Archived snapshot of the GoldenEye 007 homepage from 20th century Nintendo.com.
It may not be an over-the-top positive for the 21st century gaming public but this weekend is undeniably momentous in a retro sense: after a quarter century of failing to get past license police of various stripes the seminal FPS GoldenEye 007 is now re-released for a new generation. Until yesterday it was officially a Nintendo 64 exclusive: Rogue Agent for 6th generation consoles was reviled for taking the GoldenEye name in vain, the 7th generation remake starring Daniel Craig as 007 was decent enough but played too much like the Call of Duty clone it actually is, and the Xbox Live enhancement was supposed to receive a similar makeover as Rare successor Perfect Dark only to be cancelled (despite being finished) and see the light of day as a leak playable solely via emulation 2 years ago. Not much may have been technically improved and the standards it so strongly set back in the day may have long been moved past, but the successful formula is all there even if it only gets appreciated by those of us who played it growing up.
Yet this is why there remains a strong market for retro games. I know I have condoned emulation (even if that has legal shortfalls) because in too many cases that has been the only viable way to experience such games today, emulators often come with filters and supercharged processors to improve the experience from the same original data, and accessing the innards of the games this way opened console exclusives to the great world of mods like the retelling of the Sean Connery 007 hit Goldfinger 64. Yet at the same time those of us really into the classics are willing to shell out for enhanced re-releases [if done well] and be thankful for the access being open once again, perhaps with worthwhile new features on top.
Others will have their own view on this and overview is worth its own post. Personally I prefer to assuage my conscience by being in the right on this whenever possible, yet sometimes it isn't and I have greater understanding for something discontinued and inaccessible save at great expense. The same viewpoint extends to the reproduction market for those who still have the original hardware but faced with original copies of software becoming too rare and collectible...still, I hope more of the Sega's Saturn and classic arcade library gets the re-release treatment in the future.
But I'm going to switch gears for the rest of today: from game fan to gun fan. The fake weapon names in GoldenEye 007 are a matter their own but their real-world properties are something I considered for a while. Goldfinger 64 mod not only used real names but adjusted the properties to a somewhat more consistent formula which as such is used for some cross-referencing.
Basics
With the exception of the FN P90 (due to a hexadecimal programming error) original magazine capacity is respected in all cases. Divergence from real life begins with the basic measure of damage being shots from both the standard pistol (Walther PPK) and most common rifle (AK-47), bullet weapons either doing 50%, 100%, 150% or 200%. A few select bullets weapons penetrate barriers, likewise not always a match to the real rounds.
Walther PPK
I've said before: only 007 can make the Walther PPK perform as a combat weapon, something it was not designed to do. The best asset it offers for half the game is its Brausch silencer enables stealth shooting of the Hollywood variety (whisper-level when even subsonic rounds would make more than enough of a crack for anyone nearby to discern as gunshots). There is no indication the PPK used by Bond in either movie or game is of the /S variety, so the 7-round capacity shows it to be the original .32 ACP. Only one other weapon is known to use that caliber and it's the one that does 50% damage, so I would have done the same for the PPK since that would be a fair price to pay for stealth. The 2010 remake has the Walther P99 as default, a superior choice for stealthy assaults that can still be concealed as a primary (though Craig's Bond always kept a PPK on him while for his later attack missions he preferred his old SAS issue SIG Sauer P226). The Browning Hi-Power, the British military standard for the entirety of the Cold War, has never made it into a 007 game despite its numerous appearances in the film series including uses by Bond himself. In GoldenEye this is at a different level since the similar BDA and BDM were both used by Alec Trevelyan in the film, Bond even briefly confiscating the latter.
Tokarev TT
I have not looked closely enough into the making of the game to grasp why this was selected for use in the game; it is not that common but in every instance it appears the Makarov would make much better sense. Ourumov carried one in the film, it perfectly fits as issue for officers and scientists, it has the same 8-round capacity, and as a 9mm caliber it would also match for 100% non-penetrative shot power. In any case it functions solely as a loud, higher-capacity alternative to the PPK, and its use in the 1997 game got it likewise used (even less sensibly) in the 2010 remake.
Ruger Blackhawk
GoldenEye 007 may have started the trope in games of having a revolver for making powerful shots. It is not accessible in single-player aside from cheating or failing a single mission, while the 2010 version has it used in only one level. Its 200% damage and penetrative capabilities are fitting for a Dirty Harry which comes with thrills in multiplayer. Sa vz. 61 Å korpion
Another not-too-common weapon in the game, its appearance in the Soviet Union and CIS does in fact fit because it was adopted by Spetsnaz and others with the choice who realized it worked better for their use than the Stechkin APS. As portrayed it is easily wielded one-handed and its 20-round capacity shows it to be the .32 ACP original. Its inaccuracy on automatic and 50% damage are closer to reality even if it was done to make the weapon into a joke.
Micro Uzi
The Uzi family fits perfectly as the primary late game submachine gun since it's a classic "bad guy" gun in that category, the micro variant capable of being dual-wielded which is exactly how it is in the 3 levels it appears. Its 32-round magazine as well as the in-game designation identifies it as a 9mm. Though it did not appear in the film it works well in the game and is one of the weapons which I wouldn't change a thing.
Heckler & Koch MP5K
As described in the manual it is popular with commandos, a silenced version used by Bond in his rescue mission to French Frigate La Fayette. What makes less sense is it being the primary weapon for regular Janus troops until the endgame: if anything the full-size MP5 (used by bad guys on occasion such as the Die Hard movies) would be more viable, but the entire family is expensive and it would make much more sense for the henchmen to be armed with Kalashnikov rifles as they were in the film. Still, no doubt this is too cool a gun to not include and its the only option in the game for silenced automatic fire.
SITES Spectre M4
The Internet Movie Firearms Database suggests this weapon was put as an afterthought, an assessment with which I agree for the reasons they give. Its 50-round magazine (which is the extended capacity type for the real weapon) would give it an edge over the other submachine guns if not for the fact that it only gets used in the Frigate mission. Despite being another 9mm its 150% penetrative damage is more of a match for relative performance of a 7.62 Kalashnikov (which was apparently put in this slot for Goldfinger 64).
A 9x19mm could theoretically offer equivalent performance if accelerated to .357 Magnum velocities, a feat requiring hot-loaded ammo and longer barrel than is standard on any NATO submachine gun. One of the new 10mm MP5s could also fit with its native magnum-like performance but it wouldn't have the large magazine nor make much sense as a terrorist weapon. I probably would've made this a Krinkov: its real-world performance and role fits well, it can use the extended magazines of the RPK-74, and it gets bonus points for having appeared and been used by Bond in the GoldenEye film.
Kalashnikov AKS
Though the film uses the standard AK-74 family the in-game weapon is clearly of the older AK-47. While its use by Soviet and CIS soldiers can fit (7.62 AKs never stopped being used by troops who preferred its harder-hitting round) for reasons not fully explained no one else does, even the mercenary soldiers who had them in the film. Its use in the 2010 remake is even less sensible since it's a model Russia would've phased out decades prior.
It's 100% non-penetrative shots are also an issue: it works in terms of gameplay balance but even though Kalashnikov was designing a better submachine gun the result didn't still hit like one. The Goldfinger 64 mod remedies this by making the Kalashnikov a 150% damage penetrator, much more like it really is. As for caliber it shouldn't have been much trouble to model the AK-74 with the same rules applied; in fact the tumbling properties of that small round would make the 100% non-penetrative damage sensible.
Colt M16A2
Assault rifles in the game include 3-round burst mode even though this is the only weapon that matches reality. What also doesn't match is the 5.56 NATO round doing 150% penetrative damage when the real FMJ bullet is designed to dump its energy upon soft target impact (has to hit within a certain distance to have that effect but the game never necessitates firing beyond such a range). Sure it is supposed to do greater rather than less damage this way, but as a purpose-designed assault rifle round it's best used in a rapid-fire blaster (per standard military tactics) than one-shot-one-kill.
Therefore I believe to better match reality as well as balance gameplay this should've been the rifle with 100% non-penetrative damage. However, a bigger question is why it appears in the first place: probably just the cool factor because it was only wielded by the brief appearance of US Marines in the film. That being said it's a good choice of Trevelyan's to use this in the final fight, the bonus Moonraker mission is the most fitting because Drax troops carried M16s in that film, and seeing Jaws wield them akimbo may not have the in-character effect (he would be unarmed and charge Bond for an instant kill via bite) but it certainly meets the badass factor.
FN P90
The most broken weapon in all ways including a programming bug that gifted it an 80-round magazine. It only appears wielded by a handful of enemies but they are perhaps the game's most formidable non-boss foes; once Bond gets this for himself he achieves Terminator status thanks to game logic pooling all pistol and submachine gun rounds despite their different calibers. It's certainly fun, which got it into The World is Not Enough (both film and game) and inspiring Rare to craft a 120-round successor (with a CLOAKING DEVICE) for Perfect Dark.
Other Weapons
GoldenEye 007's grenade launcher matches that from the 1987 film Predator while the shotguns, sniper rifle and rocket launcher are amalgamations rather than a match to any real-world small arm. The 2010 remake with its modern graphics (as well as Call of Duty inspiration and engine) modeled these weapons and others more in line with what can be found in the real-world but still fell short of "gun porn" due to keeping some errors while introducing others. The industry and market had long moved past what had been such a hit in the 5th console generation and while there are some games (such as the earlier Tom Clancy's) that do well with weapon realism Call of Duty has NEVER been one of them.
Final Thoughts
Even those of us with great military interest still play games primarily to have fun and not to simulate the true effects of government service (which is NOT the exciting, glorious occupation popular media tends to portray it as). Yet even though they are meant to be diversions from real life, games showing greater accuracy of how the actual tools work prove careful attention to detail and I for one appreciate that. We can escape into fantasy scenarios in any form, but saving (or conquering) a world resembling our own is a special touch: the type that puts us into a position to make the difference since such opportunities to accomplish the same in real life are granted to a select few, and real-life heroes will not dwell on their heroism due to the trauma they had to endure to achieve it.