James Bond 007: NightFire

"Far from Goldeneye's Glory"

This game is, in a word, OK. After playing this game you will wish that Rare would once again take the reins and make Bond games again.

Gameplay: 7/10
This game's single player mode is pretty good. It is certainly better than AUF, but it has a long way to go. The driving levels are a great invention, but the whole thing about getting those gold ''007s'' is dumb.

Multiplayer: 4/10
They definetely could have done better with this. Seriously. While I admit it is an improvement over the crapfest that was AUF's multiplayer, EA needs to overhaul the multiplayer mode in these games. Take for example, the whole MI6/Phoenix thing and how the MI6 girls can't fight each other? That's the stupidest thing that I ever saw in my life. They need seriously to get rid of that over at EA. Another worthless feature is the Bot AI. Even at its highest rating, they are at best target practice. While playing Capture the Flag your friend bots will often wander aimlessly about the level getting shot. In King of the Hill they hardly put up a fight, feebly shooting at their opponents. The weapons? Stupid. You can't choose individual weapons a la Perfect Dark, just individual sets of weapons. The stationary guns are a good idea executed poorly. Just try aiming with them anywhere but directly in front of you and you'll see what I mean. The levels, on the other hand, are about the only great thing in the multiplayer game. You have a pretty wide range of choices, so if you want close-quarters fighting or sniping you can choose a good level for it.

Story: 4/10
Its a typical Bond story. Bond does like 3 women and saves the world from certain death at the hands of a really rich guy who wants to blow up the earth with nukes. Its not Shakespeare but what do you expect?

Graphics/Sound: 9/10
These are the best thing about this mediocre game. The sound is nice on a stereo and the graphics are well done. But I'll take great gameplay over graphics anyday.

Replay Value: 2/10
Once you beat an adventure game like this you kind of lose your enthusiasm for it. Cheats are hardly worth working for because they are so easy to get otherwise. Multiplayer is only OK.

This is yet another mediocre stab at Goldeneye's glory by EA. A good rental, I guess, but don't buy this.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02