*This review is based on the Xbox One Rare Replay version of the game.

“For England, James”

Trevelyan, 006.

It’s finally here, Bond is back in full force in Rare Replay’s Goldeneye 007 HD remaster. From the moment I started up the game and saw the opening screens, the beginning credits with James eventually walking his iconic line and turning to fire his pistol at his onlooker, I knew we were back in business!

Have I beat the entire game on Agent yet. Well, no. I’m currently on “Train” but should be finishing the game up on “Agent” soon. But let’s be honest, if you played the original N64 game as much as I did as a kid I can definitely give my thoughts on the game at this point.

So, my thoughts on the game…

It’s awesome. The devs did a great job porting the game and keeping it true to the original (Or did they keep it true to the original? More on this in a moment). On the Xbox controller the controls feel natural and function great. Strange enough, the updated graphics seem to be how I remember the graphics from when I was kid. But I’ve noticed this with a few other remasters I’ve played lately. If you compare side by side the N64 graphics to the Rare Replay version you will drastically notice how pixelated the N64 was compared to this remaster. It’s weird to me how these remasters are tricking my brain into saying “yeah this is how you remember it, this is how it always looked,” when that’s definitely not the case.

Check out this video (created by YouTuber VCDECIDE) to see a side by side comparison!

So yeah, the graphical updates are great and reinvigorate life into the game. Honestly I don’t know what else to say positive about the game. I really think it’s a job well done.

Now, is that to say nothing disappointed me? Unfortunately, no. So what’s on my wish list for a future patch?

Well, the frame rates are not ideal for a remaster. Now I read somewhere that the devs were directly asked about this to which the response was basically that they kept it true to the original. This seems like an odd response though because frame rates are very closely related to the actual visuals of the game, and the devs took the liberty to improve the textures so why not also frame rates? I imagine improving the actual frame rates would have been much more challenging as a technical feat to accomplish and was a big factor in not tackling it (if not the only factor). But to say they wanted the experience to look better, but then to say they wanted the game to run just as poorly as it did on the N64 is just, well, weird.

While actually playing the game it is noticeable too. On single player I have found, for me, it is something I care less about. However, playing the game multiplayer it is much more annoying. I think on the N64 I probably didn’t care as much because the game didn’t look as clean, and for the time (what, 1996?) the frame rates were much more acceptable. But getting into a battle just to have frames drop on this awesome looking port is disappointing.

Okay, number two, aiming. I noticed this immediately! On the N64 version if you were aiming you would drag to where you wanted to aim and then had to hold the joystick in that position to stay aiming at the point you desired. This is not the case on the remaster version of the game where you just drag and can then release the joystick and continue to aim at the point of desire. It’s a small detail but its one that definitely through me off and is not true to the original. I miss the original aiming mechanism.

Finally, multiplayer… First, THANK YOU DEVS for giving us split screen! I just wish all of the modern console ports of the game had online capabilities. But I can forgive this one, I understand why it is the way it is giving Nintendo an edge over their competitors. Not only that, online services for a game can get hairy real quick – I get it. But, I still would love to have it on the Xbox One version of the port.

Overall I’m just happy they ported it with polished graphics to rekindle that old nostalgia once more.

P.S. you cannot beat me split screen multiplayer on license to kill library, or maybe you can… either way:

NO ODDJOB!!!