It's the One Being Chased by a Tank
GoldenEye 007: Reloaded gave us our daily dose of Daniel Craig.
Published: December 5, 2011
I make no secret of my love of the Nintendo 64. It’s one of, if not my favorite systems and one of the biggest reasons is a little first person shooter called GoldenEye 007. I’ll never be mistaken for a die hard James Bond fan, though I do enjoy the movies, but Rare’s classic holds many of my favorite memories. It hasn’t aged very gracefully and many consider it inferior to Rare’s later release, Perfect Dark,but I still loved the opportunity to get my hands on GoldenEye 007: Reloaded. Sure, a lot of us were burned by the abomination that was Perfect Dark Zero but hey, it’s friggin’ GoldenEye. I remember the excitement and envy I felt when the game was announced for the Wii at last year’s E3 and I’m sure many of you also felt the same. Needless to say I was excited to my hands on Reloaded and see just what Eurocom could do with the series.
I had read many good things about Reloaded prior to booting it up for the first time. The Wii version, which came out last year, received a lofty amount of praise from critics and fans alike. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was worried, though. The odd choice of releasing the game in November put it up against the two biggest juggernauts in the FPS realm, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Even though GoldenEye will never be confused for a squad based, war time shooter, its online component still had to go toe-to-toe with those two beasts. That means that online community, though active, is minuscule at best. The game was recently reinvigorated following a sale on Black Friday but it was not uncommon for me to see the same names in game after game. While not necessarily a bad thing, it did kind of take the wind out of my sails to know that I had a long road ahead to even the odds between myself and the truly dedicated.
Before I talk at length about the multiplayer, though, I want to get into covering single player. The campaign did its job, it kept me entertained and never once did it feel like a burden. I was pleased to see that the campaign was new and different, and followed the events featured in Quantum of Solace. Sure, it was a bit unnerving to see and hear Daniel Craig instead the Pierce Brosnan of my youth but it only took a few minutes to adjust. While the gameplay and missions tended to urge me forward, the plot rarely did anything of the sort. All of the twists and surprises were telegraphed and the cutscenes were underwhelming. I’ll be frank, if I did not have to review this game and just purchased it for myself I probably would have skipped right through them. After playing through the game, though, I went back and watched someone play through the original on YouTube. Though I remember loving the game back then I did, however, have some hazy details. Reloaded does an excellent job of calling back to the original and also throwing in its own flair. The dam level, for example, features the very same truck that I once hid behind to gain admittance. In Reloaded you actually ride shotgun and go on a raucous ride. This is just one minor example of the many throughout the game.
The campaign also offered side missions which are your typical Bond affair. Snapping pictures of some secret plans? No sweat. Deactivating a turret with your Blackberry? Easy. These add trophies and some other artificial length but some will require you to go out of your way which nullifies the otherwise linear main missions. There are also Janus Emblems to collect throughout but these are only tied to trophies. Each difficulty also offers something new, with 007 Classic requiring that you find body armor to absorb any hits. Sure, you can play a run-and-gun style on the lower difficulties but once things ramp up you’ll be forced to adjust your approach and if you’re not stealthy you will get your teeth kicked in. There were only three major things that I could really find fault in the campaign. I touched on it earlier, but the lackluster story is a fault. Sure, it didn’t really deter from the experience but it also didn’t really do much of anything to add to the game. The second, and I’ll try to be as vague as possible, is the final boss. On tougher difficulties this fight is controlling throwing difficult and it’s such a departure from the rest of the game that it feels out of place. Hand-in-hand with that is my third, and biggest, complaint: quick time events. If you have read any of my reviews before you know by now that I really, really, really do not like this practice, especially so when it’s shoehorned into a game. Another minor thing, and I’m guessing this is because the game started on the Wii, is that bodies disappear immediately upon death. It doesn’t detract from things too much, but it is jarring to see them disintegrate upon falling down with nothing more than a gun left behind.
I had read many good things about Reloaded prior to booting it up for the first time. The Wii version, which came out last year, received a lofty amount of praise from critics and fans alike. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was worried, though. The odd choice of releasing the game in November put it up against the two biggest juggernauts in the FPS realm, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. Even though GoldenEye will never be confused for a squad based, war time shooter, its online component still had to go toe-to-toe with those two beasts. That means that online community, though active, is minuscule at best. The game was recently reinvigorated following a sale on Black Friday but it was not uncommon for me to see the same names in game after game. While not necessarily a bad thing, it did kind of take the wind out of my sails to know that I had a long road ahead to even the odds between myself and the truly dedicated.
Before I talk at length about the multiplayer, though, I want to get into covering single player. The campaign did its job, it kept me entertained and never once did it feel like a burden. I was pleased to see that the campaign was new and different, and followed the events featured in Quantum of Solace. Sure, it was a bit unnerving to see and hear Daniel Craig instead the Pierce Brosnan of my youth but it only took a few minutes to adjust. While the gameplay and missions tended to urge me forward, the plot rarely did anything of the sort. All of the twists and surprises were telegraphed and the cutscenes were underwhelming. I’ll be frank, if I did not have to review this game and just purchased it for myself I probably would have skipped right through them. After playing through the game, though, I went back and watched someone play through the original on YouTube. Though I remember loving the game back then I did, however, have some hazy details. Reloaded does an excellent job of calling back to the original and also throwing in its own flair. The dam level, for example, features the very same truck that I once hid behind to gain admittance. In Reloaded you actually ride shotgun and go on a raucous ride. This is just one minor example of the many throughout the game.
The campaign also offered side missions which are your typical Bond affair. Snapping pictures of some secret plans? No sweat. Deactivating a turret with your Blackberry? Easy. These add trophies and some other artificial length but some will require you to go out of your way which nullifies the otherwise linear main missions. There are also Janus Emblems to collect throughout but these are only tied to trophies. Each difficulty also offers something new, with 007 Classic requiring that you find body armor to absorb any hits. Sure, you can play a run-and-gun style on the lower difficulties but once things ramp up you’ll be forced to adjust your approach and if you’re not stealthy you will get your teeth kicked in. There were only three major things that I could really find fault in the campaign. I touched on it earlier, but the lackluster story is a fault. Sure, it didn’t really deter from the experience but it also didn’t really do much of anything to add to the game. The second, and I’ll try to be as vague as possible, is the final boss. On tougher difficulties this fight is controlling throwing difficult and it’s such a departure from the rest of the game that it feels out of place. Hand-in-hand with that is my third, and biggest, complaint: quick time events. If you have read any of my reviews before you know by now that I really, really, really do not like this practice, especially so when it’s shoehorned into a game. Another minor thing, and I’m guessing this is because the game started on the Wii, is that bodies disappear immediately upon death. It doesn’t detract from things too much, but it is jarring to see them disintegrate upon falling down with nothing more than a gun left behind.
