James Bond 007: NightFire

"Electronic Arts, you're not quite there yet."

Introduction

NightFire, the latest game of the world-known 007 Agent, James Bond. Does it have good graphics? replay value? a good plot? is it challenging? is it better than Agent Under Fire?

All of this questions will be answered (I hope) to you in this review.

Storyline 7/10

It's kind of original for a FPS. It looks like Raphael Drake, owner of the Phoenix International Corporation has been entrusted with dismantling warheads throughout the world. MI6 thinks he has more sinister motives. MI6 intelligence implicated Drake in organizing the theft of a secret component of the missile guidance hardware intended for the US Space Weapon Platform. Unfortunately, Drake has been very careful to keep his plans well hidden.

This is where 007 comes in. With some help from Q, and a number of key agents in the field, 007 must stop Drake in his plans for total world domination. So what do you think? Sounds interesting, right?

Controls 9/10

You have three different control settings. At first it's hard to navigate especially if you're new to this kind of games. It can be frustrating at first, but with 3 different settings from where to choose from, you'll get used to at least one.

Difficulty 9/10

You have three different difficulties that you can choose Operative, Agent and 00 Agent, (Easy, Normal and Hard in that order) this game has a very good level of difficulty. I found myself failing the first mission a couple of times in Operative mode, the FPS missions require A LOT of stealth and the car missions are quite challenging.

Also please note that with most FPS, the learning curve is fast, so if you're new to First Person Shooters, you can learn in no time.

Graphics 8/10

I can't understand how Nightfire's graphics are worse than Agent Under Fire's.

I mean, they ARE good, but for the so called 'next generation' games, it's pretty bad. Think of The World is not Enough for Nintendo 64, make the textures a little bit crispier, and you have Nightfire's graphics. But also please note, the characters and weapons are not blocky at all. So it's not that bad, unless you care more about Graphics than Gameplay.

Sound 7/10

Oh my God, I don't know what happens to EA these days, the voice quality is very poor, it almost sounds like an old AM Radio. On the other hand, the Opening Theme, and generally the soundtrack from the game has a very good quality, 'crystal clear'. Generally I really think EA should improve the voice and sound effects. EA is a very big company, they should focus more on bringing us gamers better videogames. This is their second James Bond game on the Gamecube and they still not get it.

Gameplay 9/10

It plays a lot like the other First Person Shooters, you have several weapons -which range from the classic Wolfram PP7 to a Laser Rifle-, explosives (grenades and the such), and you have to fulfill certain objectives in every mission. To make things a little different from other First Person Shooter games, there are things called the Q-Gadgets, you may remember them from Agent Under Fire, if not, let me enlighten you.

The Q-Gadgets are rather nice items designed by Q, they enhance the Bond experience and help you fulfill your objectives, for example, you can use a Cell Phone grappler, which you can aim at a suitable surface and fire to grapple to that direction. There are Vision Enhancement Glasses, which are like Night Vision Goggles. Oh and remember: 'Do try to return everything in one piece'.

In Nightfire there are things called 'Car Missions'. These missions are VERY different than the normal First Person Shooter Missions. First of all, you use your Aston Martin V12 Vanquish to complete the objectives, your Aston Martin comes equipped with Machine Guns, Missiles and even Torpedoes, getting excited yet? Well, the best thing of these missions is that not only your car has weapons, but it also has Q-Gadgets installed in it for further assistance or to trap your enemies. Some of the Car's Q-Gadgets are the Q-Smoke, which blinds enemies, and the Q-Pulse, which 'stops enemies cold'.

Once you finish a mission, based on your performance, you can unlock secret characters, arenas, weapons or even cheats to use in Single Player or Multiplayer.

Multiplayer 8/10

The multiplayer in Nightfire is not as good as Timesplitters 2 or Perfect Dark's multiplayer, but it is still fun. You can choose characters from old Bond movies, such as: GoldenEye, Goldfinger, Dr No, etc. Oh and there are some secrets surprises (characters) that I will not spoil, but when you unlock them, you'll be very happy.

There are plenty of arenas, they are very different from each other so you won't get bored for a while. There are many weapon sets and more than 12 multiplayer modes to choose from. And yes, there are bots in Multiplayer.
I only wished you could customize multiplayer a little more, sometimes you feel a little 'limited'. For example, the bots only have four different 'personalities' but they are pretty much the same. Finally, the bots seem to have way more Health and Armor than you do, and sadly, they are cheap.

The best thing of multiplayer is that you can command Remote Controlled Vehicles to attack your enemies. There are 2 vehicles, a minicopter and a mini-tank.

Overall 8/10

Rent or Buy?
If you are a fan of First Person Shooters, go out and buy this game NOW!
If you are new to the genre or If you don't know much about First Person Shooters, I suggest: first rent it, and if you like it, buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/02, Updated 01/05/05