When the camera begins its pan over the Arkhangelsk dam, complete with patrolling soldiers and trucks, towards the iconic starting point that mirrors the Nintendo 64 classic, you hope, just for a second, that Eurocom have done this right.  When it flips upwards at the last second to reveal its twist to the game’s first level, you’d be forgiven for feeling that those hopes are dashed: Why is agent 006 here? Why is James Bond Craig and not Brosnan?  Why does it feel like a Call of Duty game already, even before I’ve shot someone?

It’s true, GoldenEye 007 for the Wii might take elements of the 1997 original but its true roots are in the movie, albeit roots permuated by Craig’s rather more gung-ho approach.  Thankfully, most of your worries about how this might turn out are gone by the end of the first level, which, as you’d expect, concludes with 007 making his way down the face of the dam in true Bond style.  Before you get there you’ll have sneaked, sniped and shot your way through dozens of enemies, rode shotgun in one of those trucks and photographed a helicopter with your mobile phone.

Yes, mobile phone.  Eurocom’s job here has been to bring the game up to current, modern Bond ideals – at the centre of which is Daniel Craig’s likeness and voice acting but extends to gadgets and techniques not thought possible thirteen years ago, and they have pulled it off with verve and confidence, bringing one of my personal favourite James Bond stories bang up to date.   It’s not the movie, it’s not the N64 game; it’s bits of both but with plenty of new areas and missions thrown in to ensure that GoldenEye 007, the 2010 version, is very much its own game.

Not that there aren’t visual cues and smatterings of fan service: everyone will recognise elements of the new Facility level and although a diversion to Barcelona is all unfamiliar to fans of the N64 game and the motives of the story’s main enemy have changed somewhat due to the current economic climate, there’s more than enough to spark the memory banks as you’re playing through it.  A re-interpretation, then, one that crafts its own plot through the main key points but manages a few surprises along the way.

The Dead Space Extraction engine is put to good use here: GoldenEye 007 looks great.  There’s clearly some tricks being played but the blend of clever lighting and mid-range noise (usually in the form of dust and clouds) gives the game a rich, deep aesthetic and one that’s constantly varied in terms of locations.  Sadly, the tech manages to shift only a few enemies on screen before the frame rate starts to suffer, making those all important shoot-outs occasionally quite jerky.  Animation is fine though, the cut-scenes are all in-game (apart from the pre-rendered chapter headers) and the models are solid: Craig’s likeness is great, too.

Equally, Eurocom have ensured that all control schemes provided work like a treat.  Although the game feels instantly at home with the Classic Controller’s dual analog stick option (or indeed, the generous inclusion of Gamecube controller support) it’s the Remote and Nunchuck combination that really stands out, with the target reticules swift and responsive (and the gun follows the crosshairs before turning the head like it did in the N64 game) and the button placement feels completely natural after just a few minutes of play.

Not that the whole experience is without flaws, of course.  There are some bizarre line-of-sight issues which result in enemies clearly behind walls spotting your location, aiming, and landing shots and the slow motion breaches (again, an element pulled from Infinity Ward’s finest moments) feel poor and ineffectual in comparison.  The game’s length comes in the form of increased difficulty levels, which, as with Rare’s original, expands the mission structure to provide more objectives the harder the level, a welcome touch, although they’re not as much fun to replay.

Once the single player campaign is done and dusted you’ll want to head directly to the extensive online multiplayer mode.  We’ve covered it somewhat in previous articles, but GoldenEye 007 provides far and away the best online experience on the Wii.  To start there are almost a dozen maps to try, and they all play very well.  Those worried about the lack of grunt under the Wii’s hood will be pleased to hear that there doesn’t appear to be any lag or slowdown, and that’s when playing four vs. four team deathmatch in one of the multi-tiered levels, with weather effects thrown in to boot.  The amount of ‘modifiers’ in the multiplayer mode means you can adjust game types to suit your needs, and that adds a level of depth that will keep you playing for hours despite declaring you were only popping on for ten minutes.  Before the start of a match you can also choose a pre-set weapons loadout, or create your own.

Actually getting a game with your friends can still be a bit fiddly (this is the Wii after all), as you have to first enter everyone’s ‘friend code’, and in turn they have to enter yours.  Although it only takes a few minutes it certainly is a big slap of reality for those used to instant invites over LIVE or the PSN.  For those not wanting to play with or against friends, it’s easy enough to just search for a random game that doesn’t require any messing about with codes.  Don’t expect an easy ride though, as some of the online players are frightfully good and will dispatch you quickly if you make any noob mistakes.

A massive omission, in my opinion anyway, is the total lack of any kind of chat feature when playing with friends.  Whilst I’m not suggesting the ‘Wii Speak’ mic should have been used (it’s awful), I’m sure something could have been done.  It really is an atmosphere killer, and I ended up on Skype with the people I was playing with so we could all have a laugh, make fun of each other, and generally act like muppets.

I had a brief stint on the offline split screen multiplayer, and it really is great fun.  Memories of thirteen years ago come flooding back as you trash talk the person next to you, try and jostle them out of the way, and suss out where they are hiding by sneaking a peak at their section of the screen.  Online may be the king these days, but split screen is still very much alive and kicking.

Pros:

• Takes the best bits from game and movie
• Split screen multiplayer is welcome

Cons:

• Some classic multiplayer levels would have been nice
• Multiplayer just doesn’t feel as focused as the N64 one

GoldenEye 007 doesn’t aim to exactly replicate the classic Rare original, but neither does it attempt to copy what other Activision stablemates are doing with the scale and scope of, say, the Call of Duty series.  It’s comfortably inbetween, providing an engaging single player game with a multiplayer section that should see Wii owners glued to their consoles for a good few weeks. A pleasant surprise, then, this mashup of game and movie far exceeds our expectations and becomes the Wii’s finest first person shooter by a country mile.

Score: 8/10

Multiplayer portion reviewed by Dan Lee.