For years, many have seen the Nintendo 64's leaked GoldenEye Xbox Live Arcade remaster proves its timelessness.
A reimagining of GoldenEye 007 was released for the Wii in 2010 and came to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 a year later. Although an enjoyable take on the GoldenEye story in its own right, this reimagining attempted to modernize the narrative to fit Daniel Craig's Bond era. It was favorably reviewed, but it lacked the charm of the original GoldenEye; maybe it was the redesigned levels or the more modern gadgets that didn't quite stick the landing.
With a success with the new Hitman trilogy, but creating a new story in such a well-established franchise is a tall order. The N64 GoldenEye had the luxury of adapting the film, which is one of the more successful in the series. It also featured a fairly robust and novel local multiplayer mode, which is possibly its most memorable aspect.
The Influence Of The GoldenEye 007 Game Can't Be Recreated
Part of GoldenEye 007's significant legacy can be attributed to its era. Before GoldenEye, GoldenEye's remake would have adopted online multiplayer.
Although GoldenEye was once groundbreaking, the video game industry - and first-person shooters, specifically - have evolved far past it in the last 24 years. It's quite astounding, then, that the internet has been abuzz about a canceled GoldenEye remake that, according to an Ars Technica interview, tried to "keep the game exactly the same as the original, but with newer graphics and networking." The circumstances surrounding its cancellation and the plethora of rumors about its existence over the years certainly add to the excitement, but more is usually expected out of modern remasters.
The fact that a canceled remake that does little to build upon the original GoldenEye (besides giving it a facelift) has garnered so much attention is a true testament to the game's timelessness. Thanks to the leak, the remake is now playable through emulation, so players determined to experience it are able. GoldenEye 007 is a classic in every sense of the word, as evidenced by its long-lost remake making headlines 24 years after the original.
Source: Ars Technica
