Ask any movie critic, remakes are a tricky proposition. Even when the director puts his own spin on the source material, there is still the shadow of the original getting in the way. No matter how good the remake is, chances are it won't have the impact of the original and will ultimately be seen as unnecessary. Unfortunately all of the worst traits about movie remakes apply to video games. Eurocom's GoldenEye 007 is a competent first-person shooter with a fun multiplayer component, yet it fails to deliver the same experience we fell in love with on the Nintendo 64.
I don't envy Eurocom's job. They were tasked with remaking one of the most beloved first-person shooters of all time. It's like being asked to remake Citizen Kane. This was a game that defined the Nintendo 64 and proved once and for all that the fledgling first-person shooter genre could not only exist, but be amazing on a home console. Flash forward fifteen years and you'll find the games industry in a completely different mindset. First-person shooters are the standard and there hasn't been a good James Bond movie in years. The developers were set up for failure right from the get-go.
For the most part the GoldenEye 007 remake is a success. It's not the must-play event of the year like the first game, but it does a reasonably good job transforming that game into something playable by today's standards. As a Wii game it was able to stand out, thanks in large part to the lack of high quality first-person shooters available on Nintendo's platform. Unfortunately, Activision's re-remake for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 isn't nearly as intriguing the third time around.
In case you missed both the Wii game and Nintendo 64 original, GoldenEye 007 tells the story of James Bond as he travels around the world trying to track down a diabolical madman who is trying to steal the GoldenEye satellite and wreak havoc on the global financial industry. The game closely follows the events of the 1995Pierce Brosnan film, which means you'll find yourself shooting at enemies in Russia, Monte Carlo, Africa and other exotic locales. You'll see forests, train wrecks, underground lairs and lots similar looking bad guys trying to take you out. There are enough twists and turns to turn an otherwise mundane Bond story into something compelling from one level to the next.
Even though the game bears the GoldenEye name, it's really the Call of Duty franchise that deserves a lot of the credit. While this is not the over-the-top rollercoaster ride of Modern Warfare 3 or Black Ops, it shares many of the same gameplay mechanics you've come to know and love from Activision's top-selling franchise. As a shooter, the game excels in a way the original Nintendo 64 game could only dream of. Things are exploding constantly, enemies are getting gunned down and the environments are bursting with life. And yet, as good as this is as a first-person shooter, I couldn't help but feel the disconnect between this game and the decades of James Bond fiction.
I'm probably in the minority here, but there's something about the first-person shooter genre that doesn't fit the spirit of James Bond. Just because the original Nintendo 64 game was a hugely successful first-person shooter, that shouldn't mean that all James Bond games need to follow suit. This emphasis on action makes 007 feel more like a soldier than a spy, which completely misses the point of classic Bond movies. This game, like all Bond games from the last ten years, skips the spy stuff for non-stop action.
What's even more frustrating to this longtime 007 fan is the lack of cool gadgetry. Oh sure, Bond (who is now played by Daniel Craig) has a cell phone that takes pictures, but that's about the extent of the cool items at his disposal. Adding Q's gadgets to play around with would have made all the difference, allowing the user to toy with enemies and tackle each fight in different ways. That's one of the reasons everybody raves about Batman: Arkham City. But alas, this is just another first-person shooter wearing James Bond's tux.
The level designs aren't bad, with a few standout stages towards the end. GoldenEye 007 Reloaded features more sneaking opportunities than most Activision shooters, though I wouldn't go as far as to call it a stealth game. Each stage features both a main objective and at least one other side mission. The optional side missions will have you taking pictures of top secret weapons, overriding gun turrets, opening crates and more. Too often they devolve into nothing more than using your cell phone's camera to scan the room.
The various boss fights towards the end of the game also left me cold. After spending most of the game first-person shooting, the boss fights are reduced to annoying quick time events. What's even more annoying is how the game seems to change the rules at the very end. These moments may look cool, but it's hard to watch them when you're spending the whole sequence watching the bottom of the screen for button prompts.
Beyond the impressive single-player campaign, gamers will be met with a number of exciting multiplayer modes. The most interesting addition is the MI6 Ops mode. This offering mimics Modern Warfare 3's Spec Ops mode, which includes unique scenarios set in familiar locations. The different tasks are separated into three different types, including a stealth mode (if anybody sees you it's game over), a defense mode (where you defend various points on the map) and an all-out action mode (where you rush through a level killing people). These levels are best when played with friends, as it is extremely difficult getting the better scores as a solo player.
As much fun as the original campaign was, it's the multiplayer mode that made the Nintendo 64 original so memorable. I was happy to see the same amount of emphasis placed on this re-remake. There are over a dozen different modes, including some of the greatest hits from the 1997 shooter. The player is given more items to play around with in the multiplayer modes, but it still feels like the game misses the boat when it comes to gadgets. Much like recent Call of Duty games (and basically every other first-person shooter), players will level up and earn new modes. This doesn't have the staying power of the original game, but there's still a lot of great competitive action to be found in GoldenEye 007 Reloaded.
Staying power is certainly one of those things this GoldenEye has a problem with. For whatever reason, Activision decided to position this title at the worst possible time. This game hits stores a week after the much-anticipated Battlefield 3 and a week before Activision's very own Modern Warfare 3. It's hard to imagine this game building the online community it deserves with that kind of competition.
Also troubling is the price point. Sixty dollars seems a bit steep for what amounts to a remake of a year old Wii game. The graphics have been upgraded, but they still have the flatness found in the 2010 original. Compared to other games released this year at the same price, Bond can't compete. A slightly reduced price would have made this remake a little easier to recommend.
GoldenEye 007 Reloaded is a competent shooter that delivers exactly what it promises. Unfortunately, it can't compete with most modern Xbox 360 first-person shooters. The graphics are flat and the game is simply too expensive for what it delivers. There's a good game to be found in this re-remake, but that doesn't mean you should buy this over Modern Warfare 3.
