GoldenEye 007 (2010 video game)



In 2010, during one of Nintendo's most successful E3's in recent years, Activision dropped this bombshell. A remake of the N64 classic GoldenEye.

The story and setting have all been brought into the 21st century and the latest Bond, Daniel Craig, takes over the original Pierce Brosnan role. Considering Craig's 007 is a darker, grittier agent, the overall tone of the game reflects this difference. As a result things like Alec Trevelyan's motivations have changed as the character's backstory involving a Lienz Cossack father would make him at least 71 years old and Valentin Zukovsky is no longer connected to the KGB.

Naturally, considering the original was groundbreaking 15 years ago, the gameplay has been significantly altered to reflect modern advancements in the FPS genre.

Heavily inspired by the much loved multiplayer of its predecessor, the game also features not only the classic four player split-screen gameplay of old but adds 8-player online to the experience. The multiplayer also includes 8 classic Bond characters (Jaws, Baron Samedi, Oddjob, Francisco Scaramanga, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Red Grant, Rosa Klebb, and Dr. No), several classic and brand new game modes, and even enhanced versions of classic multiplayer maps from the original game. a special edition of the game is also available with a "golden" Wii Classic Controller.

Recently, Activision announced that the game will have an Updated Rerelease in the form of the PS 3/360 bound ''Goldeneye 007: Reloaded," though they were originally meant to be released alongside the Wii/DS version, but the latter versions were released first as a nod to the N64 version.

A synopsis of the updated story can be found here. -

The Nintendo Wii game contains examples of:

 * AKA 47: Partly averted. Unlike the original, guns like the "AK-47", "WA 2000", and "P99" are labeled as such (the latter two probably due to Walther's licensing deal with the Bond films). Everything else, though, has a made-up (or generic, in the case of the hand grenade) name.
 * Artificial Stupidity: During the final boss fight, 006 often tries to take cover behind barricades even when you're standing right behind him shooting him in the back. Eventually he'll often stop bothering and just stand in one spot while you shoot him.
 * Awesome but Practical: Bond's gadget phone, this game's version of the watch, can do a lot of helpful stuff.
 * Base Breaker: In a big, big way
 * BFG: The Masterton M-557 is a fully automatic shotgun and is quite effective at a range.
 * But recoil causes severe muzzle climb.
 * Big Damn Fire Exit: Several, including the Bunker, Carrier, and Tank levels.
 * Bowdlerise: An inverted example. The nude female swimmers/dancers in the Wii opening credits appear as completely featureless, shadow-cloaked silhouettes, but the later PS 360 port adds just enough lighting effects so you see everything.
 * The Can Kicked Him: Occurs in the same scene/area as the original game. In a Shout Out to the movie, Bond punches out the guard instead of using his P99.
 * It's possible to shoot the guard in the head before getting close enough to trigger the cutscene, or scare him into leaving the stall (which results in him being able to shoot you). Either way skips the cutscene.
 * Classic Cheat Code: Unlockable Cheats are once again available in the remake.
 * Cheat codes for Invisibility Mode, Tag mode, and Big-headed mode are now available here.
 * Cool Guns: Even moreso than the original. FN SCAR, USAS-12, Vector, G36C...there's a whole slew of 'em.
 * Darker and Edgier
 * Die Chair Die: Wouldn't be Goldeneye without it. The more advanced tech also allows for greater damage to the levels.
 * Even the TRUCKS can be blown up if you shoot the conspicous fuel tanks! Invoking Every Car Is a Pinto.
 * Dropped a Bridge On Him:
 * Dynamic Loading
 * Elite Mooks: Any mook wearing a flak jacket is going to be much harder to kill. They tend to have dark, ominous voices as well.
 * Every Bullet Is a Tracer
 * Noticeably averted in multiplayer, where only the impact and the muzzle flash is seen... the bullets themselves are not seen in flight.
 * Flunky Boss: The final boss isn't much of a threat by himself: he simply follows a pre-set path around the room, stopping behind specific pieces of cover to blaze away at Bond with an automatic weapon. The real threats are the minions he summons as backup, who have real AI, grenades, and endless reinforcements waiting in the wings.
 * The kicker?
 * Follow the Leader: The game borrows many mechanics from the Call of Duty series, as well as the obligatory tropes that most other current-gen FPSes have.
 * Frame Up: Happens to Bond twice in the game
 * Gun Accessories: An array of Modern Warfare-esque gun add-ons are now available, like underbarrel grenade launchers, reflex sights, ACOG scopes, and more.
 * Harder Than Hard: "007 Classic". A throwback to the days of a health bar and controller throwing difficulty.
 * Hollywood Hacking: You can hack into drone guns, defense mechanisms, door locks, and the like with the push of one button on your Smartphone.
 * Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels
 * Ink Suit Actor: In addition to Daniel Craig lending his likeness to Bond, Alec Trevelyan, Xenia Onatopp, and Natalya Simonova are modeled after their voice actors (Elliot Cowan, Kate Magowan, and Kirsty Mitchell, respectively).
 * Insecurity Camera: If you are spotted by a security camera, additional reinforcements quickly arrive. However, shooting out the cameras doesn't warrant any reaction from whoever's on monitor duty.
 * Insurmountable Waist Height Fence: Averted; you can jump over walls and objects that are about chest-high, but there are a few pieces of rubble in Memorial that you can't vault over.
 * Its Raining Men: The remake swaps out 007's bungee cord for a parachute - which he jumps off the dam without, and uses the water flowing out of the dam to break his fall instead.
 * Just Plane Wrong: The Russian Federation doesn't have Ch-53s (In Dam) or OH/AH-6s (In Tank) Plus the SAM launchers are American HAWK rather than the more likely SA-19/SA-22
 * Also, Sky briggs says the pilots he wants to introduce, flew Cobras for Blackwater. AH-1s aren't used by military contractors. The Blackhawk would be more fitting as there is a civil variant.
 * Large Ham: A lot of the announcers act this way during online multiplayer. Zukovsky and Janus stand out.
 * Mission Control: M.
 * Also counts as The Voice during some multiplayer modes, bringing to mind a certain Announcer.
 * More Dakka: The Vargen FH-7, successor of the infamous RC-P90 from Nintendo 64; though its magazine capacity has been reduced to the more realistic 50 rounds, it's still quite the bullet-hose.
 * But it lacks the 'shoot through ten mooks in a row AND two steel blast door' power.
 * The Beretta 93R (called the "Kunara V" in-game) is a fully-automatic handgun. In real life, this weapon is fired as a three-round burst, which is its alternative fire in-game, but it defaults to a fully-automatic fire when you pick it up. Eats up a lot of ammo, though.
 * Nintendo Hard:
 * Nostalgia Level: There are few small areas that are very reminiscent of the N64 game, the guard tower at very beginning of the game and the bathroom of the facility level.
 * Never Say Die: Averted in singleplayer but zig-zagged in multiplayer. Players are "eliminated" upon death, but during the Heroes gameplay mode M will actually say "Our Hero Is Dead"!
 * In Team Deathmatch multiplayer, when an MI-6 team is about to win, this is what M says along the lines of "Never Give Up, Keep Trying, etc."
 * Nobody Poops: Averted in the same scene/area as the movie and the original game. At least he's sitting down properly now.
 * But he's still fully clothed. Maybe he just wanted someplace quiet to read his newspaper.
 * No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom: Despite using the gameplay style of modern Call of Duty games, this trope is miraculously averted. There is always more than one path to complete your objective, and there are many ways to achieve most goals.
 * One Hit Polykill: Possible with a sniper rifle.
 * The Other Darrin: To make Daniel Craig's replacement of Pierce Brosnan as Bond less jarring, all of the other characters in the single player campaign have also had their appearances completely altered as well. They're all new designs (some based on the voice actors), but it does fail a little in terms of polish -- notably, 006 looks rather doughy and generic for a super agent/supervillain. His scar isn't noticeable.
 * Though Ourumov, at least, actually looks somewhat better, since his character model no longer has a vacant expression frozen on its face like in the original game.
 * But he's missing his epic hat, and he's fat, so he's an easy target in Heroes.
 * Zukovsky is no longer played by Hagrid, but at least he maintains a Large Ham attitude in multiplayer and he's not a bullet-magnet in Heroes mode.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation: A number of changes were made to the Goldeneye plot to fit with the change in timeline to 2010. Most notably, 006's motivations are changed from getting revenge for Britain's betrayal of his Lienz Cossack parents to anger over the War on Terror and the Great Financial Meltdown, and how big banks made a killing while everyone else suffered.
 * Press X to Not Die: Several points in the game require you to press a button or make a flailing gesture with the remote/nunchuck or you will get owned.
 * Pretty in Mink: Xenia has a fur-trimmed coat. Although she's a villain, fur rendering is still a way to show off with the graphics, and thus this trope.
 * Protection Mission: One part of the game requires you to protect Natalya from enemy gunfire while she tries to stop the Goldeneye satellite.
 * Punctuated for Emphasis: "BRING. ME. HIS. HEAD!"
 * Rage Quit: Of course the online aspect of the game would not be complete without people quitting. However, it gets worse when the host quits since the game immediately ends, screwing over anyone who would have legitimately won.
 * also anyone on the losing team which was skilled enough to earn a lot of points
 * Rapid Fire Typing:
 * Rare Guns: As mentioned in AKA 47 above, the WA 2000. This is a sniper rifle with fewer than 200 units in existence, and yet turns up multiple times in the campaign. Same goes for the SCAR, which arms no less than half of Janus' forces despite being barely used even by the US.
 * though it is possible for them to have stolen the design & manufactured it on shop tools.
 * Regenerating Health: Much to the horror of purists. It's probably one of the most contentious elements of the entire remake. Though the "007 Classic" difficulty mode does bring back the health bar and bullet proof vests of old.
 * Renegade Russian: General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp, just as the in the old game and film. Ourumov became an under-the-table arms dealer out of jealousy toward rich, post-Soviet era oligarchs, while Xenia is a veteran of the 2008 South Ossetia War who left the Russian army and went mercenary.
 * Ruined FOREVER: the online mode once thousands of hackers started spamming the leaderboards & using "God" mode in the matches.
 * Scenery Porn: While the Nintendo Wii is hardly a graphical powerhouse, the graphics in Goldeneye 007 look stunning considering the system it's on. The impressively-destructible environments are immensely detailed, featuring impressive lighting and particle effects and some damn nicely-rendered textures to boot. The character models also look amazing, with full detail and stunning motion capture work; each key or major character has their own distinct look and come fully equipped with their own ranges of motion, subtle quirks and realistic facial expressions. And, as previously stated, this is all running on the Nintendo Wii at a pretty stable framerate (it drops a bit when too much is happening on-screen, but that doesn't happen very often). Impressive, to say the least.
 * Shoot Out the Lock: Returns from the original, and actually occurs more often than it did before. You could also punch out locks for the same effect.
 * That means Bond has...an Iron Fist?
 * Silliness Switch: Paintball Mode.
 * Speed Run: Completing each level the first time unlocks the speed run for that level; beating them unlocks cheats and goodies.
 * Split Screen: Classic fourway like the original.
 * Stuck Items: The P99 is always in your base loadout and can never be swapped for something found on the mission. Causes some Fridge Logic on the Russian Archives level as you start off with 200+ bullets for your P99 on your person like any other mission yet you clearly see Ourumov disengage the magazine from the gun and empty the loaded bullets (and of course you'd assume the Russian forces would have stripped anything else from Bond's person when they started the interrogation).
 * Tank Goodness: In the same level as the original, now with more destruction than ever!
 * Take Your Time: Aside from a handful of Timed Missions, this occurs throughout the game. It doesn't matter if Ourumov is stealing a helicopter or the research base is collapsing around you, nothing happens until you saunter to the next trigger point and advance the plot.
 * Technology Porn: The mission briefing before each new locale is a cavalcade of tactical maps, personnel profiles, and target identifiers all spinning, sliding, and panning in rapid choreography.
 * Tempting Fate: In the dam level, the two sentries complain about the lack of action and excitement in their jobs, right before Bond and Trevelyan surprise them from behind.
 * Likewise, Sky Briggs claims the helicopter in the Dubai Arms Fair mission "couldn't be in safer hands" as he walks through a door, only to be gunned down on the other side.
 * The Unfought:
 * Video Game Remake
 * Wilhelm Scream: A Russian soldier at the end of the Facility level.
 * Video Game Remake
 * Wilhelm Scream: A Russian soldier at the end of the Facility level.