I wish we were still getting cool Bond games.
The early 2000s had quite a few attempts to live up to Goldeneye, and the one that came closest was definitely Nightfire. It ended up being one of the games I put the most hours into as a teenager, not only due to great multiplayer in which you could load up to 12 bots for extra mayhem (we played SO MUCH Capture The Flag against all of the bots), but because the campaign had immense replay value. Much like Goldeneye, you would try to finish a level in a certain amount of time for a reward, but there were loads of other challenges you needed to nail for those sweet, sweet platinum medals. The very idea of having 100% weapon accuracy in a Bond game is ludicrous, but you’d better believe I made it happen.
One of the best things in the campaign is the inclusion of “Bond Moves”. These are optional moments when you do something specific that feels like it would happen in a movie, like shooting out the tires of a car that’s chasing you, finding a secret passageway, or using the grappling hook in your wristwatch to swing to a hard-to-reach spot. These moments, which thankfully return in Everything or Nothing, are the most charming inclusions in the Bond game franchise.
All in all, the weapons are good, campaign levels and multiplayer maps are well-designed and memorable (though the best multiplayer map doesn’t allow bots for some reason), the story’s characters are fun, and the multiplayer brings back nearly the entire rogues gallery from Bond’s past. For 2002, this was a console FPS masterpiece! The controls don’t hold up terribly well 20 years later, but I’d still recommend it if you’re a Bond nut.
I love the Bond IP, and it's really absurd that we haven't gotten a solid new entry in the series in ages. Fingers crossed that IO Interactive knocks it out of the park!
The early 2000s had quite a few attempts to live up to Goldeneye, and the one that came closest was definitely Nightfire. It ended up being one of the games I put the most hours into as a teenager, not only due to great multiplayer in which you could load up to 12 bots for extra mayhem (we played SO MUCH Capture The Flag against all of the bots), but because the campaign had immense replay value. Much like Goldeneye, you would try to finish a level in a certain amount of time for a reward, but there were loads of other challenges you needed to nail for those sweet, sweet platinum medals. The very idea of having 100% weapon accuracy in a Bond game is ludicrous, but you’d better believe I made it happen.
One of the best things in the campaign is the inclusion of “Bond Moves”. These are optional moments when you do something specific that feels like it would happen in a movie, like shooting out the tires of a car that’s chasing you, finding a secret passageway, or using the grappling hook in your wristwatch to swing to a hard-to-reach spot. These moments, which thankfully return in Everything or Nothing, are the most charming inclusions in the Bond game franchise.
All in all, the weapons are good, campaign levels and multiplayer maps are well-designed and memorable (though the best multiplayer map doesn’t allow bots for some reason), the story’s characters are fun, and the multiplayer brings back nearly the entire rogues gallery from Bond’s past. For 2002, this was a console FPS masterpiece! The controls don’t hold up terribly well 20 years later, but I’d still recommend it if you’re a Bond nut.
I love the Bond IP, and it's really absurd that we haven't gotten a solid new entry in the series in ages. Fingers crossed that IO Interactive knocks it out of the park!