Goldeneye Lives Again on Xbox Live Arcade

Kris Erickson • Feb 20, 2010 • Comments ()

In the history of video games, there is a shortlist of titles that would make the top of any fan's list of favorites. GoldenEye, originally released for the Nintendo 64, is one of those games. A forerunner in the first-person shooter genre, GoldenEye 007 set itself apart from the rest of the pack by offering an amazing 4-player multiplayer experience, all on one screen. Any gamer over the age of 30 probably remembers gathering with friends, trash talking and getting into the heat of competition. The quality of the experience has been unmatched by any game released since 1997, with the possible exception of the Halo franchise.

Due to licensing restrictions, it has not been possible to bring back the original N64 game. But thanks to another popular remake from that time period, fans will soon be able to get their GoldenEye fix on the Xbox 360.

The upcoming Xbox Live release of Perfect Dark will include the maps and guns from GoldenEye that were included in that game's multiplayer mode. The GoldenEye maps are Facility, Temple and Complex. The same designer from both games, Ken Lobb, is also working on this release at Microsoft Game Studios.

Perfect Dark 64 was a great game in its own right, and this re-release stays very close to the original, even keeping the controls and map geometry from the 10-year old game. Only the textures have been updated to make Perfect Dark look better on HD displays. New online multiplayer modes have been added in addition to the 4-player split-screen, Lobb says, but no other fundamental changes to the game have been made.

Perfect Dark 64 will be released on Xbox Live in March, and it is certainly something that fans of old-school shooters will be looking forward to. See you at the top of the leaderboards, suckas!