007: The World is not Enough

"Hope is progress"

Let me be perfectly honest here, I did not like Goldeneye, it's a great game yes, but the missions were bland and the multiplayer albeit fun, was lacking, mainly in level design. While I acknowledged its dominance in the 1st person market I felt that improvements could be made. TWINE for the N64, I personally thought was the superlative 1st person shooter on the system. Better graphics, better mission structure and the multiplayer was drastically improved. So what then? we are speaking of the PSX version are we not? TWINE on the PSX is one of the better 1st persion shooters on the system mainly because it has more stealthy elements in the Medal of Honor vain, while still maintaining the classy bond feel. There are flaws yes, but those looking for a solid Bond expirience shoudn't miss out.

GAMEPLAY

TWINE works as a solid mix of all out action and Rainbow 6 stealth tied loosely around the movie itself. Each mission is presented by M, after reding up on your assignment clips from the movie are shown and intertwine well with the missions themselves. Mission wise variety is the name of the game here, The first level has you sneaking through a bank in search of Lachaise, the next has you playing BlackJack at Davidov's casino. Few games would list the objective ''Win $100,000''. The gadgets are the most of any Bond game so far, flash bangs, cell phone stunners and credit card lock picks are just among the few. My only real complaint is sometimes the game is a bit misleading as to how to complete something, this is aided somewhat by the M16 communicator but holes are present. The complete lack of multi-player is also a let down, the game could support it, the engine could hold the framerate well enough.

Overall: 7.5

GRAPHICS

Functional, but not fantastic, shaken and stirred would fit it rather well. The texture detail is impressive, enemie skins (espicially faces) show credible detail. The frame-rate is always maintained if not fast even with lots of enemies flooding from all sides. The animation is lacking though, enemies repeat the same animations to often, women in particular have maybe two. The lack of variety is only made worse by their simplicity, duck, roll, and reload is about all your going to see.

Overall: 7.0

SOUND

Little to complain about here, the background tunes are re-mixed Bond themes that add a fairly convincing atmosphere. On longer levels though they get a bit repititous though. The voice overs are solid, enemies yell when they see you and M and Q are well represented (John Cleese is a spot on Q). The sound effects work well, guns have specific sounds, and are all accurate enough in their own respect.

Overall: 8.0

REPLAY

The lack of any multi-player really hurts but the game itself holds strong, the added elements of stealth really put more depth into an otherwise shallow gaming experience. Fans of Bond should be please with EA's latest offering, after the craptastic Tomorrow never dies EA shows that Bond can be made for the PSX. Bond fanatics should not look this one over.

Overall: 5.5

Positives:

-Mission variety
-large assortment of weapons and gadgets
-Pre-level movie clips
-Solid frame-rate
-John Cleese as Q

Negatives:

-Complete lack of multiplayer
-Music gets repetitive
-Objectives lack clarity

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/22/01, Updated 07/22/01