By Sam Coles:
James Bond has to be one of my favourite set of
action spy films with the over top antics of 007 with great action and
ridiculous villains. You would think that it would translate well in video
games right? Well there have been a lot of good Bond games after Goldeneye on
the N64. Games like Nightfire, Agent Under fire and hell even the movie tie in
for Quantum of Solace. In 2010 Activision thought they would remake one of the
most beloved Bond games on the Wii which was good but it was let down by the
Wii’s graphics and controls, so they did the sensible thing and polished it up
for Xbox 360 and PS3.
You play as 007 where you are investigating a
corrupt Russian military general named Ourumov who is under investigation for
selling military grade hardware on the black market. There is also and EMP
weapon known as the Goldeneye to wipe out Europe’s banks so he can syphon the
accounts. The game has a typical plot of any Bond story but it always works
because it’s back up with great action and fun and over the top characters.
The gameplay is a first person shooter like its N64
counterpart but has been tweaked for modern times because to be honest the
original N64 Goldeneye has aged terrible with muddy textures and awful frame
rate. You have your standard point and shoot at things where you can carry
three weapons at once, it also has stealth sections where you can sneak through
and gain the advantage or if you’re like me you go through like a mad man and
gun down anything that moves. In my opinion the controls have a similar feel to
Call of Duty which doesn’t surprise me as it’s published by Activision, the COD
formula fits James Bond because 007 has the scripted sequences like COD but it
works here because unlike the Call of Duty series it doesn’t take itself seriously.
The presentation is great and varied with different
locales from across the globe from the rain soaked Dam in Russia to the neon
lit night club in Spain. The graphics have been an extra boost with HD visuals
so the weather effects look more believable even down to the moist skin
textures on the character models when it’s raining. Sound design is a mix bag
because some guns sound awesome, but others sound absolutely pathetic especially
your standard issue P99 pistol which sounds like someone slap cardboard against
a wall.
There is a multiplayer mode online and offline, but
the game is pretty much dead online and you’ll get more fun out of the local
multiplayer like the old days. It’s fun to grab three friends and gun each
other down as you eat pizza and chug a few bottles of beer which is endless
evening entertainment.
The nit-picks I have with this game is that the auto
aiming system is really annoying because it sticks to targets like super glue
and you end up aiming at something you don’t want to be aiming at, I would
advise turning it off.
Overall Goldeneye Reloaded is a bombastic and over
the top shooter which takes elements from Call of Duty and executes it well.
The game and the Wii version are CoD clones. Remember the Goldeneye 64 remaster that was going to be on Xbox Live Arcade? That was cancelled thanks to Nintendo. THAT Goldeneye game should had been released instead of a CoD remake.
ReplyDeleteNintendo have nothing to do with it they don't own Goldeneye if that was the case they would not have been able to release Perfect Dark on XBLA.
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