GoldenEye 007 Reloaded is a reimagining of the classic 1997 N64 game by Rare, and is a HD upgrade of the game that was released originally in Wii form last year. The update means you’ll be playing as the current, rugged Bond Daniel Craig and not the suave Pierce Brosnan from the original (so there’s a downgrade for a start), and while Activision say it’s a brand new engine make no mistake, this looks exactly like you’d expect a HD version of Wii game to look and it runs at a slick 60 frames per second for the simple reason that neither the Xbox 360 or the PS3 have to work very hard to produce visuals like this. Let’s get this out of the way right from the start: Compared to some of the mammoth competition that this remake has been released close to (Battlefield 3, Halo: Combat Evolved Centenary and Modern Warfare 3) it looks basic and at times tatty, with some paper thin objects and unfinished scenery.

The absence of a jump button will flummox some, but the original game didn’t have one and if level design is clever enough you can get away without one. You do get a “vault” button (‘A’) but this only works on certain objects and it’s annoying that while you can hop over one 3ft object another handrail or crate will be impassable.

Visually the 60 frames per second means the game runs smoother than a greasy weasel, and there’s nothing substantially wrong with GoldenEye to look at, but you can never get away from the Wii-ness of it and the stark simplicity of some of the scenery. At times Eurocom’s graphic artists do such a stunning job you could almost think this was developed for Xbox 360 and PS3, but in the main it doesn’t really bear comparison to the other current releases and overall looks inferior to some Xbox Live Arcade and PSN titles.

The game sounds good with all the right sound effects and suitably Bond-ey music but I was surprised and disappointed to see that there are no subtitles for the deaf or those, like me, with noisy families. I thought subtitles were a standard fixture these days and the omission is a disappointment in a game with so much dialogue.

In an attempt to modernise the game your laser watch from the original has been replaced by a Smartphone-come computer hacking tool and tracking/guidance device and in another try at updating the gameplay Eurocom copied CoD’s QTEs slow-motion door breach sequences, but it’s okay because the gameplay at least tries to mix up the stealth and run ‘n’ gunplay as much as possible. Sadly the game eventually regresses back to the bad old days and ways, and we actually found the end of the game impossible to complete on 007 difficulty. As confirmed FPS-aholics we’ve had enough of this sort of thing over the years; nearing the climax of the game we’re subjected to yet another of those awful ‘standoff’ missions (protecting Natalya while she hacks computer terminals in the Nigeria Cradle level) that will have you chewing your joypad sticks and buttons off in frustration. This is a HUGE difficulty spike in the game and is way more difficult than the scene from the original game on which it is loosely based. After countless attempts by various GC reviewers we found it un-doable on the ‘007’ setting so restarted the mission on the default ‘Agent’ difficulty setting. I have no idea why level designers keep on and on and on making levels like these; gamers hate them, reviewers hate them even more, I guess they’re easy to code in and often re-use a location, so it’s cheap padding, and no more than that. I actually gave up on the solo campaign for a few days at this point, and I can’t remember the last time I did that with a FPS.

If that sounds bad then wait; this Trevelyan fist fight is followed by another short chase, and then possibly the stupidest boss battle I’ve played in years (and that’s really saying something), with you running around like a blue-assed fly trying to shoot a literally bulletproof Trevelyan (you can shoot him in the face a thousand times and the only result is that he calls in more guards!) while he and numerous minions try to kill you. You are literally wasting your time and ammo shooting Trevelyan most of the time and the two of you just run around taunting each other for five minutes while you shoot his sidekicks... until eventually an elevator inexplicably arrives at which point you can exit. To be blunt, it’s annoying, unimaginative hackneyed crap, and I’m stunned that Activision let the game go on the shelves with gameplay as basic, flawed and downright OLD as this. And shame on you Eurocom, you spoiled a decent game.

In addition to the story mode, you get a variety of single-player levels called ‘MI6 Ops Missions’, set in various environments from the campaign and challenge you to complete different Assault, Elimination, Stealth and Defense objectives. These are probably the most fun I had in the game, but don’t really make up for the seriously flawed campaign.

The multiplayer mode is without doubt the game’s saving grace, and whether you play objective-based games online with 2-16 players (there don’t seem to be many people playing the game online due other current releases) or re-live the N64 days with the excellent 4-player split-screen mode, GoldenEye 007: Reloaded does a great job of entertaining Bond fans with more maps, weapons, characters and game modes than any Bond game before it. As with the original you can play as legendary Bond villains such as Jaws, Oddjob, Baron Samedi, Scaramanga and Goldfinger to add to the atmosphere.