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Platform: GC, PS2, XB, (PC) Developer: Eurocom Interact. Publisher: Electronic Arts Genre: Shooter ETA: Winter 2002
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007:
NightFire
The James Bond license used in video games has had its ups (GoldenEye) and downs (007 Racing) over the last few years. When this year’s first-person shooter 007: Agent Under Fire (AUF) was released for the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox, it finally became safe to say suave super-secret agent Bond gaming was back near the excellence reached by GoldenEye. Now Electronic Arts (EA) is publishing its second new Bond FPS in less than 12 months with 007: NightFire (NF), coming out this holiday season again for the PS2, GameCube, Xbox (along with a slightly different version of NF developed by Gearbox for the PC).
Instead of copying the plot of the newest Bond flick, NF’s story is entirely original. An original storyline helped make AUF a better game than the immediate 007 movie-based games that preceded it. As the ultra-smooth Brit secret agent, Bond is keeping busy by chasing the diabolical (is there any other kind?) maniac Raphael Drake with plans for complete global domination throughout Tokyo, Paris, the South Pacific, and even into the reaches of outer space. In addition to the usual voluptuous women (both good and bad) customary to the Bond universe, Zoe Nightshade, the Bond babe who saved James’ butt more than once in AUF makes a return. Expect to hear the smart-alecky and double entendre-laced dialogue that is the staple of Bond movies and games.
While AUF was a very good FPS, it also contained the ability to drive some of Bond’s classic and exotic vehicles, which were some of the best single-player missions in the game. NF increases the amount of driving missions (five) to satiate the desire of those who always |
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wanted to
cruise around the streets of Paris (in a level designed by The Need For
Speed development crew) in the V-12 Vanquish. There’s also the
requisite supply of Q-gadgetry and Bond weapons to take out the bad
guys.
EA is promising that the 12 single-player levels will be longer as well as larger multiplayer maps, including the expansive Fort Knox level. And unlike AUF, the single-player mode doesn’t follow a completely linear path. Instead you will be able to follow alternate branches at points along your travels to complete individual missions. Some of the gameplay will take you out of |
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first-person mode and throw you into a Max
Payne-ish
third-person perspective to handle some mission objectives. Thrown in
for good measure is the increasingly copied option (see the next Tomb
Raider game) to use stealth tactics a la Metal Gear Solid to defeat
enemies.
AUF’s
visuals were real nice in all areas including the character models and
detailed environments, especially on the Xbox and GameCube. But NF tops
even them, graphically approaching, but not quite reaching, the upcoming
highly-anticipated Splinter Cell due out this fall first on the Xbox and
next year on the PS2 and GameCube. Even the vehicles you get to spin
around in have been given a more polished and realistic appearance, much
like you would expect from the excellent PS2 driving game Gran Turismo:
A-Spec. Actor Pierce Bronsan is also finally lending his likeness for
the character modeling of NF’s hero. (The second-best Bond ever,
Bronsan,
behind Sir Sean Connery, is set to star in the newest Bond feature,
Die Another Day, coming out around the same time NF hits stores.)
The
all-new storyline is typical Bond. But if NightFire retains and even
upgrades the solid control, graphical sweetness, and multiplayer options
presented in AUF in addition to the new ability to use different
techniques and paths to complete missions should make it a winner.
Pencil it on your Christmas wish list, because it should be available
right as the holiday shopping season begins.
—Lee
Cieniawa
(August 21, 2002) |
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