PS3 Review: 007 Legends (2012)

This one's a bit late. I had originally planned to review 007 Legends in tandem with my review of Skyfall last fall, but you know, things happen. Better late than never, I guess. Keep your eyes peeled for more 007 coverage from your fellow spy enthusiasts at Code Redd Net.

I liked the first Die Another Day game I played better. You know, Nightfire.

I had been hoping for a game like 007 Legends for a long time. It seems like an easy project: to collect the best action set-pieces from the best James Bond films in one game and to serve it up in a competent shooter with a few multiplayer options. From Russia With Love had the right idea, successfully converting the classic '60s spy film for PS2 in the Everything or Nothing model. It was a solid Bond game that captured the look and feel of the film while simultaneously bringing it up to speed with the more stunt-heavy recent Bond films. 007 Legends also has the right idea, as it incorporates the most spectacular scenes from five Bond films and ties them into the plot of Skyfall: those films being Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, License to Kill, Die Another Day and Moonraker. This is an excellent idea well suited for today's generation of games, but 007 Legends falters somewhat in execution.

The game has a real flimsy narrative excuse to revisit all these old missions. It begins with a cinematic adapted from the pre-credits sequence in Skyfall, where Bond is shot by another agent while fighting an adversary on the roof of a speeding train. As Bond hits the water, he is reminded of his previous encounters with Goldfinger, Blofeld, Jaws and others. The game proper begins with a scene from Goldfinger in which Bond finds that girl dead, covered in gold paint. What makes this recreation of Goldfinger odd is that you play as Daniel Craig instead of Sean Connery, and you have access to a smartphone device and other contemporary technology/weaponry.  This is in contrast to the architecture, as well as the design of the surrounding characters, virtually all of whom retain their 1960s clothing. It's an odd inconsistency in art direction spread throughout the entire game, and it never feels quite right. I would've liked to have seen a total commitment to each era, all the way down to its rudimentary gadgets, or a total process of bringing-up-to-date rather than the hybrid nostalgic-contemporary setting provided instead. That's not to say, however, that the structure of 007 Legends is without benefit: those five Bond films, bounded together, make room for considerable variety in setting and gameplay mechanics. Throughout the game, you switch between several styles of gameplay, including the straightforward shooting portions, stealth segments, sleuthing, vehicle combat, and fisticuffs. Unfortunately, these styles are highly organized and segregated in your missions. In other words, a bit of hand-to-hand combat is always bracketed by a cinematic that cues up the switch to this style, and stealth often becomes mandatory to mission completion upon entering a particular room rather than being simply a strategic choice with consequences. Nonetheless, each mission draws on particularly strong action scenes from its respective film to keep the game moving at a commendable pace.

I was also impressed by other improvements over the previous GoldenEye: Reloaded, particularly a dramatic increase in replay value. Whereas more recent Bond games have suffered from a weak single-player experience that did not invite multiple playthroughs, 007 Legends has a strong set of weapon upgrades and unlockables for multiplayer, based on finding objects and overall mission scores. Furthermore, I was impressed by Legends' customization options. Like most modern first-person shooters, on the default option health regenerates after a few seconds: thankfully, though, Legends gives you the option of switching to an old school system in which health does not regenerate and you must rely on body armor spread throughout the level. This is a nice addition that makes the game considerably more challenging, in many instances artificially so as body armor is unevenly distributed in these missions. Multiplayer support is fairly strong, though the lack of AI bots hurts this feature substantially, as online multiplayer is sparsely populated.

Overall, 007 Legends is only a fair-to-middling entry in the franchise, one that does a decent enough job with a promising idea but nothing more. It's much better than the other Bonds released in the last few years, yet nowhere near the level of PS2-era shooters like Nightfire, Everything or Nothing, or From Russia With Love. Fans of the super spy should give it a spin with a weekend rental, but this is probably not one you will want to own.

007 Legends Gets Goldfinger

I was wrong; the fifth classic mission to be featured in 007 Legends is not Dr. No. You probably already know this, seeing as how it was reported three days ago and all. I've never really been the most punctual bloggers in the world, but if you haven't been privy to the news, take a look:

If it couldn't be Dr. No, then I suppose Goldfinger is the only other option. For the time being, I'm assuming there's not going to be a golfing mission against Auric. Nonetheless, this looks perfectly acceptable, with most of the key moments from the film remaining intact, for the most part. Why, Bond even jettisons some poor guy from the seat of his car, even though the car this time is something glossy and new, and not the vintage Aston Martin DB5 I prefer.

(Curiously enough, the comments section for that video is filled with youtubers clamoring for a game more like Nightfire or Everything or Nothing. I'd like to endorse that viewpoint.)

So there you have it. On October 16, get ready to take digital Daniel Craig through Moonraker, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Licence to Kill, Die Another Day, Goldfinger, and eventually a downloadable Skyfall mission.

Nobody Reviews It Better: Thunderball (1965)

Code Redd Net continues its sequential look at all 22 official James Bond films with Thrasher's take on Thunderball, a film in the midst of '60s Bondmania.

Since Chicken Man took up reviewing duties with his excellent pieces on From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, I pick up Bond with Thunderball, and it's really quite jarring to go from the low budget conservatism of Dr. No to the benign excess of this spectacle. Thunderball is lavish, to say the least, and often strikingly self-aware; conventions codified only one film earlier are already sent-up within the series, as when 007 attempts to seduce SPECTRE agent Fiona Volpe, only to be rebuffed when she remarks, "But of course, I forgot your ego, Mr. Bond. James Bond, the one where he has to make love to a woman, and she starts to hear heavenly choirs singing. She repents, and turns to the side of right and virtue." Such words are practically intertextual, referring just as strongly to critical discourse as to strictly narrative explanation, as in Pussy Galore's swift side-change after being seduced by Bond in Goldfinger. And the now traditional pre-credits sequence is almost as superfluous, and downright silly, as it would ever be: after Bond attends the funeral of an obscure SPECTRE operative (interestingly, Bond remarks that he regrets not killing the man himself, and this may be another, albeit only verbal, example that "Bond does, in fact, kill when it might not be necessarily warranted," as Chicken Man so adroitly noted in the comments to my review of Dr. No), he is attacked by the widower, who is only revealed to be a man after Bond has served "her" a proper knuckle sandwich, and from there Bond makes his escape via jet pack. Seeing Connery flying that jet pack, and wearing that silly helmet all the while, is certainly a thing of camp beauty, and Thunderball is one of the campiest Bonds of all. Still, entirely earnest praise must be awarded for the finale, an underwater ballet-brawl that is both unique and well choreographed, and it's a finale that more than makes up for a fairly tepid, exposition-laden middle. It's a bit gauche, but Thunderball has appeal enough, and it's worth a second look if you've seen it before.

Previous Entries in this Series:

Dr. No (1962) by Thrasher
From Russia With Love (1963) by Chicken Man
Goldfinger (1964) by Chicken Man

Nobody Reviews It Better: Goldfinger (1964)

Code Redd Net is reviewing every MGM Bond film before the November 9 release of Skyfall. Today Chicken Man reviews Goldfinger.

As Thrasher stated in his review of Dr. No, James Bond 007 really became an icon after the release of Goldfinger. All of the 007 trademark elements are present: the eccentric villain, the not-so-subtly named Bond girl, Bond's survival ensured by Q Branch's gadgetry, the Aston Martin, the high-stakes plot, the Walther, the womanizing, the puns, etc. This really leaves the impossibility for one to be a fan of Bond and not be a fan of Goldfinger; it shows Bond qua Bond in his essence. And it does it well. One of the very enjoyable scenes is Bond playing a golf match against Goldfinger. The event of Bond interacting incognito (though he never seems to fool his enemies into believing he's not a spy) is not at all unique among the movies of the series, but Goldfinger seems to do it best. As well, it demonstrates Bond's ability to use his wit to survive. Contrary to misconceptions partially due to parodies such as Austin Powers, often Bond's enemies will not simply leave him to die in one of their elaborate death traps. In this case, he is able to convince Goldfinger that it would be wiser to keep him alive. In addition, he later escapes his jail cell through innovative trickery. Bond is also a master manipulator: he is able to save the day by bringing Pussy Galore to his aid (don't you know that he only seduces women in order to protect queen and country?). It is partly for these reasons that we find James Bond so appealing; any action star can shoot guns and drive fast cars. Yes, Bond can do these things, as well as those mentioned above. But nobody does them better.

As a parenthetical note, the greatest drawback for me regarding this film is the premise behind which Auric Goldfinger is being investigated by intelligence agencies. He is a gold smuggler. Does smuggling gold actually hurt anyone? No. The reason that governments and central banks frown upon such is because of using precious metals as alternatives to paper currency undermines the currency's value and acceptance, and therefore their ability to print it (at this time in U.S. history it was illegal for private citizens to own gold bullion. FDR made this the case by executive order so that he could inflate the U.S. dollar). Goldfinger is actually providing people a service by allowing them to own a hedge against inflation by holding gold rather than being at the mercy of their central banks, which continue to inflate their currencies . In this way, he is heroic. But blowing up existing stocks of other peoples' gold to increase the value of your own (or dipping chicks in gold paint) is obviously not so heroic, and he is justly punished.

Previous Entries in this Series:

Dr. No (1962) by Thrasher
From Russia With Love (1963) by Chicken Man

Nobody Reviews It Better: From Russia With Love (1963)

Today we continue our series of concise reviews of every Bond film until the November 9th release of Skyfall. This time Chicken Man takes the reins and shows how From Russia With Love establishes different Bond signatures and lays the foundation for cementing 007 in his defining era of the Cold War.

As Thrasher stated previously in his Dr. No review, James Bond didn't really become an icon until the third movie, Goldfinger. Part of the fun of No and continuing on with From Russia With Love is that one gets to witness Bond at the experimental stage, seeing which events became themes in the series. Some definitely did: the title sequence, flirting with Moneypenny (as opposed to having the intended steady girlfriend, Sylvia Trench, who was not seen afterwards), being equipped by the ever innovative Q, the nemesis organization of SPECTRE, etc. As well, FRWL is also one of 007's defining moments, establishing him as a Cold Warrior, for it is in this era that Bond has spent most of his existence. He remains fighting this Cold War into the times of Timothy Dalton, who aided the Afghans against the Russians in The Living Daylights. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Judi Dench as M characterizes Bond in Golden Eye as "a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War..." As with Dr. No, as well as most of Connery's Bond films, FRWL is in deep contrast to more contemporary 007 movies in terms of pacing; it is doubtful that modern audiences would be as captivated as '60s audiences were. It also continues the intermittent use of the Bond theme music, playing when he is doing the more mundane, such as walking into a hotel, whereas in the later films it is reserved for when he is doing something more heroic. In many ways it forms a bridge between Dr. No and Goldfinger, where the presentation is making the transition from unpolished operative to charming, sophisticated secret agent. It is a fitting sophomore performance and arguably an indispensable part of the Bond canon.

Previous Entries in this Series:

Dr. No (1962) by Thrasher

Nobody Reviews It Better: Dr. No (1962)

Thrasher and Chicken Man team up, as only they can, to bring you a complete retrospective series covering all 22 official James Bond films, in chronological order, concluding with the release of Skyfall on November 9. They've split the reviewing duties evenly, and will cover one to two films per week. Thrasher weighs in first on Dr. No, the film that began the cycle, and one that remains, in so many ways, a significant part of film history.

Bond begins with Dr. No, surely, but it wasn't until Goldfinger, two films later, that he became an (im)mature icon; and if Goldfinger is the stuff of canon, Dr. No is the stuff of curiosity. So much is the same, from characterization to narrative structure to cinematic style, and yet so much is different, different in register, if nothing else. Subtle things, like the odd soundtrack (especially noticeable during the traditional gun barrel opening, and in the often unsteady, intermitent use of the Bond theme music) only seem odd today, in light of the rest of the series. Indeed, the whole aural atmosphere of the film seems unusual by comparison, and in that sense Dr. No indicates the immense importance music would assume in later 007 adventures. No is often an extraordinarily quiet film, much quieter than the others. Even dramatically, there are scenes in No so quiet they look positively experimental compared to the popular bombast of later entries. Think about the scene early in the film in which Sean Connery enters his Jamaican hotel room for the first time; he leisurely moves about the room, checking for anything suspicious, and then he prepares several makeshift alarms so he can check if anyone has tampered with his belongings while he's out. Consider also the scene in which Bond waits for an ally of the nefarious Dr. No to arrive at a remote bungalow; he pours himself a stiff drink, puts on soft Jamaican music, prepares a decoy body in the bedroom with pillows, and gets himself settled in a chair next to the door, patiently playing solitare until his assassin creeps inside. Both of these scenes would have absolutely no place in any subsequent Bond films, especially the latter. This second scene is not only far too slow for a series which switched direction, markedly, from semi-sober drama to playfully absurd romp, it's also incommensurable for Bond's behavior, specifically the way in which he shoots his would-be assassin in cold blood. This is a brutal film, and Connery's Bond is calculating, muscular, sadistic and lean. Connery's natural charm took some time to finess, and his brutishness is in peak form in No; Bond is more boorish here than he would ever be, at least until Daniel Craig stepped into the role. Still, though, despite its differences, No is clearly a 007 film, much more so than the recent Quantum of Solace. True, there's no exciting, nonsensical pre-credits sequence, and no radio-ready pop song to play over the animated credits, and no Q, and no gadgets, and no exotic cars, but Bond's there, however unmannered. All he needed was a few more films before he was properly fitted for the occasion.

Code Redd Net Awards: Best Bond Movie

Our second Bond award is for Best Bond Movie. And the nominees are...

The World is Not Enough (1999)
Casino Royale (2006)
Goldfinger (1964)
From Russia With Love (1963)
GoldenEye (1995)

And the winner is...

GoldenEye