You might be thinking that I played this because of the recent reveal of the long-awaited reboot, but nope! I just happen to be in the middle of a long, sort-of chronological survey/replay project of interesting/major FPSs, and I'm up / to / the year / 2000 ... so, just a happy coincidence! I actually have a long history of not giving this game it's due - had friends who had it back in the N64 days and loved GOLDENEYE like nothing else, but only ever tried the first couple levels and moved on. Then when the XBLA remaster came around, I dutifully bought it and ... tried the first couple levels and moved on. And then RARE REPLAY came out in 2015 and ... yep. So a real play of this has been a long, long time coming.

So, what did I find after finally getting fully into it after fourteen years on the backlog? Eh. It's pretty much exactly what I always figured it for - Bond with less juice. Finicky objectives getting in the way of the (very good) shooting. Spending a frustrating hour learning the thousand different ways you can instantly fail a level while desigining the flawless two-minute runthrough you have to execute to beat it. Maybe people like that kind of experience, but it's not at all what I'm looking for in an FPS, sorry.

Needless to say, it's well-made for what it is, and it's got enough of that Rareware ... let's call it charm, to stand out among shooters and games in general, so I see why it's beloved by some. But not quite my tempo.

Determination.
I played for forty minutes and I shelved the game. I didn't like the gameplay, I hated random encounters and I thought that the graphics was so bad (in general I don't care about that).
I decided to be determined and go on. I watched a gameplay about the first 40 minutes just to remember the characters and the story and I went back to the undergrounds.
I loved every second of it. I still think this game is a little overrated and many people give too much credits to Undertale. I also think that the first forty minutes are the worst thing that Undertale has to offer. And yes, the graphics is pretty bad. Undyne <3

I asked for this for years and to be able to play it, whether docked on TV or sitting in bed, was the most perfect experience I could have asked for. Despite the frame rate not being as high as the original release, this was the ultimate package for Nintendo's best work. It takes everything I love about video games and consolidates it all into one beautiful remake. The new OST was tremendous. It made battles more engaging depending on the environment and gave each chapter additional charm and wonder that I didn't know the game could provide. Despite having the option to use the original classic soundtrack, the new tracks added a new flare to the experience I did not want to lose out on. Backtracking was never a major issue to me but to be able to jump in and out of key areas with ease was monumental. That on its own is a significant enough QoL change to push this over the original but there was so much to love. All of the new animations were in-character and added so much life to what otherwise were emotionless character segments. To release this at the end of the life cycle has secured the console as my favorite system. I could not be happier with what Intelligent Systems accomplished.