GoldenEye 007: Reloaded is the latest re-imagining
of the Nintendo 64 game from 1997. In 2010, Activision released an updated version
of the classic for the Wii with the studio, Eurocom, in charge of development
and Daniel Craig in place of Pierce Brosnan. The game was well-reviewed and
based on player feedback, Activision decided to begin work on a release for the
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. The game is due in stores this fall.
In order to avoid doing a straight port, Eurocom
beefed the game up for the next gen systems. They built a new game engine and increased
the frame rate to 60 frames per second. The game will also include a local four
player split-screen mod and 16-player online matches. It will also be compatible
with the Playstation Move and Sharp Shooter accessory. According to Activision,
they wanted to include the Playstation Move option to allow players to really
choose how they want to interact with the game.
Judi Dench’s voice work, David Arnold’s score and Bruce
Feirstein’s story and dialogue updates will continue to be a part of the game. In
addition, Activision said it was very important for them to capture the
physicality of Daniel Craig’s Bond. So, they brought in Daniel Craig’s stunt
double, Ben Cook, to do the motion capture for most of Bond’s takedowns and
much of the combat.
The first level shown has Bond and Agent 006
sneaking around a Dam in Russia, where MI6 has detected shady arms dealings.
During game play they demonstrated the virtues of sneaking around, as opposed
to leaping in, guns blazing. In this particular area, Bond and 006 would have
been somewhat overmatched. Also, the takedowns really do convey this Bond’s
aggressiveness and physicality. The environments were sharp looking Bond moved
smoothly. Views through the gun's scope moved, but didn't jitter around too much.
The second level previewed takes place about halfway
through the game. Bond has tracked a rogue general to a Northern Russian
facility so that he can determine what the man is after and what he’s trying to
do. It’s light out in this level. The terrain involves a lot of uphill movement
through snow. The enemies are wearing camouflage appropriate to their
surroundings. Partway into the level, clouds coalesce over a large building off in the distance. A giant beam shoots from the sky to destroy the structure. This causes a helicopter to come spiraling out of the sky. It's landing barely misses Bond. Because of the explosion, all security in the area is heightened and Bond must make his way through to his next objective.
By previewing this level, Activision made sure to emphasize how
vital it is to take the time to assess your situation and not immediately engage the enemy in a firefight. Bond is
severely outnumbered here. Activision later allowed attendees to play through this
level and those who opened fire early on did not last much longer. An attendee
asked how difficult the difficulties were. Activision said the lowest
difficultly level was very accessible and the highest difficulty level was
extremely challenging.
In addition to the single-player campaign, eleven
new single player missions called, MI-6 Ops have been added. Activision says
they’ve taken locations from the game and put in other kinds of gameplay
objectives like defense, elimination, stealth and assault. Some of these maps
will be unlocked at the start. As you play through more will be unlocked.
There’s also an options screen with a tremendous amount of modifiers. Some are
there for fun. Others will affect the difficulty of the level, such as the
enemy AI’s destructiveness and accuracy. After completing the mission, you’ll
be able to go to the leaderboards to compare scores. The game allows you to
highlight another player’s score, see what settings they played that mission on
and then try to best their number.
They made special mention of a frustration that Wii
(and N64) players had in which secondary objectives were tied to difficulty. If
the player wanted to play a on a harder difficulty level, they would have to
complete additional mission objectives or be bumped down to an easier combat
level. There was no indication that secondary objectives were missed. In the
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 games, secondary objectives are now optional and no
longer affect the player’s choice of difficulty level. Pursuing them may now be pursued to gain
access to additional achievements and trophies.
Activision didn’t go into much detail on the
multiplayer features at this event, but did mention that there would be
4-player local split screen, 16-player online campaigns, new game modes, new
weapons and new classic characters.
GoldenEye 007: Reloaded will be available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall.
Notes:
First Person Shooters usually cause me to become motion sick and I was happy to
find that I did not feel a headache coming on or nausea at all during the demo.
My threshold is usually 15 minutes and I was still good after 40 minutes of
demo.
One of the attendees asked if the environments were
destructible. Activision said it was not a prominent part of the game, but it
was present.
The game features a classic health mode. So, it’s
important to stay out of combat whenever possible.
One attendee noted that there were no noticeable frame
rate drops during the gameplay.
The Eurocom GoldenEye team includes people who
worked on 007: NightFire, which received an 8.0 score on IGN and 7.9 on
GameSpot.
The Wii release of GoldenEye 007 received a 9.0 from IGN
and an 8.5 from GameSpot.
