James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (Xbox) > Reviews (4)

James bond returns in this action packed, star studded adventure game for all platforms. My version is on the Xbox, which allows for a far faster, more detailed game than the other consoles.

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The Bond Games
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This is the latest in MGM’s series of James Bond games. After the success of Goldeneye on the N64, they set about making more first person shooter games. These were based around the movies “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “The World Is Not Enough”. They did not share the success of Goldeneye.

But then a new concept came along, with the advent of processing power from the PS2 and Xbox they could make games more real, more movie like. So, instead of following a movie, they began releasing games which had their own storylines.

The first of these was “Agent Under Fire”. It had a very similar feel to Goldeneye. A first person shooter game that was about killing everything in sight. There were a few tactical elements, but the premise was very simple. The storyline was also unoriginal and unmemorable.

Then came “007: Nightfire” Now this was almost indistinguishable from Agent Under Fire. Both shared some success, but didn’t have the storyline, the acting or the gameplay to beat the ingenuity that Goldeneye showed us. Until now. They tried to incorporate many types of gameplay, such as driving, first person etc. I personally think they failed to succeed in either. But I liked the games anyway, they weren’t inspiring but were good.

Everything or Nothing is the newest game in the series. It’s a hell of a lot better and I aim to tell you why.

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Storyline
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Unlike the silly, short and unoriginal storylines of it’s two predecessors, this game has a brilliant storyline. It doesn’t quite match up to the movies, but it’s longer, better and more intriguing than before.

Bond is called in to stop someone stealing some Nano-bot technology. After stopping the nano bots being stolen, we realise that Katya has kept a couple (she helped bond). She’s taken the Nano bots to Nikolai, who has got someone to fuse them with something which will make them eat any type of metal. This could be used to destroy… anything.

Bond must try and locate Nikolai and stop him from developing or using the technology. To do this he has to collaborate with other agents and chase leads across the world. He has to save some people, stop some people and try to find out where Nikolai is.

I wont reveal the whole game to you, that’s just the premise. It is far longer and more complicated than that! The script is almost like one you would find in a film.

The storylines are played out as both cut screens and in game action. The cut scenes are blended seamlessly with the gameplay and are neither too frequent or too lacking. It’s interesting to watch and adds to the entertainment value considerably.

Everything uses in-game graphics, so you can move from a cut scene to gameplay pretty quickly. It’s also far more realistic to see things in the cut scenes the way you see them in the game.

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Gameplay
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They’ve completely changed the gameplay and re-thought for this game. It’s now a third person shooter. This allows for far better integration and a much better movie feel. It also lets you see more of the action and makes the cut scenes more seemless.

The style also allows you to get far deeper into the action. You no longer have to spend ages insuring you have a perfect aim, the aiming is almost automatic. But the control is not lost. There are some sniper positions and you can alter the exact target once you’re locked onto someone. A great feature, though in the heat of a gunfight you don’t have time.

There’s also a new built in fighting system. This allows you to punch and throw your enemies. I don’t use this much but they have made some obvious places (enemies who hit you instead of shoot you) for you to take advantage. It isn’t the most complex hand-to-hand combat system I’ve seen but it does give a greater feel of control.

They’ve also varied the levels and tried to make each one a little different. Some are more about stealth, whilst others are more about hitting specific items. There is a variety of different things that bond can do as well.

This game requires a bit of thinking, from the simple kind of “oh yeah, of course I should use the rappel to climb up that wall, how stupid of me” to trying to find routes or a way to destroy something. There’s also some tactical involvement. You have to hug walls and crawl, pick your targets carefully and avoid fire.

It’s not like the old games where if they shoot, they’re most likely to miss. In this you have to dodge bullets yourself.

Then there’s the “bond sense” which is a nice addition. Time slows down, almost to a stop and all the targets, useable items etc. are highlighted on the screen. You can use this to shoot objects which aren’t normally aimable, such as petrol containers etc. But you can also use it to give some time to decide who to shoot at next.

The scoring system is based on speed, accuracy and 007 moves. Each level has some set moves which you wont know about until you perform them. This can be from completing an objective without firing a single bullet to finding a secret room.

You are scored on each level, then given a bronze, silver or gold. There are three difficulty levels. Each one will provide some new objectives and different rewards. The easy option is very very easy, the hard quite difficult.

But the greatest thing about this game is the different levels. Not every level is the same, there is a good mix. They have some levels where you’re driving around, some where you’re abseiling or sky diving. There’s one in a helicopter, one on a motorbike. Each of these are different but easy to adapt to. It’s a breath of fresh air to race on a bike for a while instead of just sneaking around.

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Weapons and Gadgets
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No bond film, or game, would be complete without Q’s gadgets. There are a whole host of them here, such as the Q spider which you can use to get into small holes and spy around corners etc.

It’s a brilliant addition. There’s different rockets etc. on cars, there’s invisibility suits and much, much more. Most of them aren’t needed but can really help you out, especially on the most difficult levels.

The weapons are also brilliantly mastered in this game. There are several different types which are as realistic as possible, with reloading times and accuracy as well as power. The shooting never felt so good! There’s a fantastic range from sniper, to automatic, silent, grenades, everything a spy could wish for!

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The Bad Bits
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Ok, so I’ve given this a lot of praise, now for the counter arguments.

Firstly, this game is not original by far. Although the way it has combined gameplay types is quite good and I think is innovative, neither of them, by themselves, is. We’ve all seen a racing game before, all seen a third person shooter and we’ve all seen it done better. Splinter cell did the third person shooter better justice than this game did.

Then there’s the annoying save system. Instead of auto saving, it asks me after every level and I have to replace my file etc. That’s pretty stupid. Plus the first option selected when you switch on is “new game” not “load game”. This gets agitating after a while.

Then there’s that stupid Shannon Elizabeth on the opening menu’s. She comes in, points a gun into camera, then turns her head a bit. Then they repeat this again and again. It’s not a computer generation, it’s just about the only live acting in the game and it’s rubbish. She just looks out of place and, well, wrong. It spoils the whole game.

The first level is also a pain in the ass. You turn on the xbox, then you see the classic gun barrel following bond and he shoots at you. Then there’s a little intro movie and it’s straight into a huge gunfight! A similar thing happened with the last two games as well.

I like to jump into games and learn the controls gradually. But this just threw you in and you didn’t know what to do, how to do it. I know the reason is that they want to follow the style of the movies (after this short sequence, it cuts to a song and title sequence as well). But it just doesn’t work in a game, I want to start on a nice gentle level and start learning the controls first!

The storyline draws you in. But, this is not a film. You will not spend 2 hours playing (watching) this and then go back about your business. I don’t anyway. I spend an hour or so playing, do something else, then come back in a while. But this game makes the storyline very difficult to follow if you do this.

By the time you come back, you’ve forgotten what’s happened. The storyline gets so, not complicated, but more entangled for you to follow. If it were a film it would be great!

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Multiplayer
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This game features an extensive multiplayer section. It allows you to play one on one against your friends on the xbox. It does not, however, have Xbox Live capability. This is slightly annoying, as it would be nice to play with people across the world.

But it also allows for a co-op mission. Where you play with your friends against computer generated enemies in a mission style operation. This is fantastic, though I haven’t had much time to try it out!

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Cast
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I’ve never seen so many famous faces and names in a video game. This game has employed a wealth of brilliant actors to do the voices for the characters. Their faces have been scanned perfectly and you really feel like you’re part of the films.

The character development is fantastic. You really feel like you get to know the characters, start to understand them.

There are perfect computer representations with real voices and movements of the following cast:

Pierce Brosnan – James Bond, The centre of the game and movies. Everyone knows who 007 is! He’s the one you’re in control of.

Willem Dafoe – Nikolai Diavolo, The main bad guy. Former KGB, just plain evil really.

Shannon Elizabeth – Serena st. Germaine, The good bond girl. She’s the one who teams up with bond and helps him. Not an agent but seems to be very good at all the agent type stuff! You know the storylines by now!

Heidi Klum – Dr. Kataya Nadanova, The bad bond girl. She’s the one who starts off good and ends up being bad (well she does that pretty early on) and helps the bad guys.

Mya – Agent Mya Starling, An NSA agent. She’s the helpless agent that bond has to save and then work with.

Richard Kiel – Jaws, Yes you heard right. Jaws makes a return in this game. There is no given reason for him to be working with the bad guys but he makes for one brilliant boss.

John Cleese – Q, The amazing Q, provider of gadgets. He isn’t seen in any gameplay, however his voice explains all the gadgets and he shows you some in Q lab

Judi Dench – M, Again, not seen in gameplay but seen in the cutscenes telling Bond what to do. Her voice is also used to help you if you get stuck, gives you a tip like “Perhaps there is a place you can use your grapple double o seven”

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Music
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They use the latest incarnations of the bond theme in this game. The music sounds very similar to the movies and is a great addition to a great game. It really adds tension, action and integrates perfectly with the situation! There aren’t the sudden changes you get in some games when you’re in some action then you go out of the action (where it suddenly flicks from action music down to calm music). Yet the music always matches what you’re doing. The changes go unnoticed and are perfect (not the fade out, fade in that you get on some games)

Most of the music is very orchestra based and focuses around the bond theme tune. I don’t think there’s any new pieces been written, I seem to recognise most the scores from the movies. However they have been used perfectly.

The theme tune by Mia isn’t going to make it into the top 40. But it isn’t too bad, luckily they only play it in small trace amounts!

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Graphics
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Facial expressions, movement, background, veichles, all modelled with brilliant accuracy and detail.

The graphics in this game are some of the best I’ve seen. Also, the in-game graphics are very similar to the cut scene graphics! Which adds to the experience!

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Sound
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The sound is also perfect. I believe I’ve never managed to shoot a gun without it making a sound, other games I’ve played occasionally skip sounds, a strange thing I know. Stereo and Surround sound is used to the games advantage in telling you where the enemies are located. The effects are pretty realistic and, again, seem to match the situation rather than sounding like the same pre-recorded sound every single time.

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Loading times
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Between levels there is a bit of loading time, the game also takes a while to start up. However, each level is huge and the loading time is 0. You have lots of enemies coming at you, it never slows down, it never has to load when you go through a door etc. So it fits the pace pretty well.

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Conclusion
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It seems strange talking about this game. Because it’s so much like a movie, it’s difficult to differentiate it from one. But it’s still a brilliant game!

EA Games have improved this series with every release. This has been the biggest step forward. Not only does it have it’s own, good, storyline, but also the cast of characters to pull it off.

This is possibly the first game to perfectly integrate movie with game, dragging you into the storyline along the way.

With a brilliant control system, selection of different levels, with different styles, this game comes top of my list at the moment.

It’s a great buy, despite the few short comings. The fact that it’s trying to imitate a movie is both good and bad. Think it’s more good than bad.

You feel involved in this game, as if it were a movie.

Although it doesn’t have the best gameplay system, it combines things in a brilliant way. It is the cocktail, not made from the best products, but when mixed together is pretty tasty (and almost as addictive as alcohol!)

Who knows how EA are going to improve this series next!