GE 007 is a decent package, but it has some disappointing flaws which keep it from acheiving its full potential.
Well over a decade ago, GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 practically reinvented the FPS genre, bringing in many new elements which have since become basic features present in pretty much all FPS games to this day. It gave us functioning and animated scenery, secondary objectives, introduced the ability to avoid enemies stealthily and play the game a different way and even started the trend of zoom-able sniper rifles.
This remake or 'reimagining' doesn't really bring anything particularly new to the table, given that nowadays it would be pretty difficult to reinvent a genre that's in its prime and doing fantastically well. However, it's definitely a blast to play and does a lot of things right.
Anyone who's played the N64 version, any of the Call of Duty games or the later Medal of Honours would feel right at home here. The game combines the fantastical set pieces of the GoldenEye film and original game with the gritty overtones of the latest Bond films, stylizing it to fit the Daniel Craig's 007 series whilst adding the staples of the modern FPS such as regenerative health, emphasis on duck-and-cover play style, and an entire online multiplayer, which I'll come to later.
Like previous Bond games, the game offers various levels of difficulty, ranging from Operative through to 007 difficulties. The game has an option to create multiple profiles so you can have more than one save file and online account, and also saves your game automatically. The game plays well too, and Bond jumps walls, crouches, runs, guns, uses gadgets and activates switches just like you would in say, Call of Duty. The fact I've mentioned Call of Duty a few times now is actually important, because the game uses a very similar engine. As such, everything feels very familiar and solid.
There's not a lot more to say about the game play (other than that it's a helluva lot of fun) because it's got everything and does everything that recent FPS games do. There's nothing defining here but that's not a problem and in fact, the game shines for this reason.
Players can choose to play the game with the Wiimote & Nunchuck, the Wii Zapper, the Classic controller or the Gamecube controller if preferred, so there's tonnes of ways to control Bond. Sadly the Wiimote controls aren't anywhere near as customisable as 2008's Call of Duty: World at War and thus lack some responsiveness and comfort. The camera lock function also hinders play, and will often keep the camera locked even if you've just let go of the button, meaning that for a moment afterwards you're stuck in place and an easy target for enemies. That said, the game still controls much better than other FPS's on Nintendo's console.
The element of stealth from the original is often emphasised- you can run in all guns blazing, sound an alarm and create a hassle for yourself, or you can sneak about with a silenced weapon and take out enemies before they spot you, generally making life much easier for you and making yourself feel like a professional in the process. The game really puts you in the shoes of Bond, and the enemy AI is great too. You never feel cheated by an enemy spotting you from miles away when you were sure he couldn't see you, because it doesn't happen. The element of stealth also brings replay value, because you'll want to go back through the levels and try staying hidden. Playing this way also increases your chances of finding hidden areas or weapons in rooms you'd' never think to go in otherwise.
The game makes good use of sound and works particulary well with surround sound.There's nothing better than hearing footsteps behind you and being able to spin around and drop the bad guy before he's even realised you're there, thus thwarting any attempts at sounding the alarm. The sound effects are meaty and each weapon's sound definitely gives you a feel of the power of each one. The voice acting is also top notch, with the actual film cast reprising their roles with some new talent for the games unique characters. The sound track is what you'd come to expect from James Bond and Nicole Scherzinger sings a great version of the theme song which does the original justice. Sadly, the actual James Bond theme isn't in the game at all, which is quite odd.
The multiplayer is implemented in a way many Wii games haven't or simply couldn't previously. As well as the now standard online mode with XP, upgrades, perks, map voting systems, friend codes, and various game modes (for example, 007 themed versions of modes like Capture the Flag or Domination), the game also gives you a standard splitscreen multiplayer mode - a rarity for the Wii - which is great to play and has a lot of customisable modes and features for up to 4 players. It's tremendous fun and shows that the Wii can handle local multiplayer successfully given the right effort.
Sadly, the game does have a few issues. On top of the sometimes glaring controller issues, the game also suffers from odd and random slowdown in places it shouldn't. Sometimes, 3 or 4 enemies will come in to view, and the framerate will judder despite there being much less action going on than in, say, World at War, a game released two years before this. The framerate issue occurs in single player and is worse online where it's at an almost constant rate. No matter who you play with it rarely hits its optimum performance level, instead sticking to about 15-20 frames per second. This in turn also makes the cursor's sensitivity freak out because it's trying to find itself among the awful lag and keep up with your movements, which often causes unfair deaths.
Framerate issues like this just shouldn't be happening in a game with no killstreaks, no headset functionality and only 8 players. The multiplayer maps barely have any animated objects or features either and are relatively small so there's just no excuse. When the framerate and lag become unbearable, the game can also freeze the console, rather than kicking you out of the lobby, which leads me to believe that Activision rushed this product out and should have tested it a bit more.
Overall, GoldenEye is a decent game. There are some niggling issues which should have been eliminated, but they're still workable and overall the game delivers with its impressive single player campaign, local multiplayer and online modes. It's difficult to summarize this game, because it's very similar to other offerings out there only with a James Bond theme. That in itself however is enough to justify the decency of this game, and the fact that it retains so much likeness to the N64 version just goes to show that FPS games in general still owe so much to the humble original. Oh, did I forget to mention that it also has an extra mode to bring back the classic health bars?