Not a joke, prank, or otherwise dickish attempt at deception (if so, complain to Activision for buying the domain Goldeneyegame.com and posting the following trailer up on it), Goldeneye 007, the classic shooter from the Nintendo 64 is due to make a comeback on the Nintendo Wii and by the looks of the trailers, they have some of the gameplay elements that made the original such a smash hit with gamers around the world. Look forward to Oddjob actually having a special hat toss attack this time around.

There’s a better quality (and official) version of the trailer at the Goldeneye 007 page here. Will it truly be the second coming of Goldeneye however? Some critical differences are evident from the trailer: firstly, the role of Bond is now filled by the latest actor to play the role, Daniel Craig, and secondly there are some noticeable differences in the portrayal of the scenario. Arkhangelsk Dam, the famous setting of the first opening scenes of the movie and the first level of the venerable game, sports a different layout in addition to the obvious graphical updates. Exactly how far this new scenario deviates from the original film’s scenario isn’t clear at this point, but from a gameplay and stylistic standpoint, this new Goldeneye seems just in general grittier and more realistic to the extent that the developers at Eurocom went and gave Bond actual melee attack animations instead of the original game’s infamous Slappers Only!-style melee. You can see the result of some of these changes midway through the gameplay footage.

Whatever the case, the footage seems to indicate an earnest effort at replicating the success of the venerable Bond hit unlike the derided and forgotten previous attempt, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. It’s probably even reprehensible that I even mention that game in the same article– nevertheless, I’m keeping my eyes on this game and awaiting release of more footage. Even if not an entirely faithful recreation of the game, it still merits attention as a solid shooter game with some neat tricks accomplished on the Nintendo Wii’s comparatively limited hardware that help it look almost worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Modern Warfare on the more powerful consoles.