Review by: Danielle Riendeau

It’s a rare remake – let alone a remake of a licensed game based on a licensed movie – that successfully updates the original and offers fresh reasons to play, but Goldeneye 007 hits all of its marks. With a fantastic singleplayer campaign that offers a modern adaptation of the now “classic” film and an engrossing multiplayer mode, every Wii gamer should give 007 a shot.

I loved Goldeneye – both the movie and the game – back in the late 1990s. I was nearly obsessed – playing endless hours of multiplayer matches and sinking entire weekends into the challenging campaign, which was, as a console-only teen, really my first FPS. I know I wasn’t the only one in that scenario, so this remake/reboot had big shoes to fill.

Eurocom and n-Space nailed it. Blending smart design that touches on nostalgia (you will recognize locations and lines from the original game) while keeping the gameplay and storyline firmly rooted in 2010, they’ve created a game that stands toe to toe with the very best in Bond entertainment (films, games and novels included).

Playing the story missions feels like playing through a modern (2006-on) Bond film. You play as the Daniel Craig version, the muscular badass who’s equally at home taking his foes out with a chokehold or a machine gun. The plot follows the basic flow of the original film, with plenty of modern touches and updates – mainly, the only gadget you carry is a Smartphone, which acts as a phone, camera, hacking device, and facial-recognition tool (you know, kind of like anything you can grab at Best Buy these days).

The action is perfectly paced - the first person stop-and-pop is garnished with mild stealth elements and vehicle-enhanced action sections. A mini-map and an essentially all-in-one gadget streamline the gameplay and keep the action nice and fast. Shooting tends to fall into the “run crazy with guns blazing”, stop and pop under cover, or “sneak around with a silenced pistol” varieties, though your objectives will often change on the fly to keep things interesting, and you’ll gain access to a pretty impressive arsenal over your journey through the campaign.

While you can opt to take the true old-school “classic Goldeneye” mode for a spin (wherein Bond does not have regenerating health and must use body armor), the modern amenities of recharging health and copious checkpoints is a very nice touch, especially when several of the stages clock in over 40 minutes.