Amazon.com Review
James Bond 007: NightFire is a worthy sequel to 2001's outstanding Agent Under Fire. The game retains the overall look of its predecessor--including some familiar recurring characters and gadgets--but is designed to feel more like an actual Bond movie than a video game. After the familiar "gun barrel" opening shot, you're introduced to the game via a pre-credits action sequence through the streets of Paris that leads into an original theme song, complete with surreal imagery.
The pacing of the game is natural, with each objective leading smoothly to the next. You even get to holster your PPK, don a tuxedo, and infiltrate a cocktail party at your adversary's mansion, making small talk with his henchmen, flirting with female party guests, and eavesdropping on secret conversations. Of course, within minutes you'll be shooting your way out of the place and making a daring escape in true 007 fashion, including Bond\'s trademark one-liners. The storyline combines espionage, action, and innuendo in just the right proportions to evoke a real Bond movie atmosphere.
The game's overall playability is improved by some nice attention to detail, not the least of which is the addition of smarter and less predictable villains (they can hear you coming, they communicate with each other, and they're better at utilizing cover and sneaking up behind you). You also have more tactical options (there are many ways to reach each objective, so the game is very replayable) as well as a better arsenal of gadgets and weapons. And best of all, the multiplayer mode incorporates classic characters from many Bond movies. More than any other 007 game to date, NightFire was designed with the die-hard Bond fan clearly in mind. --Maile Bohlmann
Pros:
Well-developed storyline.
Authentic Bond movie atmosphere.
Great graphics, sound, and music.
Smart, crafty villains.
Wide range of controller settings.
Cons:
Pre-credits action sequence is far too easy.
They still don't have Bond's voice quite right (Maxwell Caulfield?!).
Fans of nonstop action might not appreciate the extended cutscenes.
Amazon.co.uk Preview
James Bond is back--in cinemas in Die Another Day and on consoles in NightFire--and ready to endorse a bottle of vodka near you. But games companies are weird. It’s the 40th anniversary of the first James Bond movie this year, and Die Another Day, the 20th film to feature the lovable old womanizing drunk, is out at Christmas. So what does EA, proud bearer of the 007 games license, do? They make a game based on an amalgamation of all the Bond movies, with their own "original" storyline, then go and stick Pierce Brosnan’s face and a bunch of clips from Die Another Day in it. Whaaaa?
Bizarre marketing decisions aside, this looks like it could finally be the game to come out from behind the shadow of the seminal N64 classic GoldenEye. Which means, of course, that this is a stealthy first-person shooter (with a few car-racing levels thrown in for good measure) bolted onto a cracking multiplayer mode. Following GoldenEye is a bit like being asked to make Citizen Kane 2, but EA has sensibly gone back to the spirit of the original, and NightFire is much more strategic than their last attempt, the rather shallow Agent Under Fire. Once again you can learn a pathological hatred of security cameras as you use an even wider array of Q gadgetry to kill people without them even noticing.
The multiplayer mode is also looking good, with some much meatier weapons than last time, including a particularly fun remote-control missile launcher. People are always crooning about nobody doing it better than Bond, but in the gaming world that’s not always been true; with this game, though, it looks like he’s taken the ejector seat straight to the top of the first-person shooting pile. --David Jenkins |
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