GoldenEye - out now on Switch & Xbox

[merrychan]

11 hours ago, Qazimod said:

This with long Brosnan mouth would be beyond Perfect

[dvdx2]

It’s not much of an improvement tbh; ok the framerate is better than the n64, but to give it series x branding is laughable - the frame rate should have been at least a locked 60 or even 120fps, with better textures and a much cleaner UI.  

[Riven]

Really enjoying the Xbox version and have been playing it on and off since Friday, I've got to the second Bunker mission having unlocked all the cheats along the way. The new control scheme on Xbox works well, however you can't lean at present, which is a bit annoying.

 

As the game is smoother now, I seem to be find it somewhat easier, unless something is up with the damage/collision? I don't think it is. I've seen the odd frame stutter now and some Z buffer stuff. My other gripe is I'm not sure if the cheat for the Line mode is in the Xbox version as they disabled codes and that one had to be accessed via a code.

 

Did a quick video of me with my first impressions and doing the first level on 00 Agent! I see think it's the best James Bond game to date I will admit. Sucks that people who own a retail RARE Replay don't did it. Can only hope the Xbox 360 version gets a release at some point, I heard Nintendo didn't want a better version on Xbox to Switch, hence why that version hasn't been reissued.

 

 

[the_debaser]

9 hours ago, Made of Ghosts said:

Halo was only four years later and that became much more of a blueprint for the modern FPS than Goldeneye did.

What. 

[dizogg]

1 hour ago, dvdx2 said:

It’s not much of an improvement tbh; ok the framerate is better than the n64, but to give it series x branding is laughable - the frame rate should have been at least a locked 60 or even 120fps, with better textures and a much cleaner UI.  

It’s just an old game on the Xbox. Never advertised as anything else. If you don’t like it don’t play it.

[dizogg]

5 minutes ago, the_debaser said:

What. 

Did he stutter?

[Nick R]

1 hour ago, the_debaser said:

What. 

 

It's true: Halo can be said to be the blueprint for subsequent console FPSs because you can point directly to the numerous games that adopted its signature gameplay mechanics like recharging health, a strict weapon limit, and grenades/melee being given their own dedicated buttons.

 

You can also point to FPSs that trace their lineage back to Quake, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Medal of Honor, etc.

 

Whereas it's harder to list games that followed the GoldenEye template. Beyond the obvious ones (Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters, and later Bond games), the only FPSs I can think of that could be said to look directly back to GoldenEye were Cold Winter (with its huge focus on sniper rifles!) and XIII. Even with those two, me associating them with GoldenEye probably had a lot to do with their spy setting and focus on stealth; they didn't really adopt what we might now think of as GE's signature elements, like the numerous short levels with objectives that vary with difficulty setting.

[ZOK]

What about Far Cry 2? Matey looks at his watch!

[Meers]

23 hours ago, Calashnikov said:

I can’t understand anyone not inverting the y-axis on an N64 pad. The dome of the stick is essentially Bond’s head on his neck. To look up, you crane your neck back the way.

 

Exactly this. Only when using a mouse up is up because you're on an X/Y movement plane. A thumbstick is X/Y movement on top of a Z-axis. If that makes sense.

 

Anyway, playing this on my One X and I think, apart from a few gripes, it's a pretty good port. The frame rate (or frame pacing rather) is a bit inconsistent and there are quite a few graphical glitches (z-buffer issues, noticeable polygon seams).

 

And I am very glad that as a Southpaw player (not a lefty though!), they've included customisable controls (at least for the thumbsticks). But if they hadn't I would have been able to swap sticks in the Xbox controller settings anyway.

 

But ultimately, I think they should have finished and released the XBLA version that leaked some time ago. Playing that again on my PC and it's so good (bar the unfinished stuff in there), had so much potential. The mind boggles trying to understand the thinking behind not releasing that version.

 

 

[donkeyk]

1 hour ago, Meers said:

 

But ultimately, I think they should have finished and released the XBLA version that leaked some time ago. Playing that again on my PC and it's so good (bar the unfinished stuff in there), had so much potential. The mind boggles trying to understand the thinking behind not releasing that version.

 

 

 

It appears that the only way it got authorized by all the parties involved is that there was parity between the two versions - which meant emulation being used in both instances, when the remaster was built on the original source code. Having said that, I'm sure the remaster would probably be within the capabilities of the Switch, so who knows. Guessing Nintendo weren't keen on releasing it outside of their N64 emulation offering. Using emulation inhibits the quality that can be attained - the developer of the Xbox version has stated on Twitter that trying for 60fps caused it's own set of problems, given the engine was designed for 30 at best.

 

What we really need is someone to decompile the source code, so the community can pick up where Rare left off with the remaster 15 years ago....

[donkeyk]

9 hours ago, Nick R said:

 

It's true: Halo can be said to be the blueprint for subsequent console FPSs because you can point directly to the numerous games that adopted its signature gameplay mechanics like recharging health, a strict weapon limit, and grenades/melee being given their own dedicated buttons.

 

You can also point to FPSs that trace their lineage back to Quake, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Medal of Honor, etc.

 

Whereas it's harder to list games that followed the GoldenEye template. Beyond the obvious ones (Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters, and later Bond games), the only FPSs I can think of that could be said to look directly back to GoldenEye were Cold Winter (with its huge focus on sniper rifles!) and XIII. Even with those two, me associating them with GoldenEye probably had a lot to do with their spy setting and focus on stealth; they didn't really adopt what we might now think of as GE's signature elements, like the numerous short levels with objectives that vary with difficulty setting.

 

The reaction has been mixed, and I wonder if this is broadly the reason why. If you're fully 'in' to the CoD/Halo way of how an FPS should play then yes - you'll think Goldeneye has aged badly.

 

But I think the people enjoying this re-release is partly due to their dissatisfaction and/or dismay that every FPS today is essentially a derivative of CoD. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is nice to play a FPS which is not just a series of set pieces but isn't an open world either. I think Goldeneye struck a really nice balance between the levels being enough of a sandbox to allow experimentation but still being focused enough on the action to do a convincing job of being Bond. I recognize the mechanics are relatively primitive by modern standards, and that is one thing that is Halo really did move the genre forward with - although without a dual stick setup on the N64, Rare probably did about as well as you could expect in 1997 when there was no blueprint to how an FPS should control on a console.

 

Currently on Bunker 2 and this is a great example of what Goldeneye did great and has been lost somewhat - working out how to get out of your cell, carefully picking off guards one at a time so you don't get overwhelmed with your lack of ammo, working your way around the level collecting all the objectives without setting the alarms off - it plays unlike anything around today, for better and for worse.

[K]

Levels like Bunker feel like a real sandbox, in that it gives you a set of rules and a set of equipment, and leaves you to negotiate your way through them as you see fit. I quite like the way that the rules aren't immediately clear but seem logical, so that your actions seem to have consequences but it doesn't feel too game-ey at the same time. So if you shoot someone in front of a security camera or fire your gun on full auto, the alarm goes off, but it's not immediately clear where the threshold between stealth and discovery is. Modern games seem to have very clear rules on what changes the state of the world, so that guards have cones of vision, they have clearly delineated unaware / suspicious / full alert statuses, you have clearly visible cooldown timers, etc etc. In this, the stealth and the full-throttle combat are integrated really nicely and feel like they blur into one another in quite a realistic way, rather than the game just flipping a switch that says 'action' when you break the rules of stealth.

 

The AI and the animation really help sell the illusion too, as the guards are easy to read. Their behaviour is just complex enough that they don't feel like automatons or wandering monsters, but not complex enough that the game gets confused or acts inappropriately.

 

It reminds me a lot of the first Halo, in that it doesn't divide itself up into stealth bits / vehicle bits / fixed turret bits - it just gives you those things, and lets you use them according to the same rules and the same conditions as the rest of the game. Obviously, Goldeneye does have a vehicle bit (which is pretty terrible), and it does have levels that are clearly intended to be stealth-focused, but it all feels like the game plays fair and doesn't just end the mission when you get discovered or immediately throw unbeatable numbers of guards at you if you decide to blast your way through them.

[Popo]

I just realised the Switch version has save states, thus making 00 Agent significantly easier to get through. 
 

I might have to give up on the Xbox version now…

[dave7g]

I loved it back in the day, but man, this game needs a map. Just going around in circles on the second level. UGH

[NoVisAnima]

7 minutes ago, dave7g said:

I loved it back in the day, but man, this game needs a map. Just going around in circles on the second level. UGH

A map? This updated version allows you to move fast while looking forwards for the true old school experience you should be playing the game looking at the floor so you get a good framerate. 

Starting out this felt like old nostalgia but when I hit Train all the struggles I had trying to get through 00 Agent came back. Having to land the double headshot in the front of the train after just surviving the rest of the carriages took so many days when I played it in the past. I'm only playing on Secret Agent ATM but I hit control and I can just feel my old bad tactics coming back, stupid gun turrets.

[ZOK]

I did get stuck on the second level, I couldn’t get into the bottling room as I didn’t have a keycard I needed…I don’t remember that ever happening to me before back in the day, but who knows.

 

I cba to work out where it was though so I quit.

[Popo]

Dr. Doak has it. 

[Anne Summers]

12 hours ago, Nick R said:

 

It's true: Halo can be said to be the blueprint for subsequent console FPSs because you can point directly to the numerous games that adopted its signature gameplay mechanics like recharging health, a strict weapon limit, and grenades/melee being given their own dedicated buttons.

 

You can also point to FPSs that trace their lineage back to Quake, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Medal of Honor, etc.

 

Whereas it's harder to list games that followed the GoldenEye template. Beyond the obvious ones (Perfect Dark, TimeSplitters, and later Bond games), the only FPSs I can think of that could be said to look directly back to GoldenEye were Cold Winter (with its huge focus on sniper rifles!) and XIII. Even with those two, me associating them with GoldenEye probably had a lot to do with their spy setting and focus on stealth; they didn't really adopt what we might now think of as GE's signature elements, like the numerous short levels with objectives that vary with difficulty setting.

I reckon Goldeneye had loads of stuff other games ran with. Enemy AI that at least attempted to act like real people. Realistic environments. Storyline integrated into gameplay.

[Meers]

25 minutes ago, Popo said:

Dr. Doak has it. 

 

 

He's the next Bond, surely?

[ZOK]

23 minutes ago, Popo said:

Dr. Doak has it. 

But I met Doak and set him free, does he give it to you automatically or is it up on those desks at his platform?

[ilpostino]

2 minutes ago, ZOK said:

But I met Doak and set him free, does he give it to you automatically or is it up on those desks at his platform?

Find him, let the dialogue run (I actually think you can just initiate the dialogue and run to the door, but it's been a while), open your watch and choose door decoder and use it on the door.

[ZOK]

Just now, ilpostino said:

Find him, let the dialogue run (I actually thing you can initiate the dialogue and run to the door, but it's been a while), open your watch and choose door decoder and use it on the door.

Ah, I totally forgot about watch shenanigans, I must have been carrying it and have forgotten how to use it! 

[K]

The Twitter page for Code Mystics (who did the Xbox version) is interesting:

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/CodeMystics/with_replies

 

They seem to be very limited in what they can publicly say for obvious reasons, but they do point out that the game is emulated on Xbox and is not a port, and that all of the graphical glitches they were aware of (like seams between polygons and sorting errors) were present in the original game - they just weren’t visible at the N64’s resolution. They also say that the emulation is what’s preventing the game from running at 60fps - the game’s logic assumes 30fps, which leads to unspecified problems that are presumably serious enough to stop it passing certification. It seemed to play OK for me at 60fps on emulation, but good enough for me is not the same as good enough for commercial release.

 

To be honest, I quite like the authenticity of this release of Goldeneye; I watched some footage of the 360 version on YouTube, and I didn’t think it looked that great visually. 60fps is nice, but the “new” visuals just looked like an ok-ish game from ten years ago. If anything, I’d like them to make the current version even closer to the original - I’d love a low-res option to recreate the look of the game on a CRT, or even an option to run the game at its original frame rate, just to see what it was like. 

[dave7g]

1 hour ago, NoVisAnima said:

A map? This updated version allows you to move fast while looking forwards for the true old school experience you should be playing the game looking at the floor so you get a good framerate. 

Starting out this felt like old nostalgia but when I hit Train all the struggles I had trying to get through 00 Agent came back. Having to land the double headshot in the front of the train after just surviving the rest of the carriages took so many days when I played it in the past. I'm only playing on Secret Agent ATM but I hit control and I can just feel my old bad tactics coming back, stupid gun turrets.

Yeah, I went in one brown door and out the other, then in the same brown door and out another for what seemed like an hour of running around in circles, it's my fault with no sense of direction.

 

I think I killed Dr. Doak.

 

I like this version, it's good. Nothing too crazy updated, nothing that would stand out, but if you look closely there's a lot of work done. It's widescreen for example. Music is still ruling after all this time.

[ilpostino]

13 minutes ago, dave7g said:

It's widescreen for example.

 

I think the original was too, or rather could be if you set it in the options.

[K]

The original game did indeed have a 16:9 option. It also had letterbox and super-widescreen options on top of that, if you wanted to view the game through a tiny window for some reason. It can't have been the first console game to support 16:9 TVs, but it must have been pretty early on. I seem to recall that a 16:9 TV was quite an exotic thing back in 1997.

[dave7g]

7 minutes ago, K said:

The original game did indeed have a 16:9 option. It also had letterbox and super-widescreen options on top of that, if you wanted to view the game through a tiny window for some reason. It can't have been the first console game to support 16:9 TVs, but it must have been pretty early on. I seem to recall that a 16:9 TV was quite an exotic thing back in 1997.

 They were, I knew a couple of people with them. And of course they stretched the 4:3 to widescreen and it looked utterly horrible. 

[Art Vandelay]

My friend's family around that time were the first people I knew to get a widescreen idiot box. It was one of those Sony ones that were sort of flat screen too and became practically ubiquitous after a while. I imagine most of them are still in people's front rooms as it required the combined strength of eight stout men to slide it a quarter inch across the carpet.

[christaylor]

These little niggles that people have been discussing really show how much credit the developers wanted to give you as a player; The levels are all small enough and distinctly designed to be able to memorise pretty quickly so you don't need to rely on a map and there's very little hand-holding so you really have to read and absorb the M/Q notes prior to starting each level and have confidence when you're playing that you're doing the right thing.

 

I'd completely forgotten you've essentially got the small inventory built in to the watch menu for selecting and using things like the camera and decoder, once I found that I think I then managed to accidentally throw away one of the essential items () so there's definitely some usability/UI tweaks it could benefit from that you'd consider standard these days, but it's amazing how well it was set up for the time.

[OneDvBmbr]

I ballsed up Control by killing Boris when he pulled a gun on me. Wasn’t until about 5 mins later that I realised however, when Natalya scolded me for killing her mate and the mission was failed. Had completely forgotten about that. Ooops.