Goldeneeeeye, it's got some weaknesses... Ahem. This is interesting – a remake that's not a remake, but more of a... re-imagining of an old, much-loved classic. Every gamer remembers Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64, by Rare – is anyone going to disagree that it was the best game ever made for that system? I had some terrific times with that game - at uni, some friends linked together four televisions, some co-ax cable splitters and one N64. They would then cover three-quarters of each screen with paper so that they could have true four-player splitscreen without the advantage of peeking at their opponent's position.

I knew people who would run straight to the Golden Gun in multiplayer, pick it up once, know exactly where it would respawn and shoot it just so, so it flew off the map, unable to be picked up by anyone else... The multiplayer in N64 Goldeneye shone. I always played as 006 – whereas friends of mine always played as Oddjob, Jaws etc. Sometimes we played using pistols only, for a tough challenge, sometimes we played with the lasers from Moonraker. It was a stone cold, undisputed classic...

And the single player mode in N64 Goldeneye was fantastic too – it was always impressive to see levels that were obviously correct down to the last dimension and decorative detail from the movie. Scenes and sets that were only briefly glimpsed in the Goldeneye movie were immortalised this way. As was Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, etc etc...

Along the way, we have had the superb remake of Rare's later epic – Perfect Dark – a game that played just like Goldeneye but without a movie licence. Now this was a very well handled remake. It was intended to look like “how you remember it” rather than a slavishly faithful port. The graphics were subtly upgraded to HD, while being changed as little as possible. A little extra detail here and there was added. The frame rate was bumped up to a silky smooth 60 Hz. Online multiplayer was seamlessly integrated into the game – it was a very well executed port.

What every true gamer would like to see though, is a remake like this of N64 Goldeneye. For years the idea has been kicked around the game community, but Microsoft now own Rare and heaven knows who owns the movie rights now, let alone the rights to Pierce Brosnan and the rest of the cast. So for all that – unless something changes it will never happen. The remake of Perfect Dark is surely an acknowledgement of that – an almost apologetic, yet brilliant offering to all the gamers out there.

Now fast forward to 2010 – an interesting Nintendo Wii game was released – Goldeneye: Reloaded. I first saw this at the 2010 Eurogamer Expo – I played some heavyweight games that day – Dead Space 2, Fallout New Vegas and more – but the stand out game for me was G:R. I had the chance to briefly try the 4-player splitscreen with some random show-goers and enjoyed what I saw. I duly asked Santa for it that year and someone must have told him as I kindly got the limited edition version, complete with gold Wii joypad.

For some reason, it has taken a further year for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions to ship – and not only that, they launched five days before the release of Modern Warfare 3 last month. Let me just emphasise this – Activision publish both titles. So they decided to launch Goldeneye: Reloaded on Friday and Modern Warfare 3 on Tuesday? Eh?

So naturally this hasn't received that much coverage – it got well and truly overshadowed by it's CoD stablemate. Indeed I've only seen any significant advertising – on TV, bus shelters etc, for G:R in the last two weeks – a deliberate tactic now that MW3 has launched and the hype has subsided a bit?

News Shopper: Review – Goldeneye: Reloaded (Xbox 360 version tested)

Whatever, no matter how troubled the gestation – it's here. Time to try it out on the really powerful systems. So the first impression on starting the game is that the daft interface the MI6 computers use in Quantum of Solace is here – all the menus use it. Don't get me wrong, it does the job, but Roger Moore in his gold Esprit Turbo was more subtle.

The next impression that hits, is that Pierce Brosnan is gone. It's Daniel Craig. Er, he wasn't in Goldeneye... and who's playing 006? Sure isn't Sean Bean... So that's another minor disappointment for me – but it's entirely subjective. If you never owned N64 Goldeneye, or if you didn't like the movie then I guess it won't matter a damn. Daniel Craig's voice is used fairly effectively as his facial features – for what it's worth...

The graphics – they really are a bit second rate. This graphical quality sort of sits in between a Wii game and an Xbox 360 game here. Not very impressive at all. On top of that, the levels are... partly faithful to the N64 original. The first level is the dear old dam level, deep inside Russia. Your first glance of the level looks almost exactly like the N64 game – sneak your way up to the guard tower, take them out, steal the sniper rifle – all good fun and it gets the nostalgia flowing. But then it all changes. You have to jump aboard a truck with new-006 and gun down some troops while he drives. It's... okay, but different. I'm not sure if it's progress.

News Shopper: Review – Goldeneye: Reloaded (Xbox 360 version tested)

Another example is the beginning of level 2 – like in the N64 game, 007 must drop down from an air vent above a Russian troop in a toilet cubicle. Elements of the original are there but – as soon as you start enjoying the nostalgia, the rest of the level is revealed to be completely different. I'm not sure what it's trying to be – and it's not totally convincing...

For all that, the single player campaign is pretty good – the level design is very good, with a good range of action, objectives, weapons and enemies. The first Act in the dam is quickly dispatched and a very cinematic intro sequence starts, featuring Nicole Sherzinger singing her lungs out with the Goldeneye theme song. Then it's back into the campaign, with its mix of the familiar and the new...

It wouldn't be a Goldeneye game without an important multiplayer element and it's all here. In particular the online multiplayer modes are very varied with the usual selection of deathmatch, team deathmatch, CTF modes etc... But a few old favourites are back – Golden Gun mode and You Only Live Twice for example. But, they don't play the same as the N64 version either. As an example, the Golden Gun mode plays almost exactly like normal deathmatch, only the Golden Gun spawns once and its location is marked on everyone's radar. So the trick is to race to it, pick it up and make the most of a weapon with one-hit kills while everyone tries to kill you and steal it. Sounds fine – but... it's just not as much fun as the original – and it's not as much fun as the other shooters that are out there.

Multiplayer on this certainly doesn't compare to recent releases such as MW3 or BF3. It's only a bit better than Bodycount that I recently slated... I mean reviewed. There are plenty of levels and they are all different and original – but they only barely look better than a bunker in Fallout 3. Also, not many people seem to be playing this online anyway – it can often be difficult to find players to play against in the more interesting modes – there's just enough to populate the deathmatch and team deathmatch modes...

So, all in all, I've got to say I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping I would be running around in HD, killing people online as 006 (the proper 006) with Oddjob's hat and the Golden Gun, re-living the N64 campaign on the next-gen systems. It just hasn't fully delivered... The campaign is worth trying and completing in its own way, but don't go there expecting your nostalgia itch to be scratched – you'll end up feeling slightly disappointed. It's not the game I wanted it to be, but I don't think that game will ever happen. I guess I need to go back to my remake of Perfect Dark...

7/10

Goldeneye: Reloaded is out now for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.