Ah, GoldenEye 007. It's finally back. After years of rumors and a leaked Xbox 360 version, the major players involved (Microsoft, Nintendo, Rare, Eon Productions, etc.) were finally able to work out a way for this game to make its return in a digital format. Both the Xbox One and the Switch received a slightly different version of the game and I opted to play the game on my Xbox Series X first.

I was lucky enough to have been a teenager when GoldenEye 007 first blasted its way onto the Nintendo 64 and it truly was a phenomenon in the industry at the time. My friends and I had many "Bond-a-thon" sessions that never seemed to get old. Sure, we'd throw another game in there every once in a while, but GoldenEye 007 was always the main event. I'm sure for those that either weren't alive in the late '90s or otherwise weren't gaming then may not see what all the hubbub is about.

Even with the upscaled graphics, this game isn't exactly a looker by today's standards and some aging mechanics probably don't help either for those putting on their Bond suit for the first time. But for me, this game remains absolute perfection. Yeah, I know it's mostly nostalgia that's skewing my perception of it, but I had an absolute blast playing through this game again for the umpteenth time.

I know this re-release caught some flack for various technical reasons, but for me, this is now the definitive way to play the game. If you've never played this game, I would recommend it in the same way I would for games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Halo: Combat Evolved, and others as the ones that really pushed forward the genre.

While GoldenEye 007 offers an immensely re-playable multiplayer mode (though it's sadly local only on Xbox One), that's not the only thing it has going for it. When I first purchased this game back in the '90s, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a great single player mode that kept me busy between multiplayer gaming nights. The game has a lot of variety in its levels and in addition to standard FPS action, you'll drive around in a tank, use various gadgets to get out of sticky situations, and, of course, use your secret agent skills to help protect the innocent in pseudo-escort missions.

This may not sound like much compared to today's games, but back in the day, I was used to games like Doom where you just shoot anything that moves, find keys to open doors, and reach the level exit. GoldenEye 007 did a great job of shaking things up a bit and the levels are much more memorable because of it.

Anyways, I could gush about this game for ages, but I'm gonna stop here. Before you even clicked on this blog post, you'd probably already made up your mind on this game one way or another and there's little I can do to sway you if you're firmly in the "not a fan" camp. Nostalgia is a heck of a thing though and this game will forever be nestled very, very high on my list of all-time favorite games.

Played On: Xbox Series X (Xbox One version)
Completion Date: 1/29/23^
Time: 3 hours 52 minutes
Rating: 10/10

^Yeah, I know this is before the date I used in my last blog entry...but I forgot to enter my completion!