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1999 movie of the same name. Predictably, disappointing results
followed, as they haven’t been able to capture even the slightest bit of
the Rare essence that made GoldenEye a masterpiece. That is until now,
with the latest entry in Bond gaming, the Xbox version of 007: Agent
Under Fire (AUF).
Instead of duplicating the plot of the latest Bond flick, EA decided to
use a new and original story for AUF’s single-player action. The world’s
greatest secret agent, the debonair James Bond, is up to his familiar
goings-on: saving the world while sparing a little quality romance time
for all the gorgeous girls both good and evil he meets during his
current mission. Bond must stop a devious plot hatched by the Identicon
Corporation, a subsidiary of Malprave Industries controlled by the
sinister and sexy Adrian Malprave, attempting to replace the globe’s
leaders with clones. Along the way, Bond will run into clones on both
sides of the conflict, including his appeared-to-be-killed ally who
provides Bond with much-needed help throughout the game, Zoe Nightshade.
Visually the game takes advantage of the current generation’s consoles
powers, especially the Xbox. The Xbox version’s graphics are noticeably
better than the PS2 rendition and even top the GameCube, although by
only a slim margin. Considering that there are many large areas to
explore in the game, there aren’t any discernible draw-in or fog effects
present. What are done exceptionally well are the 12 mapped out levels
of the game. From speeding around busy city streets to visiting the
depths of the secret ocean base, the levels are varied enough to avoid
the dreaded “haven’t-I-already-did- -this-level-before?” problem that
was present in the latter levels of Halo. The character models,
including Bond himself, while not as impressive as the structures,
vehicles, and buildings that comprise each level, nevertheless are
rendered nicely. This game’s look is as smooth as Bond’s
always-successful pick-up lines, much better than the hurt-to-look-at
murkiness of the N64’s TWINE.
Of course the expected vast number of special Bond weapons are strewn
throughout the game. A huge assortment of rifles, pistols, shotguns,
rocket and grenade launchers, and machine guns are at your disposal.
Also available in your fight against Malprave are the Q-lab gadgets (the
Q-Jet, Q-Remote, Q-Laser, Q-Claw, and Q-Decryptor; practically
everything short of the Q-Kitchen Sink) created by R under the
leadership of M, which help get Bond out of tight spots and solve the
game’s puzzles. Differing somewhat from GoldenEye, you are given a point
goal for each level based on your shooting accuracy and discovering of
the 007 bonuses contained on each level. If you attain a high enough
point score, you will earn access to AUF’s hidden prizes, which take the
shape of special weapons, items, and levels. It gives the incentive to
replay single-player levels that you may not have scored well on
initially to get the concealed goodies.
Borrowing from the gameplay of the PS2’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of
Liberty, missions both requiring and encouraging stealth tactics add a
sometimes-frustrating change of pace from the usual
bust-in-the-room-shooting-everything-in-sight fare that you’ll find in
most FPS titles. One neat feature that comes in most handy on the Bad
Diplomacy mission is the impressive sound of the footsteps of the
British Embassy’s guards. Since the assignment is deemed a failure if
even one guard sets off an alarm, discretionary stealth tactics are a
necessity. To take out the guards, you’ll need to hide around corners
until they draw near enough to take them out. How do you know if a guard
is approaching without being able to see him? You can hear his
footsteps. The louder they get, the closer he is. This is a big help to
completing the mission without tripping any alerts. The other aspects of
the AUF’s sound effects including weapon fire are nothing above the
ordinary, and the voice acting of the cut-scenes is done at an
acceptable level too. And stating the obvious here, the instantaneously
recognizable James Bond theme you would expect to hear pervades
throughout your missions.
Included in AUF is a feature that became popular in another Xbox FPS,
Halo: the ability to drive vehicles through various levels as part of
the single-player gaming experience. There are five Bond-world vehicles
you can take to the road of which two, the Aston Martin DB5 and BMW Z8,
you directly control what path you follow. And three, the Romanian Army
Tank, BMW 750iL, and the Underwater Tram, which are essentially driven
as part of a rail shooter level that sends you on a predetermined path,
leaving you only to worry about shooting the enemies you encounter. The
driving levels and cars (Precious Cargo with the BMW 750iL, Dangerous
Pursuit with the BMW Z8, and Streets of Bucharest with the Aston Martin
DB5) feature sweet-looking car and locale visuals that would feel cozy
nestled in as part of the Xbox driving game Project Gotham Racing.
There are two sides to AUF’s control, one good and the other bad. On the
good side, the game is smartly mapped to the Xbox controller much the
same way as Halo, and any veterans of that game will have no trouble at
all getting instantly comfortable with maneuvering your Bond characters
in both single and multi-player modes using both of the Xbox
controller’s analog sticks. On the bad side, the weapons targeting
schematics are extremely skittish at best and unpredictable at worst. It
can become a real loathsome crux when facing off against multiple
enemies. Instead of your weapon staying locked on the intended target
until either they or you are killed, the targeting tends to randomly
swinging back and forth locking on other closely situated enemies in the
middle of a gunfire exchange. This gives the enemy (who has no trouble
staying locked on to you with their targeting) a definite advantage.
This is the one area of the AUF’s makeup that could have used some more
development time. Also a nice touch that could have been explored in the
development process would be Bond control options as seen in Max Payne,
like shooting while diving sideways or forwards. But this would mean
that the game would most likely have to be done in a third-person
perspective, taking away from the gratifying trademark Bond FPS action.
Another disappointing feature of AUF is the low challenge presented in
the single-player game, even on the highest difficulty level. The only
noticeable difference is the rapidity of the enemy gunfire. Many if not
all of AUF’s opposing forces follow an always-the-same pattern of
movement. Play a level a few times and you’ll know when and where an
enemy will appear. The game could have used a lot more randomness in its
enemy placement to raise the difficulty bar a few notches closer to what
players desire in a FPS game. The straightforwardness of the game makes
things a little too easy. There’s never a moment in the game that
challenges you mentally as to what your next move should be. Don’t worry
about missing any required items or activities either. Even a blind Bond
couldn’t miss with all the heavy-handed hinting done by your allies (and
sometimes your enemies) in the game.
Despite having some decent-sized and well-structured levels, the
single-player game goes by too quickly, although admittedly it is
enjoyable while it lasts. Most players could likely complete all three
difficulty levels of AUF all the way through the complete single-player
game in about 15-20 hours. But what makes up for the relatively short
single-player game is the best Bond multiplayer action since GoldenEye.
The maps are well constructed and have a wider array of weapons. Five
multiplayer gaming options (Combat Training, Protect the Flag, Golden
Gun, Top Agent, and Anti-terrorist Training) as well as the multitude of
multiplayer setup choices makes AUF a Bond blast to play the way you
feel most comfortable and challenged. This particularly holds true if
you can get three other human competitors to battle it out on one of the
12 multiplayer maps. If you can’t get three other people to play, you
can always make use of the game-controlled bots made familiar in Perfect
Dark that put up a good fight if you raise their respective skill and
aggression attributes high.
EA redeems itself and the James Bond video-game line nicely with 007:
Agent Under Fire, a good FPS game, notably in the extraordinary
multi-player mode, that finally makes up for the mediocre-at-best duo of
007 Racing and TWINE. While it comes nowhere near the overall incredible
excellence of the classic GoldenEye, AUF shows that EA is on the right
track when it comes to Bond’s first-person shooting exploits, especially
considering that another original story title, 007: NightFire (Night
Fire), is already scheduled for a multi-platform fall release. If NF
improves on AUF’s rough spots while retaining what AUF did well, Bond
gaming may indeed finally be getting back to its GoldenEye greatness.
- Lee Cieniawa
(May 26, 2002) |
