Platform: PC
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Retro

Indie team-made shooters these days love to pay tribute to classic first-person shooter titles like Doom and Quake while also adding in their own flair and gimmick(s) to them. But what if you’re just one developer who really just want a PC-and-2026-era version of a 90s console shooter akin to GoldenEye 007/GoldenEye 64 back on the Nintendo 64 console with its weird-but-somehow-game-changing analog controller? You get Agent 64: Spies Never Die, a decent homage to the 90s console shooters of yore.

Die Another Day

As you play through Agent 64’s 14 spy missions as Agent John Walter, you start appreciating how authentic the shooter captures the feel and auto-aiming bits from GoldenEye 64. In fact, the music and graphics are just 60 frames-per-second-and-more upgrades that weren’t possible on classic hardware. The campaign wastes no time throwing you in the thick of things, as you gun down rogue agents and guards while searching for keycards and important items, then making your getaway.

If you want a challenge, just bump up the difficulty and you’ll get more objectives per stage to complete while dealing with swarms of bad guys coming after you. The game’s retro appeal and structure makes these extra objectives a tad simplistic to do, but it does feel accurate and just makes you focus on the running and gunning. Some missions have you keeping your weapon holstered until the inevitable shootout (lest you fail and start again), but most of the time it’s keeping things simple. And possibly repetitive; the game’s plot doesn’t make it any better since it is as cookie-cutter as you expect.

At the very least, the shooting is really fun and fast-paced, keeping the auto-aim feel when you’re on the controller or just use manual aim if you prefer to keep things accurate. Parts of the environment do blow up and are destructible, making way for more areas to keep enemies out in the open while you’re using either you uzis or explosives to kill them all. And when you’re done with the campaign, you can grab a friend and try out multiplayer mode. These include Arena mode, co-op, and Challenges which hearken back to the days when FPSs have zany modes meant to be replayed with friends locally.

Spy Hard

Agent 64 is clearly hearkening back to the glory days of console shooters ala Goldeneye 64, wearing its inspiration loud and proud on its sleeve. While it may not entice other FPS players who were into Quake back in that same 90s era, it nonetheless delivers the goods and action for its intended audience. It’s not going to change your mind about how “primitive” Nintendo 64-built shooters are, but it has its moments of shooting goodness. This is especially impressive as it’s one person making all of this.

Final Score: 60/100