007: Tomorrow Never Dies

"Everyone thought it would be better than Goldeneye.....Everyone was wrong."

I remember last year in school we would fight over the fact that Tomorrow Never Dies will be better than Goldeneye. The game came out and most people bought it thinking it will be as good, or even better than Goldeneye. I mean, it HAS to be. Being made after Goldeneye, the only thing that this game could be is an improved version. Sadly, everyone found out that TND was worse than they had ever imagined. They soon found out that their hopes of TND being better than Goldeneye were a complete waste of time. And not only was it a cheap spin off of N64's Goldeneye but it was also a bad game in its own right. Only the people who just bought a Playstation and those who had not played Goldeneye found enjoyment out of this game.

Myself, personally, do not own TND. I stayed at a friend’s house for 2 days, and played it for an overall time of a few hours. During that time I felt very little enjoyment. My friend is quite a lot older than me, and had to go to work that day. There was nothing to do in the house besides play the Playstation. I sat on the couch and begun to play TND. Owning an N64 myself, I absolutely love Goldeneye. I was hoping that TND was just as good. My friend had told me it was good, and that gave me high hopes. So, I started playing, and I was feeling pretty good as I watch the briefings of the first level. The level began, and my hopes ultimately dropped to the floor and shrivelled up.

The first thing that displeased me was the fact that they had thrown the first-person perspective idea out the window. Now James Bond is seen from a third person's view. This is the worst thing you can to a bond game. Goldeneye was great because you couldn't see yourself, and you were looking through the eyes of James Bond himself. I feel like I am a real spy, and that I am the one killing all the guards, and completing the objectives. I get scared in levels that I usually die on. Playing goldeneye is the most enjoyable feeling I have ever experienced, simply because I felt like I was the one who was playing. I didn't feel like I was controlling James, I felt like I was BEING James. TND fails to capture that essence. Now that you can see Bond in full view, it no longer feels like you are being him. It simply feels as if you are CONTROLLING him. I was really disappointed with this.

After the first few seconds of disappointment about the 3rd person perspective, the graphics hit me next. I know, I know, the Playstation's 32 bit graphics have NO chance against N64's 64 bit graphics, but this is a let down even to the Playstation. Comparing once again, TND against GE, the graphics in TND are a piece of junk. In goldeneye, the graphics are brilliant. The colours are vibrant, and every looks sharp, and natural. In TND, the colours are dull, and often defy nature. For instance, the colour of the snow in the first level. What's with this? I saw blue snow, purple snow. That's not right! The edges of every object and surrounding are rugged and dirty. The absence of bright and happy colours is a downer. Most of the levels' colours consist of brown, black, dark red, and grey. There are lights around the place that give off some colour, but it is a dull light. In most of the levels you can hardly see. I might have been done to add atmosphere, but it didn't work. It just made the game worst. Not only do the colours make the game look dull, but it also makes the level all that more boring. One more let down to a somewhat over hyped game.

Then, after six seconds of disappointment, I took my first step. Dear God, these let downs just keep on coming! James Bond is a chore to manoeuvre. It takes time and patience simply to run over a medikit or gun! Goldeneye is a breeze to manoeuvre in, but TND has a dodgy control system. First of all, it is hard to turn while you're running. You can't turn sharply while moving. If you want to turn sharply to say, kill a guard that might be shooting you, Bond must first slow down (which takes an eerie amount of time), then you must turn around and hopefully you stopped to a position where you're facing the enemy. Then you must try as hard as you can to actually hit the enemy with bullets. All the while, you're being hammered, and a lot of times you die. It is very hard to hit an enemy with bullets. It takes more than it should to be able to aim up an enemy and kill him before he hits you. There's an auto aim feature, but it is practically useless in many situations. First of all it doesn't seem to work if you're moving. For some reason you always miss if you're moving to the side or running. And if there are more than one guard in front of you, the auto aim switches from one to the other all the time. It is bad control I tell you. But, you DO get better with practice. But, that's only if you actually want to play this game long enough to improve.

Then another downer hit me....Literally! I was wondering around in the first area of the first level. If was staying back in case there might be guards up ahead. So, I'm wondering around, improving my control over James, and suddenly....UGH! I got shot! I look in all directions, but I couldn't see anything. So, I ran as far back as I could, and I looked around using the scope on the rifle I had. Sure enough, in the far distance, I see a guard running in my direction. I couldn't see him until he ran closer towards me. It seems that he had hit me from over 200 yards away! Now, this was the easiest setting, and he hit me more than once, using only several shots! So, I stayed back and I used quite a lot of bullets to take him down. Then I ventured further forward again and sure enough....UGH! I GOT HIT AGAIN! I could not see one solitary guard anywhere! So, after dying several times and restarting the game, I finally found out where the darn guard was hiding. He was hiding in a building that looked like it didn't have any windows. Well....It did, and a stupid guard was inside shooting at me. So, from where I started in the level. I had to run as fast as I could to the hut and kill the guard. The hut it quite a long way away and I had to run to it while getting hammered by the guard inside. I died twice on my journey, and finally made it on the third try. There is nothing you can do, but get hammered. Anyway, yet another disappointment.

Now, this is the thing that shocked me the most. In Goldeneye, the creators added a feature that had not been seen before in shoot 'em up games. This feature gave the guards the ability to hear guns and explosions. Because of this feature, you had to be as quiet as possible while killing the guards or a ton of guards will hear you and ultimately kill you. The question was- Does TND have this feature? The answer is, NO. They've taken a stealth genre like James Bond, and turned it into a Doom game. Goldeneye was unique and excellent because it made you feel like you were a spy. TND does the exact opposite. The guards have no hearing, or AI AT - ALL. You could stand behind a guard that had his back to you, and get out your rifle. You could totally unload a round straight past his head into the wall in front of him, and he wouldn't even budge! TND is just a game where you run around and shoot people. Is there any fun it that? Only a slight amount. Everyone said this game would be a stealth game, they were pretty damn wrong. So you have no reason not to use the rifle all the time. But you’d have to switch weapons if the ammo ran out of course!

Then, as I began to complete more stages, I was disappointed with the amount of weapons. I can't remember exactly how many, but there are very few. Something around 10 weapons. Now, this in comparison with Goldeneye's arsenal of over 30 weapons isn't adequate for a James Bond game. It gets boring after awhile using the same weapon of every level. And another thing that bugged me was the fact that the pistol has unlimited ammo. Now, instead of having to preserve your precious ammo, you can just run around and shoot as much as you want. That just doesn't seem to be what James Bond is all about.

The sound, I have to say, is the best thing about the game. But, it has some bad points as well. The music is excellent. There are some pretty good tracks that sound rather well. The sound of the weapons are OK, but they sometimes glitch. Sometimes when you shoot, all of the bullets aren't sounded. Sometimes when you shoot, no sound comes out. But the basic sound effects are pretty good.

TND is in no way a game that will keep you occupied for more than a few days. In fact, the ordinary gamer will finish it in less than several days. You die a lot, but all you have to do is continue and you start again on the level you died on. The game is just too easy to complete. And, as another downer, there are only 10 levels. This game was obviously rushed, and therefore shortened.

Well, now for the final words (FINALLY!). TND is a let down to almost everybody who was expecting another Goldeneye. Goldeneye is one the biggest successes in Nintendo's history. Rare had done an excellent job, and the sales prove it. Then Playstation had the next James Bond deal, for Tomorrow Never Dies. EA had the honours this time. Relying on the success of Goldeneye, they must have thought they didn't NEED to create another Goldeneye. Many people bought the game simply because the first game was so good. They thought that the second game HAS to be better than the first. Well, unfortunately everyone was let down. So, the best thing you can do is stick to playing Goldeneye. That's all I have to say about that.

Overall Statistics:

GRAPHICS: 5/10
AUDIO: 8.5/10
CONTROL: 4/10
GAMEPLAY: 4/10
CHALLENGE: 5/10
MULTIPLAYER: 0/10 - This game has NO multiplayer!
REPLAY VALUE: 2/10

I suggest you DO NOT buy this game. If you really want to know why everyone thinks this game is bad then rent it. The only time it would be worth getting this game would be if you have the chance to get it burned and GIVEN to you.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/00, Updated 07/12/00