Goldeneye facility in Unreal 4

January 13, 2016 7:13 AM

Game artist Jude Wilson, like many of us, spent a lot of time playing Goldeneye (previously) on the Nintendo 64. Videogame graphics have come a long way in the nineteen years since Goldeneye was released, so Jude undertook to recreate part of one level in Unreal Engine 4 for his portfolio.

For comparison, here is what it looked like on the N64.

posted by ricochet biscuit (36 comments total)

Nineteen years. Ye gods. In video game development, we are now as far from Goldeneye as it was from Space Invaders.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:14 AM on January 13, 2016 [20 favorites]

Needs more big head mode.
posted by Panjandrum at 7:41 AM on January 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

I was disappointed the toilets weren't included, that's where I spent most of my time.
posted by Joe Chip at 7:45 AM on January 13, 2016 [8 favorites]

For maximum realism Oddjob shoots you and you have a squabble over the fairness of picking that character then play a round of knives or RPGs or single shot kill pistols.
posted by Artw at 7:46 AM on January 13, 2016 [6 favorites]

I was disappointed the toilets weren't included, that's where I spent most of my time.


Early FPS history is oddly toilet-centric.
posted by Artw at 7:46 AM on January 13, 2016 [19 favorites]

He needs to do another level where you escort Natalya and she constantly walks right between you and the soldiers right as you're both firing at each other. Then it would truly be a recreation of that game.
posted by mystyk at 7:51 AM on January 13, 2016 [8 favorites]

In the far future of gaming we may dream that science will create an escort mission that doesn't suck.
posted by Artw at 7:52 AM on January 13, 2016 [9 favorites]

We won't have advanced as a species until we've moved beyond escort missions altogether.

Although if we have to have them, Ico points the way to doing it right.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:56 AM on January 13, 2016 [7 favorites]

I'd like a modern fps shooter not to give me motion sickness unless I play extreme sniper
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:09 AM on January 13, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like how the tiles reflect individually. Neato.
posted by ian1977 at 8:12 AM on January 13, 2016

Early FPS history is oddly toilet-centric.

I'm looking good.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:13 AM on January 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

It's a lot dirtier than I remember it. Trash on the floor, mildew on the walls. Is this supposed to be abandoned? Maybe that's why there's no guards to kill, scientists to minimize casualties of, or Dr. Doak to be in the wrong room when you're trying to get through the whole level ten seconds faster than this video.
posted by aubilenon at 8:38 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I really wanted it to end with a proximity mine blowing up right on you.
posted by Arbac at 8:39 AM on January 13, 2016

We used to call it the Fast-kill-ity. We were exceedingly clever.
posted by blue t-shirt at 9:45 AM on January 13, 2016

I really wanted it to end with a proximity mine blowing up right on you.

In the campaign, that level gave you remote mines, not proximity mines.
posted by aubilenon at 9:48 AM on January 13, 2016

aubilenon just totally beeped his watch on you.
posted by Artw at 9:49 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Remote mines were better than proximity mines in PvP too, cause if you were quick, you could detonate them in midair.
posted by aubilenon at 9:51 AM on January 13, 2016

I loved planting mines on the body armor spawn point. Cause even if you detonated early, you'd end up blowing up the armor! Heeheehee
posted by FJT at 9:52 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

I was actually thinking about something similar to this, the other day:

Even with high res textures, the levels of the first Deus Ex look just terrible, to me. The very first level is the worst offender, with a massive, football-field-wide dock which looks nothing like a dock. The whole level is so videogamey, like an abstraction of what Ellis Island is like, or could even possibly be like. That doesn't stop it from being a great level of a great game, mind you ...

I'm sort of surprised that no one has taken the tactic of "re-imagining" the Deus Ex levels to make them more modern, in terms of making the game-spaces more "realistic" as well as more high-resolution. Sort of like how Black Mesa reimagined the classic Half Life 1 levels.
posted by jpolchlopek at 10:26 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

There was a fan-made remaster of at least a few more Goldeneye levels that I remember playing a few years ago. This, I think? I mean, nothing will ever be the same as sitting in beanbag chairs around the old TV in your room and chasing your middle school friends through the Basement, but it's still fun to revisit the spaces in other ways.
posted by Copronymus at 11:01 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Messing with Deus Ex is tricky - arguably HR *is* the modern gaming experience you're looking for, but to me it's just not Deus Ex. Also I suspect the boxiness of the levels allowed for a lot of the flexibility that made the game great - if you're designing the shit out of every inch of something then you'll tend towards forcing the player down fixed paths where they get to admire your work properly rather than letting them wander off and try some random thing.
posted by Artw at 11:12 AM on January 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

I loved planting mines on the body armor spawn point.

That one was a classic. I also remember planting them above the door on the inside of the bathroom being pretty effective, in and around door frames, or "concealing" by tossing them on signs or other graphical details so they weren't as easily spotted. I was such a jerk with the proximity mines. Died more than a few times trying to get them to stick to the back of the toilet stall doors and get out before they went off
posted by Hoopo at 11:22 AM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Time to Crate: 12 seconds
posted by prinado at 11:36 AM on January 13, 2016 [3 favorites]

I won't be satisfied unless literally everything explodes when shot, just in different sizes (pretty sure that the bullet collisions were actually really small explosions or something like that)

This is probably one of my favorite levels from any game ever - My friends and I all did speedrun competitions on it. It was one of the first levels in any game where I felt like there was a relatively flexible approach between being sneaky, and coming in guns blazing.
posted by MysticMCJ at 12:11 PM on January 13, 2016

I suddenly really want to play some Goldeneye.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:31 PM on January 13, 2016

Partly because looking at that portfolio piece, I still know what is behind every door, at least a decade after I last played it.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:33 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Jesus. 19 years. That doesn't seem possible. I didn't know what that was at the time but Goldeneye was the first time I experienced Csikszentmihaly flow. We had a main group of players and anytime someone new joined in they would get chastised by the others for trying to take me on by themselves. My favorite thing to do was randomly toss remote mines behind me and trigger them blind, always killing someone. It frustrated everyone a lot that they couldn't kill me from the back or front. I learned that the only thing that could kill me, was me--from going too far outside my abilities. Everyone needs a Goldeneye.
posted by danny the boy at 1:58 PM on January 13, 2016

Man, I'm also struck by how clear the maps of those levels are in my head. I was half tempted to see if cortex's Tumblr of video game maps drawn from memory had entries for Goldeneye, because I think I could do at least half of the multiplayer levels. Hell, I could probably do some of the Perfect Dark ones, too.
posted by Copronymus at 4:17 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Anyone up for a round of rockets in the stacks? One shot one kill.
posted by migurski at 4:17 PM on January 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'm surprised the game was released only 19 years ago. Seems longer. The audio sure brings back memories. The guys in my dorm suite would waste time doing speedruns of this level during first year university. Early days of YouTube and all that. Ersatz Eric Sera music drifting underneath the door at all hours of the night. Bloody business majors.
posted by Verg at 6:43 PM on January 13, 2016

(Cont.) There was one guy who walked in, saw Goldeneye 64, and first thing he says is "Did you know that there are folks on the internet who do nothing but play one level, over and over, trying to get the best time?" And we had to tell him, "Yeah dude, we're those guys."
posted by Verg at 6:45 PM on January 13, 2016 [4 favorites]

Time to Crate: 12 seconds

And not a pallet in sight.
posted by jedicus at 8:17 PM on January 13, 2016

I mean, can you play "Slappers Only" mode or no?
posted by SassHat at 7:25 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I've never been able to get good at crouch-running diagonally while frantically karate-chopping in real life. I regret this every Halloween.
posted by aubilenon at 8:55 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

can you play "Slappers Only" mode or no?

Oh yeah! With "license to kill" on, it was Death Slaps!
posted by Hoopo at 10:21 AM on January 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

Prox mines in Complex. I *will* win. Just throwin that out there.
posted by sara is disenchanted at 6:59 PM on January 14, 2016