James Bond 007: NightFire

"Bond scores on the GC with a solid FPS"

Now I have played(and beaten) both James Bond games, but I guess that's nothing spectacular because they are both fairly easy. However,we all know that AUF had more than its fair share or problems, and EA listened and fixed most of them.
Story:
The story in this game is completely orginal, not pertaining to any movie. Pheonix Industries is a world-praised company for disarming nuclear warheads and settling conflicts. However, rumors say that Pheonix has a few tricks up their sleeve, but their leader,Drake is slippery and no one can prove anything. Its up to James Bond to bust him and save the world...again.
Graphics:9/10
The graphics in this game are awesome, certinaly an improvement over AUF. Everything is highly detailed, and Bond looks exactly like Pierce Brosnan. You can see the faint glow of your fake lighter on people and on your arm. Simply incredible. Everything is smooth and the frame rate almost never drops except for a little bit on the driving missions, but it's no big deal. The cinemas look great as well. They might not be the best that the GC could handle, but good nontheless.

Sound:9/10
I found nothing wrong with the music and SFX, as they all sounded real and authentic. The weapons' sounds are true and fit all of them well. The only complaint in this department that I have is the noise when you shoot someone from close distance. It makes a weird squish-splat sound. Other than that, great. The JB theme is used a lot in this game, along with a few other tunes that go great with the mission. There is quiet,mysterious music on the sniping mission, while loud, actiony music during battle.

Gameplay:8/10
The biggie, but Nightfire keeps impressing us. There is a HUGE improvement over AUF, where the levels were too easy and quick and had simple puzzles(can I even call them
that?) In NF,the missions are much longer and difficult, some taking well over 15 minutes. Enemy AI is much better, too. They strafe and duck behind pillars, instead of just standing and shooting at you like in AUF. For each gun, you can carry a maximum of 90 spare rounds, plus what's in the gun's clip. This makes you think a little more about where you spend your ammo, so trigger-happy players might not like this. Almost every gun has an alternate fire, in AUF only a couple do. There are a lot more guns, too There is also a visible bar that is divided into however many bullets you gun holds and fills or deplets accordingly, giving you a quick look to tell if you need to reload. There are 12 missions like in AUF, but one is like a training one so it kinda dosen't count. In most of the foot missions, you can get a stealth rating, which I find annoying, because the stealth missions have very little action and aren't much fun. There is a little strategy and observation involved in a few levels. Health is back to the GoldenEye style, where picking up armor covers your health until it wears off. In AUF, it just gived you more life. Also in Multiplayer there are a few new things like turret guns and these weird remote control tanks and helicopters. You can pick one up and drive it around and shoot at other players, but they have a extremely limited supply of ammo(4 bullets), so they don't have much use. There are lots more scenarios and items that you can unlock in the single player mode.

Bottom Line: Rent, try the MP, and then Buy if you like it. Definetly check this game out, you won't be dissapointed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/24/02, Updated 12/24/02