Reader Reviews

Star Review: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (Xbox)

by Kincaide

This is an excellent game. I know this as three of my friends have told me so. These friends are from different social circles, haven't met, and yet they have come to the same conclusions. "It's the best Bond yet," I am told by the same people, although these are people who haven't played GoldenEye (or Oceania of Time, or Ico, or Halo...) so these bold claims must be misconceived falsehoods.

Then I realised I was being cynically dismissive. Slipping into what is fast becoming a gaming stereotype: bashing the so-called "casual gamer", and bemoaning the increasing dominance of EA. When I came across my copy of Everything or Nothing (EON) in a rather fortuitous manner [it was hit prize for the DOAXBV piece the other week -Tom], I thought what better time for me to come down from my sniffy perch, and play the game before deciding what my opinion should be?

First impressions count, and there EON is pretty much faultless. The presentation of the game is of a very high standard, and as cinematic as you could want bearing in mind the Bond licence. Big star names (Brosnan, Dafoe, Dench, Cleese, Klum et al) add their likenesses, whilst a Mya theme tune and a plush cinematic soundtrack all add to an authentic Bond experience. If you are a Bond fan, you are going to be right at home from the moment Pierce strolls onto the screen.

After such a pleasing visual/audio attack on the senses you start to get into the game itself. It begins well with a brief prologue pitting Bond against a harrier, before he escapes in the nick of time. After a stylish intro (there's that A+ presentation again) you are introduced to a VR room where you learn more of Bond's skills. This tutorial hints at more freedom than you'll ever have in the game, and reveals the potential this licence should have. Rappel guns and spider robots are both intriguing devices that could have opened up the game dramatically, but never get chance to realise their full potential, however the main idea introduced in EON is "Bond Sense".

The Bond Sense is a great idea that never really works as well as it should. With a flick of the left directional button the screen turns blue, and everything slows down (even more so than Max Payne). Whilst in this suspended state you are free to check out the surroundings, and focus on various items that can help Bond in his tasks - like turning on some steam taps to take out a number of guards to create a "Bond Moment". It's a great idea, but flawed due to the clumsy control method to implement it: Left Directional button turns on Bond Sense, Right Button to focus on item, Left Trigger to target item, and then Right Trigger again to fire. The main problem here is when you squeeze the left trigger to target something, you come out of the Bond Sense and back to the 'normal' game, which is disorientating and disjointed, and for me interrupted the flow of the game. I got used to it in the end, but it was never intuitive.

After the two enjoyable first levels the game quickly reveals itself as video-gaming-by-numbers, and never are you allowed to stray over the black lines: some stealth here, some car chases there, a sprinkling of helicopters and tanks, and bingo - one bona fide No.1 best seller. It's a formula that is not dissimilar to the movie franchise that has spawned this game, and an understandable one for EA to mimic. However, due to this approach there are bound to be some hits and misses. My favourite without doubt are the third-person sections where you get to move Bond around various sections (and beat up Jaws along the way) - the driving sections, though, were misses every time. There is an arcade quality about them, but despite the gadgets I never enjoyed these sections. I found the control limited and unresponsive, and despite the linear nature of these sections there were a few times I was unsure of how to progress, other than by going as fast as I could randomly shooting stuff. I wanted to get through them as quick as I could so I could get back to the meat of the game.

Despite these misgivings there was never a time I tired of the game. The Bond licence has been well used here, and this helps drive the game forward at all times due to the high production levels EA have lavished on this title. I always fancied giving a section another crack, and I wanted to get to the end to see how the ludicrous plot would conclude. A degree of longevity has been provided as there are a number of unlockables to be attained via stacking up Bond Moments, plus a few co-op missions that operate outside of the game itself - but I must admit to playing this only once so far (and you can't play as Bond... tsk.)