DasAntihero
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
January 23, 2024
First played
January 22, 2024
Platforms Played
Replaying this one, it was a hard decision whether it'd be above or below Everything or Nothing. That game was the peak of EA's years with the Bond title! Despite the shooting and driving being clunky, the production values, story, and everything in between made it a blast to revisit. From Russia With Love hits more of those same notes, improving on the clunkiness and polishing the shooting and driving to a fine sheen... then proceeds to do not much with either.
Playing on 00 Agent for every level, I noticed there was a significant drop in difficulty. Everything or Nothing could get pretty brutal on Agent, Mr. Bond met his end around 40-50 times during my playthrough of it. Here? Only 7. The drop in difficulty isn't bad, mind you. It is incredibly noticeable when you play EoN and then this, almost like night and day.
FRWL has a bit more of a linear structure. It has the usual variety of missions from shooting to on rails with a few driving, but all three are undercooked. Shooting works, but enemy AI is far less aggressive regardless of difficulty and you get into the rhythm of pressing B every time you enter combat to aim at their grenades, heads, or any weak spot you can find. Gadgets also make a return but are woefully underutilized. Alas, poor laser watch and Q-copter. The latter only gets a few objectives, mostly being used for access to secret areas, but the former is used at least once or twice the entire game... but at least it damages enemies, I guess?
Driving isn't the all over the place mess like it was in EoN, but it's let down by forgettable levels. Despite my struggles with the Pontchartrain Bridge in EoN, zooming through traffic on a motorcycle, speeding up to burn the wheels on Jaws' behemoth tanker was sick! Even as I write this review, I can't remember much about FRWL's driving aside holding R with the machine guns.
On rails sections i can't write much about, but I remember these were harder when I was a wee lad playing them on the GameCube. Only to realize it's really a game of remembering positioning.
If you're hankering for an old school Bond adventure with a few liberties taken due to the Spectre copyright being all over the place, or just loved Everything or Nothing but want to play it with better mechanics, FRWL is a short, fun time, though not as memorable as its Brosnan-fronted predecessor.
Playing on 00 Agent for every level, I noticed there was a significant drop in difficulty. Everything or Nothing could get pretty brutal on Agent, Mr. Bond met his end around 40-50 times during my playthrough of it. Here? Only 7. The drop in difficulty isn't bad, mind you. It is incredibly noticeable when you play EoN and then this, almost like night and day.
FRWL has a bit more of a linear structure. It has the usual variety of missions from shooting to on rails with a few driving, but all three are undercooked. Shooting works, but enemy AI is far less aggressive regardless of difficulty and you get into the rhythm of pressing B every time you enter combat to aim at their grenades, heads, or any weak spot you can find. Gadgets also make a return but are woefully underutilized. Alas, poor laser watch and Q-copter. The latter only gets a few objectives, mostly being used for access to secret areas, but the former is used at least once or twice the entire game... but at least it damages enemies, I guess?
Driving isn't the all over the place mess like it was in EoN, but it's let down by forgettable levels. Despite my struggles with the Pontchartrain Bridge in EoN, zooming through traffic on a motorcycle, speeding up to burn the wheels on Jaws' behemoth tanker was sick! Even as I write this review, I can't remember much about FRWL's driving aside holding R with the machine guns.
On rails sections i can't write much about, but I remember these were harder when I was a wee lad playing them on the GameCube. Only to realize it's really a game of remembering positioning.
If you're hankering for an old school Bond adventure with a few liberties taken due to the Spectre copyright being all over the place, or just loved Everything or Nothing but want to play it with better mechanics, FRWL is a short, fun time, though not as memorable as its Brosnan-fronted predecessor.