it’s out of the question Golden Eye 007aka Golden Eye 64, is one of the most important games of all time.But for me, as a James Bond Fans, I had just as much time to make another GoldenEye 007: a 2010 remake and reimagining of the classic for the Nintendo Wii, later ported to PS3 and 360.
If you believe what the average netizen thinks, this game is not worth considering. It has no patches on the N64 vanilla. It’s a glorified Call of Duty clone, and so on. Part of this makes sense – but I firmly disagree that the title is worthless. In fact, in many ways, in 2022, I actually rate GoldenEye 2010 as much as its 1997 predecessor.
Before you scroll to the comments and uninstall abuse – let me explain why.
The main reason I value this game is that, as a Bond fan, it’s a fun curiosity. 1997’s GoldenEye was one of the gold-standards for a movie sidekick – released so late that the movie had been released for most of the game’s creation, its developers were able to twist the story the way they liked. In reality, though, the N64 game is just a game that feels great — which is why it’s being talked about right now for its multiplayer shenanigans, which of course are completely out of touch with the game’s narrative.
2010 GoldenEye took the opposite path. In fact, it’s really a Call of Duty clone with some James Bond sauce on it. But narratively speaking, 2010’s GoldenEye was exciting, and looking back at Bond’s Daniel Craig days in hindsight, it’s pretty unique.
For better or worse, Daniel Craig’s Bond in the movies is picking up steam. In successive “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace”, he is an uncertain, hard-edged rookie, new to double-0 status. In Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die, he’s an older, more experienced agent. We went from an uncertain young Double 0 to a tired old agent who may have lost touch between Craig’s second and third films – even though Bond has regained his mojo, But he was on the brink of retirement for the remaining two films.
So Daniel Craig never really got a movie, he just became what other actors played: James Bond in his prime, MI6’s top operative, swagger and relatively little baggage. However, do you know where this could happen? in video games.
So, we’re looking forward to GoldenEye 2010 and Blood Stone to learn the story of Craig’s Bond at its peak, played by the man himself. Both games were set between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, though Blood Stone contradicted the later films and was therefore scrapped. Bloodstone isn’t that great either, either as a game or as a new Bond story. However, Craig’s refurbishment of the GoldenEye remains intact. To me, it’s a key part of who his Bond is – a glimpse into the heights of his career.
The game also has legitimacy in the franchise. Considering that the original story relied so heavily on post-Cold War intrigue, and was less relevant by 2010, the modern adaptation of the GoldenEye concept is poignant. That’s probably partly because it’s provided by the same screenwriter, Bruce Fairstein. Lots of originals. Current Bond composer David Arnold returns for the game’s soundtrack, accompanied by TV composer Kevin Kiner. EON Productions, the company that holds the Bond franchise, is directly involved. So is Daniel Craig himself, keen to make sure the tone and action in the story matches his more “physical” vision of Bond.
To this day, I’m still impressed by the excellent work the team at now-defunct developer Eurocom and various outside collaborators have done to adapt GoldenEye’s story into Craig’s character version and a completely different decade. It strips out parts of the movie that don’t work well in a video game or modern setting. It also switches things up to pay homage to the original game, retooling the story to justify some of the scenes and egos that were present on the N64 but not in the movie.
GoldenEye was largely a Bond movie of its time, and computers were vaguely new and exciting in the ’90s – and Craig’s Bond was of course more boring, post-9/11 , part of Bourne’s post-franchise vision. Flipping the story while still feeling nostalgic for the original was no mean feat. In this regard, GoldenEye’s 2010 run out absolutely delivers. It’s the worthy part of the Craig Bond canon — and gets him out of the silly “Blofield is pulling the ropes” nonsense.
Just as the movie is a relic of that era, so is the game. It was released in the days of Call of Duty – that’s how it played. Lots of aiming spots, lots of shooting through cover, and lots of rubbish-looking QTEs. It’s not half the GoldenEye 007 game on the N64 – which is fine. It’s fun in its own unique way.
That’s why I value this game as much, maybe even more than the N64 original. The thing about GoldenEye is… what really sets GoldenEye apart has been replicated and is already available on modern consoles. Perfect Dark provides an HD, high frame rate port to the Xbox 360 that runs well on modern Xbox hardware. It is also packaged into Rare Replay. That version of Perfect Dark had GoldenEye’s best multiplayer map, and all the guns in the game – just renamed to avoid any legal issues. Perfect Dark has the best GoldenEye. The only regret with this port is that it is not available on PC.
GoldenEye 2010 offers even more unique features. In fact, it has something you can’t find anywhere else – now that Craig has dropped the role of Bond, and the next video game Bond is wisely set to be independent of the movie franchise – it Probably never. Is it as good as Brosnan’s best gaming outing? That’s another debate. But don’t indulge in 2010’s GoldenEye revamp — in some ways, it’s just as dramatic as its famous predecessor.
