It's taken a while, but Activision has finally seen sense and is redoing the original N64 classic, GoldenEye 007. Well, it's still trying to massage some new things into the mix, but not enough to make it turbo-crap, like say giving the lead character a golden eye that can levitate things. Hello EA!
Anyway, we've just played it at Gamescom with our hands and it's actually pretty good. Obviously this has a lot to do with the fact that it's using the Call of Duty engine, so it essentially feels like a CoD game but with James Bond as the hero rather than some no mark. [Update: Our old pal Dan Amrich aka Activision's One of Swords brought to our attention GoldenEye doesn't run on CoD's engine, but its ownbrand new engine.Here's his proof.]
Above: We've been expecting you etc.
We were shown three levels from the original game, including the dam and the facility. The latter was particularly appealing because as 007 (that's Daniel Craig rather than Pierce Brosnan Bond) sneaks through the air-vents on his way to the toilets, it brought back strong, exciting memories from our childhood. We were giddy. As Bond descends, a QTE is initiated where he bangs the snot out of the poor sap sat reading the paper and taking a dump before rolling out and shooting the guard outside. Nice.
As the demo ended, and the excitable German PR wound things up, a load of people left but brilliantly we stayed (mainly because we don't know the German for 'please leave now') and we were invited into a secret room to go hands on with a level set in the snow.
Above: But can you play Angry Birds on it?
The first thing we felt was Call of Duty. The way the sights lock onto targets, the way Bond runs and also the way that brutal subdue attacks all work in that familiar CoD fashion. But this is a good thing because it means the weapons pack a meaty punch and there's plenty of bad guys to whack. If you like, you can play GoldenEye 007: Reloaded in complete stealth mode where you use silenced weapons and melees to get past your unsuspecting foes. We chose the loud route. Firing off rounds like Mexican bandits celebrating a birthday.
Even with the demo ending almost as quickly as it began, we do get the sense that GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is going to be alright. It's sticking to the formula that made the original superb and will also feature split-screen AND online multiplayer so you can roll back the years and choose Oddjob as the cheat character again. We're hoping that the developer doesn't try to stamp any wacky ideas on the franchise so it plays out as the perfect homage. It's what Brosnan would've wanted.
Aug 17, 2011
