James Bond 007: NightFire

"Bond is back to Goldenye form, but is not the best FPS for the Cube."

Audio/Video 7/10
The visuals in this game are good, but not particularly stunning. The face mapping is well done, especially on James, where the likeness of Pierce Brosnan looks absolutely amazing. Despite this, there are certain visual elements of the game that remind me of the Nintendo 64 era, mainly in the characters, who tend to be rough and semi-blocky. Perhaps the stunning visuals of Halo and Resident Evil 0 have spoiled me, but you could always use this opportunity to bask in the 1997 glory by donning a pair of Jncos and popping the “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” mp3 into your deck.
As far as the sound goes, the standard Bond tunes are included, along with solid sound effects. Many characters actually talk to you when you walk up to them (non-enemies of course), but the Shenmue-esque dialogue that they spit into the air totally ruins what could have been a great little addition to the game. One element of the Bond series that has been faithfully recreated is the sexually driven quips that James is so famous for. I will put my suspicions that half of these one-liners were written by intelligent, yet socially inept junior high students aside due to the fact that it really adds to the 007 atmosphere.

Story 6/10
Here’s the skinny: a tree-happy philanthropist takes it upon himself to dismantle the world’s nuclear warheads. As the web-footed Cyclops children of Chernobyl rejoice, however, we realize that his intentions may be sinister… dangerously sinister. The plot is standard action-flick fare, and is unique to this game, meaning that it is not based on any of the Bond films. The biggest complaint I have with the story is that the character development is almost non-existent, which severely dulls the drama. But hey, you don’t really play a Bond game for the story do you? Heck no, the most important aspect of any game has to be the next category….

Gameplay 9/10
This is what Agent Under Fire should have been. Nightfire basically takes every flaw that the last 007 game had and for the most part fixes it. Most importantly, though, Nightfire accomplishes something that was crucial to Goldeneye’s success: it makes you feel like James Bond. The missions are interwoven nicely with the plot, the gadgets are well-conceived and fun to use, and the Bond moves are fully realized and integrated into the levels. Pulling off these tricks is loads more fun than last time around due to creative level design that encourages diversity in play styles. You can either throw down an Ahnuld and gleefully spray gunfire with a grenade pin in your teeth or sneak around like a grounded teen on the night of a rave. It’s up to you, and it helps to make the game seem less linear than it really is.
The driving levels make a return, and offer a nice change of pace. The only thing keeping this category from a 10 is the slight problem with the controls. At times, cycling through gadgets and weapons can be awkward and the c-stick is occasionally inadequate during scenarios where precise marksmanship is desired.

Replay Value 6/10
I am going with a 6 in this category based on the assumption that 5 is average. Basically, the 1 player game is well done and will keep you interested to the very end, but it suffers from one fault: it’s too short. According to the back of the box, there are 12 levels. However, the first level is a tutorial level that is nothing more than a glorified 5-minute introduction involving less than 60 seconds of actual play time. Factor in the short and extremely linear driving levels and you can see where I’m going with this. After an hour I beat the first 4 levels, which is not a good sign.
In 007’s defense, after the 4th level things get tougher, and there is also a scoring system that rates your performance and forces you to reach a scoring plateau in order to unlock multiplayer goodies. Speaking of the multiplayer, it’s pretty nice. All of the standard FPS multiplayer games are here, from elimination, flag tag, king of the hill, and team games to a few unique modes. Overall, the multiplayer is a lot of fun, which adds to the replay value a ton, but in the end the solo player mode will only last you about a week or two.

Final Recommendation 7/10
Ever since Goldeneye defined the FPS genre on the consoles Mr. Bond has been in a serious slump. Five years later James has returned to glory in Nightfire. As I said earlier, the key to this game is that it makes you feel like 007. EA even added some subtle additions like the ability to use Oddjob’s hat as a weapon in multiplayer mode (oh yeah!!) and multiple firing modes for almost every weapons.
However, the single player is not nearly as deep as Goldeneye, and that ultimately holds me back from giving this a must buy label. Even though the solid multiplayer mode makes up for some of that lack of replay value, it ultimately falls into the same classification as almost every aspect of this game. That classification is good but not the best. Nightfire does everything very well, and there is no denying that this is a great game, but there are better first person shooters out there. This is a definite rental for anyone, but as far as first person shooters go for the ‘Cube, Nightfire takes the bronze behind Metroid Prime and Timesplitters 2.
If you are a big FPS or Bond fan, go get this. Otherwise, hop on the Schwinn and pedal up to Blockbuster. The Bond series is a deep solo player mode away from being a 9 or 10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/02, Updated 11/25/02