Game Review: Goldeneye 007: Reloaded

It is often said that ‘Goldeneye’ for the Nintendo 64 is the greatest shooter of all time. So how difficult would it be for the studio to release a slightly updated version of the original for players to enjoy on their next gen systems? Well apparently as it turns out, it’s incredibly difficult.

This game is labeled as an updated version of the original ‘Goldeneye’ for the Nintendo 64 however this is very misrepresentative of the final product because there is almost nothing reminiscent of or familiar from the original game present here besides the story. The levels are almost complete redesigns of the originals, the gadgets are vastly altered and not even a scrap of the original music remains. If by updated they meant “updated to today’s standard of shooters which almost solely features waves of enemies attacking the player in dark warehouses or rainy streets” then I suppose they’ve been accurate but honestly it’s a disgrace that they used the “Goldeneye” name knowing full well that fans of the iconic shooter would hastily buy this game in search of the same fun and excitement they had with the original. They certainly will not.

What I soon realised about ‘Goldeneye 007: Reloaded’ was that it was just like a remake of a great movie, a bad remake. The roles are recast, the pacing is altered and even the script is somewhat unrecognizable to the original. Instead of remaking a flawed original, the developers have rehashed a great game and taken away most if not all of what in my opinion were the greatest elements of ‘Goldeneye.’

There is a complete abandonment of what made the original game great. The lack of Pierce Brosnan in the role of Bond is forgivable from the standpoint that Daniel Craig is currently playing the character and it would make sense for him to play the role in any bond games released, however ‘Goldeneye’ was the film where Brosnan truly became the legendary agent and his absence instantly makes this remake feel empty.

Daniel Craig replaces Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

Now all the problems concerning the difference between this and the original aside, ‘Goldeneye 007: Reloaded’ still fails on its most important aspect and that is how it matches up if it were an original title without the Bond mantle. Unfortunately by today’s standards this game would simply another mediocre shooter trying to emulate the likes of ‘Call of Duty’. It isn’t a wholly awful game to play if it were its own title but for a bond game of which the last I played was ‘Quantam of Solace’ and, whilst being flawed itself, it is much superior to this sorry rehash.

Getting back to the subject of comparison between this game and the original. It is clear that the original ‘Goldeneye’ had its faults (despite what many would have you believe) and perhaps the reason it seems so superior is simply down to nostalgia but for my money if they had simply updated the graphics of the original whilst leaving all else alone I firmly believe it would have yielded a vastly better game than this “update”.

Whilst the graphical update is pleasant to look at it still is no replacement for the original's great design.

I know I’ve ranted quite a bit about the same topic and it has probably been boring. What I need you to understand though is that ‘Goldeneye’ is such an important game to me, it is one of the first games I truly became engrossed in and I always look back fondly upon my time with it. This is why it disgusts me that developers would dig it up only to give it a shoddy facelift in order to make a quick buck. They call it an update on the original but this is like updating from Windows XP to Windows Vista, save your fond memories and avoid this garbage.