James Bond 007: NightFire

"A 7 for 007"

Nightfire does a good job reproducing the Bond Aura, from its action packed intro which relates to the story, to its own (albeit short) music video. It even comes with its own cracked out original villain, Raphael Drake.

Controls: 8/10 The controls respond very well, and are the right level of sensitivity. The best example of this is how easy it is to snipe in this game. However, I had to dock it 2 points. 1 for its lack of COMPLETELY customizable controls (they give you plenty of pre-made set ups to pick from, I do not know why they didn't just enable full customization). and another because there is an Underwater submarine level and Flying level which can be tough to navigate. However, you can jump! And I like being able to jump in FPS.

Music/Sound: 9/10 Its Bond. It's got the bond theme. Its got slightly remixed versions of the Bond theme. It's got Its own music video intro. The guards talking to each other is a nice touch, the pre-mission cinematic sequences sound realistic enough. The guns sound realistic too. I had to dock a point for a very few small minute reasons. 1) James bond in this game is given Pierce Brosnan's resemblance (very spookily too might I add) but for some reason they didn't bother to get his voice, and the one they got instead sounds more like Sean Connery. 2) The music at times can get a little repetitive, along with the sounds of the guns, they all sound too much alike. (I know its realistic, but a little creativity with the weapons would have been nice)

Graphics: 10/10 This is probably one of the most graphically superior games I have ever played. Both in game and CGI sequences look more realistic than any game that immediately comes to mind. There is a nice frame rate (even with 4 people playing ) and plenty of different settings to play in, with plenty of different objects and backgrounds. My one and only gripe with this is the explosion graphics, but much like other games' water graphics, these are very hard to do realistically, and its small enough flaw not to even bother taking off a point. This game is very easy on the eyes.

Fun Factor (single player): 6/10 One of the bigger flaws to this game is the shortness of its single player, and its huge lacking of replay value. There are very few missions to this game (and even less if you take away the Driving levels). And anyone who sits down to play for about 2 hours a day will finish single player in a week (if that). The only reason to re-play it is to unlock multiplayer things (most of the cool things are unlocked already anyways). However, the levels that are there, are well thought out, and are fun when playing through for the first time.

Fun Factor (Multiplayer): 7/10 This is probably the reason to buy this game, however there are a few problems with it. First of all, there aren't that many characters to pick from (6 to start with, then you can unlock classic bond villains). Secondly, if you play a team game, teams are based on WHO you are, so if you choose to be a villain, you're on the bad team, if you choose to be a good guy, you're on the MI6 team. This restriction is very annoying. Thirdly, only 4 AI bots are allowed in to the multiplayer fray. Some of the levels can be very big, and even with 8 (4 bots, 4 humans) playing, people walking around looking for each other will not make much of an intense game. Fourthly, no customizable weapon sets. I know this has not been present in any other bonds (even the sacred goldeneye), but plaiyng with their set ups gets boring fast, because half of them you're likely never to use, and there's always one grossly over powered gun included in the mix.

Miscellaneous: 5/10 For extra things not included above, I threw in an extra 5/10. There are not a whole lot of weapons in this game (about 15 by my count). There aren't many playable characters (multiplayer). The driving levels can be kind of stupid. On the harder difficulties and multiplayer, they no where near give you enough ammo to get the job done (2 whole clips for a pistol is not enough to wreck havoc in multiplayer). However, it earns points in its charisma. The villain's are unique and are well thought out. The plot comes straight from a bond movie/book that was never written but easily could have been. Oh, and only being able to load from memory card slot one annoys the heck out of me for some reason.

As for rent or buy? It would depend on one thing: Are you a bond fan or an extreme FPS fan? If you're a bond fan, buy this game, it is definitely the best 007 since goldeneye. If you're an extreme FPS fan, I would recommend time splitters 2 first, but if you want another game, get this too, as there's nothing terribly wrong with it. For the average gamer though, I would recommend renting, as that is about how long it will take to finish the game single-player.

Final overall average: 007. Pun quite intended.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/03, Updated 02/22/03