GoldenEye 007 (2010)

I had never heard of this and upon exploring the world of Wii (I never had one and have very limited experience) I thought this game would be a unique experience in that its based off a personal favorite of mine and introduces a new control scheme. To me that sounds like the kind of experience I cannot pass up.

Turns out the game itself is barely recognizable in any sense from the classic game. The maps themselves aren't really based off the old ones (but the settings are somewhat inspired) At times there are a few explicit references to some things in a few instances but they are really quite rare. most levels are completely different and it is totally its own game. This game actually has a very good and intense way of telling the story. And some of the characters are pretty good (Gen. Ouromov is true bond villain material) The maps themselves are average at best and quite linear and uninspired.. However having linear maps does allow you to have a checkpoint system in the game which you revive from when you get shot, and I would hate to have to play this game without it.

CONTROLS: Keep in mind this is basically my first Wii game I've played and finished. Also I'm not using official wii console (but the remote is) But, I assume that several games work this way (such as Red Steel which was one of the earlier titles) but I found it very challenging and a bit cumbersome (just like the N64 original) I was pretty stoked to play a wii game that lets me shoot at stuff on my pc using a the dolphin sensor bar, wiimotes, nunchuck and aftermarket pistol housing accessory.

I was expecting something easy but it turned out to be a lot harder than what I had read. Its very easy to over compensate when you move to aim and zoom in because when you zoom and are moving it tends to make the sensitivity jump. Climbing up steps or inclines will do funky things unexpected with the camera when you don't wish for it. I played the whole things on the hardest difficulty because I thought completing more objectives would be more fulfilling. It really wasn't and the secondary objectives are very banal and consist of hunting certain sets of objects that are easy to miss (find and defuse 3-to-5 bombs, or photographs these 3-to-5 russian documents) they can be missed especially early in the game when you aren't 100% sure where they are due to level layout. Worse, you can get 'gated' and unable to go back to a previous area. Since the levels are fairly long if you sneak and trawl thru them (about 45-min to 1-hr) doing a level over stinks. The game is also really not all that ground breaking as an FPS because it consists of a rather repetitive and generic formula of having a few guards in a certain area who might be standing together or talking to each other and some others are on patrol. you tend to do silent takedowns on the patrols and then eliminate whoever is left and hope you don't set off an 'alarm' when this happens you get a couple of reinforcements to spawn and come at you. after that you move on to the next little 'combat area' to repeat this.

Enemies see and react to you a bit too quick and too well. Perhaps its a matter of the difficulty I was one but I found it especially annoying when they could spot me through little bits of brush or around the edges of things that one would hope conceal. Similarly, this mish mash of what is seemingly-concealment-but-sometimes not also spills over into what-is-seemingly-cover-but-actually-isn't as enemies can sometimes shoot you through little cracks and things. Even worse is how sometimes you have the opposite problem and your shots catch on little invisible alpha layer of edges of what you are hiding behind as you tilt the nunchuck to peek out of cover. (Its not often that it happens but it does) Another difficult aspect of this game is the way range works. It seems that if you are a certain distance away shots tend to not do enough damage which means silent headshots become 'iffy' and you have to follow up with a few more. In addition, enemies that charge you and get too close will chew through your armor/health as they bullet hose you. Shotgun enemies seem to be especially good at this (but fortunately they rarely choose to get that close to you)

I like the basic formula of either this game or that of wii shooters. Its nice this plays like a stealth game and eliminating guards silently is fun, bringing out the big guns for more serious engagements is fun too and the chaos of running out of ammo and fumbling to reload and feeling helpless is surprisingly realistic. It's also very realistic in how you have to play cautiously this is not easily played as some run and gun game. I found I had to really play things by the book and methodically engage targets by covering doorways patiently and sweep and clear rooms (the way it should be.) in some instances enemies might try to get the drop on you and charge and then you might empty a mag real fast firing from the hip for literal spray and pray. the wiimote really does manage to translate these things into player's experience in a way that feels legit. However, there is a bit of a hangup with some of your actions at times and it requires a bit of practice to get the hang of the controls which do feel clunky. the worst bit of it probably being the control pad (because nothing is more annoying and epic fail than pulling out your cell phone to snap a pic to send MI6 of the dude about to raise the alarm and shoot when you meant to draw a pistol!)

Despite its flaws, I feel I had more fun playing this than I should have, probably because its the first wii game I actually completed and it was a good light gun game experience to have with my mayflash dolphin sensor bar (and the other accessories). However, the basic aspect of the gameplay (clearing area by area, in maps that are linear and railroaded) put a ceiling on this game in terms of it's achievements and make it feel like a generic FPS. I am going off the assumption that it's chief merits are not really it's own merits and the credit should go towards earlier titles along the way which are doing the same thing (such as red steel) but introduced them or showcased them first.

(I might edit this review as i play more Wii titles.)