I came in here to give my 2 cents on the game without reading through every page of this thread.. I had to read the last few comments just in case, and now I feel forced to bring up the level where you protect Natalya...
Are you guys sissies? Just this weekend I finished the game on 007 Classic difficulty after ONLY playing it on 007 Classic, and very little controller tweaking. That level wasn't as bad as most, in fact I think it's pretty forgiving compared to something like the Runway or Nightclub levels where you can find yourself in spots being fired upon on all sides.
I'm not saying I didn't have any difficulty with this particular level, but it wasn't OMFG-RAGE worthy. The ONLY part of protecting Natalya I didn't like was the very end of that SECTION of the level; In the rampage of shooting off the last few guards, somehow the room caught on fire and according to my radar there were at least two guards left shooting at Natalya and even though I was facing their direction, they were practically invisible due to the flames. What made it more difficult was I ran out of ammo for both my automatic weapons and had to pick them off with the standard issue pistol. Considering I had no health left, this was fucking nerve wrecking but I managed to shoot blindly into the fire until those lil red dots disappeared from my radar and followed Natalya over to the last terminal where a cut-scene unfolded and I continued on..
Aaanyway..
Like I mentioned, I just finished this up over the weekend.. yesterday actually. If I had more time's to play videogames in general, I would of finished this up much sooner but I don't, which is why it took so damn long. It was well worth it though. I was on the fence about this tribute game since I first heard of it, especially that it would be modernized in certain aspects.. I was proven wrong though. My original thought of this being a Call of Duty game with a James Bond coat of paint were wrong. Or rather, they were right but not in the negative way I initially thought
I'm going to go on the record and say I'm probably the last gamer on earth that doesn't like Call of Duty. I tried Reflex for Wii after caving into all the hype, and was so disappointed at how bland and boring it was that I gave my copy away before ever finishing it. Yes, it's true. With that said, the CoD additions to the Goldeneye name actually worked out pretty well. I honestly didn't think the whole running, vaulting and ADS thing would feel right because I just kept having flashbacks to CoD:R.. but instead it made the experience feel more as if you were 007 than the original Goldeneye.
I still remember how in awe I was after the Dam level when the theme song played in true James Bond fashion. I thought to myself "okay.. I think they're on to something here" and the the smile on my face from being so pleasantly surprised. It was such a small touch but it made me feel like I was in for a treat (as if the level itself wasn't awesome). The rest of the game had moments like that too. I didn't realize how long it had been since I played the original, because certain things like catching the plane via motorcycle in the runway level, or the tank at the end of the archives level, made me think "oh man! I forgot how bad I wished this was in the original game." It was fucking awesome.
Personally I felt the game struck a perfect balance of old and new, and was (despite certain changes) closer to the film than the N64 game was. I forgot that all those years ago, I was playing a game based on a movie, and that currently I wasn't just playing a game based on a game, but a game based on movie. Mindfuck, I know. I worried that modern day cinematics would take away from gameplay, but there weren't many moments of cinema taking over mid-gameplay and when there was, it was always a nice touch.
As for the controls.. As I mentioned above, I did very little tweaking. I attempted playing the game with a CC (standard, not pro), just to try it out - I didn't plan on playing the whole game that way, and it wasn't for me. IR controls it is, and I was too excited to try the actual game that I didn't **** around much in the training level. For those that don't know, I'm not a big FPS player, and honestly wasn't used to the ADS thing so I fumbled with that at the beginning. Eventually I got pretty good at it and could pick off foes with head shots fairly easily. In fact, by the time I got to the Archives I felt like a bad ass fucking pimp. For those that do know my play style in FPS, I always prefer pistols over anything else and as James Bond it only seemed natural. With that said, until those bastards started flying in through the windows towards the end of the level, I did not stray from my pistol and it was awesome. I remember specifically coming up into one room, after an area where you can take one of two stairs up and the path gets locked behind you.. where the room was filled with guards. Every single one went down with a head shot, not a single one hit me. Loved it.
Once I got really comfortable with the controls, my play style changed with it into something more hectic. I loved the rush of pulling off a few consecutive headshots, vaulting over cover, shooting from the hip at a foe aiming at me, rushing over in time to melee attack him before he can aim again. It just felt very James Bond-ish and for that I love the game.
I have to stop gushing now. I can't give any opinions on the multiplayer game, because honestly I haven't played it. I don't have the time to get together with friends and put in the hours like I used to, but for a singe player game this Goldeneye was ace. I'm happy I received it as a gift, and kicking myself for ever even THINKING of passing this one up. I know, I know, I have the fond memories of the original GE's multiplayer too... I'm just not in the same position as I was when I was like 13 or 14. I want to end this by saying that for all those that passed this game because you felt the multiplayer was lacking, remember the original game had a stellar single player campaign too; and a good game is good on all fronts. You may be spoiled by the likes of CoD but the most experience I have with online multiplayer in a FPS is Conduit, and while fun, it was nothing compared to 1997+ when me and the guys would sit in front of the same tv. This new Goldeneye lets me do that, and thats all I ask. Hopefully one day I can relive those moments, but for the time being I'll just enjoy the campaign which is good enough on its own and worth replaying.
I'm really not shooting for the time trials, but I did just replay the Facility level virtually untouched. I'm going for a completely untouched run next 
Topic: Goldeneye Wii (Read 128858 times)
