor slots are available to first 12 people. First come, first serve. To guarantee entry send an email by febrary 1st to jgreathouse1 at gmail.com. All players must compete in a rank determining 1 player qualifying match before participating in multiplayer deathmatches. In any multiplayer matchup, the player with the highest rank is considered the “Home” and the challenging player with the lower rank considered “Visitor”, in the event of any tie, a coin toss will determine the winner.
All Divisions:
RADAR: OFF
AUTO-AIM: OFF
LOCATION DMG: ON
FRIENDLY FIRE: ON
SINGLE PLAYER BOT DISPUTE (all consoles):
Team Arena
GRAPPLING: OFF
All Characters
All Cheats
Respawn: Random
Drones: Random
10 Mins
50 Kills
The objective of a bot dispute match, is for a player to create a bot or team of bots that they themselves can kill, but their opponent cannot. Home player picks the bot team (1-4 bots) for visitor to fight, also picks the level, visitor picks the weapons used. Visitor gets 10 minutes to rack up as many kills as possible, then at the end of the match passes to the Home player (unless their are 2 systems available in which case players will compete simultaneously) who will try to get a greater number of kills using the same settings as the home player (with the exception of control scheme). The default console for this division is Playstation 2, and all console versions are welcome, however; if a player wishes to compete on a different console version they should bring their own equipment.
Scoring: each Bot dispute match victory is worth 1 point.
4 PLAYER SPLIT SCREEN DEATHMATCH (PS2):
ARENA
All levels
Main Characters Only
All Cheats
Gun placements: Random
Drones: Random
Respawn: Random
Explosive scenery: ON
10 Mins
50 Kills
Characters are chosen in order according to rank.
The objective of a split screen deathmatch is to kill as many other players as possible in a ten minute time period. Home player picks the level, visitor (the next highest ranking player) picks the weapons. In case of a tie the winner will be the player with the least amount of deaths. If no clear winner is still decided, the highest ranking player wins by default. Players of equal rank, deaths and kills will simply coin toss to decide the winner.
Scoring: Each Split Screen Deathmatch victory is worth 1 point.
If a player reaches 50 kills before the 10 minute time period, he/she is awarded a free restart to be used in any future 4 player deathmatch.
2 Player Split Screen Deathmatch (PS2):
Team Arena
All levels
All characters
All Cheats
Gun placements: Random
Drones: Random
Respawn: Random
Explosive scenery: ON
10 Mins
25 Kills
Characters are chosen in order according to rank.
The objective of a split screen deathmatch is to kill as many other players as possible in a ten minute time period. Home player picks the level, visitor (the next highest ranking player) picks the weapons. In case of a tie the winner will be the player with the least amount of deaths. If no clear winner is still decided, the highest ranking player wins by default. Players of equal rank, deaths and kills will simply coin toss to decide the winner. Since Nightfire on playstation doesnt allow system linking, ideally each player should have their own screen with the opponents screen covered up.
Scoring: each 2 player deathmatch victory is worth 1 point.
If a player reaches 25 kills before the 10 minute time period, he/she is awarded a free restart to be used in any future 2 player deathmatch.
Overall Scoring:
The player with the most amount of match points wins. In the case of a tie: the player with the highest kill per game average wins (rounding down to the nearest tenth if necessary).
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