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Gaming, In My Opinion
Let’s face it – of all the badly used but brilliant licences, James Bond comes up tops. The James Bond world was made for games, but so far we’ve had a right load of rubbish. Aside from the 2D atrocities that no one dares to mention (James Bond: The Duel for the Mega Drive, anyone?), Bond games haven’t been all that spectacular. There was Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is not Enough, which were basically movie-spin offs, and Agent Under Fire, a game that let you ‘be James Bond’ and led you by the hand throughout the game. Each one enjoyable at the time, but none remain in our memories for more than a year or two. But on the other hand we have Goldeneye – a revolutionary game that people still play and has never been bettered (but let’s face it – it’s a movie spin off). Now we have Nightfire, the first original Bond game to have Bond real face.
James Bond 007 in… Nightfire is the sequel to AuF, though you don’t need to play the latter one to understand Nightfire. Plot wise, it’s just like a Bond film. To quote Dr. Evil, the bad guy ‘hijacks some nuclear weapons and tries to take over the world’. Whoopee-do! However, it is this over-the-top quality that can only be called Bondness, that makes the plot so acceptable. Bond fan or not, wouldn’t you be disappointed if it was an ultimate-realism plot? Yes, you would, so no problem there. What makes the plot, (or more accurately, the game) so much like a Bond film, is that it is presented like a Bond film. When you turn on the game for the first time, you’ll see the gun scope sequence, play a short mission with a mini-plot before seeing the title screen complete with cool effects and dancing girls. The whole thing reeks of Bondness and any Bond fan will feel right at home within seconds. True, the song’s rubbish, but EA did make the effort. From here on, you complete mission after mission of international gun-toting antics that see you ‘piloting’ vehicles and infiltrating huge facilities. While AuF’s missions were disappointing, that has all been sorted in Nightfire. The first mission sees you sniping from a helicopter and speeding around Paris in an Aston Martin Vanquish (which looks pretty impressive thanks to the graphics). Then the first true mission (the Paris mission serves as a tutorial), sees you infiltrating a huge Austrian castle into a posh tuxedo party before rescuing a girl and blowing up a helicopter. Bondness! And the levels are huge, and features multiple routes through them – twelve missions will feel like twenty. The missions are incredibly varied, ranging from escapes to stealthy infiltration and full on assaults. There are also five vehicle based levels, though only three of them have you driving the vehicle (twice in the Vanquish and once in a jeep), whereas the others are a return to AuF’s overused on-rails shooters. Nightfire is also compelling to finish. Each mission has four medals available for it (Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) and for each one you’re awarded a Multiplayer weapon, scenario or player. Medals are earned for accuracy, collecting 007 Bonus tokens or, more interestingly, Bond moves (carried on from AuF). These are great fun to try for, especially the Bond moves and it all adds a little lifespan to the game. The visuals are incredible and more realistic than any other cube-based shoot-em-up, the music is fantastic (featuring some wicked renditions of the world famous theme tune) and the voice acting is very good. The inclusion of Pierce Brosnon’s face adds to the Bondness and makes the game feel much more like a Bond game. But none of this matters when compared with the Bondness. The game feels so much like a Bond film that you’ll feel like James Bond, maybe even more so than when playing Goldeneye. True, it’s over a little too quickly, and it isn’t revolutionary as shoot-em-ups go, but while playing it, you’ll feel like Britain’s best agent. For Bond fan only! VISUALS: outstanding. As far as Cube-bound FPS’s go, this is the best by far. 9/10 SOUNDS: A few pop guns do not sour the excellent voice acting and THAT THEME TUNE! 9/10 PLAYABILITY: With a range of control styles, anyone can pick up and play within minutes. 9/10 LIFESPAN: You’ll play to the end, you night unlock all the multiplayer stuff, then you’ll wait for another bond game. 7/10 VERDICT: Until Goldeneye can be beaten, this is the definitive Bond game. 85% |