This particular game is a strange reboot/sequel/reimagining of an extremely popular and memorable game for the Nintendo 64, GoldenEye 007(f'n duh...). The 64 game was freaking fantastic. Beyond the storyline itself (I only played a handful of mission, but I was told that it was very faithful...), it is renowned for its replayability with multiplayer death matches. I cannot tell you how many countless camp hours I (and my Ware brethren...) spent shooting the crap out of each other, Bond style. We learned the layouts of each of the levels by heart and knew exactly the best sniper spots, the best location for proxy mines, and exactly where to find all the body armor. The graphics (now extremely dated...) were on par for that time in 64 gaming, but it was obvious that more time and effort was given to said level designs as well as weapon design diversity. Before GoldenEye, we would see this kind of FPS in PC games (like Doom and Duke Nukem...) almost exclusively and it was GoldenEye that proved it could be beyond successful on a console. I am not much of an FPS guy and I LOVE playing old school GoldenEye. It goes beyond nostalgia or the enjoyment of the Bond franchise. It was just a solid, fun game...
This brings us to the younger brother of the polygonized version of Bond. As far as graphics go, it is a delight. The settings and characters are very smooth and lifelike and (I'll say it...) on par with most FPS around. It may not reach Halo level of detail, but it's damn good. There are changes to the Classic levels and some are almost to the point where I didn't even recognize I was playing in the same level until much level. The designs of the levels remained similar, but the details and additions to the level skewed my perception to the point where you would have to convince me it was an old level. The 64 just didn't have the capabilities to do what the Wii does (also f'n duh...). I cannot honestly comment on the changes to the story as I haven't played any mission, but I've heard there are small changes to the overall story and it works well enough. Further, they brought the game play style in line with more modern FPSs (Halo, etc...) in that you get one main BIG gun and a smaller side arm. This is a significant departure from the past where each character had a Bag of Holding or access to Hammerspace to carry all the weapons. It's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just the changing of times...
Here's the biggest (subjectively...) change between the two games: they switched the Brosnen Bond with the Craig Bond (as well as some of the other characters to their more modern counterparts...]...). I am honestly not 100% sure on how I should feel about the change. On one hand, I feel the purist in me screaming 'FOUL!' and wants to see a slicker Brosnen sprite in this 'new' game. I mean, c'mon, it's GoldenEye! It's his movie, for the love of Pete! However, I can understand the desire to update it for a modern audience as Craig is the current Bond and GoldenEye came out over 15 years ago at this point. Also, FPSs aren't what they were in the mid-90's so if they were going to give it an overhaul, they probably figured why not just go all out instead of cherry picking the updates. Then again, maybe Pierce didn't want to do it at all. Who knows? I think at the end of the day, though, I would have wanted a more faithful character adaptation. It could be argued that I want it from a nostalgic standpoint, but that's what this part of the game should have been...Final thoughts on the Wii version: Quite enjoyable, at least from a multiplayer stance. But that is why I (and many others...) really want to play GoldenEye. Die hard Bond fans might want it for the story, but the casual gamer (or even the casual Bond fan...) will pick it up for this reason. It's realistic, it's action packed and fast paced, and it never gets old (even when you think it does, you always come back to it...). The Wii controls took some getting used to, but I eventually got on par with more seasoned players (I'm looking at you, teeg...). Do I prefer it over the 64 version? Not really. They are almost separate beasts with the change in game play style, but since I don't own a 64 anymore, I would be more likely to pick up and play the newer version. I'm honestly not sure how the Virtual Console version compares yet; no one I know has it (does that tell you anything?). I am curious, though; Do you have any fond or interesting stories from playing GoldenEye, either the old or the new version. I'd love to hear them...
No comments:
Post a Comment