bond game fails to shake or stir for gaming fans  the word goldeneye evokes excited memories not only of the james bond revival flick of 1995  but also the classic shoot-em-up that accompanied it and left n64 owners glued to their consoles for many an hour.  adopting that hallowed title somewhat backfires on this new game  for it fails to deliver on the promise of its name and struggles to generate the original s massive sense of fun. this however is not a sequel  nor does it relate to the goldeneye film. you are the eponymous renegade spy  an agent who deserts to the bond world s extensive ranks of criminal masterminds  after being deemed too brutal for mi6. your new commander-in-chief is the portly auric goldfinger  last seen in 1964  but happily running around bent on world domination. with a determination to justify its name which is even less convincing than that of tina turner s similarly-titled theme song  the game literally gives the player a golden eye following an injury  which enables a degree of x-ray vision.  rogue agent signals its intentions by featuring james bond initially and proceeding to kill him off within moments  squashed by a plummeting helicopter. the notion is of course to add a novel dark edge to a 007 game  but the premise simply does not get the juices flowing like it needs to.  recent bond games like nightfire and everything or nothing were very competent and did a fine job of capturing the sense of flair  invention and glamour of the film franchise. this title lacks that aura  and when the bond magic shines through  it feels like a lucky accident. the central problem is that the gameplay just is not good enough. quite aside from the bizarre inability to jump  the even more bizarre glaring graphical bugs and dubious enemy ai  the levels simply are not put together with much style or imagination. admittedly the competition has been tough  even in recent weeks  with the likes of halo 2 and half life 2 triumphing in virtually every department. what the game is good at is enveloping you in noisy  dynamic scenes of violent chaos. as is the trend of late  you are made to feel like you are in the midst of a really messy and fraught encounter. sadly that sense of action is outweighed by the difficulty of navigating and battling within the chaos  meaning that frustration is often the outcome. and irregular save points mean you have to backtrack each time you are killed. a minute red dot passes for a crosshair  although the collision-detection is so suspect that the difficulties of aiming weapons are compensated for. shooting enemies from a distance can be tricky  and you will not always know you have picked them off  since dead enemies vanish literally before they have fully hit the floor  and they do so in some woefully uninspiring death animations. it is perhaps indicative of a lack of confidence that the game maker s allow you several different weapons almost immediately and throw you quickly into raging firefights - no time is risked with a measured build-up.  by far the most satisfying element of the game is seeing old favourites like dr no  goldfinger  hat-fiend oddjob and crazed russian sex beast xenia onatopp resurrected after all these years  and with their faces rendered in an impressively recognisable fashion.  there is a real thrill from doing battle with these legendary villains  and it is a testament to the power of the bond universe that they can cut such a dash. but the in-game niggles  combined with a story and presentation that just do not feel sufficiently well thought-through  will make this a disappointment for most. diehard fans of bond will probably find enough here to make it a worthwhile purchase and try to ignore the failings. the game is weak  not completely unplayable. then again  007 fanatics may also take umbrage at the cavalier blending of characters from different eras. given james bond s healthy pedigree in past games  there is every reason to hope that this is just a blip  a commendable idea that just has not worked  that will be rectified when the character inevitably makes his return.  goldeneye: rogue agent is out now