Playing as Oddjob in the multiplayer mode of Goldeneye 007 is cheating, said the game's developers themselves, placing an end to the debate on whether the character was just unique or simply unfair.
Released in 1997, Goldeneye 007 for Nintendo 64 was a breakthrough game for a variety of reasons, one of which was its four-player, split-screen multiplayer mode. However, one of the selectable characters in the mode, Oddjob, stirred plenty of debate, and was often banned among groups of friends playing the game.
Oddjob Is 'Blatant Cheating' In 'Goldeneye 007' Multiplayer
Among all the Goldeneye 007 multiplayer characters, Oddjob was the most controversial due to his size. As a very short character, the game's auto-aim system would send bullets flying over him. Opponents, therefore, had to manually aim their shots downward, which was not an easy thing to do in a game that was released in 1997.
Now, 21 years after Goldeneye 007 was released for the Nintendo 64, the game's developers have finally confirmed that playing as Oddjob is cheating, in an interview with Mel Magazine.
"We all thought it was kind of cheating when we were play-testing with Oddjob, but it was too much fun to take out and there was no impetus from any of us to change it," said lead environment artist Karl Hilton.
"It's definitely cheating to play as Oddjob! But that can just add to the fun when you're all sitting there next to each other and berating/poking/hitting the person who chooses him," said gameplay and engine programmer Mark Edmonds. "We could have put something in to stop this blatant cheating, but why not just let players decide on their own rules?"
While Oddjob remains an interesting quirk in a game that was ahead of its time, players who are still enjoying Goldeneye 007 will now have a legitimate reason to make their friends stop picking the diminutive character.
'Goldeneye 007' Still Popular
The Nintendo 64 has long been discontinued, and the game's graphics shows its age, but Goldeneye 007 remains popular among certain groups of players up to this day.
Players are still trying to break Goldeneye 007 speedrunning records, such as a 15-year-old record that was broken in December, and are even creating Goldeneye 007 mods to inject fresh perspectives in the game, such as the one that replaced the game's characters with those from Super Mario 64.
A lot of better first-person shooters have since been released, but Goldeneye 007 will forever hold its place in video game history.
