James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

"Finally, a Bond game that proves its own"

Remember 1997, when Goldeneye was the game to own for the N64, which of course was developed by Rare and regarded by some as the best game ever.

Then EA acquired the coveted licence and developed Tomorrow Never Dies, a third-person shooter which completely disrespected both the film and the previous game. After that came The World Is Not Enough, an extremely average shooter and later came an attempt to rebuild their reputation for James Bond, coming out with Agent Under Fire and Nightfire with completely original storylines. Both were fun to play but were nothing really special. And then came Everything or Nothing (hereafter known as EoN). Everyone was hyped by the fact that it would be in third-person and whether it would stink like TND or break the stale mould and go on to become one of the best games in entire series; EA took a large gamble and thankfully it paid off. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing.

Lets get straight to business; this game takes full advantage of the licence to use Pierce Brosnan's likeness by watching Bond himself leap around, take cover and shoot lots of people; and to be honest, what is the point of this wonderful licence if all you could see was his right hand? Now, you would think that this alone would give you the Bond experience. But no, EA have gone the whole hog and recruited a whole host of likeness' and voice talent, including but not limited to Judi Dench as M, John Cleese as Q and the magnificent Richard Kiel as Jaws; possibly the best Bond villain ever.

Plotwise, this is the usual megalomaniac plotting to take over the world, but it is told brilliantly through cutscenes featuring the aforementioned actors and actresses. The game opens with a Bond film-style piece of action before the theme tune and the main storyline, which really helps with creating that Bond experience. Again it is an original storyline but it does really seem like a Bond storyline.

And now we get onto the gameplay, which flows brilliantly from one level via cutscene to the next. The interface is incredibly simple, with even the most hopeless player getting the hang of using L1 to lock-on and R1 to shoot all whilst moving from one piece of cover to the next. The hand-to-hand combat is simple while brilliant allowing you to take out almost anyone by smashing them into the wall then picking up their gun and giving the guy behind you a hot lead jacket. After these enjoyable shooting+fighting sections is where the game really shines: the vehicle missions.

These are quite simply awesome, and they are short but sweet, and that sweetness is what will motivate you to play these. On these missions you have to usually drive/ride/fly your way to particular destinations all the whilst using assorted vehicle-mounted weapons to destroy hundreds of ill-fated vehicles. Hope you have an insurance policy. The rally section comes seemingly out of nowhere and along with the rest of the vehicle missions is a short burst of pleasure.

However, all is not well in Bond's repertoire of abilities, as stealth is obviously not one he received full marks on his training; the stealth in this game is woolly with invisible enemies seeing you and not being sure what gets you seen and what doesn't. Something else disappointing is the lack of weapons; with only 7 guns to choose from and little variety. There are however spanners and bottles you can chuck at unfortunate henchmen's heads to brighten the mood. And despite having an easily accessible interface some items such as the rappel are fiddly to use for casual gamers requiring a lot of unnecessary flicking around menus.

But back to the good points, there are special 'Bond Moments' that can be triggered by shooting certain objects or using an unorthodox form of entry and they can't help but make you smile as you scrape a Triumph Daytona motorcycle as it explodes behind you and giving you the best view of the action. The new Bond Sense is excellently implemented as well; by just pressing a button time slows down and allows you to assess situations as calmly as Bond would himself and also allowing you to switch to a heavy weapon whilst under heavy fire.

So to conclude, this game is essentially the only second game to do the licence justice but complaints aside this is the game to own if you want the full Bond experience, gaming veteran or casual gamer. So buy it either for a great action game or simply just being a Bond addict. trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/15/04