User Rating: 7.7 | James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing PS2
By Greydawg | Review Date:
OK, auto-aiming SUCKS! And can't Bond jump 2 feet high?! I haven't finished this game yet, but only because I'm trying to get all the goals and Bond moves on each of the levels first. The levels sort of require you to memorize certain patterns sometimes or to meticulously calculate your next move. In other words, this game requires a lot thought if you want to put that kind of effort into it. If you want to feel like James Bond, this game gives you the ability to put yourself into situations where you HAVE to think like Bond--on your feet and very smart. Now, I love games with unlockable features and extra goals. Sometimes I won't even ever look at the unlockables, I just enjoy obtaining them. This game is LOADED with stuff like that, from higher difficulty levels to cheats to production art and so on. The Bond moves make the game that much more unique, and you'll spend a lot of time searching them out since they do (sometimes) add depth to the game. However, some of the Bond moves are a bit too specific. One example is that you have to shoot a barrel to make it explode and take out two guards, but you have to blow up the barrel FIRST, meaning you can't use a rocket with splash damage or anything like that. So what happens is you will get a Bond move, then die know how to replicate the Bond move. There is also a bit of stealth action involved with many of the Bond moves. It's kinda cool, but the guards are smart enough to always find their dead buddies, which you CAN'T MOVE out of sight. What it boils down to is some of the Bond moves require you to feel more like a robot than Bond because you have to execute certain moves in perfect order instead of using instinct and reflexes. One of the most annoying features is the lack of a jump function. AHH! You'll see power ups right in front of your nose being blocked by nothing more than a log or a row of bricks one-foot tall! AHH! It does incorporate into the way you play the game, but come on, Bond could just high-step over some of these things in real life, but not in the game. Every time I had a situation like this, I felt a little cheated about Bond's abilities. OK, and the auto-aiming... You HAVE to target an enemy or interactive element to shoot it. i.e., there is no first-person or freehand aiming whatsoever! I can kinda understand why they did this, but the frustration is from the fact that the enemy doesn't seem to have that problem. Example; I leaned into a huge open outdoor area to scout for enemies. Next thing I know I'm getting splash damage from a rocket shot by an enemy too far away to see, let alone target. I COULD pick him off if I only had a way to shoot him without having to target him... Shady. You can use your "Bond sense" to slow time and try to target specific items (by the way, you can't target non-enemy items like barrels without using Bond sense! BAD!), but I'd rather just have a more refined targeting and/or aiming system alltogether. Bond sense is also the only way to run through your inventory, which is a little messy as well. And you have thermal vision to see in the dark, but your Bond sense will help you target enemies much more easilly than using their heat signature. Yyour enemies apparently have no problem whatsoever seeing in complete darkness as they will destroy you with incredible accuracy if you're not prepared. There are some good points to the targeting though. One you have something locked, you can move a little dot around to give your aim a lot more precision, and since Bond IS, after all, an MI-6 agent, his aim is deadly. It allows for lots of really cool head shots, which do drop your enemy immediately. The enemies have aim just as good as yours though, so even peeking around corners can get you in trouble. The hand-to-hand combat looks GREAT and is fun, but as soon as you drop one guy, another enemy who has been watching you fight will immediately shoot you in the back. Some of the scenarios and Bond moves are absolutely phenomenal though. At one point in the game your actually free-falling to catch up with a "damsel in disteress" on her way down the edge of a cliff, all the while you're shooting at guards, dodging cliff walls, and getting shot at! Pretty crazy. Also, the driving in the game is FUN. The motorcycle stuff in particular is a blast, especially the Bond moves on a bike. It also feels very fast, particularly in the city areas, which look absolutely stunning. The Co-op stuff is fun and smooth, but can be a bit too frustrating to just be called "challenging". But you really do get the feeling of covering your buddy's back and working as a team, which it does better than, say, Halo. I'd say Halo co-op is more fun, but Bond co-op is more co-operative. Switching your weapons in co-op can be dangerous because time doesn't slow down for you to scroll through your inventory. The voice acting is great, mostly because of the use of the real-life actors. Willem Dafoe has an indistinguishable voice, but unfortunately had to incorporate a strange accent for his character. Some of the in-game voice acting will throw you off since all other sounds get muted and the dialogue tends to sound forced (particularly from the "Bond babes"). Also, the graphics are pretty good. Fire and explosions look great, as do many of the subtle reflective surfaces. The character models at least look like their real-life counterparts, but James seems to have a particularly stiff back when he walks upright. There are a lot of animations, and most of them look good. The enemies can certainly seem repetitive at times, particularly in the co-op modes. I haven't noticed any slowdown per say, which says a lot considering you'll see a lot of enemies, gunfire, explosions, and detailed environments on the screen at the same time. There is a lot of variety to the missions, including the driving scenes, and this really helps the game feel more complete and enjoyable by distracting you from the sketchy targeting system and lack of manual aim. In short, I'd reccomend this as a rental to anyone that likes shooting action because there is a lot of it, and this game does that pretty well. I'm not sure that I regret buying it yet, but I do regret certain missing features and problems that hold the game back from being otherwise flawless.

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