GoldenEye On Switch And Xbox Is Coming And Twitter Is Freaking Out
At long last, Rare has announced the arrival of "GoldenEye 007," a faithful remastering of the Nintendo 64 classic that rounds out the Mount Rushmore of first-person shooters. The game will be available for both the Nintendo Switch and Xbox platforms, the latter offering it for no additional charge to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, as well as anyone who happens to own the 30-game "Rare Replay" collection. The news comes on the eve of the Tokyo Game Show, where top industry developers are sharing their latest plans for upcoming releases.
25 years after its original release, experience GoldenEye 007 faithfully recreated for Xbox consoles. Includes achievements, 4K resolution and a smoother framerate â€" even in split-screen local multiplayer! Coming soon to @XboxGamePass. pic.twitter.com/kpBlJKqFR9
— Rare Ltd. (@RareLtd) September 13, 2022
While Rare has yet to announce a release date for "GoldenEye," it sounds like we won't have to wait too long as both Microsoft and Nintendo are advertising that it's coming soon and that it'll be a simultaneous release. For those who might have missed out, "GoldenEye 007" was an era-defining rendition of the film by the same name featuring Pierce Brosnan's James Bond, all of the classic guns and gadgets he used, and digital recreations of the locales he encountered in his heroic and oft-distracted attempts to thwart terrorism. The game features a single-player campaign and several multiplayer modes.
What's different in GoldenEye 007 for Xbox and Switch?
To be clear, this new release of "GoldenEye 007" isn't a remake, and it might even hardly classify as a remaster. The screenshots shared by Microsoft suggest the original textures and lighting engines haven't been touched much, if at all. That said, you can expect to play in 16:9 resolutions up to 4K on certain platforms (likely limited to the Xbox One X and Xbox Series X), and we're said to be getting a "consistent refresh rate", though we aren't privy to the actual number.
Aside from visual improvements, Rare has implemented classic couch co-op, allowing up to four people to vie for the legendary Golden Gun in a split-screen setup. If your gaming buddies are spread out a bit further than that, you'll be glad to know that it'll also support online multiplayer on Nintendo Switch, which may be built on the same multiplayer interface as other Nintendo classics in the Switch Online catalog. It doesn't sound as though cross-platform play will be supported. In fact, Nintendo might be getting a slightly different version of the game, with the Xbox version supposedly staking exclusive claim to dual analog stick support, among other control tweaks. Whether Xbox players will get online multiplayer remains to be seen, but neither Rare nor Microsoft made mention of it in the original announcement.
Can nostalgia revitalize this classic shooter?
Early reactions to the news, which was also shared by Nintendo on Twitter, indicate a high degree of interest among the retro gaming community and nostalgic millennials in general, with one Twitter user even saying, "As a PC/PS4 gamer, I am eternally jealous of this. The first game I ever bought with my own money back in 1997 lol." In light of that and with Microsoft and Nintendo's plan to offer it to their premium subscribers at no additional charge, the title seems poised for a strong opening day. The question will be whether that excitement will hold strong through 2022 and beyond, especially as it's destined to compete with modern AAA shooters like the upcoming "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."
Nostalgia isn't enough among all circles, however. As revolutionary and fun as "GoldenEye" was in its prime, many feel the game hasn't aged very well. Its original Nintendo 64 control scheme bears some of the blame for that, but updated controls should help mitigate some of those concerns. The graphics are also sorely outdated compared to its contemporaries, but that's more an indictment of the original limitations of the era in which Rare created it.
Why not a full remake? Rare tried something similar with "Perfect Dark Zero" on the Xbox 360, but that game's poor reception tarnished any value that franchise's name had. It's possible Rare wants to play it safe with a simple modern port to gauge interest for a potential reboot, but it's also just as likely that this is a fan-servicing catcall for those who need to know the beloved developer still has a pulse.