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.

Nobody Reviews It Better: Skyfall (2012)

Finally, Skyfall has arrived; it doesn't disappoint. Thrasher gives you all the details in the conclusion (for now) of our Nobody Reviews It Better series. Truly, we can think of no better way to celebrate Code Redd Net's 11th anniversary than by reviewing this fantastic film.

Throughout Skyfall, villains and allies alike allude to Bond's aptitude for the job; that he has "lost his edge" is certainly the consensus opinion. I take this as a tacit apology for Quantum of Solace, as much for his fellow characters as for his audience. Skyfall is a resurrection narrative, a literal reinscription of the Bond mythos. The generic "bad grammar" of Solace is corrected systematically, starting with the traditional pre-credits sequence. As always, this is pure spectacle and is satisfying on those terms alone (indeed, all the stuntery in the film is clean, well-choreographed, and logical), but a simple gesture reintroduces Bond as we knew him before; as Bond leaps onto the back of a train, which he has just creatively demolished, he adjusts the cuffs of his shirt before continuing the chase. It may seem a banal thing in isolation, but it's a crucial signal, something which Craig-Bond has too often forgotten. Even on the level of story, Skyfall is an investigation, and ultimately a validation, of the renewed relevance of 007. Instead of trying to "update" Bond, Skyfall retrofits his world, gives him Moneypenny, Q, his Astin Martin DB5 (complete with ejector seat!); it places him once again in exotic locales, all shot in expressionistic tones; henchmen routinely meet beautifully absurd deaths; and in a world of increasingly cybernetic, faceless threats, embodies the Other in the classically cheesy villain Raoul Silva, played with aplomb by Javier Bardem. Such retroactivity never seems merely self-referential or cannibalistic, and it's truly wonderful to see the series finally come to terms with its status as an anachronism rather than try to compensate for it. Skyfall is unquestionably Craig's best Bond film, one that finally proves, beyond doubt, his qualifications.

Happy Birthday, Code Redd Net

Memories...

Code Redd Net is 11-years-old today, and we get to celebrate by taking in Skyfall this afternoon! It's been quite a journey, from the days of Geocities (if you know what that was) to the Blogger of today, and we hope you continue to enjoy our prose. As ever, we're committed to engaging with new media as well as lovingly embracing the neglected, aging artifacts of gaming and film. Look for new reviews of Skyfall (the exciting conclusion of our Nobody Reviews It Better series) and 007 Legends, as well as a Jackie Chan Retrospective coming out later this month. Of course, we'd love to hear from you, so drop us a line in the comments below or send a nice, loving birthday e-card to codereddnet@hotmail.com. Now, if you're feeling as nostalgic as we are, we entreat you to check out the following commemorative articles which Chicken Man and I penned last year in celebration of 10 years of dedicated adolescent fandom:

An Ode to Code Redd Net
A Concise History of Code Redd Net

And if you didn't already know, take a look at the Code Redd Net Awards. They're subjective, of course, but wonderfully so.

Nobody Reviews It Better: Quantum of Solace (2008)

And here it is, our last entry in the Nobody Reviews It Better series. Chicken Man takes you through a most tepid adventure indeed in Quantum of Solace. We certainly hope you've enjoyed our retrospective; it's been an interesting experience for us, and revisiting these films reinforced our love  for some (Goldfinger, GoldenEye), while for others we found a new and deeper appreciation (Timothy Dalton's two films). Keep it here for our review of Skyfall following its release on November 9, as well as an upcoming two part podcast on this same subject, which Thrasher is currently editing. James Bond will return, clearly.

Quantum of Solace was a short story that Ian Fleming wrote that has James Bond as a seemingly minor character. Coincidentally, the film of the same title seems to have little to do with James Bond as well. Immediately after seeing it, I wondered, if the characters names were changed and there was a different cast of actors, would anyone say, "Wow! This is way too much like a Bond film!"? Besides the Aston and the Walther (and perhaps a woman dipped in some type of commodity asset), hardly anything has the Bond signature. It could easily be just another nameless action movie. What makes it Bond, James Bond? Part of it is the gadgets, none of which are present here. Did his Aston Martin even have any rockets, oil slick, or ejector seat to speak of? It seems like those would come standard with Q Branch. Of course, the Bond girls are included, one with the silly name of Strawberry Fields. I actually liked what happened here with Olga Kurylenko's Camille Montes in that she seemed to have more of a friendship with Bond in achieving a common goal of revenge, rather than being the obligatory sex partner. Any such relationship of the latter type would have felt tacked-on, so I was pleasantly surprised that such an attempt wasn't made. And what about the villains and their villainous plots? The series is famous for these. Weren't some of the earliest films even named after them? Dominic Greene simply doesn't merit it and his scheme, if successful, would be hardly known by anyone. The man is a bit of sissy and rather than having a fearsome henchman like Odd Job, he has his bowl-cut sporting cousin named Elvis. Director Marc Forster said Dominic Greene is supposed to "symbolize the hidden evils in society," and what could be more evil than posing as an environmentalist in order to be more popular and get more funding? Almost as lame is his plan to stage a coup in Bolivia so that he can become the monopoly water provider in the country. Now, I am against government granted privileges to business as much as the next guy. However, it is quite likely that in the municipality in which you live that there is no competition allowed in the provision of this utility. Is James Bond coming to save you as well from the evils of monopoly privileges too? If only. As well, it is somewhat hypocritical of the British government to go around stopping the Quantum group's coups in Latin America when the British Empire has so heavily intervened in the affairs of others itself. In the end, Quantum of Solace just doesn't offer what has made the Bond series great (which might also include a good video game) and might have fit better as a DVD epilogue to Casino Royale.

Nobody Reviews It Better: Moonraker (1979)

Hello and welcome again. From under the sea to outer space, CRN analyzes Bond from our purpose-built laboratory couches. Stay tuned. Thrasher will return in For Your Eyes Only.

To fully enjoy Moonraker, and frankly anything with Roger Moore in it, one must not take it seriously. Major plot points left me asking, what? The very first scene, which shows the hijacking of a Moonraker shuttle while it's being transported on a 747, sets things in motion, with Bond being sent to investigate. We find out later that Drax took it after having loaned it to the British. Bond later asks him why he would steal his own spacecraft and he responds that there was a malfunction with another aircraft so he needed this one back. It seems very mystifying to me that after hatching his plot for years in advance, Drax wouldn't have the patience to simply wait to get his spaceship back and avoid unwanted attention. He might not have had to deal with Bond if not for this indiscretion. Generally his dealings with Bond seem very reckless. First, he tries to kill Bond with an aeronautic centrifuge, and this could plausibly look like an accident. But then Drax tries to end him by a sniper while they are out hunting. My problem with this is that if Drax had instead tried to kill Bond by shotgun, there was at least the possibility of making it look like a hunting accident. If he just wanted Bond dead (with or without fabricating a cause of death without foul play), it seemed like he had ample opportunity to do so. As Thrasher points out in CRN Podcast 3, there is the Aristotelian notion that actions in drama should not only seem plausible and probable, but somewhat inevitable. The lack of adherence to this notion is perhaps the biggest problem with Moonraker.

Nevertheless, it does have its appeals. The gadgets range from the very practical to the somewhat outlandish. Twice Bond is rescued by his dart-shooting bracelet; the utility of such a device is apparent. However, Bond also has a canoe that can not only turn into a motorized speedboat, but also convert into a hovercraft for amphibious use. Later, he is driving a different speedboat that could transform into a hang-glider (just in case you're boating next to a waterfall). So, the appeal has diminishing marginal utility the more crazy they get, not in terms of the technology, but in terms of how Q or Bond would have the foresight to see their applicability and the logistics of having the ideal boat wherever in the world Bond may be. (Other Bond movies deal with this problem by Bond making use of what's available to him: in The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond "commandeers" an AMC in a showroom to give chase; in GoldenEye, a tank). Also, the space scenes are done quite well and to my untrained eye, the Moonraker space station looks convincing. The large space combat scene adequately pays homage to the massive underwater battle filmed in Thunderball. The climax in the final frontier is easily the highlight of the movie, and is what makes Moonraker as memorable as it is. (Also Jaws). To top it all off, there is a very good game adaption. It is called Night Fire.

The World is Not Enough 100%, and more

PS1 TWINE, that is. Sure, it's nowhere near as good as its classic, award-winning N64 cousin, but it still works quite well on its own. As I noted in my review, if nothing else, I love the Russian Roulette stage. Besides, the PS1 version has to be one of the only decent first-person shooters on that system, which wasn't known for producing them beyond the Medal of Honor series. Alas, there's no multiplayer mode, so all that you get for achieving high scores on any particular level are cheats, such as All Weapons, Invisible Bond, and my favorite, Power Goons. Still, though, I have what Chicken Man once called the Curse of Completionism, and so I just had to see this one through. It was far easier than I anticipated. Missions scores are calculated in four ways: Efficiency, Accuracy, Health, and Time. Most levels are short if you know what you're doing, armor is plentiful (even on the hardest difficulty setting, 007), auto-aim makes marksmanship a breeze, and I'm still not totally sure what efficiency is supposed to imply, and I routinely had low scores in that category. If you don't dally around, always use your Wolfram P2K, and keep yourself clothed in armor, piece of cake, you'll have this one 100% in a day or so.

We certainly hope you're enjoying the current deluge of Bond coverage on Code Redd Net. In addition to the ongoing Nobody Reviews It Better series, we have an upcoming podcast on the subject, as well as our continuing interest in the forthcoming Skyfall film and the accompanying 007 Legends game. Stay tuned for more.

Nobody Reviews It Better: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

In the dramatic fashion that only CRN can bring, today The Spy Who Loved Me is reviewed for your reading pleasure. Please stick with us as we review all the MGM 007 films.

To be clear here, the film The Spy Who Loved Me has nothing to do with Ian Fleming's novel of the same name. This may be a good thing, since it wouldn't have translated well to the screen and doesn't have a whole lot of action. But I feel it is necessary to note this fact so that Fleming cannot be held responsible for what follows. Instead of a woman being harassed by thugs, this movie is about a sea-loving individual who wants to build an underwater civilization. He also hijacks British and Russian nuclear submarines. Both governments send their best agents to investigate. The Russian one happens to be female and whose boyfriend was killed by Bond in Austria. 007 is thus put in the interesting position of having to compete with a woman while not getting killed by her or the iconic juggernaut named Jaws. Overall, I think this is one of Moore's better movies and feels very much like a Bond movie should. I concede the latter because of a few certain elements: the car chase involving a Spy Hunter-like Lotus that can turn into a submarine, the villain's outlandish lair (not quite outrageous as an active volcano, though), Bond's ability to charm a hostile woman, the widely recognizable theme song, etc. The movie flows in a logical and entertaining matter, without too many evil plot scenes that slow the movie down. The biggest problem, however, that keeps this movie from being better is the nonsensical and implausible plot of the sea-lover, Karl Stromberg. Capturing submarines is serious business, since these things are designed to be stealthy. Stromberg deals with this problem by obtaining a sub tracker in Egypt. While finding the sub is explained, what is not explained is how his giant tanker can sneak up on the subs undetected with the subs either surfaced or not too deep to be swallowed by the tanker. The concept that he can do this just seems silly. The Russian and British navies are made to be not only incompetent sailors but cowards for not scuttling these very dangerous boats. Whatever happened to the battle cry of, "Don't give up the ship!"? Bond is on one of these captured subs and rallies the captured crews to fight against their captors. It is a mystery as to why Stromberg chose to keep any of them alive, as doing so led to his downfall, making him look stupid. And perhaps he is because his plot makes no sense. What he wants to do is create an underwater civilization, which he could very well do without killing or stealing. This would easily make him a hero instead of a villain. Why he needs to create a global nuclear war is not mentioned. He just does. Overlooking these missteps is necessary to fully enjoy The Spy Who Loved Me, as well as pausing to enjoy the two Nightfire multiplayer maps that are based on environments in this movie: Stromberg's Atlantis base and submarine pen. As always, Bots make everything better.

Nobody Reviews It Better: You Only Live Twice (1967)

Following an unexpectedly lengthy hiatus, due to unforeseen, international business, our series continues with Thrasher's thoughts on the fifth entry in the 007 cycle, You Only Live Twice.

Watching You Only Live Twice today, it’s hard not to think about Austin Powers; though Mike Myers’ films broadly parodied the conventions of all things spy, and obviously its most notable cinematic agent has always been James Bond, You Only Live Twice seems to bear the burden of Powers’ mockery (its love, really). It’s also hard to not see why this one is so easily sent-up. Continuing the trend started by Goldfinger, each successive Bond has been bolder, more salacious and more strange, and its only mission, seemingly, to top the spectacle of the previous film. In many ways, Twice has them all beat, at least when it comes to fireworks. There’s even a pre-credits sequence, in which Bond is “killed” while “on the job,” that brings us back to the gimmicky surprise of From Russia With Love’s opening number. This time, however, MI6 has staged Bond’s death to swerve SPECTRE (a plot device the upcoming Skyfall seems likely to borrow, if the most recent trailers aren’t misleading us). Liberated by his “death,” 007 is sent to Tokyo to investigate the origins of a secret rocket launched into space, which has stolen (or is it swallowed?) American and Russian spacecraft in orbit, setting the two nations at even greater odds than before. Of course, Britain is positioned by this film as the benevolent arbitrator, trying to cool the tensions between two trigger-happy superpowers. The Brits’ efforts are mostly ineffectual, however, and soon war is imminent.

No troubles, though, because Bond’s on the scene, and he has an arsenal of hokey gadgets to help him succeed. “Little Nelly” is the most prominent of these toys, a quick-assemble helicopter he uses to locate the requisite secret volcano lair (“Is it a hollow dead volcano like I asked for?”). Bond is, inevitably, attacked by enemy aircraft, and he engages in one of the sloppiest action sequences in the series. Though green screens are inevitable, and forgivable, in these early Bonds, this time around they are lazily used, incongruous close-up shots inserted into the dogfight, and the effect is unanimously silly, and are in no way pleasing because of their silliness. Same goes for most of the shots involving the launch or recovery of spacecraft. You Only Live Twice is quite often a film stretched beyond the capabilities of its craftsmen. And even though the Japanese locales look lovely and the culture is rendered in a relatively fair manner otherwise, it’s hard to explain, much less excuse, Sean Connery’s yellowface disguise as Japanese peasantry. Is it one of those things you just chalk up to “the times,” shrug, and move on? This is an old film, culturally, aesthetically, stylistically, and socially, so what are the effects of such racism? How much less virulent is the offense when this much time has gone by? Sure, the film has a strictly narrative explanation for his portrayal, and he doesn’t even speak in stereotype, but exactly how much better is this than, say, Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Should I, we, still be offended? It’s tough to say. Twice is more obviously offensive than most Bonds, but I suspect there’s always a bit of sublimation going on for modern audiences watching these old Bond movies; they’re so old-fashioned (there’s a fairly typical bit in Twice when Tiger Tanaka, an ally, tells Bond, “In Japan, men come first and women come second,” and Bond responds, not at all sarcastically, “I just might retire to here.”) that to enjoy them you have to ignore the deeper meanings, or at least resolve not to fight against them, or openly laugh at them, or else the politics might make you want to put a brick through your TV.

Following a rather dull middle portion, things do pick up by the end, and the ensuing ninja-henchmen-Bond-Blofeld firefight is an enjoyably excessive affair. Still, I can’t help but notice the general weariness, not just on the visage of Connery, but on the series as a whole. A change, and a particularly drastic one, was certainly necessary to let the series breathe a bit, even if it was only a temporary, fleeting fix. That reprieve would come swiftly.

Skyfall Trailer

As usual for trailers of 007 films, Skyfall looks to be quite exciting and have those high budget action scenes. Apparently Bond lives more than twice as there is another "resurrection" story (along with a premature come-back narrative). We also have the introduction of a much younger Q (and perhaps along with him the gadgetry for which he is famous). Could this be a push-back more towards Bond's roots?

Bond On Display

As you may very well know, Code Redd Net is currently in the process of reviewing every 007 movie before the release of Skyfall in November. We are not the only ones commemorating Bond's legacy. Greater than 400 items are on display in the Barbican Centre in London (possibly including Scaramanga's third nipple). We thought you might be interested in checking out more of their display, in addition to a video at the Daily Mail.

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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Skyfall Trailer

It's here. More of a teaser, really, so it's hard to gather any impressions beyond the visceral, but it works well enough to get us excited for the film.

Updates on Skyfall, TimeSplitters 4

Here's some news items regarding two of our favorite franchises, courtesy of Chicken Man:

Love that bulldog.

Maybe this isn't exactly new, but The Hub Now has some interesting photos of the upcoming Skyfall. The word for the day is "gritty," I suppose, what with all the sour faces, chiaroscuro lighting, and guns. Really, though, this shouldn't be much of a surprise. Daniel Craig has always brought a more brutal bent to the series than anyone else.

GameSpot has a mini-interview with one of the creators of the TimeSplitters series. Pedestrian stuff for the most part, but it did lead us to another story from late last month: TimeSplitters 4 is not currently in development. Though this is not surprising by any means, it's sad to hear nonetheless. Will we ever see another TimeSplitters game? My guess is no, but I would love to be wrong.

007 Legends Announced

Alright then. Instead of going with a straightforward video game version of the upcoming Skyfall, we get 007 Legends. According to the Guardian games blog, this means the next entry in the series will not only feature levels from Skyfall, but from five other classic Bond flicks. Exactly which five, nobody knows. Furthermore, this one is being put together by the same crew who recently redid GoldenEye. It's not yet known whether or not these classic excursions will be of a similar nature, featuring Daniel Craig and retooled stories to fit his version of 007. This is an intriguing development, especially in light of the mediocre GoldenEye remakes, not to mention the deplorably ho-hum Blood Stone and Quantum of Solace. Going back to the classics makes sense, too, considering that the last quality 007 game was From Russia With Love.

As for the speculation, I think we can expect to see Dr. No as one of the five chosen classics. It is, after all, the fiftieth anniversary of that one this year, and something I suspect the market discourse for Skyfall will obviously draw from. Goldfinger is a virtual lock, as well, being the most canonical film in the series and all. Personally, I would love to golf against Auric, but I shan't hold my breath. As for the other three, we can virtually rule out GoldenEye, and thank goodness for that. The Spy Who Loved Me strikes me as a strong possibility. Personally, I would like to see a few unconventional choices, like the often overlooked On Her Majesty's Secret Service (I can always go for some skiing missions), or maybe one of the Timothy Dalton joints, The Living Daylights or Licence to Kill.

Meet the Skyfall Bond Gals, and now in Imax.

Evidently, their names are Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris, and you can learn all about them in a videoblog on the official 007 website. Catching up on other Skyfall news, according to the same website 007's latest adventure will be released in IMAX theaters. If I had access to an IMAX theater I would probably be pretty excited about it. Alas, I do not.

Skyfall Spoiler Alert: 007 Might Swim At Some Point in the Film

People out on the 'net are reporting that the following photo of a poolside Daniel Craig is a still from the forthcoming and twenty-third 007 film, Skyfall. Take a look for yourself:


Personally, I find that the photo is so nondiscript, so untelling, that whether or not it has been leaked out from the set really doesn't matter because it says nothing of interest. Will Craig's notorious speedo return? Guess we'll just have to wait until November.

Bond 23, Skyfall

The title of the 23rd James Bond film has been announced:


Read more about it here.

Personally, I think it could be worse, and just about anything is better than "Die Another Day."