This past year at E3 Nintendo generated a lot of buzz when they announced that a GoldenEye 007 remake was coming to the Wii. Even better news was that it was only a few months away so we didn’t have to wait too long. GoldenEye is finally here and after going through it I can safely say that it is still a whole lot of fun. There were a few times where the framerate would drop but those instances were few and far between. Much like Blood Stone, which was just released for the Xbox360 and Playstation 3, GoldenEye features Daniel Craig as James Bond with other members of the cast returning, such as Judi Dench reprising her role as “M”. It starts off almost exactly like the Nintendo 64 version and you can tell the development took great care in trying to recreate the magic and charm from the original while at the same time bringing in modern ideals.

With this being a Wii exclusive there were a number of different control options available. You could play the game with the Wii Remote and nunchuk, with the Zapper gun or with a Gamecube controller. If you choose the Wii Remote option the controls will be like a lot of the other shooters on the Wii. You will control your reticule with the Wii Remote and you can move the camera around by having the reticule on the edge of the screen. To subdue an enemy you simply flick the nunchuk and things like that. The Gamecube controller will allow you to play the game as a “normal” shooter with the “R” button being your fire button, the “L” button letting you stare down the sights and so on and so forth. I don’t own a Zapper at the moment so I wasn’t able to test out that particular control method. After testing each one I went with the Gamecube controller and was pretty happy with how the controls worked with a standard controller. My only real complaint is that to subdue an enemy you have to hold down the “Z” button and the “B” button which isn’t very easy to do with the button layout of the Gamecube controller.

Going through the game I could see that the development team did try to incorporate some of the shooter mechanics that have developed since 1997 when the original came out. One thing that I really liked was that they give you a choice. You can play “classic” Bond and it will play just like the original where Bond’s health will not regenerate and you have to utilize body armor. Any other setting will have Bond’s health regenerate after a period of time so you don’t have to worry much about body armor. Additionally, the level of difficulty that you select will influence how you play the game. In “007” mode you need to complete every single objective that is given to you. In “Operative” mode all you have to do is concentrate on staying alive and completing the main objective. If there is a secondary, optional objective than you don’t have to complete it in order to advance the story. GoldenEye purists might be upset with Activision’s decision to replace Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig. I for one think Daniel Craig is the best Bond so I was very happy with this decision. Since this is the Daniel Craig version of James Bond there have been a couple of tweaks made to better align with the type of Bond we have come to know from Mr. Craig. All of it is a whole lot of fun though and it is clear that the development team really cared about the license and weren’t just going for a quick pay day.

The most popular component from the original GoldenEye had to be the multiplayer. The split screen multiplayer was amazing for the time. It helped to revolutionize the multiplayer for shooters on a console. This was also back before people had giant high definition televisions and online gaming had not arrived yet on consoles. For those too young to remember, imagine a group of four people around one of those regular CRT televisions with the screen split into four sections. It probably sounds ludicrous now but it was a whole lot of fun back then and that’s how multiplayer titles were played. Split screen returns in the Wii version for people who want to relive those memories. In addition to that there is also online play where there are a bunch of different game modes to choose from. You have your standard deathmatch options and then some objective based modes. You have “GoldenEye” where you have to capture consoles to alter the orbit of the GoldenEye satellite or “Black Box” where you, as MI6, must locate and destroy the black box. The enemy must pick it up and download the data from it. There are also three multiplayer modes that will be unlocked as you rank up, similar to how Call of Duty does it with their multiplayer. It is something that should keep people coming back to play the game. You can also set up a party, however, you will need to exchange friend codes to be able to do that. There is no voice chat for the multiplayer though so you will have to try and work together with your team without being able to verbally communicate.

GoldenEye 007 for the Wii pays homage to the Nintendo 64 classic and is definitely worthy of the GoldenEye moniker. The development team should be very happy with this accomplishment and everyone that played and enjoyed the original GoldenEye needs to play this one as well. GoldenEye 007 is definitely one of the best shooters out for the Nintendo Wii and if you are a shooter fan at all you should pick up this title. I know there were people out there concerned that Activision would simply just milk this license but all of the parties involved did a tremendous job. With both Blood Stone and GoldenEye doing well this season it is great to see some licensed properties that are being taken seriously. With all of the other shooters that have been released recently be sure not to miss this Bond classic.

Score: 9/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network