James Bond 007: NightFire

"Nightfire Ain't A Shot In The Dark"

Well, this is the first time I've ever done this, but doing the draft was fun, so I think I'll do this more... Hey, I think I get to be first for this game too! Yeah, so Nightfire is just like any other Bond game, just on the GBA. They say they adapted it from the original version (of Nightfire, of course), and from what my friend said, it's a pretty good adaptation. Guns, women, action, even the little thing with the circles and where Bond walks by and shoots at you is there, but that's later.

Gameplay 9/10
I don't think that difficulty is impossibly hard, and it's not ridiculously easy either. It gets harder as you go. Once you get the hang of the controls and style, it's basically just a matter of finding where to go, what switches react to which gadget, point and shoot (THERE IS NO AUTO-AIM), and survive (that's probably oversimplifying). There's plenty of guys shooting at you, as well as some situations where stealth is better (or forced onto you), and there's a pretty good balance in my opinion. Some enemies have that Bond trademark of being totally inaccurate (you can stand in front of them, in some cases early on, and they'll miss), but others seem to be better and even the simple ones can hit you if you're not careful. Some roll around too (players of Goldeneye would remember the futility of this move). The game can be challenging.

You've got two choices of control configurations. One is very similar to the controls of games like ''Goldeneye'' and ''The World Is Not Enough'' for N64, and is my personal favorite style, but the default controls are pretty easy to learn and just as handy, it's all just personal preference (the default seems to be more strafing friendly, the other is more aiming friendly). Either way, only three options change anyway (which buttons aim, strafe, and reload). The only major problems I can find is that turning and walking forward and things like that can be troublesome only because it needs to ''speed up'' to get into your run. You get used to this pretty fast, and it didn't really bother me that much, if at all.

Story 8/10
There is one. So often with GBA games, they'll pour all this effort (or not) into the game only to have a pathetic, undeveloped, underdeveloped story tucked away in the intro page of the manual (I still rue the day I bought Iridion 3D). But Nightfire develops it, and develops it pretty well. Every mission starts with a kind of briefing. M, or whoever is talking to you, tells you what your mission is, and there's a little story and interaction going too, complete with pictures (like you watch Bond deploy as the briefing goes on). The ending of each mission also has this, and succeeds in linking the missions together, so that the progression makes sense. These also lace every mission. The story is typical Bond material, so Bond will meet women, fight his share of henchmen, and the bad guy is trying for world domination, of course. Only potential problem is that the story IS typical for Bond (I guessed what would happen from one level and was later right), and it might get pointless to you, but it makes sense, and it's fairly engaging. That's huge for me.

Sights and Sounds 9/10
Wow. This is on the GBA, and wow. To tell you the truth, I had some doubts when I saw Bond walk by in that intro thing (his walk was made up of two pictures), but the sound was good, like recorded good. You could argue that MIDI or that kinda electronic music would be better, but the jazzy Bond theme caught me pretty well and is pretty darn impressive. It's good for the GBA's puny speaker, let's just say that. Music is dynamic, so when you shoot somebody, more adventurous, faster music comes out and calms down when things are calmer around you. Music in general is all that recorded kinda stuff, and good. Gun sounds are okay, but nothing spectacular. What impressed me the most, however, were the sound sprites. I was really happy when the first henchman spotted me and shouted, ''Somebody kill him!'' Each type of guy says the same thing, but they're not the same between enemy types (Funniest one was one holding a hostage who yelled out, ''Don't make me hurt you, woman!''). Even civilians and hostages say things. Cool.

Video and picture is better than screen shots might allow. They did a mix of ray casting and polygons, which means that the map is a lot of boxes and polygons with textures on them (which is used pretty well in this game, it doesn't look bad at all). Enemies, guns, and ammo are all pictures that move around, and enemies have a left, right, back and front side. People complain about how people look pixilated, which is kinda true, so if it really REALLY bothers you that much... But me, I didn't mind 'cause I could tell enemy types apart, so that says something. I made out the goggles on the first enemies fine. So it didn't take away for me that much. Only other thing might be the fact that some levels are kinda dark, which might be a problem if you don’t have ample lighting, a good light for your GBA, or an SP (I had one, so it wasn't a factor). But there IS an option to mess around with the brightness (Dark, Normal, Lighter, and Lightest), which did a little bit. Still, lighting has always been an issue for the GBA, and you’ve probably had to deal with this problem one time or another. However you fixed it, be sure to do it here just to be safe.

Replay Value 7/10
I really don't know what to say about this. It's a little better by virtue of a medal ranking system with Gold, Silver, Bronze, and ''no medal'' ratings. It takes into account how many of the map's enemies you took down, accuracy, health, time, and whether you picked up the bonus point hidden somewhere in the mission. Doing a poor job means you get no medal, and that means you need to replay that level, 'cause you need at least a bronze to proceed to the next mission. I'd say replay in general is decent. If you beat it, it's pretty fun going back and doing it again for the higher medal (there ARE benefits to getting gold ratings). There is no multi-player, but this just means that the single-player is that much better for it. 'Sides, it's tough enough trying to find somebody else with a GBA and the game (and that goes for any MP game for GBA). Basically, it's a shooter without a MP mode, so just figure how much replay you can get from the SP campaign. I think it's decent, and the rating system with bonuses makes going back and really fighting like a 00 agent worth your time.

Buy/Rent
All I can say is rent if you're really not sure, are really bothered by people's reports, screen shots of the pixilation, or complaints about controls. If it becomes the bane of your life, then obviously don't buy it. If you're willing to give it a chance, but don't want to get stuck with a bad game if you don't like it (which I don't think you will), rent. If you like FPS's, James Bond, or are just attracted to the things that I like too, go ahead and buy it.

Overall Score 9/10

Final Comments
I liked this game. Obviously others will disagree, but I think it's arguably the best FPS for GBA to date. It's not a perfect game, but a very very good shooter for GBA. Very solid, and very enjoyable.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/05/03, Updated 04/05/03