While Eurocom's Goldeneye Wii-make was never in danger of threatening the classic status of the N64 original, it nonetheless proved to be a robust study of Rare's seminal shooter, re-cast in modern FPS conventions. With an HD port now confirmed for Xbox 360 and PS3, TVG spoke to Activision Producer, James Steer, to find out more about Bond, Stealth, and Goldeneye 007: Reloaded.
Why the decision to bring it over to the HD consoles?
When we were originally thinking about making a Goldeneye game it felt right to make that game for the Wii platform because of the N64 heritage, but when we were developing the game and we started showing it to the press, retailers, and then eventually to the public, it became clear that that wasn't enough, and that people wanted to be able to play the game on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The problem is that we needed to update the engine for that, and we wanted to be able to deliver 60 frames a second gameplay, 16-player online multiplayer, and photo-realistic graphics. We had the game team at Eurocom concentrate on making sure the Wii game was the best game they could
possibly make, while all
the technology team were able to develop an engine for us to deliver, so when the game team were finished making the Wii version they could roll off. Hence this year we'll see the release of the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.
So when you were designing the original, the engine was designed with a port in mind straight away?
No it was totally separate. Eurocom work with a separate technology team, because that's the best way - those guys can go make the best tech possible - the gameplay guys are just concentrating on the game. So they can then go and push the graphics engine as far as they can, and the team can just make the best game. Then they come to merge at some point, but while they were making the Wii version we didn't really want to disturb them... so we were like, 'You make sure this game is the best, while the other team worries about the engine.'
What's changed for the port? Are there any new single-player levels in the campaign?
No. The storyline is the same as the story we had updated for the Wii - so we had Bruce Feirstein take the original movie and update it for 2010 to make it relevant. So rather than being about the Cold War it's more about the banking crisis so people recognise it. Because we're introducing Daniel Craig's Bond to the story, we needed to update the story as well. In terms of the actual levels you'll play through in the single-player campaign, they are the same. Obviously every level's been massively updated: new geometry, new textures, new animations, new effects, audio, and a completely new AI system - so the way that they'll play will be completely different to the Wii version. And obviously we've added the MI6 Ops which is an entirely new gameplay feature that wasn't on the Wii, so that's kind of adding over ten hours worth of gameplay - very different style, from Assault to Elimination, to Stealth, to Wave Defense - something for every type of player. For people that like to be defensive, they can challenge themselves by playing those missions and trying to post a really high score, whereas someone who likes to run and gun can go and play Elimination. Multiplayer has also been completely updated to support 16 players: new modes, new maps, new characters, new weapons. We really haven't left any of it alone; it's been completely updated.
So even new animations? Did you get Daniel Craig's body double back in the Mo-Cap studio?
Yeah, we have some more footage of that and we've updated all the animations in the game. Eurocom have their own motion capture studio on-site, so it's really handy for them because they can just get actors in, get them to perform the animations, and they have their pipeline that gets them into the game really quickly, so it's very handy really.
I see - so you brought him back and recorded new ones for the updated version as well?
Yeah.
So in terms of the MI6 Operations mode, where are the levels from - are they sort of sections of the single-player?
They're a combination of some of the single-player levels, some of the multiplayer levels, and some new; whichever worked well in the game. The level designers go and look at the levels and think 'Actually, that would make a nice kind of arena for say, Wave Defense'. So it's a combination. Some maps have been updated because they've needed to be made larger because they now hold 16 players, so there'll be some maps that people with the Wii game will recognise, some that will be updated entirely, and some that are completely new.
And there are four modes - are they going to be available on every map?
No. There are specific maps for specific challenges.
So each one has maybe one mode per map?
Yeah, well, there are ten different challenge missions within the MI6 Ops feature. Each one has a leaderboard attached to it so you can be the best at playing say, 'Memorial Defense', or maybe 'Jungle Elimination'.
But then there wouldn't be say a Jungle Assault, or a Jungle Stealth for example?
No, we've picked the environments and the maps specifically for that style.
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