October 21, 2004 - GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is fast on arrival. In about one month, EA's evil Bond game will be in the hands of players not already fascinated/obsessed/knocked out by some other inconspicuous first-person shooters looming around the corner.

With an eye on exploring the game's integral components, we've connected with Electronic Arts' Adam Isgreen, the Multiplayer Lead Designer on the project, who explains not only why the deathtraps are cool, but why they'll work, and how they'll make the multiplayer levels even more fun than a pool filled with sharks laser beams tied to their heads. Isgreen has worked on several games before, including Earth & Beyond, and the Command & Conquer series, the most recent game being Zero Hour).

IGN: The Bond movies are filled with a myriad of bone-chilling deathtraps. So my most pressing question is this: Will there be pools filled sharks with frickin' laser beams on their heads?

Adam Isgreen: Pools with sharks, yes. Laser beams?! Bah! Laser beams are so '90s.

IGN: Deathtraps often seem like overly scripted tricks, rather than workable realtime gameplay tools. What makes them work? And I don't mean which button makes each work, I mean what part of the level design coerces the player into wanting and needing to use a deathtrap? I know it's fun to use them, but in the heat of battle aren't players more likely to throw a grenade or use a special weapon instead?

Adam: Our levels are laid out to make deathtraps both accessible and strategic. The balance of the environment (physical space to move around, location of weapons, etc.) versus the location of the deathtraps makes them likely to be used. If you want that really good weapon, you've got to cross some dangerous spaces sometimes. Deathtraps are also a great way to limit an enemy player's options -- I can close off escape routes and divide your attention, giving me an advantage. With the EM Hack eye power you have, hitting deathtraps can be done at range, so even the inconvenience of getting over to the switch has been eliminated, making them easy to access.

IGN: What if I wanted to set up a straight-forward level? Are there options to turn off deathtraps in the multiplayer menu?

Adam: Yes. You can turn all the deathtraps in any given level off from the advanced setup options. We have a bunch of options to let you customize the match, including custom weapon sets, game modifiers (You Only Live Twice, The Man with the Golden Gun, etc.) and even some cheats that you can unlock and turn on/off.

IGN: What kinds of deathtraps do you have working, and which ones do you think work the best? Why?

Adam: We're a regular department store of deathtraps! Electrocution, toxic pools, sharks, toxic exhaust, giant pistons, trapdoors, spikes, automated turrets, Al Capone in Francisco Scaramanga's Funhouse map, crushers, firepits... you name it, we got it. The spike room in the Funhouse is one of my favorites, simply because everyone always seems to want that golden gun, which is surrounded by a pit of lethal spikes.