Review - James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing

Brikar · 02-18-2004, 11:03 PM

Title: "James Bond 007 in... Everything or Nothing"
Platforms Available: PS2, XBox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance

Platform Reviewed: PS2

Introduction:
EA's last Bond adventure, "Nightfire" was a pretty good first-person shooter with an addictive multi-player component that was almost infinitely customizable. The problem is that while "Goldeneye," the game every Bond title since then (except the ultimately forgettable "Tomorrow Never Dies") has tried to emulate and trump, was an excellent game, Bond movies really aren't THAT compatible with the FPS genre.

So now, EA goes back to the third-person formula it tried to do on the original Playstation with "Tomorrow Never Dies." This time, though, we get an original story that's actually something of a sequel to "A View to a Kill," starring Roger Moore as Bond and Christopher Walken as Max Zorin.

In "Everything or Nothing," Zorin's old protoge, Nikolai Diavolo, an ex-KGB agent so ruthless and dangerous that the KGB itself tried to assassinate him on numerous occasions, failing each time. Now, Diavolo has stolen a prototype nano-bot that could be used for dangerous terrorist applications. Meanwhile, MI-6 agent 003 is missing, and one of his contacts is in trouble. MI-6 sends 007 to investigate.

Gameplay:
The control is a bit loose - Bond reacts a little too unnaturally to your controls. But the upside is that there is a severe depth to the controls. During the third-person missions, Bond can sneak up behind enemies and take them out ala "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell," during firefights he can hug walls and fire around corners at enemies. The game also has an innovation on the time-worn "auto-target" feature that a number of similar games employ. Here, when auto-targeting with the L1 button, a small red dot appears within the targeting reticle. You can either swing around and just fire at the guy, or you can use the right analog stick to move the red dot (or "pipper") to aim more precisely. This is how to accomplish headshots, arm shots... crotch shots... etc.

Bond also has a variety of hand-to-hand combat moves and throws, and at various points during the game, he can rappel up or down walls. In fact, the first mission of the game involves Bond leaping through a top-story window and rappelling down the side of the building as it blows up. On the way down, enemies run out onto ledges or repel down after you, and you must evade or defend them on your rush down to the bottom.

The driving missions were built using EA's "Need for Speed" engine, with input from the team that made those games, as well. The driving missions are, to put it mildly, incredible. After the rapelling mission above, your target boards an armored (and armed) train that you must chase after. Here, Bond is given a choice: take the slower by more heavily armored Porsche Cayenne or the quicker but more vulnerable motorcycle. You must chase the train across the Egyptian landscape, with the train using its armaments to bring down monuments and other obstacles down on top and in front of you. The controls are a bit loose, and you need to get used to them before you really start to drive like Bond, but once you do... Well, when it knocks down a monument, and you know how to get your bike to slide under it... Breathtaking. Another level has you chasing a tanker truck through on-coming traffic on a highway - Amazing.

Graphics:
Quite good. The entire cast is represented faithfully: Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, John Cleese, Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, Richard Kiel and Elizabeth Shannon are look very much like their real-life counterparts. Explosions look really good, with lots of really cool-looking smoke to follow. The animations for characters are quite good, as well. When a rocket or grenade explodes nearby, knocking Bond to the ground, it's rather realistic - he'll respond to where it went off, and how strong the explosion was.

The driving levels look really great, too, with lots of reflections on the cars. The levels around them are bright, with good shadows and excellent texture work. Missile trails look cool, and explosions as well. Getting in and out of vehicles (or on and off bikes) is pretty seamless, which is a plus. No loading between driving and running objectives.

Sound:
Finally, Pierce Brosnan as James Bond! Plus, we're treated to the actual voices of the aforementioned cast: Dench, Cleese, Dafoe, Klum and Shannon. All a treat. Explosions sound good, there's a variety of gunshot sounds and other sound effects.

The music, by "24" composer Sean Callery is a great improvement over the music from "Nightfire," which was basically a different variation on the James Bond theme over and over and over and over and over again. This time, we rarely hear the iconic tune, but when we do - it's special. The theme song, "Everything or Nothing," is performed by pop singer Mya, who also has an appearance in the game as an undercover NSA agent.

Overall:
"Everything or Nothing" is an excellent gaming experience. As cliched as this sounds, EON really is as close as you can get to playing a Bond movie. It looks and feels very much like one, with an all-star cast, high production value, and excellent set pieces. There's also a variety of gameplay elements to keep you from getting bored - straightforward run'n'gun, stealth, driving and flying. Each level is thrilling in its own right, even the boss fights against Jaws and other various characters and such.

Rating:
Graphics: A
Gameplay: A
Sound: B+
Overall: A

Cymro · 02-25-2004, 10:39 PM

You mean the theme plays when he does something cool! I LOVE when that happens, it may be unoriginal nowadays, but it's fucking effective.

Brikar · 02-27-2004, 12:31 PM

Not EVERY time he does something cool, because there's so many cool things... but it's built into some of the more "Bond-like" stunt levels. The level, "Death of an Agent," where Bond leaps off the side of a cliff to catch Serena St. Germaine, who has been thrown out of an enemy helicopter, is basically the Bond theme, just as you would expect should the sequence have been in the movie.

In other levels, you just get a snippet of it, or something. But in "Nightfire," the music for EVERY level was the Bond theme with a different techno-spin, and it would loop constantly. Very annoying.

Cymro · 02-27-2004, 07:59 PM

That's the part I love about bond films, the music is just so perfect for the sequence that's in EVERY Bond film, the music's tension always builds up nicely along with the action. It's sort of like the Enterprise fanfare. I've also seen this sort of thing in a couple of SG-1 episodes as well, like in a tense situation, and the guy who scored LOTR obviously shares my view on this.

Brikar · 02-28-2004, 05:18 PM

Oh definitely. Bond films, Star Wars, Goldsmith's Trek scores, LOTR... When you've got a hella cool theme like those, it's awesome.

02-18-2004, 11:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	Title: "James Bond 007 in... Everything or Nothing" Platforms Available: PS2, XBox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance Platform Reviewed: PS2 Introduction: EA's last Bond adventure, "Nightfire" was a pretty good first-person shooter with an addictive multi-player component that was almost infinitely customizable. The problem is that while "Goldeneye," the game every Bond title since then (except the ultimately forgettable "Tomorrow Never Dies") has tried to emulate and trump, was an excellent game, Bond movies really aren't THAT compatible with the FPS genre. So now, EA goes back to the third-person formula it tried to do on the original Playstation with "Tomorrow Never Dies." This time, though, we get an original story that's actually something of a sequel to "A View to a Kill," starring Roger Moore as Bond and Christopher Walken as Max Zorin. In "Everything or Nothing," Zorin's old protoge, Nikolai Diavolo, an ex-KGB agent so ruthless and dangerous that the KGB itself tried to assassinate him on numerous occasions, failing each time. Now, Diavolo has stolen a prototype nano-bot that could be used for dangerous terrorist applications. Meanwhile, MI-6 agent 003 is missing, and one of his contacts is in trouble. MI-6 sends 007 to investigate. Gameplay: The control is a bit loose - Bond reacts a little too unnaturally to your controls. But the upside is that there is a severe depth to the controls. During the third-person missions, Bond can sneak up behind enemies and take them out ala "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell," during firefights he can hug walls and fire around corners at enemies. The game also has an innovation on the time-worn "auto-target" feature that a number of similar games employ. Here, when auto-targeting with the L1 button, a small red dot appears within the targeting reticle. You can either swing around and just fire at the guy, or you can use the right analog stick to move the red dot (or "pipper") to aim more precisely. This is how to accomplish headshots, arm shots... crotch shots... etc. Bond also has a variety of hand-to-hand combat moves and throws, and at various points during the game, he can rappel up or down walls. In fact, the first mission of the game involves Bond leaping through a top-story window and rappelling down the side of the building as it blows up. On the way down, enemies run out onto ledges or repel down after you, and you must evade or defend them on your rush down to the bottom. The driving missions were built using EA's "Need for Speed" engine, with input from the team that made those games, as well. The driving missions are, to put it mildly, incredible. After the rapelling mission above, your target boards an armored (and armed) train that you must chase after. Here, Bond is given a choice: take the slower by more heavily armored Porsche Cayenne or the quicker but more vulnerable motorcycle. You must chase the train across the Egyptian landscape, with the train using its armaments to bring down monuments and other obstacles down on top and in front of you. The controls are a bit loose, and you need to get used to them before you really start to drive like Bond, but once you do... Well, when it knocks down a monument, and you know how to get your bike to slide under it... Breathtaking. Another level has you chasing a tanker truck through on-coming traffic on a highway - Amazing. Graphics: Quite good. The entire cast is represented faithfully: Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, John Cleese, Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, Richard Kiel and Elizabeth Shannon are look very much like their real-life counterparts. Explosions look really good, with lots of really cool-looking smoke to follow. The animations for characters are quite good, as well. When a rocket or grenade explodes nearby, knocking Bond to the ground, it's rather realistic - he'll respond to where it went off, and how strong the explosion was. The driving levels look really great, too, with lots of reflections on the cars. The levels around them are bright, with good shadows and excellent texture work. Missile trails look cool, and explosions as well. Getting in and out of vehicles (or on and off bikes) is pretty seamless, which is a plus. No loading between driving and running objectives. Sound: Finally, Pierce Brosnan as James Bond! Plus, we're treated to the actual voices of the aforementioned cast: Dench, Cleese, Dafoe, Klum and Shannon. All a treat. Explosions sound good, there's a variety of gunshot sounds and other sound effects. The music, by "24" composer Sean Callery is a great improvement over the music from "Nightfire," which was basically a different variation on the James Bond theme over and over and over and over and over again. This time, we rarely hear the iconic tune, but when we do - it's special. The theme song, "Everything or Nothing," is performed by pop singer Mya, who also has an appearance in the game as an undercover NSA agent. Overall: "Everything or Nothing" is an excellent gaming experience. As cliched as this sounds, EON really is as close as you can get to playing a Bond movie. It looks and feels very much like one, with an all-star cast, high production value, and excellent set pieces. There's also a variety of gameplay elements to keep you from getting bored - straightforward run'n'gun, stealth, driving and flying. Each level is thrilling in its own right, even the boss fights against Jaws and other various characters and such. Rating: Graphics: A Gameplay: A Sound: B+ Overall: A __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

02-25-2004, 10:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
Cymro Religious Fanatic Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: Shitsville, CF63 Posts: 4,921	You mean the theme plays when he does something cool! I LOVE when that happens, it may be unoriginal nowadays, but it's fucking effective. __________________ "Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. "But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

02-27-2004, 12:31 PM	#3 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	Not EVERY time he does something cool, because there's so many cool things... but it's built into some of the more "Bond-like" stunt levels. The level, "Death of an Agent," where Bond leaps off the side of a cliff to catch Serena St. Germaine, who has been thrown out of an enemy helicopter, is basically the Bond theme, just as you would expect should the sequence have been in the movie. In other levels, you just get a snippet of it, or something. But in "Nightfire," the music for EVERY level was the Bond theme with a different techno-spin, and it would loop constantly. Very annoying. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

02-27-2004, 07:59 PM	#4 (permalink)
Cymro Religious Fanatic Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: Shitsville, CF63 Posts: 4,921	That's the part I love about bond films, the music is just so perfect for the sequence that's in EVERY Bond film, the music's tension always builds up nicely along with the action. It's sort of like the Enterprise fanfare. I've also seen this sort of thing in a couple of SG-1 episodes as well, like in a tense situation, and the guy who scored LOTR obviously shares my view on this. __________________ "Let me tell you something about humans, nephew: They're a wonderful, friendly people - as long as their bellies are full and their holosuites are working. "But take away their creature comforts, deprive them of food, sleep, sonic showers, put their lives in jeopardy over an extended period of time and those friendly, intelligent, wonderful people...will become as nasty and as violent as the most blood-thirsty klingon."

02-28-2004, 05:18 PM	#5 (permalink)
Brikar The Dude Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 3,606	Oh definitely. Bond films, Star Wars, Goldsmith's Trek scores, LOTR... When you've got a hella cool theme like those, it's awesome. __________________ "A million monkeys typing until the end of time will produce the complete works of William Shakespeare. Ten thousand monkeys typing for ten thousand years will write a Hemingway. Ten monkeys typing over Columbus Day weekend will give you a Dan Brown." http://olympusmans.blogspot.com http://benforrealz.blogspot.com

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