E3 2011

E3 2011 Live Schedule

Trending E3 2011 Stories

GoldenEye 007 Hands-On Impressions

Dan Chiappini
By Dan Chiappini, Previews Editor

We screw on the silencer and meet up with old friends in this classic franchise reboot.

GoldenEye 007 is easily one of the most requested game sequels of all time, and Nintendo announced as part of its E3 2010 press conference that in partnership with Activision and Eurocom, it would bring back the classic first-person shooter based on the Bond license. We got our first taste to see if the time between martinis has been kind to this much-loved franchise.

In typical spy style, our single-player demo opened with a video mission briefing directly from MI6. Dame Judi Dench reprises the role of M, lending her voice and steering us through the objective at hand: the destruction of a weapon cache being held at a Russian Federation stronghold. This is a reimagining of the original Nintendo 64 game, and as a result, Pierce Brosnan has been given the flick in favor of a more modern Bond in Daniel Craig.

We join the action (complete with classic camera pans) with Bond and Agent 006 slowly descending the steep slopes of a hillside on the outskirts of the compound. Gray, uninviting weather and bland surroundings signify that we are indeed in Russia as intended. Our guide explains that this GoldenEye game will cater to both shooter and stealth fans by offering branching paths and sections that can be handled as per the player’s play preference. Scoping out a pack of nearby soldiers, we move forward slowly, splitting from our teammate to secure a nearby lookout post. We peer through a window, eyeballing enemy positions before ducking back behind cover. A single silenced shot makes short work of the first target, and we slither silently into the building to strangle the dead soldier’s buddy as he stands alone and unawares.

A roaming patrol descends on our position oblivious to our presence. The first shot kills one and startles the remainder of the group, alerting them to our location, and they open fire with gusto. Destructible environments are a blessing and a curse, providing realistic-looking structures that crumble as they take damage but also making it necessary to keep moving, lest you take a bullet to the face as your protection disintegrates around you.

With the group defeated, we assume the role of the deceased soldiers and commandeer a nearby truck. Our overarticulated English accents are poorly concealed as we attempt to bluff our way through a security checkpoint. Things go south and necessitate a little more force than finesse when several trucks loaded with heavily armed troops attempt to stop us.

Once we are safely inside the complex, we dispatch a small group of guards as they endeavor to activate an alarm. Our guide informs us that had they successfully called in backup, we’d be looking down the barrel (both figuratively and literally) of a large-scale corridor shoot-out. Our demo of the single-player portion of GoldenEye comes to a close as we click a few happy snaps of sensitive documents pertaining to the location of the weapon cache.

We were eager to try the action for ourselves, so we picked up the controller to take part in a four-player split-screen match. GoldenEye will offer the classic same-console multiplayer experience of its predecessor as well as new online play. The latter will include comprehensive leaderboard support and will rely on peer-hosted matches rather than dedicated servers. A veritable smorgasbord of multiplayer modes will ship in the box, rebooting classics like paintball, deathmatch, team deathmatch, and Golden Gun, as well as introducing new, as-yet-unannounced, offerings.

Only free-for-all deathmatch was available during our session, but we did have a chance to experience some of the extensive character customization present. You will be able to play as classic Bond villains, including Jaws, Scaramanga, and Oddjob, the latter equipped with his trademark hat, which he throws at targets in place of a melee strike. Wii Remote and Nunchuk play and Classic Controller Pro will both be supported, and we found the dual-stick option to make for responsive and accurate shooting.

Our time with GoldenEye left us feeling a sense of freshness and familiarity. The choice to deviate slightly from the main story of the original game while still maintaining many of the fan-favorite features means it has potential to appeal to two very different audiences: those who were around when the first game was released and a new generation of Bond fans. The game will be released exclusively on the Nintendo platform when it launches at the end of this year.

Stay tuned for our ongoing coverage from E3 2010.

Dan Chiappini
By Dan Chiappini, Previews Editor

Raised by the warm glow of arcade machine monitors and TV screens, Dan's lifelong passion has always been games. PC, console, mobile, handheld, you name it, he'll play it. He also enjoys photography, long walks on the beach, and clichés.

213 Comments

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 10, 2010 5:15 am GMT

    What question? Your comments is blaming 2D platformers over Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 combined and that's your answer already. I understand your "logical" reason for going against having a cover system, health regeneration, QTE and a linear story but when did you see Bond just shoot people, kill people from start to finish? Is that how we remember him? As a killing machine? "Forget going behind cover, just shoot Alec Trevalyan and the bad guys and get it over with!" I do prefer Bond more as an underdog than a hero who just goes out and shoot.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 9, 2010 7:15 am GMT

    Actually dude, I've played these games. I get bored before the first level up and usually give up by the third. Why waste my time on something I don't enjoy? Every person has genres that they don't enjoy and therefore don't play. One upon a time FPS were my favorite. Then EA kept putting out Medal of Honor games every year. They kept becoming more and more linear, then along came the cover system. Things just go downhill from there. Sadly I can't stand the genre anymore. Tell me also, when did Bond ever use a cover system in the movie GoldenEye? When did he ever use a cover system in any movie? He hides behind a box when he's sneaking around, not in a firefight. I understand the "logical" reason for using a cover system in a wartime shooter. Real marines spend a lot of time ducking for cover and in holes or whatever. Bond? Never. You also never answered by questions about NSMBW.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 8, 2010 11:15 pm GMT

    In case you didn't know, check Nintendo Wii "FPS Convention war" and check their arguments as well. Sadly, when people read our arguments here, it will be nothing but a war on words. So trust me that if you wanna keep going, let's do it at a forum pure and simple. You still prefer to do it here, then you're missing out on it. Your choice, you decide.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 8, 2010 10:44 pm GMT

    You clearly found every excuse not to play those games or watch movies based on your belief. It's like judging a book by its cover. You somehow worked it all out. You embraced the past but never accepted the future. Obviously your still in a merry go round. The reason the old games work because its a simple way of shooting your way through the bad guys like a shooting superman. Now, it's like a movie incorporated into the games to make it more exciting.

    FPS games will always have regeneration health, QTEs cover system etc in PS3, Xbox360 and Wii. Now it's no longer just go out and shoot. Now it's go out, check the enemy, check the environment, then dance your way through the gunfight. Even if you prefer Bond to be a superman, it's not going to be exciting as a gamer to go out and shoot if you neglect these attributes of finding cover and staying alive. It's exciting as a movie to go out and shoot but it won't work with the game.

    The only point your making is embracing the past and not accepting the future. Lastly, if you wanna keep going like this, let's do it at a forum. You'll understand soon enough.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 8, 2010 4:25 pm GMT

    Funny how you continue to mention movies, but you failed to mention the games source material. When, if ever, does Bond hunker down behind a box in GoldenEye and carefully take aim and shoot his enemies? CoD, Medal of Honor, Halo ect. are wartime shooters, most war movies do have thier heros and villians hunkering behind boxs... that's just the way people fought wars. Bond doesn't do that, so it makes no sense to add that.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 8, 2010 6:00 am GMT

    Dude stop with the film analogies. Wire started well before Bruce Lee ever made his first movie. You clearly don't know your movies. It not inevitable nor nessessay for regen health, QTEs, ect. to be in this or any other game. Obviously you didn't understand my Final Fantasy example so let me try another one. If what you say is true that gamers only want to buy the latest trends, how do you explain New Super Mario Bros. Wii? After all, we have Mario Galaxy. We have 3D platformers now. Galaxy and now it's sequel are considered the new benchmarks for platformer games. Mario can now run in 360 degrees, perform triple jumps, sidewinders, backflips, and spin punches. How dare Nintendo make a simple 2D platformer. Gamers don't want that. What? The graphics aren't up to Galaxy's standards? No online? Those rat bastards! Guess what? NSMBW has sold more copies than both Galaxy games combined. By a landslide. If your argument were true, then the opposite should be true. The game should have been a miserable failure for Nintendo. Street Fighter 4 should be a failure, we have Tekken now. We can sidestep in 3D. Oh, don't even think you're gonna get my money for Marvel Vs. Capcom. No 3D=no buy. You hear that Capcom!? We already played those 2D fighters to death.

    Is my point clear enough for you now?

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 8, 2010 12:56 am GMT

    I don't think Bruce Lee made films because he didn't like wirework. Bruce Lee intention was to convey martial arts for film. Wires don't come into the for until Once Upon a Time in China comes out and that's where the source is. Bruce's philosophy is to keep what's useful, reject what's useless and add specifically your own.

    Goldeneye 007 for the Wii is going to be fine. I think gamers do prefer to be entertained like a movie. It will be inevitable with the regeneration health, QTEs and cover system that is needed to help not just the story but the way you go through the game. What you mention is pretty much Hong Kong. If the first movie works, they expect you to extend and expand the things that works and adding something new to keep it fresh. Regardless of how much you dislike it, the games will always work with that method as long as they keep what they like.

    The higher standard might not get the same acclaim but it will work together as a game. In respect to Jet Li, his best film is Fist of Legend, a remake of Fist of Fury. I would encourage people to play this game, regardless of styles and nolstalgia.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 7, 2010 5:38 am GMT

    I think you're confusing "standards" with gameplay style. The standards of today are better graphics/controls, a stable framerate (30 or 60fps) and online for multiplayer. Gameplay in GoldenEye was a mix of run and gun and stealth. Most modern shooters are stop and pop.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 7, 2010 4:57 am GMT

    Bruce Lee made films because he didn't like the wire work films that where made in the 70's. He wanted to add more realism to kung fu movies. Crouching Tiger and Hero were made in the old style, only now you can't see the wires anymore.

    As for GoldenEye, I don't agree that there's no way to attract gamers with regen health, QTEs, cover systems, ect. Ever heard of Final Fantasy? How many time have they remade that series over the years, on PS1, PSP, GBA, and DS? Have they changed the game play significantly for those remakes? Not really. The DS ones drop at an inflated price of $40 a pop. How many times do you hear that random and turn based battles and level grinding are old concepts that need to be killed off? Yet Square keeps churning out the FF remakes, and even adds new franchises with these elements. People must be buying them otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. The GoldenEye name alone will sell this game. Adding things like Wiimote/Nunchuk + classic controller and online support would sell it to everyone else.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 7, 2010 1:06 am GMT

    Simple. Bruce Lee adds realism and film making martial arts, Sammo and Jackie broke the mold fast hard edge action with some wirework and Tsui Hark made action elaborate with some major wirework involved. That's why we have Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hero. For a long time Americans producers believed that people would never sit still for Hong Kong style of action.

    These conventions of health regeneration, linear levels and cover system is normal today in its higher standards There's nothing wrong with the lower standards. It evolved from it. Besides, unlike in real life where once you get hit? The end. No soldier is going to survive a horde of enemies if he goes out and kill people like an invincible hero. Why? Because he neglects taking advantage of the environment and where you want to go. What would be boring as if you present like a hallway or an open area with no place to hide? Get shot the end. Now, there's no way you're going to attract gamers by turning them into shooting supermen. It can't be done. There's nothing wrong with multiple paths but it won't work if the environment is an empty field with no place to hide. Goldeneye007 will be an interesting comparison between the old and new so later I'll do a survey on it.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 6, 2010 6:54 am GMT

    @johnnyauau:

    What??? How is this game gonna be at it's higher standard if it has the lower standards of today? That makes no sense. I don't really care about realism, I'd much rather play FZero than Forza. My point is that there is no strategy or problem solving with regenrating health, linear levels, QTE, and cover systems. These things kill the strategy and the fun. The only thing that these things have embraced is that they are easier to make with less time between development cycles. GoldenEye on the N64 was about how you get to the end of the level with all objectives finished before you die. How you complete those objectives is up to you. Which way you go is up to you. Modern FPS simply guide you along a set path predetermined by the designers. There is no deviating from the path. Oh, look another conviently placed box to hunker down in for the next 10 min while I kill the next way of bad guys. What boring mind numbing fun!

    If Bruce Lee revolutionized Kung Fu movies, why do we still have movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero?

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 5, 2010 10:37 pm GMT

    And that's my point topherfilm. It will be at its higher standard. Second of all, we don't always need realism in games. If you get shot by a gun, would you like to die in the street? Videogames is not about punishing gamers through realism. It's there to entertain and that's the most important element period.

    No matter how justified you are, those who won't learn from the past is destined never to repeat it. Bruce Lee revolutionized martial arts movies with realism, then people like Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan add some opera elements and make the martial arts entertaining. You think Halo 2 is there to promote health regeneration? As soon as this generation came out with the Xbox360, PS3 and Wii, the FPS games embraced that idea for strategy and problem solving in shooting your way through the game. It's not that they've abandon it, they learn from it and it evolves from it. The only thing that helped me on Goldeneye 007 the N64 version is the armour. Other than that, it's just a question on how you keep yourself from dying.

    Videogames is videogames. There's no two ways about it. There's no rules saying there should be no clones and no regeneration health. This is how the world works. Lastly, you misunderstand my concept near the last part of your paragraph. I'll definitely play my old games if there's nothing left so there you go. Also, there's no rules of reliving the same ideas over again in terms of remakes and gameplay mechanics.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 5, 2010 6:12 am GMT

    @johnnyauau:

    My problem is that GoldenEye has higher standards than the games of today. Today's "standards" for gaming have gone in the toilet. As for Craig, that doesn't bother me one bit as I'm not playing this one for the story.

    How would you feel in Nintendo's upcoming port of Ocarina of Time was changed to meet todays "standards"? Since Zelda no longer uses time travel post N64, we have to take that stuff out. Oh, and Epona? Gone. Link has a Choo-Choo train now. The Water Temple was too tough for the Zelda fanboys, let alone the noobs, so we're gonna change that. Now it's just gonna be two rooms. One room's gonna have the boss key in the center, the next room is gonna be the boss. While we're at it, lets take out the boss fights and replace them with quick time events, that's what the kids are playing in God of War these days. There is nothing fresh or exciting about regenerating health, QTE, Ect. This stuff has been done to death in modern gaming. You moved on from it huh? Are you telling me you've never listened to the same song more than once? Never watched a movie more than once? Never re-read a book? The same concept aplies here. This game should be nothing more than a "digitally remastered" version of a classic.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 5, 2010 1:45 am GMT

    So we want a port of the N64 and nothing else. No health regeneration, no Daniel Craig? You prefer the merry go round instead of a rollercoaster. I realise that I can't play N64 games all my life so moved on to Gamecube and Wii and continue to be happy and sad at the direction that the games are going. Since you really didn't read my earlier comments, I did play the N64 version ten years ago and moved on from it.

    Now, if I did a forum whether we should go on a rollercoaster or a merry go round, they definitely prefer the rollercoaster. To me, you're still going to go on a merry go round because that's all your interested in. If you're in a rollercoaster and you criticized that the ride is not fun, then stick to the merry go round. No one wants to sit on a horse and go round in circles. Everyone likes rollercoaster that has all the elements there. Fun, entertainment, intensity and fresh. If you like FPS from the Wii era, Call of Duty 3 onwards, Red Steel duo, The Conduit and Medal of Honor Duo. It might be difficult to play but it's modern, fresh and up to today game standards. I'm not asking for a port, I'm asking that Goldeneye 007 lives up to what you can do on Nintendo Wii FPS games from that day forward.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 4, 2010 12:19 am GMT

    I don't need to develope such a game, RARE did 13 years ago. If someonbe new to a first person shooter can't survive the first level they can find a new hobby. One upon a time games required skill to beat. Or as in the original game you can start on agent mode. Or did you not play the original? If you are gonna use movie metaphors use them right. How many people actually prefer Gus Van Sants pointless remake of Pyscho? Truth is most people would rather see the Hitchcock original with newly remastered picture and sound. I'm not against tweeks to the game, like the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition was tweeked for a more modern audiences. And since when do video games not keep rehashing themselves? Every Call of Duty is the same as the last one, which were just rip offs of Medal of Honor. Truth is there are only two games like GoldenEye: Perfect Dark, and the original Medal of Honor. If you like at FPS from the N64 era there several different types: Turok, Doom 64, Quake, South Park, Ect. None of those games plays much like the other. I'm not asking anyone to rehash the same game over and over, they already do that. I'm asking that GoldenEye be remade to the same specs as the original.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 3, 2010 7:07 pm GMT

    topherfilms, unless you're a game developer, I like to see if you can make a game where we rely on health packs and an open space field with no place to hide. What would you do if you're low on health and you need to find health packs to survive a swarm of enemies? What happens if someone new to an FPS can't even survive the first level?

    In Hong Kong action movies (as a metaphor), there's so much they can do in terms of kicking and punching that they need to add something new to complete a fight because with Hong Kong people, they've seen hundreds or action movies and if it's the same thing, they get tired of it.

    Now because of wireworks and digital effects, we don't see the same level of intensity and dedication to fight sequences seen in today movies. Same here in videogames. Our history would be different if videogames keeps rehashing the same thing over again. With exception if the series works for that console, for that market, and if those innovations work.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 3, 2010 11:54 am GMT

    @johnnyauau:

    I don't know what 2010 has to do with anything. A great game is a great game. Why do think the VC is such a cash cow for Nintendo? I've heard alot of people say they would rather have a VC reissue. Legal issues will insure that the game will never see a VC release.

    If regenerating health is so innovative, why doesn't every other genre use? I'd like to see Nintendo try and put that in Zelda or Metroid. The fanboys would have a riot. The details were great then, and they are part of why moderen FPS suck so bad. Already been done before? So has regenerating health and hiding behind a box. Headshots have been done before too, let's get rid of those too. Why not get rid of those in favor of something else? Hell let's get rid of the whole genre because it's been done before and make something new.

    Why don't RPGs get rid of random turn based battles? We have new innovations like being able to see your attacker, and actually controlling your character.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Aug 3, 2010 1:46 am GMT

    Great topherfilms! The sad reality is this is 2010. There's nothing you can do about it. And second of all, I'm an Australian, so I don't understand American rating culture. I would love to have the old innovations but even if you don't get tired of it, that's already been done before. Things evolved after Goldeneye 007 on the N64 and I haven't heard of an angry mob who prefers the old way instead of the new. There's no group of people who demands that we keep everything the same. Even so I haven't found a site that promotes old fashion game shooting where they throw an insult that we should not have regenerating health because it could ruin the game.

    No matter how much you dwell on it, you might as well get use to reality of today. I love the N64 back in the days but this is 2010 now. The details are great back in those days but I don't recall games today that still use the old innovations. Heck Goldeneye 007 hasn't reach Virtual Console yet so it might not make it. Anyway, fat chance if you can think regenerating health is a backward step in FPS games when Halo 2 comes out.

  • topherfilms

    Posted Aug 3, 2010 12:25 am GMT

    @johnnyauau:

    I'm sorry but the reason many of us love this game is because the little details. Taking away those details makes for a lessor game. It would be the same as remaking Super Mario Bros. and taking out the warp pipes because Galaxy doesn't have any.

    Regenerating health is not a gameplay innovation. It's a shortcut by game designers so they don't have to put in health packs and decide where best to place them. It also makes shooters super easy. But nobody cares about that because they're too busy jerkin' off online. One of the reason's I like the game is because it doesn't have short linear crap levels. You don't spent your time hiding behind a box, and aiming down sites. These so called gameplay innovations are so crappy it doesn't surprise me that people don't bother playing the single player anymore. Get off this bloodshed thing. You obviously have no idea what I'm taking about. GoldenEye had a T rating not an M, as there wasn't a whole lotta bloodshed in it. Coming from Activision I wouldn't expect more than a Teen rating.

  • johnnyauau

    Posted Jul 31, 2010 2:37 am GMT

    I get what you're saying topherfilms and I'm always certain not anyone agree with my views. My straightforward reason is simple, why dwell on those details? Why not hold back those comments until the game comes out? What's the point in telling people "this game is crap because it's going to be a mediocre Nightfire?"

    Movies and games are entertainment. I don't mind remakes. I do like having a modern take of Goldeneye 007 for the Wii. It wouldn't be FPS today without the health regeneration and innovations of today. Not to mention Wii motion controls. The good old days of N64 is great at its time but now this is 2010. So respectively, there's no comparison because game innovations keeps changing to fit this time.

    Lastly, I do prefer bloodshed, but not to an extent of a horror movie. Call of Duty is the best at the moment so I have no problem with that. Anything else missing I like to know, if you're still hot headed or not.