Reader Reviews

James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (PS2/Xbox/Cube)

by Robo_1

Everything or Nothing marks EA's 6th attempt at bringing Bond to the digital arena; following on from a stream of "try harder" FPSs, which seemed to miss the Bond magic and high octane gameplay fans craved. From early on in EoN's development, it was obvious that EA was placing substantial confidence in its latest Bond vehicle, typified in their early press releases which included numerous Goldeneye comparisons, which were as bold as they were direct.

For many fans, it would seem that EA's confidence has been justified. Average user ratings from most gaming sites have put the game in the 8-9 score range, whilst critics have broadly agreed that the game is average to excellent. Bond fans themselves (information taken from MI6, Bond forum) were so enamoured by the game, that cries of outrage were to be heard when OXM awarded the game an otherwise reasonable 8/10.

If nothing else, EA have scored with the audience they set out to please, but should gaming's gnarl-toothed stalwarts (just check if you own any Treasure games) be as impressed, or have EA simply caught up with the quality a lot of other developers have been producing for years?

If you can praise Everything or Nothing for nothing else, you would have to concede that it's presented with a digital polish, and dedication to detail that distinguishes it in the medium. Typified by the cheesy albeit catchy Bond song, (sung by in-game Bond girl: Mya) and delivered with an extremely nice graphical panache, it's clear from the outset that EA have spared no expense in making Bond's small screen world every bit as believable as his silver screen outings. The game's story, (something about Nano bots) was scripted by Bruce Feirstein, who also shares writing credits for "The World is Not Enough", "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "GoldenEye". Adding further authenticity to the game, film stalwarts, along with William De Foe, (who plays lunatic villain, Nikolai) all lend their ivory talents to their digital counterparts.

Everything or Nothing is spread across a total of 30 third-person and vehicle-based levels, which take in four fantastically realised locations, ranging from sun swept Egypt, the caves and jungles of Peru, the lavish villas and streets of New Orleans, and climaxing in and under Moscow's now infamous Red Square. Getting through all that is no small task, and even ignoring the three difficulty levels, platinum challenges (a mixture a time, shooting and health based side objectives), and delving into the unlockable MGS2 VR styled training simulator, the whole game should take you at least 12-15 hrs of play to see through.

The game kicks off in typical Bond fashion, with a life or death intro mission to break in proceedings. This level seizes the opportunity to teach you the basics of third-person combat, and central to this, is the game's targeting system. After reading the many reviews of EoN, it seems that one of the most vital elements to enjoying the game, lies with your evaluation of its targeting system. EoN employs a Syphon Filter/Dead to Rights type lock on system, with a twist of Kill.switch's peek-and-shoot dynamic thrown in.

Personally, I found the targeting system used in EoN far more refined than any of its contemporaries. For basic run and gun moments, a squeeze of the left trigger will lock onto the first available enemy, whilst a simple nudge of the right analogue stick will swiftly lock onto the next available target. Ninety percent of the time it all works fine, but very occasionally, the lock on will simply refuse to acknowledge overhead enemies, or will actually lock onto an enemy through a wall. Moments like this are regrettable, but after two complete runthroughs of the game, I've only encountered them a handful of times.

Counter-balancing these problems somewhat, you are provided with a number of alternative combat and targeting tactics. Unashamedly jumping straight onto the bullet time band wagon, EoN introduces "Bond Sense", to give you an incredibly slowed down view of the game, where any objects or devices Bond can use (usually to help you achieve the games 95 cinematic Bond moments) are highlighted. If the auto lock on feature is having trouble with an enemy, or you have a very specific shooting order in mind, you can use this mode to target any enemy (providing you are carrying a weapon with enough range) within the playing area. If an enemy is getting too close to you, Bond can also employ a number of basic but practical fighting manoeuvres, to both disarm and put down an enemy. If stealth is a concern, you can knock enemies unconscious, by throwing scattered bottles or various metallic objects at them.

Finally, the aforementioned "Kill.switch" shooting mould is taken and adapted by EoN. With a press of the black button, Bond will wall hug, and upon reaching a corner can target unsuspecting enemies. What's nice about this mode, is the ability to either quickly target an enemy and score a few cheap shots, or to take manual aim of the red targeting dot, and go for the head shot. With enemies often being obscured by crates or other obstacles, you have to work for a head shot result, but this to my mind helps keep the games difficulty curve in check, and creates a fresh challenge as opposed to a cheap way of blazing through the game.

For the most part, the difficulty curve is pitched just right. There is no question that later levels of the game are hard, but they are usually presented in manageable chunks of roughly 10-15 minutes, (if you know where you're going) and so whilst mid-save points are rare, it's never that heavy a chore to have to start from the beginning of a stage. Most importantly though, I never felt as if the game was changing the rules to make later levels harder. If you fail a level, it's usually because you ran out shooting instead of surveying the area, or didn't make enough use of cover or gadgets. This can seem quite unforgiving, and as enemies regularly appear from spawn points, restarting a level because you were caught you off guard can become a regular and frustrating occurrence. Particularly on 00 difficulty, the game represents quite a challenge, requiring you to stay sharp at all times. Make no mistake, EoN demands more from its players than the point and shoot rules which applied to its fore bearers, and your enjoyment of the game will depend very much on your tolerance for a gameplay model, which is regularly trying to catch you out.

Displaying yet another step out from under the shadow of mediocrity, EA offer players a number of alternate routes through certain levels. The most noteworthy of which, is the choice to complete the wonderfully fast paced train chase level, by either bike or car. It's somewhat of a token choice, but it's a nice distraction none the less. More interesting though, is a later New Orleans level, which requires you to quickly steal a van. Steal it in time, and you can load your Aston Martin into the back of it, for use in the next level. This level of openness also colours the rest of the gameplay. Levels can often be completed through a mix of all out shooting, stealth techniques, (augmented greatly by the use of an invisibility enabling nano suit and thermo goggles) or Bond gadgets, like the smart and functional Q spider. Each level is a bit like a giant puzzle, where you have to decide how and when it's best to use the above techniques.

Whilst the bulk of EoN is played on foot, a nice selection of SpyHunter flavoured vehicle sections, help punctuate the third person action. Powered and developed by the Need For Speed Underground engine and team, the vehicle sections are a drastic improvement to the limited experience (being told when to use Bond gadgets etc) provided by Nightfire. The maps are big, the handling is NFS arcade style, and the gadgets are SpyHunter. Split between one easy but enjoyable helicopter level, a number of car and bike destination based levels, a scene setting rally race, and two extremely welcome tank driving (and blasting) sections, the variation in gameplay styles is to be commended. The handling (particularly of the bike) may be considered overly sensitive by those not used to the NFS school of driving, but unless you've just come from a 24 hour PGR2 session, one or two plays should settle you into it.

The bulk of vehicle gadgets used are mainly old school, (rockets, oil slick etc) but EoN still holds a few nice surprises in this area. For example, one of the earlier levels requires you to clear a roadblock made from the local military. In order to fully distract them, you can take control of a Q supplied RC car, to sneak inside a fireworks shop and set them off, which thusly clears the roadblock. EoN isn't carried by its gadgets though, and for the obvious work that went into the RC car (authentic view point etc), it's only used twice throughout the game.

The gadgets used on foot are also neat additions, the most exciting of which has to be the rappel cable. Rappelling down an exploding building, whilst shooting pursuing enemies is quite a rush, and the whole control and functionality of the device is about as intuitive as it gets. Another level sees a variation of this mode, where Bond jumps off a cliff edge to catch his parachute-lite girl. It's a nice sub-game, but the initial difficulty players had with this level, brings us to another element of EoN, which seems to have polarised opinion.

At first it seems you just can't fall quick enough to catch her, but after a few goes, player perception should take over, and you'll soon notice little gaps in the cliff which Bond can slip through to eventually catch up. The question is, should these gaps have been signposted more clearly, to stop the initial few frustrating attempts? It all depends by how much you want a game to take you by the hand. Most of the game's signposting comes from Q, who will often offer hints and advice on how to best use your gadgets to defeat bosses or complete specific objectives; along with M's more to the point reiteration of the mission objective, and a practical map for the vehicle sections. I always felt guided more than patronised, and most of the time I found a better sense of achievement by figuring out the finer details of the mission objectives for myself.

Overall the general gameplay is fast, fun, challenging, and executed with considerable aplomb. The targeting system isn't perfection personified, but even the staunchest of critics would be hard pressed to say that the few times it does misbehave is catastrophic. The driving offers variety in spades, and whilst some levels may only be there to add to the Bond, as opposed to the gaming experience, the arcade pace and superbly cinematic Bond moments are as much fun to be a part of as the challenge of the game itself.

The graphics and sound (that would be THX approved sound), are all from the top shelf. Textures have a real graphical sheen to them, and the accompanying animation (rumoured, along with some very nice particle effects, to have benefited from EA's Christmas reshuffle, which saw EoN being given an extra two months of polishing) has a real life force about it. Character models are all noteworthy, and the depiction of Pierce Brosnan's Bond does the man proud.

The sound effects used are spot on, each gun fire has that clap of thunder feel about it, whilst the orchestrated soundtrack could quite easily be playing on top of any of the films. Personally I prefer a little more drama in my music, but I'm certainly not going to split hairs when you consider how polished EoN already is in this field.

The camera is fairly versatile in viewpoint, and I've had next to no trouble with it, even when enclosed battles do cause the camera to hide behind an object, it can quickly be re-centred again, with a press of the R1 stick.

The controls are all intuitive, and you are given full control over inverting and modifying them, which helps greatly for the helicopter stage. Likewise, the vehicle controls will sit well with anyone who's ever played a NFS game, and the controlling of any extra Bond gadgets (RC car and Q spider) has been kept simple but functional. A further example of EoN's player friendly focus, is the in-game weapon and gadget selecting, which is handled through an immediate quick select included on the d-pad, or through the semi-paused, "Bond Sense" mode. Either way should afford most players a seamless method of quickly equipping yourself.

The game itself has neither PAL borders or slow down, so I'm guessing either EA have finally got around to providing a 60Hz mode, or the Devil's stopped paying his heating bill, and they are doing proper PAL conversions. The frame rate very rarely drops, with only the driving sections showing the slightest of splutters (usually caused by excess particle effects).

EoN features a smart co-op play mode, where two players can run through the whole game working in partnership. I have yet to complete this mode, but it seems to feature a different set of levels, with some basic (two players needed to unlock a door at the same time) co-operative techniques. Added to this are time, point and survival variations, which despite having no Live support, flesh out a very respectable multiplayer mode.

EA's usual flock cannot fail to be impressed by this game, and whilst the more avid gamer will pull a little harder at its loose ends, for me, the game's harder moments, lack of true innovation, and it's few targeting troubles, pale into nothingness when off set against the overall fun I've had, shooting, sneaking and racing with all the excitement and style worthy of Bond himself.

Everything or Nothing isn't about originality, quirkiness, or providing gaming Nirvana, it set out to provide the best Bond experience you can have, without taking your paycheques from MI6. GoldenEye redefined the console FPS, and for that it will never be forgotten or - for many - bettered, but regardless of its inevitable comparisons, EoN has succeeded in being a sublime Bond experience, and almost through necessity, a damn fine game to boot.