James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

"The next level in Bond games"

Let’s just start off with what’s important:

This game is great! I'd recommend it to everyone who likes action games. It's a bit different than you're used to from most Bond games because of the 3rd person perspective. Although a bit surprising this change makes it feel more like Bond. There are almost always 2 ways to approach a level. You can come out with guns blazing, or you can go low-key, stealthily eliminating your enemies. The latter being more difficult, it's also more rewarding.

Action in the game is divided into roughly 2 modes (discounting driving levels). Gun combat and hand-to-hand combat. Gun combat is relatively easy, since Bond's aim is near-perfect. You have the ability to lock onto targets and fine-tune your aim within that lock. And with Bond's aim, you can get an insane amount of head shots. Although that's not always easy. Hand-to-hand combat is surprisingly cool, with a nice selection of different moves, that also adapt to the environment. Say you engage a guard on a balcony and you throw him, you may throw him over the banister, or you might slam him into the wall knocking him unconscious. You can also guard and counter-attack in hand-to-hand mode. Add to that an inventory of nifty gadgets (Rappel, Q-spiders, cloaking device, etc.) to help you complete a level and you have the complete Bond action experience.

The graphics look great and since I play it on PS2 I know the GC and Xbox version will look even better. It has a solid frame rate. The characters look really great. The face scans that EA made are well done and look very good. Add to that a cast of well known actors lending their appearance and voice to the game and you get the feel of a Bond movie.

There are a few driving levels alternating the regular levels. They're very well done. The vehicle physics are loosely based on the Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 engine (or so I've read). The Bond-vehicles (you'll drive non-Bond-vehicles also) are all armed, but the levels where you have to use them are far from seeming arcade-like IMO. The sense of speed you get in those levels is very cool too.

And then there are little things the game dubs ''Bond Moments''. These are instances where you take a different approach to the situation than you would usually do. Sometimes they are pretty obvious. Other times it's pretty cool when you see an opportunity and it turns out to be a ''Bond Moment'' sometimes rewarding you with a little cut-scene, always rewarding you with extra points in the level score. The score is important if you want to unlock stuff like weapon upgrades, extra levels and production stills.

Where this game falls a bit short however and I'm sad to say it, is the multiplayer part of the game. Had it received just half of the attention that the rest of the game did I'm sure it would have been great, but now it's just a bit half-assed. That's in comparison to the rest of the game, it still can be quite fun to do a bit of co-op with a friend. Co-op puts you and a friend into a separate set of missions, in no way related to the plot of the single player game. Essentially it’s just you two blasting your way through a truckload of enemies. There's also Race, where you have try to finish co-op missions quickly . Scramble, where you compete with your friend for the best score in the levels. And Arena, where you can go head-to-head with up to 3 of your friends. While the presence of several modes makes up for the rather disappointing multiplayer, it doesn’t make it last.

Then, on to the scores:

Graphics: 9
Gameplay: 9
Multiplayer: 6.5
Presentation: 8.5
Fun Factor: 9

Overall score: 9 (not an average)

All in all: any action-fan should get this game. It’s great and really takes Bond games to the next level

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/04