Goldeneye Nintendo Switch Review

Ladies and Gentlemen, they did it. Microsoft and Nintendo got it across the line to bring what is quite possibly the best game of the N64 era to both Xbox and Switch. Having played both, I can say Switch ended up with the better version (Which I will explain in the review below.)

Goldeneye is yet another game that partially made it through my amnesia with the fondest of memories in regard to my parents. I was 11 or 12 and my Father and I would always stay up late on a Saturday Night to watch the James Bond Double features that used to run on channel 7. So a chance meeting with a German exchange student called “Stefan,” led me to discover Goldeneye on N64 and quickly changed my birthday wish list from Crash Bandicoot and a PS1 to Goldeneye and a N64.

Surprisingly, come my birthday, I did in fact get a Nintendo 64, and we hired some controllers from Blockbuster (I’m showing my age now) and stayed up all night playing. I don’t remember who was there except for Stefan, but I know we had a great night and I clocked an OFFENSIVE amount of hours into this game.

Fast forward to today and we now have Goldeneye on the Nintendo Online service. This review is not going to focus on what a remaster could have been, or how we should have got a different version of the game. Instead, we will focus on the technical aspects of its modern improvements, and how it still holds up to this day.

Goldeneye is still the classic shooter we played all those years ago. Yes, it’s still fun. Yes, the graphics are blocky. But looking past that there’s still that same feeling of zooming into the boots of Pierce Brosnan (Easily in the top 3 Bonds and I will die on this hill) and running riot on the Dam, infiltrating the Facility, and racing against the clock to escape Trevelyans train. The game’s soundtrack is absolutely incredible and composer Grant Kirkhope understood the assignment. Soft, tension-building tones echo as you creep around the Facility, and the main theme is a guitar-shredding epic. The sounds of your silenced PPK whizzing off rounds and hitting their targets is satisfying, and bullets impacting on walls near you create tension during gunfights.

Do be careful, 007

The campaign runs well and there’s a much sharper resolution which is prevalent in the Nintendo Online N64 titles. The gameplay is still bang on and despite many advances in modern-day shooters, the control scheme works perfectly still. For those fortunate enough to have the Switch N64 control, you will have an advantage in playing due to the Z trigger and C-buttons giving players that little bit of extra mobility and speed. The game doesn’t support widescreen like the Xbox version, but I didn’t find it a dealbreaker or detracting from the gameplay. (For more differences between versions see the bottom of the article.) Levels are smartly designed, creating engaging firefights and yes, even puzzle solving, that make multiple playthroughs a must. Each difficulty level ramps up objectives while fending off oncoming attacks. The cheats system is still there too! The player can unlock cheats by completing levels on certain difficulties and time limits, creating more reasons to head back to the facility to find Dr. Doak and get under that 2.05 deadline. I have no idea how I did that as a kid!

Modern Multiplayer

The Multiplayer works like the other Switch online titles, meaning you have to connect with your friends in the app, then launch the game, and then you can play split-screen as if you were in the same room. There’s no matchmaking here, but you can play local play if lining up a few friends online isn’t for you. There is the slow-down experienced in the original version when too many explosions go off or things get too hectic, but it’s that classic fun game you remember from the days of old. Newcomers can find enjoyment here too if they never experienced it in the good old days. It’s fantastic fun and makes me miss couch co-op and split-screen multiplayer that’s missing from many titles these days. Levels are balanced, and weapon placement works well. You choose from predetermined load-outs which have a range of starter, to high-power weapons which make running around scavenging for supplies a blast. There are rules like “Licensed to Kill” which creates a 1-hit instant kill mode and several other modifiers which went on to inspire the Timesplitters series, that create a wider variety of gameplay styles and settings, adding to replayability.

The console Differences

There are some huge differences between versions, and I know it’s hard not to sound like a fanboy, but I believe the Switch version comes out on top. 

The huge difference? The Xbox version features the puzzling absence of online multiplayer. Given Xbox paved the way for modern consoles’ online services with Xbox Live, I was shocked to see it missing. The Xbox version also has modern controls similar to Call of Duty, but they don’t really translate well to this game as it wasn’t designed for that scheme. The Xbox version does look and run much sharper than the Switch version when I played it on my Series X, but that is a given considering the Series X is an absolute powerhouse of a console.

I have read many reviews about Goldeneye since its surprise release and many often criticize the game for what it could have been on modern consoles. I prefer to take a look at it for what it is instead, that amazing game we all huddled around the TV playing or stayed up late playing past our bedtime with the volume down. The game is here, almost close to its original form, and it’s an incredible delight from start to finish whether you fight friends in the Complex, or creep stealthily around the Facility. There’s that magic still here for everyone young and old.

As the game is free to both platforms, unlike Bond’s signature martini it will leave your emotions not shaken, but stirred.

So what’s it like?

Like taking a trip back to 1998 with your friends. I highly recommend it.