Rare’s classic shooter GoldenEye 007 is often considered to be one of the greatest games ever made, not least because it helped to pioneer and establish several conventions for the FPS genre that are still seen today in modern releases. That being the case, it’s hardly surprising that fans have been clamoring for a remake of the 1997 original ever since the Nintendo 64 became a defunct system.
Over the years, Rare, Microsoft and Nintendo have all expressed great interest in doing such a a thing, but due to each party having their own stake in the rights of the title, an agreement has never been reached in regards to how such a thing would be distributed and on what platforms it would appear.
With that said, there have been murmurs in the past that suggested Rare had at least made some headway on a GoldenEye remake for Xbox Live Arcade, and it looks like the studio managed to get quite far into development, as this newly-surfaced footage suggests.
Released by Rare Thief on their YouTube channel, footage of the remake covers several stages including Cradle, Facility and Dam, culminating in a return to the hidden Aztec level.
Although the footage emphasizes that what you see is of an unfinished project, the re-textured stages look considerably better than the originals, and it appears as if a toggle option similar to that seen in 343 Industries’ Halo: Anniversary would have been available, allowing players to switch between the original and updated versions on a whim.
Such wasted potential. Come on Nintendo and Microsoft, give negotiations another try, eh? We’ve been waiting far too long for a modernized version of GoldenEye 007.