I played Everything or Nothing once when I was a kid. When I discovered there was a new Bond game released at my local Blockbuster, you can bet that I had to rent the game as quickly as I can. As a kid spoiled by the first-person shooter experience in previous Bond games, I was put off by the game serving as a third-person shooter. To me, moving the Bond model was nowhere near as exciting or immersive as playing the game in first-person. But I decided to give it a chance, finding myself satisfied playing the pre-title sequence mission and liking the game's song okay. But when the time came for training, I forgot the exact reason why, but I was stuck at one portion of the level. And with the controls and the third person experience feeling so out of place for a Bond game, I did not push myself to press on. I was, in short, bored and puzzled.
Over time, I kept hearing about the game's positive reputation as one of the best Bond games ever. As a young adult still obsessed with the Bond franchise, I wanted to give the game another try, feeling I didn't give it a fair chance as a kid for not meeting my expectations. I bought the game during my early years in college, and I could not believe how foolishly stubborn and impatient I was as a kid. If I had given the game a chance and had the patience as a kid, I would have played it as often as the others. And replaying the game again for this review, it is so much better than I remember it!
As a kid, I appreciated having a pre-title mission complete with a gun barrel sequence and a Bond-like opening credit sequence like the previous game, Nightfire. While the pre-title mission is not among my top favorites, it is still a smashing first level. I love how there is some time to build up to Bond's presence, unlike in Nightfire, where Bond shows up a few seconds into the cutscene. Players see through Bond's point-of-view as he watches an exchange between terrorists through a sniper scope while hearing his voice, building anticipation for his appearance. After sabotaging the meeting, a disguised Bond appears on the screen during the chaos, running for cover and removing his mask to reveal his identity, suddenly placing players in the middle of the action. From Russia With Love, was better building to Bond's reveal, but at the time, this was the best introduction Bond has ever made in a video game (outside of the gun barrel sequence). Like From Russia With Love, the pre-title mission serves no purpose to the story whatsoever, though still serves as an exciting action-packed level filled with numerous guards and explosions, as Bond retrieves a case and escapes.
The following opening credit sequence has a few improvements over Nightfire's opening credits. For one thing, there are actually credits. The only piece of credit that appears in Nightfire is the title, which has a significant build-up for the finale, but it is disappointing not to see any credit before it. There is not so much as EA Presents or starring Pierce Brosnan to sell its cinematic feel. Everything or Nothing learns from EA's mistake and takes full advantage of showing each piece of the game's stars as it flows with the rhythm of the music. The second reason why this sequence succeeds over Nightfire is the song. Between both songs, I am more partial to Nearly Civilized by Esthero in Nightfire, but objectively speaking, Mya's song is better used for a song in the opening credits. The song uses the game's title for the chorus rather than just shoehorning it in at the end, and the lyrics have a little more to do with the game by containing themes of love, betrayal, and power when Nightfire was about falling in love and destroying a building (again?). The song itself is also soothing while energetically bouncy with a catchy chorus. The one thing that Nightfire does better is the visuals for the sequence. Make no mistake, the visuals in Everything or Nothing are still outstanding, with plenty of them fitting the story, like tanks, a Russian flag with silhouettes of women holding guns, and nanobots. Nightfire on the other hand, was more epic and intense in its presentation with its colors, shots, and imagery when the credits here looked like screensavers at the time.
Having an all-star voice cast and using the likenesses of the actors helps give the game a cinematic feel. The use of Pierce Brosnan's likeness certainly has a fascinating history. Brosnan imagery started blocky for the Nintendo and PS1 era of the games. The only time the details of Brosnan's likeness were shown at that time was in the cutscenes from 007 Racing, which looked fine, but clearly, there were still ways to go. Though Bond was wholly remodeled in Agent Under Fire, some of Brosnan's features made it into the design. In Nightfire, Brosnan's likeness was used again, only in better detail than 007 Racing. The only distraction was the actor voicing this model sounds nothing like the respective actor when, in other installments, the actors voicing him would do a decent impersonation of Brosnan. In this game, EA goes the extra mile by using both Brosnan's likeness and hiring the man himself to do the voice work. As someone who is not too critical of using the original actors in movie-licensed games as voice actors, hearing Brosnan voice the role helps sell the immersion of playing Bond. There are many times when he sounds like he is reading his lines as opposed to emoting. Still, nothing beats having the current Bond at the time playing the character with a voice that is still as cool and suave as he is on-screen. Brosnan's wooden line delivery is undoubtedly less distracting than old Sean Connery's voice attached to his sixties Bond image (which I still don't mind as much).
As this game is the only time Brosnan voices his iconic role, it marks the debut of Judi Dench voicing M, whose voice would become a regular in the video games from now on. Unfortunately, the game is the final time John Cleese would ever play R. Both actors do well in their respective roles whose voices are heard often in the game, maybe a little often. I have no problem hearing M giving me orders or R giving me tips (unless it involves defeating forklifts) during a mission; my problem is the overlong mission briefing scenes. At first, the game starts with a slideshow presentation like Agent Under Fire of the gadgets I'll be using with R's voice explaining how they work. And at the beginning of a mission in a cutscene, I hear a quick exposition from M similar to Nightfire and Agent Under Fire. But then I discover an MI6 level, which makes me excited to think I will be walking around modern 2000s MI6 for briefings and gadgets. At first, I watched a cutscene of Bond talking to M about my next mission, and then it ends. Thinking I will make my way to the Q lab to obtain gadgets or training, I'm instead watching another cutscene, this time with R. Then, I see Bond and R riding the elevator in a cutscene that appears cinematic, making me think something big is going to happen, only to see a regular cutscene of R showing Bond the vehicle, and afterwards it all ends. These scenes are well-acted, move the story forward, and have plenty of humor during R's scenes, whether in the dialogue or the background (like the films). However, having the MI6 cutscenes as a level with no interaction is unnecessary. And I get it: EA wants to exploit the stars they have, and to have these overlong cutscenes at the start of a mission can get irritating since players want to get right into the action. I understand the length of these briefings for a movie, but for a video game, these details can easily be summed up in a minute or less, as proven in previous Bond games. And to have slideshow-like presentations of R already giving insight into the gadgets makes these cutscenes redundant. I admire how the game is trying to feel like a Bond movie, but these cutscene "levels" are really overdoing it.
In Agent Under Fire, one of the many disappointments with the characters is the wasted potential for R's female assistant, Z, serving as a weak punchline for one of Bond's flirtatious quips. In this game, R gets another female assistant, Miss Nagai, who works in the lab. She is everything Z should have been: active on-screen, providing insight into the gadgets, and flirting with Bond. In many respects, Nagai could have been written out as she tells the Bond information that R can easily tell him. Still, having an additional character who stands out but doesn't overshadow R or Bond is excellent. And out of all the new cast of female ally's Bond encounters, Misaki Ito's voice acting sounds more credible than the others.
Shannon Elizabeth as the main Bond girl, Serena St. Germaine is as believable as a geologist as Denise Richards is as a nuclear physicist, and Zoey Nightshade as a CIA agent in Agent Under Fire. Granted, Elizabeth does have a bit more personality compared to the women I mentioned, but not by much. As cringy or stilted as Richards and Nightshade can be, for better or worse, I at least remember them and their dialogue. There is nothing about Elizabeth's performance, character, actions, or design that is memorable, even in a so bad its good way. She exists as nothing more than a trophy for Bond. I know people criticize casting pop singer Mya as a secret agent (who Bond later encounters), and she's as believable in her profession as the others. But this odd casting choice and some of her exaggerated line delivery make Mya unforgettable. On top of it, as Serena does so little on-screen, we see this agent gun down goons, defuse a bomb, and hear her sing when posing as a nightclub singer. While it's hard to separate the artist from the character as Mya does not disappear into the role (even in pixelated form), it is laughably badass to see the game's attempt to make her an action hero. I would much rather have her, or at least her character, as the game's main Bond girl instead of Serena.
Of all the characters cast (without counting the original actors from the films), the casting choice that excited me to give the game another chance is Willem Dafoe as the main villain, Nikolai Diavolo. Given how Dafoe can masterfully play antagonists in ways that are either enjoyably entertaining, menacingly creepy, or both, having him play a Bond villain is a match made in heaven. He may very well be the best original Bond villain in the game franchise. Dafoe's Russian accent may not be the most convincing, but his eerie and playfully evil yet subtle and classy performance makes it easy to overlook and fits with the game's camp. Diavolvo can be sadistically cold when torturing and murdering his victims in some scenes, when in other moments, he is so enthusiastic about the chaos he will bring that he even has his crew place a giant monumental victory statue of him in the midst of a war. For me, what I particularly love about Diavolvo is how bent on revenge he is to kill Bond for killing his mentor Max Zorin from A View to a Kill (I would have loved to see Christopher Walken and Willem Dafoe together as Bond villains if possible). Yet, he does not let his vengeance cause him to overlook the big picture of his scheme.
What is his scheme, some may wonder? The plan is the part of this character that would not translate well in the film, and that's to use nanobots that can eat through any metal to rule the world. I know nanobots would appear and serve a different purpose in the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, except I found it just as dumb (if not dumber) in the movie as I do for the game. The concept certainly raises the stakes and works fine for a Bond game, but for me to picture this as part of the Brosnan period is as good as the sci-fi elements used in Die Another Day. Furthermore, as the villains' locations in the Daniel Craig era games looked like a battlefield from Call of Duty, some of the areas look so colorfully comic book tacky that are filled with sparks and appear otherworldly futuristic that I am expecting Bond to team up with Spider-Man and fight Doc Ock or see Diavolo turn into the Green Goblin (especially when witnessing from a third-person perspective). As out of place as it is, Dafoe becoming the Goblin in a twist sounds cooler than giving him a silly futuristic suit that you'd swear was stolen from the corpse of the villain in Die Another Day, where I am expecting him to produce Sith lightning at any moment. Compared to the deaths of Malprave in Agent Under Fire or Drake in Nightfire, Diavolo's death is more pivotal in presentation. My only gripe is I wish it lasted a little longer, but at least we see him die rather than barely seeing it or suddenly getting a close-up of his dead body. The more I think about it, the henchpeople like Bloch, Red Grant, and Kiko get the more climatic demises.
While on the topic of henchpeople, Diavolo's team of baddies are hit and miss. Diavolo's lover and second in command, Dr. Katya Nadanova, in terms of writing, is a badass femme fatale. She starts as an innocent victim for Bond to rescue and even assists him during the escape until her true colors are secretly revealed after safely returning to her destination. For the rest of the game, she becomes a constant obstacle for Bond, whether by tossing Serena off a helicopter or capturing him. Like Kiko in the previous game, there is a strong sense of wanting to see Bond axe her off for her betrayal. While the character is written wickedly, Heidi Klum's delivery sounds as wooden as Shannon Elizabeth's. As a victim and scientist, Klum sounds fine; however, once she starts acting villainous and making quips, she sounds incompetent, as if she's trying to sound as threatening and taunting as her lover, only to come off as a weak imitation. And it's a real shame how unconvincing Klum sounds as a villain because Nadanova could have been one of the greats. Even her death is underwhelming since we never see her perish. After all this tension between her and Bond, you'd think there would be some payoff with seeing her suffer.
For a good portion of the game, Bond has to chase after one of Diavolo's scientists with a mechanical hand named Arkady Yayakov. The character has a fiendish design but hardly does anything in the game that is productive. In fact, he never uses his mechanical hand at all in the game, where if you take that gimmick away, nothing will change about him. Bond does not so much as fight against him; he sabotages his lair while fighting off his goons until he is killed by falling lab equipment. With a henchman who shows up often and does very little, the character Jean Le Rouge is the exact opposite. The character looks like Dracula if he were a hunter, appearing sophisticated, undeadly pale, and having a devil-like goatee, as he wears attire Crocodile Dundee would wear while wielding a crossbow. Despite looking calm and collected, when in action, he is a maniac who loves to burn and blow up his victims as he taunts in that creepy French voice. The character is scary, unpredictable, cunning, quick, quiet, loud, and an all-around badass, making him one of the greatest henchpeople in the Bond games of all time, which disappoints me that he is only used in one level.
Rather than developing these new foes, EA is focused on bringing back one of Bond's old foes, Jaws. I should criticize the use of this Bond character as cheap fan service, especially when the new henchmen with potential are wasted for doing nothing or appearing little. When thinking back to the cheap fan service in 007 Racing, though, Jaws' presence is not wasted. In 007 Racing, while mentioned multiple times, we never see him appear on-screen where he could have easily been replaced with another henchperson. The last time Jaws physically appeared in a Bond game was in one of the bonus levels of Goldeneye 64, who is intimidating and a skilled shooter, but is limited in the things he can do. In this game, players can fight this classic henchman in multiple ways, including duking it out on a train, chasing after him on the highway, and dodging his flamethrower on a flaming lift. Naturally, as the game progresses, he becomes harder and harder of a foe, making him a worthy opponent and a near unstoppable force. Do I wish the game gave Yayakov and Le Rouge more time? Absolutely; however, Jaws works just as well, and it is fantastic to see him in a new Bond adventure as a recurring threat.
After the successes of games like Agent Under Fire and Nightfire, for EA to create a Bond game as a third-person shooter was a bit of a risk. EA's last attempt at making a third-person shooter starring Bond was Tomorrow Never Dies for the PS1. It had ambition but horrible controls, making the game very frustrating. And given how Bond gamers, including myself, preferred fighting through the eyes of 007, to see him throughout would take away the immersion we were used to. In the end, EA outdid themselves, fixing the mistakes from their previous attempt and adding plenty of variety and imagination, making it the best of the third-person Bond games. Like the earlier games, the game has alternate routes and optional side tasks, as a player can choose how to act during a mission. For me, stealth is so challenging to do in the game that I usually shoot everybody in my way. For the game serving as a third-person shooter, like the other games that would follow, this game is a cover-based shooter with an auto-aim feature. As games at the time loved to mimic The Matrix almost as much as films and shows love to parody it, time can be slowed down when using Bond senses, where a player can aim at a specific target, change weapons, and figure out where to go when lost. While helpful, it can get a little annoying to use the feature just to lock onto an explosives barrel when I can lock on to enemies.
Another benefit to the game displayed in third-person is the emphasis on hand-to-hand combat. When in first person, players could only hit an enemy with no absolute combo moves, as the focus was on the weapons and gadgets. The hand-to-hand combat is a bit disappointing, considering only two buttons are used for it, making it feel lacking when engaging. That does not mean that it still isn't fun to play or watch by any means. The sound effects, the different combo moves (if not much), and the death animations still build up the adrenaline when approaching the guard. And to add to the interest of fighting against an enemy is the ability to pick up objects and throw them at enemies, preferably when one chooses to act stealthy.
Since the gadgets in the previous games were designed for first-person shooters, having them in a third-person shooter allows for more possibilities. After the prologue and training, the third mission opens with Bond using a rappel gun to lower himself from an exploding building, where players can freely swing around while dodging flames. Compared to the later game, From Russia With Love, Everything or Nothing offers more freedom regarding movements, allowing the game to create new obstacles for Bond to dodge. What is even cooler about the feature of rappelling is Bond can also gun down enemies when heading in either direction, further surpassing the original first-person shooter genre in the franchise. Thinking that using the rappel gun is the only way I can feel like I'm free falling, the game actually has a level with Bond free falling to rescue Serena with just as many challenging obstacles.
Increasing the advantages of third-person gameplay with the gadgets is the Q-Spider, a mechanical device used to access unreachable areas and knock out unsuspecting guards. Once again, comparing it to From Russia With Love, the Q-Copters are fun as well, but they've been used in the multiplayer of Nightfire, except it's not in the third person, and they are less vulnerable. The Q-Spiders being a bit more vulnerable should be a disadvantage, but the challenge of positioning them to kill an enemy makes it more exciting and rewarding. I love watching them creep about with an equally creepy sound design and blow guards up with their backs turned. Hearing the guards react to gadget is just as funny as the guards pleading for help in Agent Under Fire. Another way of killing guards by surprise is the Network tap gun, a device that can activate tanks and drone guns to kill in a facility filled with guards, where the player gets to pull the trigger as opposed to watching the show.
These are not the only gadgets with the element of surprise; Bond carries a few coins in his pocket that can stun or blow-up enemies from afar and destroy machines. The player, at one point, is given the task to use one of the coins to escape a death trap, which, aside from escaping from jail, the situation for players to escape from a death trap has not been used since The World is Not Enough for the N64. The only problem I have with the coins is the unpredictability of whether they will work or not. Sometimes, they hit in the right direction, while other times they can't. In a stealth situation requiring quick action, I find the dart gun a more reliable weapon than the coins; needless to say, the same applies to regular action. However, the coins are not as ridiculous and pointless as Bond's stealth suit. For those who thought the invisible car in Die Another Day was dumb and hard to buy, Bond literally wears a suit that makes him invisible, like Harry Potter's invisible cloak. The device is out of place in the Bond franchise, and I hardly feel the need to use it, given it runs on a low battery. That does not mean it is not a playful feature to have, as I like tinkering around with it occasionally.
After 007 Racing, the driving missions have drastically improved for each game, with better controls, weapons, and gadgets that will hardly damage you and visually appealing locations. I thought none of the driving levels could top Nightfire, but Everything or Nothing does what I thought was unlikely; it is easily the best driving level in any of the Bond games. The cars have all the typical features like machine guns, missile launchers, smoke screens, and acid slick, but R has equipped a few more features to make driving through enemy territory more exciting with gadgets as ridiculous as the invisible suit. Since the game went above and beyond to a new kind of dumb that fans disliked from Die Another Day, the origin of the invisible suit is featured here. Yes, that means Bond has a car that has an invisible cloak. Like the suit, I hardly use it, though it does come in handy for sneaking around or hiding myself from enemy vehicles. I have frankly found the car's invisible mechanics more reliable than the suit Bond wears. The vehicle also comes with a mini gadget similar to the Q-Spider, except it is on wheels, which are RC cars with a laser (I am thinking of the outrage these ludicrous decisions would get if this were an official Bond film). Unlike the Q-Spiders, players activate through the point of view of its staticky hidden camera, making it seem like the player is Bond using the controls.
Some of the gadget-based cars Bond drives include a Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Aston Martin Vanquish, which are indeed delights to drive. The game further includes another favorite vehicle in Bond video games, and that is a tank. The last time Bond rode in a tank in the games was for an on-rail shooting level in Agent Under Fire, and the game does so again. At first, I was disappointed that I couldn't drive the tank since I was no longer playing it in first-person and would like to engage in my surroundings other than blasting everything in sight. That is not to say I did not have fun with this on-rails portion, either. And as luck would have it, towards the last few levels of the game, I would finally have the opportunity to drive a tank like I would a car. What makes this experience more rewarding and as outlandish as the other new additional features I pointed out is that this is a futuristic tank, looking like something designed by Skynet in the Terminator franchise. The tank comes equipped with a traditional tank cannon and a space-like plasma gun. And that's only half of it because since Bond is stealing a tank from the villains, this one also comes with nanobots, which players are required to use to succeed and even plan sneak attacks. As I have said many times, the ideas would fail drastically in a Bond film, and by Bond game standards, it's a bit much, and yet I am having too much fun to care as the game gives me exactly what I would expect from one.
Of all the vehicles Bond drives in the game, my favorite is the Triumph Daytona 600 motorcycle, otherwise known as the Q-Bike. The bike is the fastest and most difficult one to drive, but not in an annoying way (apart from the game making me perform a stunt in one level). Speeding when chasing after enemy vehicles feels like an adrenaline rush that always gets my heart pumping every time, I use it. What makes this vehicle harder than the others is if Bond crashes, he will not still be sitting on the bike; he will fly off and lose a good portion of his health and likely die after a second or third crash (one minor gripe I have with the game is blood does not trickle down on the screen when he dies at any point in the game). This risk thankfully, only increases the pleasure and intensity of driving the Q-Bike rather than spoiling the fun. The game is incredibly generous because since the motorcycle was given to Bond from Q-Branch, it allows the bike to have a few gadgets, such as missiles and a flame thrower. The bike does not come with a machine gun; it comes with something better, and that's Bond wielding a shotgun like he's the Terminator.
While nonsensical, the number of gadgets each vehicle carries are fascinating and amusing. That said, not all cars have weapons, and I don't mean that in a bad way, either. The game, at one point, has a racing level (delivering more with its racing theme than 007 Racing), where Bond poses as a racer and has to win one to meet and have dinner with Diavolo as a reward (which makes no sense considering Diavolo has seen Bond earlier). The mission is my least favorite driving level in the game for serving as a generic racing level, yet it is still a welcoming change of pace from all the shooting. I'd say a break from the explosions, too, if not for the racetrack, for some odd reason, having explosive barrels, and that is strangely not the most nonsensical thing in the game. A little after the race, when there is action on the road, Bond does not drive a gadget-based car. Like Blood Stone, despite its limitations, the excitement is still present, and unlike Blood Stone, this change is earned considering there have been plenty of missions of Bond driving cars with gadgets beforehand. What's even more remarkable is whether driving a Q-branch car or a regular one, one can still cause unwanted destruction by ramming through enemy vehicles and watching them fly, tumble, and explode.
A major part of the reason why the driving in this game works so stunningly is how spacious these levels are. As much as I love the driving levels in Agent Under Fire and Nightfire, most levels were either tightly small or had little going on in large maps. Not a single driving level here feels like a wasted opportunity with action or too small to explore. Because of this, players can develop their strategy and find different ways to go about their mission. The best alternate routes and choices are mainly located within these levels. A person can either use a cloak to get past enemy vehicles or blow-up a (hopefully) temporarily closed fireworks factory to distract them. And there are plenty of shortcuts to make it to destinations faster, like crashing through fences and breaking through windows. My personal favorite is crashing a Madi Gras parade to make it inside a hotel room. Early in the game, players even have a chance to pick their vehicle of choice, which the Bond games never do, and it is not explicit either, making it a rewarding find.
Another rare thing this game offers is allowing players to fly a vehicle. And I'm not talking about a mini-Q-copter; I'm talking about an actual helicopter that is armed and equipped with missiles, bombs, and flares to distract oncoming enemy fire. Seriously, this game is not holding back on what it can do. All that is missing is another level when flying an aircraft; otherwise, I'm satisfied with what the game delivers.
Like any classic Bond adventure, Bond visits many exotic locations, including Peru, New Orleans, Egypt, and Moscow. For all my complaints about how some levels look like locations in a Spider-Man game, there are more than plenty that are beautifully designed and fit within the Bond universe. A few levels into the game, and the game has me on a steel train fighting through cars with Jaws as a boss, to having me fly a helicopter through a pyramid with booby traps in the next mission. In Peru, I drive through its dusty streets, heading to places like an abandoned mine shaft (with one of the best uses of the Bond theme in a very subtle way) and a hotel with a secret passageway where I check in stealthy and check out fighting for my life while rescuing another. Though a war zone, the streets of Moscow are still filled with lovely scenery and buildings, which leads to a climax in an underground Cold War-inspired base that looks as gorgeously gigantic as some of the best villains' lairs in the series. While on the subject of lairs, earlier in the game, Bond escapes through Diavolo's mines, a level clearly inspired by Zorin's mine in A View to Kill, looking as grand.
For me, my favorite exotic location is New Orleans. The color scheme and lights create a busy and festive atmosphere, making for a very scenic and interactive driving experience (with the different routes). As flashy as the environments are, most primary locations contrast with it, whether it is Bond visiting an abandoned plantation with a hidden lab or a graveyard. The closest to a location with any color and life is the Kiss Kiss Club, which has neon colors and a relaxed, jazzy, longue version of the game's title song, sung again by Mya as Bond sneaks around and takes on guards. As mellow as the place is (Complete with a naked woman for Bond to massage), the place has villainy all over it, particularly at the bar with red, purple, and blue neon lights and a shark tank.
The only gameplay element of the game that is lacking is surprisingly the multiplayer. Multiplayer mode mainly offers co-op mode, where players work together during missions to achieve tasks. This mode is a refreshing change of pace from the traditional combat mode, which I give EA credit for going the extra mile at creating for a Bond game, considering the third person in the franchise was already a risk. As playable as the campaign is, overall, it feels dull and standard since hardly anything about it stands out regarding level design, tasks, and even the character skins. Players cannot play as any of the game's characters but as generic MI6 agents. There is a way for players to play as characters from the game: unlocking them, which is pretty disappointing. However, locking game characters is nowhere near as stupid as forcing players to unlock a combat arena for the classic multiplayer experience. For everything the game gets right, WHY WOULD IT DO SOMETHING AS BRAINLESS AS FORCING PLAYERS TO UNLOCK THE PART GAMERS LOOK FORWARD TO IN A BOND GAME?! THE VERY THING THAT MADE THE SERIES A LEGEND IN MULTIPLAYER GAMING?! Thankfully, the next third-person shooter, From Russia With Love, would give players what they want, and while there are worse multiplayer games in the franchise, this is one I do not plan to revisit.
It's incredible the game works as well as it did! The game abandons the first-person shooter for a third-person shooter experience that previously failed massively in the franchise, which is tied together by a ridiculous plot that would receive the same harsh criticism as Brosnan's last outing as Bond on-screen. And, yet the game is considered to be one of the best Bond games in the franchise! It's truly one of those games I forget how good it is until I play it. It shares flaws similar to Agent Under Fire in the story and character department. Still, the gameplay offers so much variety with the combat, driving, gadgets, and locations that it is easy to overlook the narrative problems. It tries so many new things, while also bringing enough of the element's players are familiar with to keep them happily engaged. And with the restricted multiplayer aside, it succeeds with every new thing it tries gameplaywise, complete with a half-decent cast of actors and characters, a Bond-like soundtrack, references to Bond films that hardly feel cheap, and a cinematic feel.
Least Favorite Mission: MI6 Training
Before and after this game, the tutorial levels would be helpful while moving the story along. In this game, after the pre-title mission, everything stops for Bond to be training in the same simulator from Die Another Day. At least in the movie, the simulator looked like reality, while here, it's a generic computer simulator where the only visually appealing part is the red spikes at the bottom of a pit. I wouldn't bother including this if the level were optional, but it's part of story mode. And I get why it's part of it, too, because given how challenging and clunky the controls were in their first attempt at third person shooting and that this is a significant change, they want players to be comfortable with the controls. Fair enough, except the previous mission already did it in a very entertaining and exciting way. Coming back to it does help now and then, so it does fulfill its purpose. But in terms of having anything unique or interesting outside the controls and the pit, it's boringly average.
Favorite Mission: Death's Door
The Kiss Kiss Club and some of the driving missions were close contenders for my favorite mission, but I had to go with Death's Door for doing something that I rarely see in a Bond game: horror. There are no ghosts, slashings, or Baron Samedi laughing about to make it scary; it relies on two essential things. The first is the henchman Jean Le Rouge, who has the makings of becoming a horror icon for having a combination of Dracula, the devil, and Count Zaroff from The Most Dangerous Game. He's the scariest character in the game franchise for his design and enjoyment of watching people slowly burn like Satan does for those damned to hell. The second and most important reason is the atmosphere! The mission is set in a dimly lit graveyard in the middle of a dark and stormy night. Visually, it's chilling to look at, especially when the lightning strikes, creating a strong source of light. My personal favorite is the sound design, how a player is unsure if it's the sound of thunder or a sniper shot, and having an eerie subtle score that builds on suspense. It's the perfect level to play it stealthy, as it only enhances the terror, by eavesdropping on the guards talking cryptically about killing the poor agent while the flash of lightning could give away your location if you are not careful. Ultimately, it all leads to a loud and chaotic climatic showdown in a hell-like environment with a giant fiery furnace. The level is, of course, highly playable, but the spooky vibe makes it haunting, making it my favorite level in the franchise based on atmosphere.
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