James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire

"The first Gamecube FPS is pretty good."

Hi folks. Back in the days of SNES and Genesis, FPS's didn't exist. There were some light gun games, but all you did was shoot. You didn't move around or anything. Then, in the early 90's there came Wolfenstein 3D. It was pretty good. But soon after, there came an even better game: Doom. Released for the PC in 1993, it was a hit. Not only did you move around in a 3D world, shooting things, you saw it from the character's perspective. Flash forward to 1997. After several Dooms and spinoffs, there came one of the greatest games ever. Goldeneye. Developed by Rareware, this game had it all. Guns, loads of enemies, beautiful graphics, and a FPS first: objectives. In past FPS's, you just ran around killing things mindlessly. But in this game, you had to use stealth. No matter how fun it was to shoot scientists in the nuts, you couldn't to pass onto the next mission. Goldeneye was a hit, and it turned 007 games into a new dimension. After Goldenye though, 007 games weren't as good. Rareware hasn't made a 007 game since. The only FPS they did was Perfect Dark. It wasn't such a hit as Goldeneye was (I think it was). Anyway, Tomorrow Never Dies, 007 Racing, and The World is not Enough (PSX) were poorly received. TWINE on the N64 was a pretty good FPS, but it wasn't as good as Goldeneye. Anyway, Agent Under Fire isn't exactly a masterpiece itself, it is a very good game.

Story: 9/10 This game is just like a movie. It has a totally new story in it, and will please Bond fans until the new movie comes out. In it, 007 has to defeat a badass villain, and encounters incredibly hot women in the process. It couldn't be made into a movie, though. There's too many characters that have 1 second parts, and a lot of plot twist. Bad movie plot, awesome game plot.

Sound: 10/10 Whoa! Incredible! 007 doesn't sound like Pierce Brosnan, but the voices are amazing. The music is heart pounding sometimes, and unlike TWINE N64, it has the Bond theme in it. Gun sounds are pretty cool. Nothing special, though. But I say again. This game has the best voice acting I've heard yet.

Graphics: 10/10 For those of you saying ''He thinks video game women are hot??'' If you saw these babes. you'd think the same. Steaming voluptuous babes in almost every second of the game, and realistic looking too :)(Hehe). Did I mention the other graphics? In the scenes, the voice acting is actually lip-synched. The particle and explosion FX are cool too. I can't get enough of those babes. Ohhhhh, babes!

Gameplay: 8/10 The 1 Player game's achilles heel. The controls are so-so, and the game uses every controller button. Why is that bad? Well, it's not, because GCN controllers are cool. It could have been bad because if you read my review of Duke Nukem: Zero Hour (which uses every button too)you'll see that you might get your hands all mixed up during play. That happened rarely to me, so it's not a big problem. Another thing, the combat system is not as good as Goldeneye or Perfect Dark. If you shoot a guy in the leg, he flinches. I've shot a guy in the head from a long distance, and he didn't even die. Onr more bad thing: no blood. We need a M-rated 007 game. This is far from realistic. And a Q-Jet? come on! But this game is about fun, not realism.

Multiplayer: 6/10 I didn't like TWINE's multiplayer, and I don't like this one's. The enemy bots are extremely hard to kill, and the friendly bots are only interested in killing the enemies. The areas could have been bigger, too.

Replay: 8/10 Once you finished the game, the rail shooting and driving levels are worth it, but I wouldn't give the whole game another go. The multiplayer sucks, and the 1 player game is only exciting the first time. My advice: rent it a few times, beating as many levels as possible on every try, It's not a hard game, and it's not long either.

It's the review lowdown time!

Story: 9
Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 8
Multiplayer: 6
Replay: 8

Overall: 8.75= 9

The Good: Hot babes, sound, and more babes. Ohh yeah!!!

The Bad: lack of realism, gameplay quirks, multiplayer.

The Ugly: R. Eww...

Rent/Buy: Being a Bond fan, I wouldn't buy this. If you go to the video store a lot, rent it every time you go. Buying it won't do you any good.

So, is it better than Goldeneye? Hell, no. But is it a good game? Yes it is. I'll buy Perfect Dark Zero before this. But this is a good game, and it will tide any FPS fan over, until PD Zero comes out. But if you do buy it, try to treat it in pristine order, 007. Over and out.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/02, Updated 04/06/02