Geekscape Games Reviews Goldeneye 007: Reloaded

I am not going to say the whole “remake of a remake” thing about Goldeneye 007: Reloaded that everyone already has. Especially considering that it’s not a remake, it’s more of an HD port that gaming studios are hell bent on doing of old classic games. Like the Wii version of this game, nostalgia was most likely the thing that everyone working on the game thought would carry this title. Too bad the marketing department didn’t get the memo that November is always a bad month to release a game that is not a triple A title.

I didn’t own a Nintendo 64 when the original Goldeneye was the game to play so nostalgia doesn’t work on me for this remade, re-envisioned, remastered version. I did at a later date get a N64 and played Goldeneye with 3 other buddies and had fun. I could see why people loved playing it. That feeling I had in the past didn’t carry over for me in Goldeneye 007: Reloaded. Campaign was incredibly boring. The story was forgetful and felt empty and in no way kept me entertained. I spent more time thinking about what I was going to eat for lunch than the game itself. The generous snap-to aim assist helped in me planning out my meal. Sure, that feature can be turned off in the options but how would I decide between Chick-Fil-A or Five Guys?

Running through the levels felt too much like a Call of Duty game with all the scripted moments that I had to “play” through. I don’t mind a game playing for me but there are way better naughty studios making these titles, dog. Feel free to pick and choose whatever weapon you want since once the mission is complete, you lose all your weapons but your trusty P99. I stuck with the shotgun and whatever machine gun was laying around. I would have went stealth like the game wants you to in most parts but when I get a prompt to subdue a foe and it fails to work, that makes me believe that I wasn’t supposed to subdue them at all. You could just shoot them in the head with your silenced pistol since the bodies dematerialize after death so no worries of a patrolling bad guy finding the corpse.

Besides how mundane the campaign of Goldeneye 007: Reloaded felt to me, multiplayer was suppose to be the thing they had to get right since that is how people really remember the classic game. I wish I could tell you how well it actually was. I tried 3 days in a row at different times of the day and I couldn’t get into one match at all. I would either get in an empty lobby and sit there for what seemed like forever or receive network errors telling me to connect to Xbox Live followed up by a message saying the lobby is full. Considering that Battlefield 3 is out now and MW3 is right around the corner I don’t see this game getting a lot of players until next year, if anyone is still around.

MI6 mode gave me some exciting times playing around with different objective based scenarios. Being able to make it as hard or as easy as I want depending on what I am feeling at that moment is great. I wish it was co-op. Having a buddy with you either in the same room or over Xbox Live would have made it a better experience. I can see how the stealth missions would be great with a buddy spotting everyone and telling me when I could kill someone. Maybe I would snipe while he laid down explosive mines in the defensive missions. I think that co-op in MI6 mode was a missed opportunity. And playing with a buddy would have made it easier to bounce lunch ideas off of someone.

If Goldeneye came out in the summer when people were starved for any games at all, this would have fared better and I would have been able to get a multiplayer match going. Hell, if this was a $20 XBLA or PSN game then it would have done well no matter when it was released. But paying $60 for a game that is trying to pass itself off on nostalgia alone is not worth the trip down memory lane for anyone. Sometimes it’s better to leave the past exactly where it is and preserve the great memories that we had.