Written by: Ian

 

 

 

Poor old "Goldeneye 007: Reloaded". Released between Battlefield 3 and MW3, can it ever hope to stack up against the big boys? As a Wii remake as well, is this Activision just adhering to license commitments on the cheap, or is this a game still worth considering in the crowded Christmas shooter line-up?

 

 

Sooo... if you played Goldeneye on the N64, expect a shock. Pierce Brosnan has been replaced by Daniel Craig, and whilst certain key aspects and locations remain unchanged, on the whole, this is a very different (and more modern) Goldeneye story, that has been ‘re-imagined’ for the game. It’s a decent enough story in many ways, although I’m sure many nostalgia fans would have preferred everything to have been left alone.

 

 

Goldeneye Reloaded is a mix of the old and new. It clearly takes inspiration from both the film and from the original game, but also adds a measuring of COD into the mix. So, if you play on 007 difficulty, you get extra optional objectives to complete, and if you ramp all the way up to 007 Classic, you don’t get COD-style health regen, but have to conserve your health and pick up body armour.

 

 

The first level has a brilliant intro section that is almost exactly the same as the original N64 classic, before careering off into an explosive car chase. Some levels are actually more like the film than the original game (jungle), but others have been changed considerably, and the ridiculous tank level is less enjoyable than the original, whilst the section onboard the yacht has inexplicitly been transferred from Monaco to Dubai.

 

The gameplay itself still largely stacks up. Some AI can be a bit rough in places, and the stealth sections are hilarious- dead guys just disappear after 1-2 seconds, so patrols never ever pick up on dead bodies, as long as they don’t see the kill itself. Gunplay is tight, with a COD-style snap aiming system, and a great selection of weapons with a huge number of attachments.

 

There are some issues though. Running is inconsistent- it takes time to recharge, but with no real indication of when it’s ready to go again, you never really know how long the game will let you sprint for. There are also some difficulty spikes through the game, but none that are really annoying until the final single-player level, which is dreadful. Half of it is timed, and it’s very sparsely checkpointed.

 

The final boss fight against 006 is insanely difficult, and has no checkpoints across it- it took me at least 20 tries, and it can easily last for 10 minutes- a disastrous end to a game I had largely enjoyed prior to then.

 

 

This aside, the game is pretty average in length, taking 4-8 hours to complete dependant on skill and difficulty, although there is MI6 ops to also complete. This mode I found to be really rather dull, an ‘extra’ for the Reloaded version that was clearly thrown together over some lunch breaks. It’s tough, and not a huge amount of fun to play. Still, especially for someone that put 100+ hours into the original, there is a good amount of nostalgia here, and more good than bad moments.