Shaken not stirred with a side of canned ham.
By Claude 32 Comments
It seems the Wii now has two of the best re-imagined games to date. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and from what I've played, GoldenEye 007.
I haven't played the original GoldenEye 007 since the year it was released. I hardly touched the multiplayer in that game, so no nostalgia there. But after some research, I found that I wanted to play this re-imagined version. The single player seemed to have some meat on its old bones, turned out to be a delicious canned ham.
The Controls
So many options of play, but I found my sweet spot for my Wii Remote and Nunchuk and now there's no turning back. It's smooth as silk and rock solid during play. Okay, I lied. There's some awkward button configurations, but you learn to adapt. But the IR use and movement is so much fun that I forgive some of the Wii Remote's button shortcomings. Some of the gestures used seem kind of dumb, opening some closed doors with gestures seems tacked on and sometimes you just press "A" when a gesture of just pulling seemed more appropriate. There are some quick time events, but nothing obtrusive.
The Levels
I really like them. Again the the word options comes up. Do you go in the front door of a kitchen or try the side door? Do you go left or try the air duct to the right and sneak up behind your enemies? Some parts are straight forward as in run straight forward and don't die. I'm almost done with my playthrough on the easiest difficulty, and I'm looking forward to retrying on the next difficulty level with knowledge gained, again, nothing ground breaking, but lots of fun to be had.
Enemy A.I.
Not the smartest, but they'll fuck you up if you're not careful. The fun lies in trying to figure out how to get through a room or level without being noticed or taking out as many enemy A.I. as silently as you can. When noticed, flanking and grenades seem to be their favorites when they try to act smart. You can't sit still for long, otherwise, they'll flush you out or kill you with a well placed grenade. They feel like video game characters with their patterns of attack. Is that a bad thing?
Now for the canned ham... When you shoot someone, you would expect them to be pushed backwards from the force of the shot. Not in this game, I have seen so many enemies get shot only to fall forward, over a rail, down a flight of stairs, that it makes me laugh every time, still fun, if not a little silly. Video games, gotta love them. Also, lots of set pieces, but they add to the tension of the moment, so I really didn't mind them that much. As always, look for explosive barrels, fire extinguishers and fuel tanks, you might find a surprise.
Graphics
This isn't Black Ops, this isn't the PS3, Xbox 360 or PC, they serve their purpose. I did stop a quite a few times to notice the details. I have found them very pleasing. Enemies disappear very soon after being taken down sometimes leaving their guns floating in the air and some shots seem to hit invisible walls, but other than that, nothing majorly bad. The whole game seems rather smooth and simple with its style with little touches of cool here and there.
Well, I think I covered that part. What else?
The damn thing reminds me of a video game. Not a video game of today, but of yesterday with a splash of current. I've died... a lot. I've gotten frustrated... a few times. But I persevere and push on to the next mission. One thing that had me scratching my head was no end mission stats. I remember GoldenEye 007 on the N64 having stats, head shots, accuracy, etc. In this game, you get a time of completion and unlock the time trial for that mission. Am I missing something? I miss my stats, maybe I should try the online portion.
That's it. I just wanted to get these thoughts out there. Oh, and I like canned ham.
Thanks for reading.
Claude
32 Comments