GoldenEye 007: Reloaded Review

Today’s gamers are enamored by Call of Duty and Battlefield, but nearly fifteen years ago the shooter to play a Rare title on the Nintendo 64. That game was GoldenEye 007, a James Bond game based on the 1995 movie. While Pierce Brosnan is no longer James Bond and the Nintendo 64 is probably busy collecting dust in most people’s closets, GoldenEye lives on the form of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, a next-generation port of a remake that was released on the Wii in 2010.

The first thing you will notice when playing GoldenEye is that it is not a direct remake of the original game, but a reimagining of it. The developers, likely through the movie studios not wanting to confuse audiences with a past Bond, decided to cast Daniel Craig as the lead character. While the snub to Pierce Brosnan is a letdown, they at least updated the game with a storyline that is based in modern-day and features the likeness as well as voice-acting of Daniel Craig.

Purists will probably be upset with this fact and to see them alter the storyline of one of the best James Bond movies is almost like having some hack author alter a Mark Twain novel. That being said, next-gen consoles are capable of better storytelling than the Nintendo 64 ever was. Whereas you had to rely on reading “top secret” files before each mission in the classic game, the remake has cut-scenes and voice-acting to aid with storytelling.

The storyline is not the only change that they made. The levels have been changed as well with some being completely removed, such as Silo, while others have been added (a night club). The most enjoyable experiences will come when you see re-created favorites such as the Dam, Facility, Archives and Cradle (which oddly enough is now a solar power plant in Africa instead of the GoldenEye satellite dish in Cuba that it was in the original).

Compared to modern shooters, GoldenEye actually stacks up quite favorably in the single-player compartment. The level design is still solid and fun to play. The guns are varied and can be picked up as you need them, up to three at a time. If you have a PlayStation Move you can play with motion controls as well. Whether or not you play with motion controls, though, the shooting handles very nicely. It’s simple and intuitive to aim for the head. The only complaint I have with the controls is the fact that when you are crouched behind cover, you automatically stand up when using your sights.

Of course, if you want to play stealthily as a real spy would, that is also an option. You can sneak up on an enemy and melee them silently or if you have a pack of guys, pull out a silencer and go for the head. Unfortunately there are points in the game where it seems like a stealth route simply is not possible. Other times the AI will take notice of you even when they should not. You can tell that the AI was designed for a Wii game. It should have been a priority to upgrade their intelligence for the PS3 and 360.

The multi-player was probably the biggest draw of the original GoldenEye. The Wii version had decent multi-player that could be played offline or online. The same is true of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, except it allows for more people to play online. I find it to be a little outdated. You can choose different characters and weapon loadouts, but it is unbalanced, especially when you have little Oddjob running around while going up against a giant like Jaws.

As far as visuals go there has not been a huge upgrade from the Wii version. In fact, I think it is fair to say that there was no upgrade at all except for the fact that it is now in HD. The game suffers from blocky shapes and muddy textures as well. The fire and water effects will remind you of PS2 games. Still I have to give them credit since it holds up relatively well for what was a Wii game before. I have sadly seen worse on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The best thing that I can say about GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is that despite playing the Wii game, I was still interested in beating the campaign a second time on PS3. If you never got a chance to play GoldenEye 007 on the Wii then Reloaded is worth at least a rental. The Wii version of the game came out just last year with Game Freaks 365 giving it an 8.5 out of 10 for its solid gameplay and fairly good graphics (at least by Wii standards). All of that is still intact with an entertaining campaign and multi-player that is at least above average, although certainly not great. A new MI6 mode adds a few hours of gameplay that the Wii version lacked. GoldenEye 007 is the best Bond game that Activision has released to date.