Grade: B
Fourteen years.
Fourteen years have passed since friends fought over the usability of "Oddjob." Fourteen years since Trevelyan first shattered the hearts of too-trusting gamers. Fourteen years since gamers blew into the fateful cartridge of GoldenEye 007 on their N64s. But after all those long years, Bond is back in Xbox 360 and PS3 port, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded.
Summarized, Reloaded is a Modern Warfare meets N64 remake that mixes heavy doses of nostalgia and modern gaming's greatest mechanics to produce a title worthy of the name GoldenEye.
Every gamer worth their weight in gold remembers the levels of the bygone 64-bit era. The Dam, Facility, Silo, Streets; All back in glorious 1080p, re-envisioned and reimagined to cater to the ever-changing tastes of up and coming electronic agents. Just because the levels have been altered, Eurocom does well to keep the game close to its late '90s roots.
There has been one major (and possibly) upsetting transition from the 64 days of yore; there's been a changing of the Bonds. No longer will Pierce Brosnan light up Post-Soviet Russia – instead players get the equally competent, but far less British, Daniel Craig. While the story remains unchanged, seeing the blond-haired Casino Royale operative where Brosnan should be somewhat tarnishes a relatively stellar experience.
Gameplay is fast and frenetic as Bond leaps, shoots and neck chops his way through the hordes of Russian militants. In the addition of sprinting and a melee that consists of more than a sissy chop, the game goes above and beyond to deliver an experience that's more shaken than stirred.
In the years since the original, a plethora of standard shooter conventions have come into being, and while they feel contextually like treason, add immensely to the Bond experience. Stealth, it seemed, 14 years ago wasn't the focal point of many games. In a time before the rough and rugged Sam Fisher and Snake had yet to transcend into the third dimension, it was acceptable for Bond to just Rambo his way through level after level. While players can still rock a shotgun and rack up the kill-count, players stealthing their way through the wintry wastes are actually rewarded to do so.
For the run-and-gun gamers, the quintessential body armor and health bars have been altered, and instead players will be pleased to see the more conventional (although completely unrealistic) – regenerating health. The change however, is vital to keep pace with changing times and mostly, it serves the game well.
Beyond Bond's heroic single-player undertaking, Reloaded borrows from the screens of its competitors and adds both MI6 side-missions and an excruciatingly painful online mode.
The side-missions consist of short and sweet one-dimensional objectives to be completed as quickly as possible and performed as close to the 007 way as possible. Whether it's beating back 60 cronies in the jungle or silently assassinating the worst hired help this side of a '90s action flick, each mission has a unique flair that promotes exciting content once and then, like a British supernova, never again.
Online is Reloaded's Achilles' heel. A seemingly hastily-made, subpar product that both infuriates and devastates the player's psyche as the game can neither host properly nor provide the community to fill its lackluster virtual realm. Servers are either full (despite the game's minuscule amount of online traffic) or games lag to a crawl as the game elects a host that tends to be the furthest possible geographic point in the world.
Bond's HD makeover provides exactly what the original title had: an excellent story, challenging missions and a local multiplayer that is one of the best gaming experiences four (soon to be ex-) friends can have. Admittedly with a price tag of $59.99, this HD remake just doesn't have that golden touch.
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