James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

"Not for James Bond fans"

Many handheld games are known for being crap when they're based off of movies and television shows. I can't say that about this game - I thought it was a pretty decent game. I may not be a James Bond fan (I've never really cared for the movies), but I can tell the difference between a decent game and a bad one.

The villain Diavolo is plotting to take over the world, planning to make an army of nanobots that would be immune to everything except platinum. Diavolo plans to give his nanobots platinum weapons forged from platinum from a platinum mine, thinking that they would make him able to go through with his plan much easier. There's only one problem - Agent 007 is on his case.

Through a series of eight missions as James Bond, you must stop Diavolo from ruling the world. Each of these missions has primary objectives and secondary objectives. If you manage to complete all primary objectives, you will get a certain amount of style points. Completing all secondary objectives will net you more of these points. Style points are used to upgrade things for Bond, and once you receive a certain amount of points, you will unlock a Blackjack mini-game. The secondary objectives can get VERY frustrating if you're having trouble finding something, or are having bad luck with stealth kills.

In these eight missions, you will pursue Diavolo while disabling and destroying some of his weapons. Some of these missions will require you to operate a vehicle and destroy your opponent's vehicle. Secondary objectives often tell you to kill a certain amount of guards through stealth or collect a certain amount of data discs.

Since you're James Bond, you will no doubt be killing people to get to where you need to be. You will start every level with a pistol and be able to receive other weapons from enemies or destroying objects. Ammo is also received this way, and once you run out, you will be forced to punch your foes to death. There are other items that will aid you, such as Grenades, Holographs, and Platinum Bullets. You will lose all of these items after you complete the level, so it's wise to use what you can before finishing a level.

Some people may say that killing for fun isn't a good thing, but apparently Bond doesn't believe this. All you will be doing is killing - whether it's through stealth or just plain force. Stealth kills are achieved when you press the punch button behind an opponent that is unaware of you. Conveniently, there is a bar that starts to fill up the closer you are to being seen by a guard.

Even though the controls are top-notch (very hard to find something wrong with them), the shooting system is terrible at best. When you shoot, you will not be able to see who you're targeting or where your bullet is going. Enemies can shoot you even if they're not in your view, which makes the game hard at some points. The game leans you towards making stealth kills, which are fun at first, but get very boring after a while. There are literally hundreds of enemies in this game, so why would you want to watch EVERY SINGLE enemy patrol just to get a measly ten stealth points each kill? This leads to the question: Why give so many enemies if killing isn't fun? Another question I had was: Why make bosses that you can't hurt, and have to push into something to hurt them?

Visually, the game is decent. Some things may look heavily pixilated, but other things may look great, although you tend to get tired of looking at the same objects every other level. Music in this game is on the same level, although it does get annoying hearing the same thing when you're detected by a guard. Sounds often get annoying, as you'll be hearing the same shooting sounds from the same three guns in the game.

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is a game for people that want to mindlessly kill things. It presents little challenge and replay value (after completing the game, you'll never want to play it again.) It will probably disappoint many Bond fans, but for the people that want a decent, although short, third-person shooter, pick up this game.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06