Bond is back on GoldenEye

GoldenEye 007 XBLA is a free action video game that lets you play GoldenEye 007 on your PC. This game is the leaked version of the canceled GoldenEye 007 remaster for the Xbox Live Arcade service.  It’s a near-final playable copy that only requires you to run it on the Xenia emulator. A cool feature of being able to switch between old and new graphics has been added but much of the game remains the same.

For the fans

GoldenEye 007 is a 1997 first-person shooter developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 console. Based on the 1995 film GoldenEye of the popular James Bond franchise, you play as secret agent James Bond—also known as “007”—who must prevent a criminal syndicate from using a satellite weapon against Britain. The game had offered both a single-player campaign and a split-screen multiplayer mode.

It had been critically acclaimed, won several awards, and even became known as one of the greatest video games of all time due to its pioneered features in the history of first-person shooters. Its success inspired subsequent games but none of them truly lived up to this title’s fame. In 2008, the awaited Xbox Live Arcade port of a remastered version was ultimately canceled due to financial issues and licensing rights.

Thanks to a leak, however, GoldenEye 007 XBLA has been released and is fully playable on your desktop. It will require Xenia but other than getting the right file to run—which is “\Bean\default.xex”—there’s not much trouble in playing it. With a button, you can switch between HD-converted graphics and the original N64 visuals. Some of the planned content isn’t available, however, like the online multiplayer mode and some classic NPCs. 

A nostalgic game

All in all, GoldenEye 007 XBLA is the next best thing you can get just to experience this beloved shooter game on PC. It doesn’t have some of the original content and planned features but it’s virtually complete. You can fully play and enjoy it with the right emulator. It also has the option to switch graphic styles, so nostalgic fans can always go back to the original likeness of the game.