I spent far too much of my late teenage years playing Goldeneye on the N64. And I'm not alone in that sentiment, it was a brilliant party game and something of a landmark in console FPSs. Lurch forward to the present and after numerous teases, rumours and legal battles, Goldeneye returns to gaming with a new Bond, new look but old gameplay. But is that a bad thing? Certainly not! I feared that my cherished memories of multiplayer duels would be tarnished by what is fundamentally an homage to the N64 game but instead got to play a very entertaining first person shooter. Only the multiplayer was available to try though in my eyes, that mode is the main reason why I'd pick up the game when it's eventually released.

At the press event, Goldeneye 007 (as the new game is known) gathered a lot of interest, and for good reason. Whether you were playing the game or not it was still fun to watch over the shoulders of those who were, cheer at their wins and laugh at the losses. All in good spirit of course. As I did, I realised that Activision has created a 'hardcore' party game for the Wii. Being a split screen game with up to four players, Goldeneye 007 stirred the same excitement of the original because players are sitting next to each other instead of being linked via the internet. While the original Goldeneye was forced to do this, Goldeneye 007 has chosen to offer such close quarter combat and is to its credit. But due to the Wii having to produce four separate windows of gameplay at once, the graphics did suffer slightly. They were still a commendable effort and did the job as well as could be expected for such a fast-paced game. And because of this speed, I found the best way to play the game was with the Classic Controller as it handled the infamous 'run, circle strafe and shoot' mechanics more comfortably than a Wii remote and nunchuck. The latter may work better in a home environment but bear in mind when you're playing with three friends, your screens are a quarter of the normal size so the movements of the Wii remote have to be that much more precise. If you have a super steady hand however, I'm sure you'll be fine. Sticking with the Classic Controller, I had a blast as did those around me with one chap to my left giggling heartily with every kill.

That's the kind of glee Goldeneye 007 gave us all and only after playing on one map too. I'm very much looking forward to its winter release and am already amassing a group of friends ready to join me in some classically inspired multiplayer matches. Can't wait!