 |
| 007: Everything or Nothing Reviewed by Pirate Yoshi Over-view: James Bond has a long track record of excellent-quality titles, but a familiar problem continues to arrise--namely, obtaining a healty balance of both single player adventure and multiplayer chaos. While I cannot honestly say that EoN, as it's name has become, possesses the magical mixture we've been long awaiting, I *can* say with uttmost certainty that this game delivers more on the single player end of the rope than any other Bond game to date. Join me as we delve inside the dangerous, daring, third-person (now with extra action included!) world of Bond. James Bond. Graphics: 9/10 To be quite frank (I prefer the word 'sincere', myself--frank sounds too much like a weiner...), nothing new is under the sun here. These graphics, other than the view of Bond for the first time, and his likeness to Pierce Brosnan, seem very recycled from all of Bond's previous GameCube outings, and I'm rather disappointed. That isn't to say, of course, that they aren't very good. As always, 007 sneaks, snipes, and sprints through beautifully-rendered worlds, creeps past well-detailed guards (more so than ever before, in fact), and drives like the wind through glimmering streets that boggle your mind. There are a few levels that will especially take your breath away, and I was thoroughly impressed. The animation is very fluid, other than in a few choppy spots, and maintains its speed and quality even after a second player joins the fray. My only other complaint besides no new advances is that some of the cutscenes look.......JPEG? Maybe that's the word I'm looking for, and maybe it's not, but it's the best I can describe it. This particularly comes to notice in the backgrounds of some cutscenes (like the night sky in the opening sequence with the helicopter). It *appears* that some blending never happened that would have perhaps made these discolorations less noticable, but that's small stalks compared to the huge husks we're dealing with. So grab an ear and throw it in the pot, this one's a keeper! Sound: 9.4/10 I've waited so long for this. To me, sound is an incredibly important component in a game (must be my musician side...), and EoN finally tossed a bone my way with something other than great music. By including Pierce Brosnan in the cast of voice actors, James Bond finally sounds like the super-spy we all know he is ("Bondy"). Not to say that the past voice actors didn't sound good, but it adds a lot to finally hear James Bond himself speaking in the game. Besides Pierce Brosnan, some other Bond regulars (John Cleese as Q, Jude Dench as M) make their presence clear, and some slick voice acting by William Doafoe (playing Nikolai Diavalo) helped as well. Shannon Elizabeth and Mya also lent their voices to the game, but made little (if any) good impression on me. But kudos to a surprisingly good performance by Heidi Klum as Katya Nadanova, who played the other female lead beside Elizabeth. Commenting on the music: superb, action-packed, and full of intense adrenaline-driving energy, as we've come to expect from any song having to do with James Bond. Controls: 8.8/10 Honestly, I was slightly disappointed when I first played EoN--I was hoping to keep the same control scheme as I had come to call "Bond's". Unfortunately, this was not to be, and, in most ways, this turned out to be a good thing. There is so much able to be done now that the game is in 3rd person, trying to keep the original controls would have been a worthless waste of time and effort. However, that being said, I do still maintain a few issues with the controls. First, it is something of an annoyance to have to essentially pause gameplay in order to take out a weapon--however, it should be noted that the game is still going on around you, only in an extreme case of slow motion--bullets that hit you will not cause you damage while in your "Bond Sense" (as it is called), but don't think that you can shift in and out of it constantly to avoid damage. Most times, if an enemy has locked onto you while in Bond Sense, you'll be shot as soon as you exit it. Another complaint would be with some sticky wall controls--pressing Z causes your character to crouch, wall hug, or snap out of either. However, sometimes you get an unexpected--or undesired--effect, and find yourself pressing against the wall while your enemies bombarde you with shells. Still another fault can be found with some awkward targeting techniques--to effectively target an enemy, use the L button. However, the L button will often target an enemy you have no intention of firing at, and can easily cost you some nasty damage if you target a far foe while another is creeping in at close range to blast you. The targeting also tends to lose enemies who slip away behind a wall, even if you know they're there, waiting for you to step out. Other times, your targeting cursor will REALLY WANT you to aim for a certain enemy who is out of sight (or range), and will swivel you all the way around to face them no matter where you are or which direction you're facing. A final complaint would be the somewhat irritating system of doing "Bond Moves"--you'll often spy objects that you figure can be used somehow to make for a big explosion or "pressing engagement", but in order to make use of them, you'll have to shift into Bond Sense, then search around the area until a cursor appears on your target. While this isn't necessarily bad, I'd much rather be able to lock on to some such objects without having to stop gameplay. However, the controls due nicely, and, for the most part, get the job done as you'd like. So fair points go here, but perhaps a little lower than some of the past titles... Replay: 9/10 One of the worst things about Everything or Nothing is its terrible battle mode, which reaks worse than any Bond to date (that I've played, anyways, and that ranges from GoldenEye to this). However, EoN manages to hang up there in replay for only one reason--it's single player is THAT good. While it's very rare that I give a game high points for being fun to play through over and over, I'm willing to throw a lot out there for EoN. Many of the stages are brilliant, and trying to get better scores and complete varying objectives (maybe using just tools in place of guns? Running the level in pure stealth? Trying to avoid damage?) can still be a blast. And, as always, the driving levels play much like many racing games would, adding a certain extra oomph of replay behind this title. Of course, if you're bored, you should at least TRY Arena mode with a friend, because it's actually quite funny.... Gameplay: 9.8/10 And here's Bond's Ace-in-the-hole. As always, 007 has some sort of trick to pull when all seems lost, and Gameplay must be EoN's Q gadget. The best part about Everything or Nothing is just simply playing it! (Gasp! Who would have guessed?) The level design is brilliant--obviously some serious thought and effort was put into it! Playing in third person is great, because (obviously) James Bond has so much to show off every time he steps on screen. How often does Bond NOT do something worth watching? Every minute of a 007 game, as we well know, is gun battle, car chases, and stealth action, and Bond wouldn't be Bond if he didn't do everything with a certain flare for destruction, surprise, and grace. Simple things, like taking out a guard from behind, feel so much better to perform, mainly because they look so great! The weapons are well-spread in terms of abilities, power, and range. As always, there's a few rapid-fire weapons, a rocket launcher, a pistol or two, and--ohhhh, how we love it!--a high-power, send-em-sprawling shotgun type (this time, it's called the SPAS 12). The gadgetry is a bit lame (rapelling is surprisingly dull, the Q Spider has relatively boring purposes and abilities, and the RC Car is......well......rarely used anyways), and the steering for several of the vehicles is unusually poor, but enough about this game is great to make up for anything it lacks. While the storyline has been ranted and raved about time and time again (it's written by past Bond-writer Bruce Fierstein), I actually found it a little bit dull. Plus, I hate the word 'nanobots'. ^_^ But, my favorite Bond villain, Jaws, plays a significant role in this adventure, so it's definately not your ordinary cloning mission or kidnapping/drugs/murder case.....then again, I guess taking over the world with nanobots doesn't sound incredibly original, either.... **Story: 1/1 While I wasn't personally to enthralled by the storyline, the fact that it was there, and well-written, ensures EoN a full bonus point for writer Bruce Fierstein's efforts. I'm not one to give away spoilers, though--if you want to know more about the storyline, check out Fierce's review, because he doesn't mind spoiling the story for you at all. ^_^ **Multiplayer: .3/1 This is kind of hard to judge. On one side, the multiplayer for EoN was excellent--in Co-op mode, two players struggle through an immensely-difficult quest, full of challenging missions that are action-packed and tons of fun, particularly if both you and your commrade are of the same abilities (generally speaking). To add a little extra depth, two other co-op modes are available: a timed race mode that helps you work on beating levels in a hasty manner, and Scramble, which was once thought to be its own battle mode for up to four players. Scramble mode has customizable point sets which you can adjust as you like, so that you and a friend can work on particular methods and styles to boost your points for the mission. The additional bonus to Scramble is that you can attack and kill your co-op partner, both with weapons and in hand-to-hand combat, and you can even turn on points for doing so! Unfortunately, you have to play in one of the mission levels, complete with villains and objectives, and the game won't end until you finish the mission (or run out of lives, I can't honestly remember if killing your partner takes your team lives down a notch...), so there's really no battle here. Now, the OTHER multiplayer mode, Arena, is a whole different story--Arena is, put in plain, simple terms, a mess. It's awful, in fact. The movement is a bit exaggerated and hard to control, and one player can easily kill another just by continually throwing them into the wall, over and over. In fact, just beating up your enemy(s) with your hands works better than trying to tote a gun along, so it might be worth just considering this as a hand-to-hand battle mode. Only three levels are there to choose from, and while there are many different playable characters, NONE are James Bond....yes, it's true, and this is definately a ground-breaking first. Not only can't you play as Bond, you also can't play as Jaws, or Goldfinger, or Scaramanga, or any other classic Bond villains, other than the two (possibly) most popular of them, Oddjob and Baron Semedi. Why it was decided that only these two would be playable in Arena, I don't know, and I'll NEVER find out why the single-appearance 003 made it into Arena mode, but not the main character of the game, as well as 20+ movies. The weapons are adequately lame, the stages are too few and lack real defining characteristics, and the game-altering options are a very low minimum--time limit and number of kills to win. I am INSANELY disappointed with this trash that has been tacked on as multiplayer, and long for the days of a much better battle mode, such as that from GoldenEye. Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 9.4/10 Controls: 8.8/10 Replay: 9/10 Gameplay: 9.8/10 **Story: 1/1 **Multiplayer: .3/1 Total Calculated Score: 9.46 Total Assigned Score: 9.5 Final Score: 9.48 Last Words: One of Bond's greatest single-player gaming accomplishments, but the multiplayer really stinks up an otherwise-outstanding title. With a few simple patches, this could be not only a classic among 007 games, but among shooter and espionage games of all names and platforms! Rent, Buy, or Pass: Definitely RENT this if you like Bond games or shooter games, BUY it if you have owned and enjoyed most previous Bond games; PASS if you're not into this sort of genre, because if you don't care for shooters, you probably won't be interested by this one, either. Pros: Excellent graphics, awesome gameplay, a stellar soundtrack, and a brilliant storyline wth professionals behind the voices! Cons: Lame multiplayer experience, and frustrating difficulty for later objectives in Co-Op mode. Needed: The perfect hybrid game of Everything or Nothing and Time Splitters 2: Everytime or Nothing Splitters 2. |
 |
 |
 |