007: The World is Not Enough

"Many improvements from Goldeneye...so WHY DOES IT NOT HAVE THE SAME CHARM??!!"

Yes, like the title of this review, there are some improvements from the well known N64 game "Goldeneye", but those improvements just weren't enough to save the game. Keep reading and find out how it's improved from Goldeneye and why that just doesn't cut it.

Story: 9/10
Why did the story get a 9? Well, mainly because it stayed pretty loyal to the storyline of the movie. From chasing Cigar Girl to her hot air balloon to facing Renard in the core of a nuclear submarine, the story stays the same pretty much throughout. All of the characters even say the same things they did in the movie, which boosted the score. The thing that made me dock a point is that on some levels, like the one where you're chasing Davidov, you have to do things you shouldn't really have to do. To kill Davidov in the game, you run up behind him when he's going to the airport, and you shoot him behind the back. A little obscure, considering in the movie all Bond had to do was wait in the trunk of Davidov's car and wait for Davidov to open it so Bond could shoot him. Those things where simple tasks in the movie become difficult chores in the game cost the game a 10 in this section.

Gameplay: 6/10
This section is very similar to Goldeneye. There are objectives you have to complete, along with some time limits on some missions and things you have to prevent on others. Sadly, TWINE doesn't give the same variety of weapons Goldeneye gave. In TWINE, you pretty much only have a pistol, an uzi, a KA-57, and a grenade/rocket launcher. However, there are some new gadgets that Goldeneye didn't give, like the Stunner or the rappling cord. However, sometimes if you just want to be restless and kill civilians just for fun like I do, you won't have long to enjoy it. Most of the time, if you fail a mission, that's it. Try again.

Graphics: 7/10
In some ways the graphics are better than they were in Goldeneye, and in some ways the graphics are worse. One character looks more developed than he did in Goldeneye, and that's Bond. Bond looks much better in TWINE than he did in Goldeneye. Sadly, a lot of the other characters look really choppy. In Goldeneye (the game), when you saw Alec Trevelyan, he somehow looks just like he did in the movie, which is great. Now, in the MP when you play as him, he doesn't look anything of the sort. As they did in Goldeneye, the background designs look fairly well done. However, I must say that Goldeneye did a bit of a better job on most of the backgrounds. Still, the graphics in this game are not something to be criticized.

Sound: 7/10
Like stated many times in this review, there are some things TWINE did better with, and there are some things Goldeneye did better with. One better thing about TWINE is that now you can actually hear the people talking in movies and during the game, while in Goldeneye you could only read the captions and imagine hearing them say the words. However, in TWINE the captions would be better if the characters actually sounded like how they did in the movie. Lachaise barely sounds anything like he did in the movie, as did Valentin. "M" sounds okay, as does Renard. Bond I'd say sounds the closest to how he did in the movie. Now for the background music. Let me just say something: Not so good. Sure, some levels had interesting background music, but there isn't always a lot. In Goldeneye, however, there was background music in almost every level.

Multiplayer: 5/10
This is one of the lower parts of the game. This started the whole "Good guys can't fight good guys" trend. There's a bit of a lack of characters from other movies, but you can unlock a fairly descent amount by playing the games on different modes and completing certain objectives in certain amounts of time. While there is more than just Arena and Team Arena MP modes, there really aren't a lot afterward, and the game can become boring after a while. Although this doesn't even matter, it's just a bit of a goodie TWINE has that Goldeneye didn't, and that's that you can make codenames, so when someone dies, they'll know who killed them.

Length: 8/10
This can be quite a long game. In fact, it could be a bit too long. The levels start out, and immediately you're thrown a bunch of objectives you way, only to have more thrown at you in the middle of the course. That could really lengthen the game. However, it wouldn't be quite so bad if there wasn't a high amount of levels. Unlike in Goldeneye that had a lot of levels but were a bit shorter, TWINE has a few less missions but they are much longer. It could take 10 minutes to beat the level, or it could take 10 days. It really depends on how you approach it.

Replayability: 5/10
This is where the game sinks. Once you've beaten the game, there's really not much more you can do. You can always challenge yourself to earn more medals and to get more unlocks, but they are all really hard to do. Other than that, the only real reason to replay the game is to sharpen your skills.

Raw Score: 47/70
Final Score: 6.7, rounded up to 7

Buy or Rent?
If you're a big James Bond fan like I am, then you might want to buy the game. Or, buy the game if you think you're going to finish it. Nowadays, you might find it for a little over $10, so that would be a pretty easy amount to get. But, if you just want to enjoy it for a limited amount of time, just rent it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/04