There is a discussion to this, so bear with me...
For those that were there at the time- Goldeneye was the bomb. It was bringing people together to blow each other away before Halo was even conceived. The controls, the level design, the uncompromising difficulty, the unlockable cheats, everything was just... Perfect. All these years later, with Wii's virtual console, XBLA, and the Playstation Store, there's always been something that gamers have pleaded for a re-release of with one worldwide unifying voice: Re-release Goldeneye!
And now, it is happening- Activision has made a deal with Nintendo and Goldeneye is heading for Wii. Like many others I was overjoyed to hear about this.
That is, before I found out what had been lost to make it happen.
See, Eurocom's upcoming Goldeneye remake is not the only remake that was in production. According to an in-depth article that has already scoured both official and non-official sources http://mundorare.com/news/2008/01/never-say-never-again/ , Rare Ltd (the company that... you know, actually MADE Goldeneye in the first place) had their own version of Goldeneye prepped and ready for release. This version had features such as:
-Flawless recreation of the original gameplay. The game used the original code, running on an Xbox 360.
-Four-way online split-screen multiplayer, with the option to see what the other three players can see, even over Live.
-New multiplayer maps, including the single player Dam, Depot or Frigate levels as multiplayer arenas.
And most notably of all:
-High definition graphics with the option to switch back to the original N64 graphics any time.
That's right: just like with the recently rereleased Monkey Island games, with a mere press of a button the graphics can switch instantly from the updated visuals to the exact original visual style and back again. Supposedly the game was in talks at one point to be released on all three of the current gen consoles which would have pleased absolutely everyone. Screenshots are floating around the net of the crisp new look of the game, and there is even a 2 minute leaked beta gameplay movie on youtube here: [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM_iLkIJ9Yg[/link].
Unfortunately, Nintendo pulled the plug on it to prevent it from being released on a non Nintendo platform. Apparently they choose to pretend that Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and Conker: Live and Reloaded don't count.
Having discovered all of that, and taking another look at the Wii Goldeneye, things become more and more tragic. The game is being developed by Eurocom- a company that hasn't made a decent bond game for ten years and has already shown their propensity for filling bond games with scripted events and cutscenes all over the place. It becomes apparent in the Goldeneye Wii trailer (which you can view again here [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74GB9efwDE[/link]) that this remake has very little in common with the Goldeneye that defined the genre at all. It's filled with all the useless fluff, plot hole swarming enemies, QTEs and eye candy over substance Quantum of Solace was so panned for. Worse still, it's thrown out arguably the best suited FPS control scheme ever seen on a console in favour of one that mimics the PC like most others. Considering it's Eurocom, it will most likely also be filled with constant talking and orders being relayed to you via an earpiece, holding your hand all the way through the game and displaying one of the enduring reasons Goldeneye has always remained the most loved bond game: It gave you your tasks and just let you get the hell on with them without interference and work it out for yourself. You know- like a spy would.
So having heard about this, and possibly having read that article (which I strongly reccomend you do to get better insight into the political maneuvering at Nintendo/Activision/Microsoft etc, what do you think? Are you indifferent? Enraged at being denied this other remake that could have been? Or are you glad it's being Call of Dutyised at the hands of Eurocom?
(Also this pic was on the second page but it's probably better suited to being here)
For those that were there at the time- Goldeneye was the bomb. It was bringing people together to blow each other away before Halo was even conceived. The controls, the level design, the uncompromising difficulty, the unlockable cheats, everything was just... Perfect. All these years later, with Wii's virtual console, XBLA, and the Playstation Store, there's always been something that gamers have pleaded for a re-release of with one worldwide unifying voice: Re-release Goldeneye!
And now, it is happening- Activision has made a deal with Nintendo and Goldeneye is heading for Wii. Like many others I was overjoyed to hear about this.
That is, before I found out what had been lost to make it happen.
See, Eurocom's upcoming Goldeneye remake is not the only remake that was in production. According to an in-depth article that has already scoured both official and non-official sources http://mundorare.com/news/2008/01/never-say-never-again/ , Rare Ltd (the company that... you know, actually MADE Goldeneye in the first place) had their own version of Goldeneye prepped and ready for release. This version had features such as:
-Flawless recreation of the original gameplay. The game used the original code, running on an Xbox 360.
-Four-way online split-screen multiplayer, with the option to see what the other three players can see, even over Live.
-New multiplayer maps, including the single player Dam, Depot or Frigate levels as multiplayer arenas.
And most notably of all:
-High definition graphics with the option to switch back to the original N64 graphics any time.
That's right: just like with the recently rereleased Monkey Island games, with a mere press of a button the graphics can switch instantly from the updated visuals to the exact original visual style and back again. Supposedly the game was in talks at one point to be released on all three of the current gen consoles which would have pleased absolutely everyone. Screenshots are floating around the net of the crisp new look of the game, and there is even a 2 minute leaked beta gameplay movie on youtube here: [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM_iLkIJ9Yg[/link].
Unfortunately, Nintendo pulled the plug on it to prevent it from being released on a non Nintendo platform. Apparently they choose to pretend that Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and Conker: Live and Reloaded don't count.
Having discovered all of that, and taking another look at the Wii Goldeneye, things become more and more tragic. The game is being developed by Eurocom- a company that hasn't made a decent bond game for ten years and has already shown their propensity for filling bond games with scripted events and cutscenes all over the place. It becomes apparent in the Goldeneye Wii trailer (which you can view again here [link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74GB9efwDE[/link]) that this remake has very little in common with the Goldeneye that defined the genre at all. It's filled with all the useless fluff, plot hole swarming enemies, QTEs and eye candy over substance Quantum of Solace was so panned for. Worse still, it's thrown out arguably the best suited FPS control scheme ever seen on a console in favour of one that mimics the PC like most others. Considering it's Eurocom, it will most likely also be filled with constant talking and orders being relayed to you via an earpiece, holding your hand all the way through the game and displaying one of the enduring reasons Goldeneye has always remained the most loved bond game: It gave you your tasks and just let you get the hell on with them without interference and work it out for yourself. You know- like a spy would.
So having heard about this, and possibly having read that article (which I strongly reccomend you do to get better insight into the political maneuvering at Nintendo/Activision/Microsoft etc, what do you think? Are you indifferent? Enraged at being denied this other remake that could have been? Or are you glad it's being Call of Dutyised at the hands of Eurocom?
(Also this pic was on the second page but it's probably better suited to being here)
