GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 was, and is, one of my favorite games. I have lots of fond memories of blasting down baddies or having throwing knife battles to the death with friends. I even look fondly on all the time I wasted in vain to unlock cheats like Invincibility or Invisibility. I love that game and would go back and play it any day if I had a working N64.
With that in mind I was allured by the "remake" for the Wii. Initially I was confused by the choice to put Daniel Craig in as Bond in what was a Pierce Brosnan film, but I just shrugged and went with it because I like Craig's version of Bond a lot anyway, and I was in it more for the gameplay than the story.
Did you notice how I quoted remake in the last paragraph, as if to say I'm using that term lightly? Well, that's because I am! To say that GoldenEye 007 for the Wii is a remake of the classic on the N64 is a blatant lie. It doesn't even try to follow the movie! Remember when 006 and 007 have a high speed truck chase at the dam? Remember when the EMP hardened helicopter blows the frigate to hell with Bond still inside in Dubai? (In the movie, the helicopter was stolen off of a frigate in Monte Carlo, and it didn't shoot at anyone.)
What about that gameplay? It's friggin' aweful! On my first try, on the easiest setting, I failed the training mission. From then on I toughed it out mission after mission, battling not against the enemies, but against the hideous controls. It shouldn't not be so hard in a first person shooter to just shoot a guy, but in GoldenEye for the Wii it certainly is. I fidgeted around with the control setting for a half hour, and tried the classic controller pro and the Wii Remote + Nun-chuck and nothing helped. I played past the frigate mission, doing my best to try and give this game a fair chance, and I found myself no longer wanting to play. And I haven't.
My game was the special edition that came with the golden classic controller. I'm not even a big fan of that thing either. It's not as comfortable as it should be, and personally I still like the look and feel of the old classic controller.
So what anything good about this game? Yes. I really liked the finale to the first Dam mission where they do a full on Bond-esque intro sequence. While it wasn't the one from the movie, it had the perfect look and feel for the game it was associated with. On top of that, the artist they brought in to perform Tina Turner's GoldenEye sounded just like her (though at the time of this post I can't think of her name, and can't be bothered to fire it up to find out.).
All in all, if you are craving 007 from back in the day, do yourself a favor and just play that one. I regret buying my game, and I'll certainly be more cautious in the future whenever someone slaps the word "remake" on anything.
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