This port is pretty barebones and basic. We knew before today that the Xbox port would lack online multiplayer—only Switch is getting that—but since its release last night fans have found other shortcomings, too. To be clear: If you just want to experience GoldenEye again for a few minutes—which I think is true for probably 70% of people who’ll be trying this game out this weekend—this Xbox port is fine. It still supports the classic split-screen multiplayer, too (do you still have your cardboard screen divider?). However, if you want to spend more time with it or have played the original game endlessly, maybe even via emulation, you’ll likely be disappointed by some things.
For example, the game is locked to 30 frames per second. According to the devs behind the port, this is because the original ROM code is being used to emulate the game on Xbox. Which makes sense, the original game was designed to run at 30fps. However, fans have figured out ways to break this cap and for years now people have been playing GoldenEye 007 on PC at twice the framerate. And watching footage of one of these fan-created mods points to another issue in the newly released Xbox and Switch port: low-res text. It’s hard to read how much ammo you have left because it’s so fuzzy. Oddly, in-game assets look better and sharper.
