Wow, thanks for that tidbit on the controls. I was not aware you could do that with the N64 game. I just loaded it up and played with default controls as best I could (I never really got into console FPS games).
I agree, Microsoft ruined a golden goose of a franchise with their purchase of Rare. I am not sure if it was a difference in how Rare was allowed to operate or if it was a "we must have changes to differentiate our version" type mentality going forward on the Xbox platform. No matter what, the changes were not good.