With a new James Bond game from the developer behind the Hitman games--007: First Light, releasing March of next year, I got the 007 bug, as it were. Grab your Walther PPK and get ready for our next assignment--James Bond 007: Nightfire, as part of this retro review!
A gameplay cocktail worth taking a sip from
It's hard for any James Bond game to stay, much less get out of the large, imposing shadow that is Rare's GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64. After all, that game paved the way for most first-person shooters on consoles, and offers to this day some truly stellar objective-based mission gameplay. Enter James Bond 007: Nightfire from Eurocom. Past 007 games post-Rare certainly had big shoes to fill--or perhaps in this case, a big well-fitted tuxedo to fill--and to be perfectly honest, past attempts by Eurocom and publisher Electronic Arts really were solid efforts. They merely fell by comparison in one aspect or another. That notwithstanding, James Bond 007: Nightfire delivers action both shaken and stirred for one of the better 007 games, especially of the PlayStation 2 era.
After a New Year's Eve terrorist attack gone astray by none other than James Bond himself, M tasks our secret agent with investigating the seemingly related operations of an industrial tycoon named Raphael Drake. What follows is your classic Bond tale of high-octane action mixed with various betrayals and lots of innuendo for good measure. The script is essentially discount James Bond ("We have James Bond at home" material, really), but it does its duty well enough to have kept me engaged for the majority of the story.
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| How do you do? I'm totally not a spy investigating an industrialist hosting this party. |
007: Nightfire consists of about ten or so missions spread across traditional on-foot action and to break things up, vehicular carnage. The latter sports incredibly well done controls, particularly the handling of the rides 007 gets control of, whether that's an Aston Martin Vanquish or combat jeep. Cruising through alleyways, cutting through storefronts and cabins, and drifting around snowy turns feel great, which is lovely to report, as driving controls in a non-racing game-focused game could have been a recipe for mission failure. Fortunately, the driving missions work wonderfully and are fabulous additions to the James Bond formula.
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| First screenshot of this review, and already you're showing off, James. |
The on-foot missions sport more variety and are less linear than your "speed from point A to point B" vehicle levels. Not to say the latter doesn't have variety to it either. Missions generally involve a mix of stealth and action, offering multiple ways to go about completing objectives--a feature I loved from--you guessed it--Rare's works GoldenEye 007 and even Perfect Dark that of course predate Nightfire.
007 gets a massive amount of kit to take along his missions, whether they are high-powered weaponry in the form of guns or gadgets from Q-Branch. One of my favorites is the grapple that Bond can utilize as a shortcut to reach new vertical areas or other locations much faster. Then there's the laser, perfect for cutting through both metal hinges of say, safes, or destroying exposed wires to shut down security systems.
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| He tripped and fell out of the watchtower. Honest. When has 007 ever lied? |
While Bond does get some cool kit to utilize in missions, Nightfire itself can be a bit challenging sometimes. That's particularly when trying to figure out what a given objective requires the player to do. The game itself isn't overly difficult--save for some decidedly utterly obnoxious final missions--and that's because of mid-level checkpoints and a relative abundance of armor to add some defense to Bond's body, available even in the hardest of difficulties. That latter point makes what could be an effort in aggravation to something less frustrating, fortunately.
One of the coolest aspects about 007: Nightfire is how its levels simply beg to be replayed over and over again. Each level gives you a score depending on how well you play through it, doling out medals for doing a bang-up job. It's not just about completing the given mission, but instead, it's about doing it with style. That's to say you'll need to play less like a typical Double-0 agent and more like 007 himself. After acquiring a gold medal in a level, you can replay it to aim for a platinum medal. This is performed by keeping your accuracy high, taking minimal damage, subduing and defeating enemies, but also and more interestingly, performing Bond Moves in levels.
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| The mission and locale variety is quite large in 007: Nightfire. |
Bond Moves are a holdover from Agent Under Fire which really puts you in the mind of "what would James Bond do?" Take the first on-foot mission in the game where you infiltrate a castle. Sure, you can go guns blazing and have your enemies roll out the red carpet with their blood, but for a more tasteful, less tacky approach, you can sneak in undetected by climbing and inching around the perimeter to successfully earn a Bond Move. These moves don't just pertain to stealth, either. You can earn them from saving some bullets by blowing up a gas tank to destroy a nearby watchtower, or take a zip-line to get a literal drop on your foes.
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| Scaramanga might be looking for that weapon--just saying, 007. |
Bond Moves and the various hidden 007 tokens sprinkled throughout levels really show how the level design is far from linear. In fact, that aforementioned first on-foot mission sports no shortage of three ways to go about entering its main hub. Experimenting and trying out different approach to missions brought me a lot of joy, especially when thinking to myself, "There's no way this game is going to let me do this," and then lo and behold, 007: Nightfire does just that.
You might ask yourself what is the point of gold and platinum medals in missions other than potential bragging rights. Nightfire's medals award you with content for both solo and multiplayer modes with a heavier focus on the latter. What it amounts to is unlocks in the form of new characters, particularly those from past 007 films, new modes, and new weapons for multiplayer.
The multiplayer itself is quite entertaining, too, which would be a bummer if it weren't, considering it'd kill a lot of motivation in getting medals to begin with! Multiplayer consists of split-screen for up to four players, as well as up to six other bots. There's a massive amount of customization, whether that's setting up bot personalities a la Perfect Dark, choosing weapon load-outs, or setting health handicaps for individual players.
Perhaps the only downside I found with Nightfire's multiplayer mode is that there is but a sparse eight maps to choose from, and one of them does not allow AI opponents to play on it (the Ravine map). That notwithstanding, the maps are well designed, packed with perfect spots to engage in gunfights and even some explosive action, and are mostly spread out, too, to avoid feeling overly claustrophobic. The maps lend themselves well to exciting and exhilarating showdowns, are enjoyable to explore, and work well for the game's multiple modes.
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| Use those special teeth to eat this missile, Jaws! |
From standard solo Deathmatch, to Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and also Demolition, where players must work as teams to traverse a map to destroy the other side's satellite via explosives (notably Satchel Charges), among other unlockable modes, which can be customized to play as long or as quickly of a match as you want, there is plenty of multiplayer mayhem to engage with in 007: Nightfire.
James Bond 007: Nightfire looks great in its standard 4:3 aspect ratio, but it also allows players to play with the aspect ratio stretched out for even more stellar measure. The main graphical complaint I have is within the pre-rendered cutscenes that are remarkably blurry compared to the main game graphics. Still, it's a minor gripe. The action and frame-rate are fluid even at their most heated and high-octane moments, which makes for a smooth playing experience.
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| The in-game cutscenes like this one look great. The pre-rendered ones? Not so much. |
Meanwhile, if you're a fan of the James Bond theme, you'll be in love with the soundtrack of Nightfire, as it offers myriad takes and arrangements on the classic theme of the franchise, whether that's in the solo campaign or in multiplayer matches. The voice-work is phenomenal in Nightfire, too, offering well performed dialogue and material that doesn't sound phoned in. While Pierce Brosnan's likeness is indeed within the game, it's Maxwell Caulfield (perhaps most notably known for his breakout role as the main character Michael from Grease 2) who provides Bond's debonair, suave, and sophisticated voice.
While lacking in some modern touches and maps in multiplayer, while also containing some super-frustrating late-game missions (but thankfully no escort missions, so that's a point that doesn't go to GoldenEye this time), James Bond 007: Nightfire delivers excitement, positive intensity in and out of the game's well-controlling and exhilarating vehicular missions, and superb multiplayer gameplay. The way missions permit multiple ways to proceed through clearing objectives is most welcome in the campaign, while the multiplayer offers robust amounts of customization and engaging offline gameplay. Eurocom not only had the 007 license to make Nightfire--they also had a license to thrill players with one overall well-done game starring James Bond.
[SPC Says: B]
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