Nobody Reviews the Games Better, Either

Now that our James Bond retrospective film series is in full swing, I thought I would take this time to remind all of you of the considerable collection of Bond game reviews we have just hanging around Code Redd Net.

First, and certainly foremost, we have my review of Everything or Nothing, a game which cleaned up at the Code Redd Net Awards in November, winning both Best Co-Op Multiplayer and Best Bond Game honors. Not only that, but Chicken Man and I put it on our respective Top Ten Video Games lists in February. EoN is truly one of the most honored games in our history, and deservedly so. Get yourself a copy.

Chicken Man has the unofficial EoN "sequel," From Russia With Love, covered for PS2.

You can also read a few archival pieces from the Geocities days, specifically our reviews of Agent Under Fire and Nightfire.

If you're in the mood for The World is Not Enough -- and really, who wouldn't be? -- you can always check out Chicken Man's thoughts on the N64 TWINE, or my own on the PS1 TWINE.

Boy, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent sure was horrible, wasn't it?

And should you get sick of gushing praise, you can refresh yourself with the faint praise in my Quantum of Solace, GoldenEye 007, Blood Stone, and Tomorrow Never Dies reviews.

We even dedicated a whole podcast to the subject! To make things easy, here's the episode embedded:


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Our Second Podcast, Now On iTunes!

Less than a week later, and we have a brand new episode of the CRN Podcast for you. This time we chart the development of James Bond video games, from N64's GoldenEye to the upcoming 007 Legends. Not only that, we can confirm that the CRN Podcast is now on the iTunes store. Just search for Code Redd Net or CRN Podcast and you should be able to listen, and hopefully subscribe, via iTunes.

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Our First Podcast

The Next Generation continues to expand our horizons, so to speak: Code Redd Net finally has a podcast, available through Podbean at http://crnpodcast.podbean.com. Embedded below is our first episode, subtitled Rise and Fall of the AI Bot. Fans of multiplayer shooters should be especially interested. We would love to hear your feedback on this first attempt, as well as suggested topics for future episodes. Soon the CRN Podcast should be available through the iTunes store. Until then, you can subscribe to automatically receive the latest episodes, or you can listen through the dedicated Podbean player at the bottom of this page.

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Agent Under Fire Multiplayer, or: Why AI Bots Matter

Agent Under Fire is a pretty good PS2 game, all things considered, but it's a bit on the short side. Multiplayer is absurdly enjoyable, what with all the jetpacks, Q-claws, and low-gravity settings, but without buddies nearby, you miss out on the fun. For whatever reason, only the PS2 version lacks AI bots to properly flesh out your deathmatches; both Gamecube and Xbox versions support them. Doesn't sound like much, but little things like that give a game value, replayability. Take a look at this video (ignore the overbearing intro if you can) to get an idea what PS2 owners like myself missed out on:

More thoughts on AI bots to come. Stay tuned.

Friday From the Archives: Agent Under Fire (2001)

Every Friday we celebrate the heritage of Code Redd Net by posting a retro-review from our considerable back catalogue of embarrassingly naive, but nonetheless entertaining and heartfelt, movie and game reviews. Please pardon the prose; most of these articles were written in our immediately post-pubescent years. Hopefully you find them as enjoyable as we do.

Looking at this review now, I'm simultaneously horrified and proud, as I so often am of my early work. Quite frankly, I'm surprised I understood how to properly use the word "amalgam" in a sentence. Beyond that, I still hold true to most of these opinions. I played one of the driving mission this morning, "Streets of Bucharest," and it was just as much fun as I remembered, perhaps even better than those in either Nightfire or From Russia With Love. I certainly wouldn't consider the storyline to be "good" except in a kitsch-y way, and I think the controls are a bit slippery. Furthermore, comparing its multiplayer to GoldenEye is a bit of a stretch, but I do remember enjoying our battles and the absurd possibilities of low-gravity gunfights with jet-packs and and Q-claws. Unfortunately, the PS2 version lacks bots, something which always irritates me in a game like this. Still, this is a good game, and well worth seeking out for Bond buffs.


"Cutting edge graphics, entertaining multiplayer, awesome driving sequences and a good storyline equal one great 007 adventure. The FPS levels are entertaining and the rail-shooter missions offer variety to the game, but the real surprise is the driving missions. I understand that the people behind the Need for Speed games worked with these missions. The voice-acting is superb and AUF has many familiar voices to Bond fans. James Bond himself, though, is not voiced by Pierce Brosnan. Instead, he is somewhat of a amalgam of past Bonds. He looks like Brosnan/Moore and sounds like Sean Connery. The story has plenty of twists to it and is very entertaining. Control-wise the game is good, but it takes some time. Multiplayer is just as good as the rest of the game. If you want an idea about what it is like just think of GoldenEye for N64, but with a faster pace and more enclosed battlegrounds. Overall, this game is sure to please 007 fans and non-fans alike."