James Bond 007: NightFire

"Hey, it's another EA Bond game that......"

....pretty much did nothing for me.

Ok, here we are again. EA's Bond games seem to be getting yearly updates, you know, in the same way Fifa does. Each years is better than the last but still not very good. That's what's happened here.

So where do I start.

The names Bond, James Bond. Yup, you play the suave secret agent again in the same fashion as you did in Agent Under Fire. There's girls, gadgets, cars, and guns aplenty but it just ain't satisfying.

Gameplay.

Ok, there's 3 styles of gameplay to be had here. First Person Shooter which is the bulk of the game and then there's driving and some ''on-rails'' guided stuff.

I'll start with the driving. Basically you drive thru the level shooting and blowing up bad guys and stuff with your souped up car. You can fire machine guns, missiles and smoke screens etc from your car to lose and kill the badguys. That's about as exciting as that bit gets. It's a bit like Spyhunter this bit

The on rails levels usually sticks you in some sort of vehicle which is driven for you while you man the guns. This again is a case of shoot the baddies as they come at you type stuff or blow up some scenery. It's nothing new, but midly entertaining. I prefer it to the driving bits.

And so onto the FPS bit. The bulk of the game. Sigh. It's standard fare I'm afraid. The bad guys come at you in waves and you have plenty of gear to take them out with. They react to getting shot nicely but it just doesn't seem satisfying killing them for some reason. You have plenty of gadgets. Laser watch, A lighter that becomes a camera, a grappling hook thing. Occasionally you'll have to burn through something with your laser watch such as wires or hinges etc to access items, rooms etc. There's not really any freedom on offer here. It's all pretty linear. Go through the level shooting bad guys, find someone, escape . It's all so plain. In fact, if this wasn't a Bond game I doubt I'd even of given it a look. Run of the mill sums it up.

There's a decent multiplayer mode in here I suppose which I will give credit to. Deathmatch, Capture the Flag etc are all included. There's also bots included this time around so you can have a blast on it when your mates aint round. It's a good addition. No Timesplitters 2 though, mind.

Graphics

The graphics, while not outstanding are decentish. There's no slowdown in the FPS and it runs at a silky 60fps. There is some slowdown in the driving and on rails bits though but it isn't that bad and doesn't really spoil the experience. The lighting is good and the character models are well done. Especially the *ahem* ladies. The weapon models are decent with nice muzzle flash and empty shell casings ejecting from your gun, bullet holes riddling the wall etc. The bullet holes and shell casings aren't in the multiplayer though which is a little disappointing. I could understand them being removed for split screen but they aint even in the single player against bots. I presume it's to keep the framerate up. However, this shouldn't be a problem on the Xbox.

Texture wise the game is ok. The environments aren't particularly detailed and there's certainly no bump mapping or individual blades of grass drawn here. To be honest it looks like a PS2 game when it comes to the textures and details.

Overall the graphics aren't anything to get excited about.

Sound

Holy Crap. Now this is something they DID get right. The weapons sound great, really great and then there's the Bond music which adds to the overall feel. Bad guys talk to each other in there own language and call for cover and support etc. The sound actually brought a smile to my face.

Presentation

And so onto the presentation. Well, it's an EA game so you know what to expect. It's impeccable. Nice front end, easy to navigate and with the usual EA bells and whistles. Another area which they have done well. If only the rest of the game was as good as the presentation and sound.

Summary

It's your run of the mill FPS with some driving and ''on-rails'' stuff thrown in. The fact that it's James Bond makes it better. Ok visuals though they certainly don't push the Xbox but great sound and presentation. Enough Bond suave and panache to sex0Rx up a Bond girl herself but that's about as far as it goes. Left me totally underwhelmed when all said and done.

I'll see you back here next year for the next Bond game then.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/02, Updated 12/05/02