Starting with the bad, this game shouldn't have been released in the state it is in. It most definitely feels rushed; at best it should have had another three months of development. At worst, it should never have been released at all.

It really is quite sad to see how far the "GoldenEye" label fell with this game, considering the original GoldenEye was like a god marching among the mere mortals on the battlefields of Middle-Earth...er, wrong universe. The plot of the game is very possibly its strength and weakness at the same time. It starts with a very creative mash-up of the past Bond villains and locations, with Goldfinger and Dr. No running a large criminal organization to (of course) very sinister ends. Now it breaks down. Your character comes into the picture as a would-be 00 agent in training. After failing a training exercise, you are deemed a liability and drummed out in no particularly memorable fashion. Disillusioned and out for revenge, you join up with the bad boys and go on a rampage, at one point losing your eye to a mischievious Dr. No and gaining a gold-colored cybernetic eye. Hence your character earns the unimaginative and cliche nickname "GoldenEye."

About there the thinly veiled cliches end, but the game doesn't improve too much. The graphics are simple, even for the DS's capabilities. I understand this game is early, and the platform's abilities aren't fully realized, but even so, it makes me cringe a bit while I play. Seriously, it makes me feel like I'm playing Duke Nukem 3D at 640x480 resolution with a defective Gravis Gamepad. On the other hand, the FPS controls are dead on, thanks to the ingenious use of the touchpad as a pseudo-joystick. Problem is the bullets aren't as accurate as the screen. In fact, I have managed to miss man-sized targets at distance of a mere ten feet with a gun despite impeccable aim.

Speaking of the touchscreen, it is a blessing and a curse of its own. It allows for extremely precise aiming as I mentioned earlier (not that it compensates for the hit detection), and also allows the placement of several on-screen functions that otherwise would not work with the limited buttons of the DS. You can pick up weapons based on which slot you tap on, meaning you can double up on pistols and small one-handed weapons but not rifles or larger firearms. There are other functions tied to your Golden Eye, such as an X-ray and an EMP. While these abilities are nice to have, the tiny on-screen buttons make it very difficult to make use of them in combat, and their use in-game feels forced (the first time you use the X-ray, you are locked in a room and have to know where the guards are to kill them quickly). A bit of tweaking here would have been appreciated.

In the sound department, there is no good news to speak of. This again harkens old memories, this time of playing Wolfenstein 3-D back in the day when stereo sound was revolutionary. There is very little in the way of music, which might be a good thing since it wouldn't be much more complex than Super Mario World at any rate.

At best, this is a mediocre game that can keep you occupied until another FPS is released for the DS platform. At worst...don't buy it. Just don't. It's decent, nothing more.