GoldenEye on Xbox Game Pass won’t include multiplayer
>
Classic Nintendo 64 stealth shooter GoldenEye is coming to Xbox and Nintendo Switch, but is missing an important feature on the Microsoft platform.
Coinciding with the game’s 25th anniversary, a remastered version of GoldenEye will launch soon on Xbox Game Pass and the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack level. According to a message on the official James Bond website (opens in new tab)the online multiplayer mode will only be available on the Nintendo Switch.
However, both versions of the game feature four-player local multiplayer, as well as the original single-player campaign. The remaster also supports up to 4K resolutions, smoother frame rates and improved control options that take advantage of two analog sticks – after the original game used the Nintendo 64 controller’s single thumbstick.
Leagues ahead
Some Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One players will see the omission as a major loss. After the original release of GoldenEye in 1997, it quickly gained fame for its competitive online deathmatches with a variety of modes and maps. Each can be customized, and more levels and characters can be unlocked as you progress through the main campaign.
The game created a template that has been followed and expanded by many multiplayer shooters in the decades since. Elements of GoldenEye’s frenetic gunplay, map variation, and barebones progression system can still be seen in the largest of them. It’s likely that today’s best FPS games would have looked a lot different if Rare hadn’t tried playing competitive deathmatches.
Fans have been waiting for years to dive back into GoldenEye’s multiplayer on current-generation consoles. While an HD remaster was in development for the Xbox 360, it was never officially released, and a 2010 Nintendo Wii remaster made some significant changes to the original game. Until now, players had to rely on legally troubling fan-made remakes and ports to get a glimpse of the Rare original.
You don’t need to be a paid Game Pass or Nintendo Switch Online member to try this new remaster. If you own a digital copy of Rare Replay — a compilation pack of 30 games created by the titular dev studio — you can download the new version of GoldenEye for free.
In addition to announcing GoldenEye’s remaster, Nintendo also revealed it’s bringing in a foxy Xbox game and eventually revealed a release date for Breath of the Wild 2.