N64 Review: The World is Not Enough (EA, 2000)

Following the disappointing Tomorrow Never Dies game, TWINE for N64 is a true successor to the legendary GoldenEye 007 (though many would likely disagree). Some things are better, some things are not. However, as I try to list in my mind the things that made TWINE better (AI bots in multiplayer) and features GE had that it did not (cheats, extra levels, 007 mode), I find that the list of differences between them is rather small. In both, you play as James Bond in the first person, you wield firearms, you play with gadgets, etc. They share the important things. So why is GE so often touted as the far superior game? This is my theory. At least for myself, and I'm sure for many, GE was the first FPS that I'd ever played and therefore set a standard. Going back to it gives a sense of nostalgia, which can often be powerful in shaping attitudes towards games (objectively, a game like Winback might not impress more modern players; to some of us, it is like a little bit of heaven in a disaster area). Also helping GE to attain legendary status were the crazy glitches, which gave us another reason to keep playing it. But another thing is important as well. I believe that sequence is important. The degree to which we are let down by an inferior sequel is of much greater magnitude than the excitement we would feel with a superior one. For example, I would suggest that if TWINE had been released first and GE after, the feelings of GE superiority would not be to the same degree as the disappointment some feel over TWINE. It seems we have a greater disposition towards negativity than optimism. The point: TWINE for N64 is a fine game and more people would recognize it if it weren't for GoldenEye 007's shadow.

PS1 Review: The World is Not Enough (EA, 2000)

Unfortunately, most 007 games operate within fairly predictable first person shooter sensibilities, acting like children dressing up for the first time in James Bond's expensive tuxedo, livery poorly tailored for them. Nothing fits the license besides a liberal sprinkling of 007 logos, the signature theme music, and a few Rolex-sponsored watch gadgets to momentarily relieve players from simply shooting seemingly limitless thugs with an assortment of automatic weaponry. The World is Not Enough fits this bill for the most part, except for an exceptional, and altogether too short, excursion into generic unconventionality. In a mission titled "Russian Roulette," Bond must earn $100,000 at a casino in order to press Valentin Zukovsky for information about the activities of a terrorist known as Renard. After sneaking past the lax security detail and acquiring a $25,000 credit voucher, players step up to an empty blackjack table for a high-stakes game, continuing to gamble until the 100K objective has been completed. Amass an excessive bankroll and MI6 will issue a stern warning through your phone. Touches like these, quite uncommon still in contemporary Bond games, distinguish TWINE as a uniquely authentic 007 experience, however nascent in execution. The remaining 10 missions entertain in a more visceral fashion, alternating between levels of stealth and messy firefights. Short movie clips bracket the similarly short missions, blending sometimes seamlessly, sometimes haphazardly with the missions themselves. No multi-player mode means the PS1 version of TWINE fails to extend its lifespan beyond one or two times through, except for those curious few Bond aficionados interested in alternatives to the Call of Duty mindset of the more recent Quantum of Solace, Blood Stone, and Goldeneye 007.


P.S. Enjoy a video of some dufus playing through "Russian Roulette":

PS2 Review: Everything or Nothing (EA, 2004)

What makes for a great James Bond game? Certainly it must have the feel of the James Bond film or novel, that curious and pleasurably perplexing posture of self-seriousness and self-consciousness, manifested in its multiple car-tank-ski-bobsled chases, its often blatant sexism, heterosexism, racism, colonialism, its abundant violence, its preternatural gadgets and vulgar puns, and its signature music. These sensibilities have been tethered to many games in the past, mostly first-person shooters. And while shooters like the inimitable GoldenEye 007 (Nintendo, 1997) and the underappreciated The World is Not Enough (EA, 2000) still have that James Bond feel to them, to my thinking they were wonderful shooters first, and Bond games second. Everything or Nothing (EA, 2004) reverses that trend, foregrounding the Bond sensibility, that authentic feel, and tailoring its style to fit this amalgam. The authenticity of Everything or Nothing is in its appropriately absurd storyline and its cavalcade of stars (including the likenesses and voices of Pierce Brosnan, Willem Dafoe, Shannon Elizabeth, and Richard Kiel reprising his role as Jaws). Fittingly for the technophiliac themes of Brosnan's Bond, gadgets are front and center, most notably the humorous, but equally versatile, spiderbots. Variety wins the day for this game: players shoot, sneak, skydive and rappel; drive jeeps, motorcycles, tanks, and helicopters. No two missions are anything alike. Everything or Nothing also bucks the trend in regards to its multiplayer support. While previous Bond games have been vaunted for their anything-goes, all-for-one deathmatches, EoN features a co-op storyline instead, and it succeeds, better perhaps than any other co-op game on the market. It's so good one easily forgives and forgets the mediocre, but somewhat charming, arena mode. I dare say no other Bond game, before or since, has come anywhere near EoN in replicating the aforementioned feel of Bond for the video game medium.