007 Legends just as easily could have been released as a downloadable level pack for last year’s GoldenEye Reloaded. It’s built on the same engine and has the same general gameplay feel, yet it lacks the cohesion one would expect from a standalone video game. But of course, going the DLC route wouldn’t pull as much attention or consumer dollars as a separate retail release designed both as a shill for the latest Bond film as well as a cash in on the 50th anniversary of James Bond movie magic.

Although not without redeeming values, the overall experience feels exactly like a typical rushed movie tie-in.

The mishmash begins during the opening scene of the latest 007 flick, Skyfall, with Daniel Craig’s Bond getting shot off a moving train and plummeting to the river below. As he’s swirling around in the flowing water on the verge of death, flashbacks have him reliving some of his past assignments, a not-so-clever way to string together a slew of missions that have no direct continuity.

Legends loosely pieces together key moments, locales, and characters from five classic Bond films — Moonraker, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Die Another Day, License to Kill, and Goldfinger – into what feels like a series of five micro 007 games strung together in succession. A sixth downloadable chapter based on Skyfall only hammers this point home, tanking hard as a throwaway 30-minute movie promotion that adds little to the experience. But hey, at least it’s free. It wouldn’t have been a surprise for Activision to charge for such a worthless piece of expansionary content.

Each movie in this compilation of super spy first-person shooter missions gets roughly an hour or so of face time, with little in the way of plot background information to put the individual stories into proper context. If you haven’t seen all the movies, good luck making any sense of what’s going on. And even if you have, you’ll probably wish each movie was represented with a bit more depth and focus. You’re only getting the Cliffs Notes versions of these Bond stories.

Even sadder are the poorly implemented fist fight sequences that reduce Bond’s famous encounters with iconic henchmen such as Oddjob and Jaws to some of the weakest quick time event sequences ever developed. During these fights, a giant prompt flashes on the screen, telling you which direction to flick the left or right analog stick to punch high or low with the hand tethered to each limb based on the enemy’s telegraphed block animation. What is this, James Bond’s Punch-Out?

Story isn’t needed for the game to be fun to play, though. Whether you’re thwarting Operation Grand Slam in an assault on Fort Knox in Goldfinger, stopping Gustav Graves’ plans to use the Icarus satellite for evil in Die Another Day, or floating around Hugo Drax’s space station engaged in laser battles in Moonraker, Legends presents an enjoyable string of missions to shoot and sneak through. To call the game a cheap knock-off of Modern Warfare with a James Bond skin isn’t entirely inaccurate; however such a statement is overly flattering to Call of Duty and too dismissive of what this game has to offer.

Except for a few instances of frustrating forced stealth, in which being spotted results in immediate mission failure, the levels allow for multiple approaches. Legends has that classic GoldenEye feel to it with lots of optional objectives and hidden collectibles – and yes, there is an option for the old health system with med packs and body armor. There’s plenty of action and stealth of course, but side elements like vehicular missions, hacking and lock picking mini-games, and investigation scenarios that involve searching for fingerprints and cracking safes to gather intel, add enough diversity to keep the pace moving at a brisk rate.

It wouldn’t be a 007 game without gadgets either. While the developers didn’t push the boundaries of design ingenuity, Bond has some pretty sweet tech at his disposal. His wristwatch functions as a radar and also shoots a laser to short out security cameras; his smartphone has many uses as a camera, hacking device and environment scanner; and he has a handy pen dart gun that can be used to cause distractions or quietly sedate or shock enemies. New since GoldenEye Reloaded, Legends also incorporates a leveling system which rewards you with XP points for completing optional objectives and challenges. These points can then be used to unlock weapon mods, gadget upgrades, and perk-like Training Modules to enhance Bond’s spy skills with benefits like faster weapon reloads, quieter footsteps, increased health, and so on.

Since the N64 GoldenEye glory days, multiplayer has always been a main draw in any 007 game. Although a bit shallow compared to other modern FPS titles, the combination of offline and online competition continues the Bond multiplayer tradition with respectable results. Legends offers 12 match types and eight maps, and employs the genre-standard progression model of earning experience through performance to gradually increase in rank and unlock additional weapons, gadgets, upgrade attachments and loadout customizations. It’s too bad no one ever seems to care about participating in any mode but team deathmatch (on PSN at least), as it’s tough finding busy lobbies in the more interesting match types, such as Escalation, in which players win by scoring kills through an escalating sequence of weapons, and Legends, a deathmatch variant which puts players in the roles of famous Bond characters, each with unique abilities.

The community’s disinterest in certain modes is not the game’s fault; the spotty performance is however. While the multiplayer is fun when it works, unfortunately the developers failed to provide reliable servers. One match will run flawlessly, yet the next will be a mess of lag, networking errors, failed host migrations and various other connection issues that prevent you from being able to easily jump into and complete a map. If these multiplayer issues get you down, you can always hop offline and play locally in split-screen or take on the solo Challenge mode, a collection of 10 MI6 Ops style standalone missions which task you with completing different objectives in a time trial format.

I really do love the idea behind 007 Legends. A James Bond “Greatest Hits” video game certainly is a cool concept, but I just wish it weren’t so hurriedly cobbled together. Eurocom couldn’t even be bothered to carry over the well-designed PlayStation Move control scheme from the PS3 version of GoldenEye Reloaded (it was so hyped the game even got a special bundle with the Sharpshooter rifle!), which just goes to show how rushed and lazy this game feels. That said, Legends is more middle of the road than terrible, but it ultimately disappoints because it clearly could have been so much better. If you liked the GoldenEye remake, you’ll have a good time with this game too. Just don’t expect the same level of excellence.

Pros:
+ James Bond “Greatest Hits” format is a great concept…
+ Gameplay is still GoldenEye fun
+ Good variety of weapons, gadgets, and objectives
+ Challenge missions and respectable multiplayer add replay
+ Looks and sounds like a Bond game should

Cons:
– …if only it weren’t so lazily pieced together
– Doesn’t provide enough context or background story for each movie section
– Iconic henchman encounters reduced to lame QTE fist fights
– Forced stealth segments slow the otherwise brisk pacing
– Online performance goes through fits of instability

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on PS3, also available for PC, Wii U and Xbox 360
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Eurocom
Release Date: PS3/360 – 10/16/2012, PC – 11/1/2012, Wii U – 12/11/2012
Genre: FPS
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1-12 (1-4 offline, 2-12 online)
Source: Review copy provided by publisher

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Before Halo came along and claimed the “best console FPS ever” title, Rare’s GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64 was the first console FPS to really hit it big with critics and everyday gamers alike. I grew up right in the thick of the GoldenEye hype, and I have to be honest; I was never able to figure out what was that special about it. My friends at the time couldn’t get enough of the game. They’d play the multiplayer for hours and spend just as much time replaying the story missions at higher difficulty settings – and I’d always want them to turn it off and play something else!

But like many games I fluffed off when I was younger, I have since developed respect for GoldenEye as a defining release in the history of gaming. It is a game that truly revolutionized FPS play on consoles and put forth a genre template for other developers to build upon moving forward. Looking back, GoldenEye for the N64 really was ahead of its time in many ways.

Over a decade later, Activision has resurrected the GoldenEye name in an attempt to rekindle fond memories of the N64 classic with a modernized quasi-remake for the Wii (there’s a DS version as well). I say quasi-remake because GoldenEye 007 for the Wii is really only GoldenEye in name. The two share broad similarities, but by and large this is a completely new game, with new actors and a new story, from a different developer. So if you’re expecting this to be some type of nostalgic love letter to old school Bond fans, you may be somewhat disappointed…but only for a short while, because it doesn’t take long for GoldenEye Wii to establish its own identity as a top-tier FPS.

Eurocom, the game’s developer, has past experience developing within the Bond franchise with games like The World is Not Enough and Nightfire (both solid games), and has even established a solid grasp of the Wii by helping Visceral Games in the creation of the underappreciated rail shooter, Dead Space: Extraction. So, save for a miracle that would have allowed Rare to take the job, GoldenEye’s Wii re-imagining couldn’t have been placed in better hands…and it shows.

As with any new Wii shooter, the question that needs to be answered first is simple: do the motion controls work? The answer is also very simple: Yes. Yes they do. They work bloody marvelously, as a matter of fact. From bang to bullets, GoldenEye has the tightest point-and-shoot shooting model of any Wii FPS I’ve played (and I’ve played the vast majority of them), and while you can play with a GameCube or Classic controller if you so desire, to me it seems silly to play a Wii FPS any other way than with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk – especially when they function as well as they do here.

Pointing and shooting with the Wii Remote is as razor sharp and buttery smooth as one could possibly ask for, and the game provides a multitude of control options to cater to gamers of all experience levels, including five pre-sets for Accessible, Intermediate and Experienced play styles, along with an option to set up a customized control configuration by tuning turn speeds and targeting sensitivity, adjusting the size of the dead zone, toggling aim assist and snapping auto-aim mechanics, and so on and so forth.

Controls aside, GoldenEye is a blast to play, literally. Every aspect of the gunplay, from the placement of the gun on the screen to the incredibly detailed gun models and their flashy firing and reload animations to the fleshy “thwack” sound of bullets shredding through terrorist A-holes, is dead on target, ensuring that you have fun shooting the many weapons Bond has at his disposal. Environmental destructibility enhances the fun further by allowing you to destroy enemy cover points and experiment with ways to use your surroundings to kill. Yes, the obligatory exploding red barrels and wall-mounted fire extinguishers are in abundance, but things like ceiling fans and hanging rafters can be turned into instruments of death with an accurate shot as well. Windows shatter, pillars crumble, crates crack apart, vehicles explode…and it all works together to create a frenzied action-movie experience.

The developers also did an amazing job with stage building and the balancing of play styles. A few levels do force you into a particular method, but for the most part it is up to you whether you want to charge through guns blazing with all sorts of high-tech machine guns and heavy firepower or play it with patience and stealth as a “thinking man’s FPS,” shooting out cameras, sneaking through vents, and eliminating threats with sneaky takedowns and silenced pistol headshots like a real spy operative.

And the level designs support this multi-faceted gameplay approach, too. While the stages are fairly scripted and linear, they aren’t rigidly so. Many of the environments branch off, giving you at least some choice of how to proceed. Do you want to open the door going off to the left or to the right? Or maybe take the nearby vent to access the next room quietly? Or hell, why not vault through the window like a true action hero?

When you first go through the game, you may not notice these subtle branches. Upon return visits, however, you will discover new and different ways to proceed compared to the path you took on your first go-round. Like GoldenEye classic, this game is built around the idea of replaying missions. Contrary to the majority of games which use multiple difficulty settings simply as a means to make enemies smarter/dumber and harder/easier to kill, the tiered difficulties in this game also introduce additional secondary mission objectives that must be completed (most requiring some form of intel gathering or sabotage), in turn making each mission more involved and challenging outside of the action.

It’s great fun to be able to start on Operative difficulty and just go through the game focusing on the main objectives, and then go back on the Agent or 007 difficulty to challenge yourself further by having to search the levels with a keener eye and be more mindful of your approach to each situation. There’s even a 007 Classic setting which replaces the recharging health system with the old-school health bar and body armor system, and each stage can be played in Time Trial mode for gamers into the speed run scene.

Multiplayer is a huge value booster as well. Back in the N64 days, GoldenEye was the pinnacle of console FPS multiplayer, and so it is once again…on the Wii at least. Supporting up to eight players online (no Friend Codes required!) and four players in local split-screen, GoldenEye’s multiplayer is a combination of Call of Duty and GoldenEye ‘classic.’ Online, the game’s multiplayer is formatted just like the current Call of Duty titles, complete with nine total match types and an XP progression system which rewards you with accolades and unlocks (weapons, gadgets, mods, modes, etc.) as you compile kills and wins. In my experience, the performance has been rock solid too. Lag has been minimal to non-existent, the Wii-mote controls are just as precise against live opponents as they are against less-reactionary AI enemies, the maps seem balanced and interesting, and early on there appears to be a healthy community of players to match up against.

Offline, the game hearkens back to the original game with a multiplayer setup that doesn’t take itself quite so seriously. Matches are limited to four types and the XP system is nixed entirely, but instead you have the option to apply crazy modifiers that give multiplayer matches almost more of a party game vibe. There are basic settings like friendly fire, number of lives and time limits, but if you’re feeling a bit wacky, you can turn on things like rubber or sticky grenades, paintball mode, and Singularity, a setting which causes players to explode on contact.

Multiplayer isn’t all that it could be, though. Online operatives looking to voice chat will be disappointed by the lack of Wii Speak support, and the lack of a basic option such as the ability to host customized matches definitely hurts. Supposedly you can create parties with friends you’ve exchanged Friend Codes with, but from what I’ve read this process is more trouble than it’s worth (which is usually the case whenever Friend Codes are involved). Not being able to create matches with specific settings means there is potential for imbalance depending on the types of controls people are using. Some players may prefer a standard controller over the point-and-shoot method, or some players may choose to play without aim helpers, and these players may find themselves at a disadvantage. Some type of matchmaking option to filter matches by control configuration would have really helped to ensure an even playing field.

Offline, it’s a shame that there is no support for AI bots. As predominantly a solo gamer myself, it would have been great to be able to play around with the local multiplayer modes against bots, or at least be able to fill in matches for when you only have one friend around.

Digging beyond the multiplayer, GoldenEye falters in a few other areas as well. The story, for example, is a complete throwaway. Original GoldenEye-era James Bond actor, Pierce Brosnan, has been replaced by the current Bond, Daniel Craig, and his likeness and voice acting do bring a cinematic Hollywood flair to the plot. However, the story itself seems like such an afterthought, as it is riddled with the worst kind of spy-thriller clichés, predictable plot twists, and far too many “I’m caught, but the villain is too stupid to kill me” moments that leave you shaking your head and rolling your eyes. The campaign is great fun regardless, but a more involved storyline is really the only ingredient missing from this otherwise tasty dish of Bond FPS action.

One other small element this game lacks is visual polish. Overall, GoldenEye is a graphical showcase for a Wii game. The environments are detailed and lively thanks to rich lighting and weather effects, and also diverse in setting – missions take you on a journey around the world to dams, factories, nightclubs and jungles in places like Russia, Barcelona, Dubai and Nigeria. The characters are incredibly expressive and true to their real-life actor/actress counterparts as well, and as I mentioned earlier, the gun model designs and animations are spectacular. The problem is that the textures are noticeably washed out and blurry, and on the whole the game is bereft of a strong color palette to really make the otherwise impressive graphics pop. Unfortunately, the frame rate dips a wee bit during the more hectic firefights, too.

While I played GoldenEye, I couldn’t help but think of three different shooters from three different eras as apparent sources of inspiration. Its diverse mission design, in-depth multiplayer and pitch-perfect pacing are clearly derived from Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare playbook. The emphasis on environmental destruction and the “guns as toys” mentality remind me an awful lot of Criterion’s previous-gen FPS, Black. And yet at its heart the game still maintains that distinct James Bond personality, carrying over bits and pieces from the classic GoldenEye that returning fans will be able to immediately identify with.

With GoldenEye, Eurocom has accomplished the goal High Voltage attempted to achieve with The Conduit, that goal being to create a modern FPS on the Wii comparable to those available on the higher-end platforms. Obviously the graphical fidelity lags far behind, and there are a few other minor omissions. But in terms of gameplay, multiplayer depth, replayability, fun factor and core functionality – you know, the important stuff – GoldenEye can hold its own against any Call of Duty, Halo, Killzone or other prominent FPS franchise.

Pros:
+ Precise point-and-shoot controls with tons of customization options
+ Thrilling gunplay with cool weapons and destructive environments
+ Diverse level designs balance stealth and action nicely
+ Evolving difficulty system brings back the fun of replaying the campaign multiple times
+ Robust multiplayer offering
+ Technically impressive graphics overall

Cons:
– Dull, toss-away storyline
– Multiplayer doesn’t support Wii Speak, match hosting or bots
– Pale, washed-out textures make the game look kind of bland and generic

Game Info:
Platform: Reviewed on Wii, also available for DS
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Eurocom
Release Date: 11/2/2010
Genre: FPS
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1-8 (2-8 online; 2-4 split-screen)
Source: Review copy provided by publisher

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