Games That Matter ~ PC ~ James Bond 007: Nightfire

James Bond 007: Nightfire

Though this game originally came out a year ago, I only had the opportunity to play through it recently. I have not played the console versions outside of an EBGames demo, but I noticed a few levels such as driving levels and other sequences are in the console version that was not in the PC version, and don’t know enough about the console versions to compare outside of that. I would guess it has shorter levels than the PC version, but more of them. You play as MI-6 Operative 007, James Bond, perhaps the most famous of all secret agents. Knowing how much I already missed the days when Rare had the title for 007 with it’s stunning Goldeneye game, and seeing how much more monotonous EA Games had already made the series with The World is Not Enough and Agent Under Fire, I did not have too high of expectations for Nightfire.

As I began to play the game however, I began to take a liking to it. The detail that they put into the game is quite astounding at times. In one level you are in a Japanese style villa, and you notice things like koi swimming in a pond, lanterns hanging in a rainy garden, small oriental designed objects and paintings everywhere, it was gorgeous. I am not saying the graphics are super out of the ordinary, they are acceptable, but the little things they put in the game to give a good feel to it are nice. Offices with detail down o the pens and fax machines beeping happily on desks are impressive. The guns are cool too, from flashbangs to quad-rocket launchers to multiple assault rifles, the guns have a realistic aspect to them. You also have a variety of disguised gadgets, like lighter cameras, pen darts, credit card computer worms, cell phone grapple hooks, and others help you to get through tough-to-infiltrate areas.

Sound in this game is nice, from gunshots and humming machinery, to classical James Bond songs remixed to go with the flow of the game. This game incorporates a few things that you do not usually see in an FPS such as low gravity laser fights in a space station, fighting camouflaged guards in the jungle, sneaking from the Yakuza in the aforementioned villa, and shooting through a missile disarmament facility. The puzzle solving in this game is interesting too. At one point you have to use trap doors to go underground to get into an otherwise locked building, and I spent a loooong time figuring that out. Laser trip mines, moving cranes, and sparking wires give you multiple ways to earn Bond Points and find your way around tricky situations.

The games plot kicks right in. MI-6 believes a man called Drake who is in charge of the huge Tokyo Phoenix Corporation which disarms warheads may not be disabling them, but trying to take over the U.S. Space Weapons platform. You have to start by infiltrating his Alpine castle into a dinner party in true Bond style, and go through the game. There are not all that many different areas, but they are long, with multiple episodes of each. By this I mean you might be in the Phoenix Corporation Building for a long time, but you will spend an episode going down well defended staircases and checking surrounding rooms, going though offices dodging security cameras in another episode, fighting assault copters in another, the levels are very long. I spent quite a few hours beating this game, even on easy mode, and was quite entertained.

“If I were so entertained, why the 8 of 10?” you might ask. Well, mainly replay value. On a console, you can go back to levels, perhaps they are shorter with less detail, but you can replay things. On a PC version, you can’t do that. It may be a thrill, but one time only really. It does have multiplayer (which I have yet to attempt) but that makes up for the one time usage of the game. Multiplayer generally adds a lot of fun. Therefore, I give it an 8 of 10. So if you are out looking for a game, you can probably find this one cheap, and you like shooters, then I would say that for some fast paced entertainment, consider 007 Nightfire.

Overall Rating: 8 of 10
Sound Rating: 9 of 10
Replay Rating: 3 of 10
Graphics/Detail Rating: 9 of 10
Gameplay/Controls: 9 of 10
Multiplayer: Yes