Goldeneye: Reloaded Review

Console: Xbox 360

Release Date:  November 1^st 2011

Review Date: January 9^th 2012

Reviewer: Jon

Pros

*Another chance to play as James Bond

*Follows the plot of the  1995 Bond film Goldeneye

*Quite a bit of content here

* Plays right into the nostalgia factor majority of the time

* Gun play feels solid 

 

Cons

*Enemies take more bullets to kill than I would like

*Multiplayer is lackluster

*AI isn’t the greatest

 

I’ll have a Vodka Martini shaken not stirred.   This is the all familiar phrase we come to expect from the suave MI6 agent that has been in our lives for years.  We are all familiar with the world that James Bond lives in and what should be expected from his escapades.  The expectations were soaring when this title was announced.  To be honest I was skeptical from the start not only because of the terrible original Xbox release  Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, but  because one of my favorite times in gaming history came from the outstanding Nintendo 64 release Goldeneye.  There were countless late night game sessions to be had with my friends as we played four-player split screen until the sun came up.  I know I played through the entire single player campaign hundreds of times.   This is a “remake” for lack of a better word that was first released on the Nintendo Wii roughly a year prior to the HD versions.  Having not played through the Wii version I am unable to comment of the differences between the two.   (As a point of reference I will only be referring to the original N64 title)

Presentation: A

Graphics /Animation / Sound

I will be the first to say that Goldeneye: Reloaded for the Xbox 360 doesn’t disappoint and hits the nail on the head with this solid first person shooter.  The environments look fantastic, the lighting and water effects are beautiful which really brings a wow factor to outdoor levels.   The Dam level that is all too familiar to us “old school” players really impresses the first play through in the Xbox 360.  The indoor sections of the game look good enough, but fail to impress when compared to the outdoor sequences.  The only downside when discussing the environments that I noticed were that a lot of the elements that populate the world that were nothing but static models and don’t react well when shot.  I found this to be weird, because some things would react while others just placed the generic bullet hole texture on the item.  To be honest this never really felt annoying to me.  I was always so used to that bullet texture from the original game that I almost wondered if this was done on purpose to help with the nostalgia factor.

The character models for the most part are acceptable; none of them really look great except for Bond. This brings me to the fact that Pierce Brosnan for some reason was replaced with Daniel Craig.   I absolutely hate this decision by the way and while it doesn’t hinder the game I was rather disappointed to find out this was the case.  I understand that Daniel Craig is the current bond (and my personal favorite) but he was not the star of the movie which this game is based off of.  Speaking of Mr. Craig, he also contributes his vocal talents along with Judi Dench who portrays M. in the series.  These additions are nice, but are a mixed bag.  Dench provides good commentary in between levels, but Craig and the rest of the voice actors fail to stand out.  The other areas of the sound design however are spot on.  The entire catalog of bond sounds and score elements seem perfect and present themselves in all the right places.   Not to mention this game features one of the best uses of the mandatory Bond music intro.

All of these elements really fall together nicely and provide you with a sense that you are moving from scene to scene in an actual bond film.

Single Player: A

Game Mechanics / Length / Difficulty

Goldeneye: Reloaded features 14 missions that move through the storyline of the Goldeneye film.  These levels are broken down in about the same manner of the original N64 version.  There is however an extremely basic training level that you must move through before starting the Dam level.  This training level only last about 5 minutes and to be honest is kind of a waste of time.  It does however serve to introduce a few new elements of gameplay like auto aim, and a basic cover system that lets you pop up from crouching when you aim down the sights.  One important note is that this game draws more from the sets of the film, and not the original N64 layout.  There are obviously nods to the original game such as the first few minutes of the Dam level or the bathroom knockout sequence of the facility, but the rest of the level design is completely different.

The gun-play feels great, and the game does a great job in making all the guns feel unique.  One thing I really was impressed with from the start was the feeling of the sniper rifles.  They give the player the coveted one shot kill experience that leaves you with wanting more.   I was a little disappointed though in the fact that most enemies take one too many bullets to take down with every other gun.  Don’t get me wrong, it is not to the point of ridiculousness.  But there are times when I shot some of the enemies and said “What? You should be dead!”  This never really hurts the experience, but did seem to annoy me on occasion.  Speaking of enemies, the AI is pretty generic as they only really ever run around, take cover, and do the tuck and roll move just like the N64 version.  Once again I find myself wondering if this was done on purpose or just a design flaw.  They do however disappear immediately after dying which annoys me to no end.

The game does a great job of structuring the levels to give you a diverse experience.  In most areas you can go in “guns blazing’” if you wish, or pull off a vent grate and take the stealth route.  When approaching an enemy from behind, or just performing a melee attack while right in front of them performs one of many take down maneuvers that never get old.   Just like the original game you have optional side missions that you can perform like gathering Intel from blueprints on walls, finding contact lists, or taking pictures with your smart phone.  There are plenty of small elements the designers add throughout the game to mix up the experience and keep you entertained.  Shooting certain environment elements to trigger explosions or taking out security cameras to avoid alarms being sound are a nice touch.  Hacking turrets and security systems with your phone, and occasional quick time events are implemented nicely.  Overall the single player experience is terrific and while it may not be the most technically impressive shooter out there it sure is a lot of fun.

In addition to the single player campaign, the game also features an MI6 ops mode.  This mode features 11 missions that take place in the various settings throughout the main story.   They are split up into four categories.  Elimination (kill all enemies as soon as possible),   Defense (Defend three consoles while attempting to download data), Stealth ( Eliminate all enemies without being detected), and Assault (Charge an enemy base).   All of these mission can be customized with some interesting modifiers.  These include things like adjusting enemy health, accuracy and quantity, paintball mode, headshots only, infinite ammo , extreme rag-doll physics and many others.  While this mode doesn’t have a huge number of missions, the game-play modifiers will provide you with enough variables to stay entertained for quite some time.

Multiplayer:  B

Game Mechanics / Features / Online Features

To be honest there really isn’t anything wrong with the multiplayer portion of the game.  It features numerous playable characters, game modifiers, and customizable load outs.  Four Player split screen and online support for up to 16 players are included.  The game features a ton of modes including your standard death match, team death match, golden gun and license to kill. (Like the original)  Goldeneye: reloaded also includes a ton of new game modes that will provide the chance to mix things up even more.  I find rating the multiplayer portion of the game kind of tough because I didn’t really care a whole lot for it.  The gameplay is pretty basic aside from the game types and customizable options but failed to give the same wow factor that bigger titles present.  I cannot hold that against the game since it is purely a matter of preference, but it did however keep me from enjoying it more than I thought was fair.  With all of the game types, options, and weapons of the single player game there is surely quite a bit of content here to entertainment someone willing to give it a shot for quite a long while.

Replay Value: A

Lasting appeal / Bonus Content / DLC

There is truly a lot of content to this game.  With the single player including optional objectives, hidden emblems, and multiple difficulties it will easily warrant more than one play through.  The Mi6 ops are a great addition to the game and provide plenty of room to experiment and beat your friends online in the leader boards.  The multiplayer provides a ton of options that will keep going long after the single player and MI6 modes.

There is only two pieces of downloadable content for this game as of this review.  They only include two multiplayer skins.

Overall I would highly recommend this game for a fan of either the original N64 game, the 1995 Goldeneye film, or just a Bond fan in general.  It provides a huge amount of content and in my opinion worth the current price tag.  Goldeneye: Reloaded I think is the perfect mix of old and new.  The levels are drastically different from the N64 version, while implementing elements here and there that bring back the nostalgia.  I have really been thrilled playing through the single player campaign just for the fact of going through parts of the movie that we were not able to play in the original version due to technical limitations.  If you want a solid title that is a ton of fun, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.

Overal: A