007: From Russia With Love
Score: 76% ESRB: Teen Publisher: EA Games Developer: EA Games Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Shooter/ Action/ Adventure
Graphics & Sound: The James Bond franchise has a long and colorful history in video games, each time with the intent of trying to capture the unique action, flavor, and style of James Bond. Sometimes these ideas work, and sometimes they don’t. The latest attempt is From Russia With Love by EA Games, and it does a fairly decent job of recreating your typical Bond action. Stylistically, From Russia With Love basically nails it, but falters at times. This is the first Bond game to feature the voice and likeness of Sean Connery, and recaptures the unique look and feel of the many varied locations from the 1960’s movie of the same name. However, there are portions when the style is replaced by a more generic feeling. I’ve seen enough “generic” warehouses and laboratories. It’s not a big issue, but serves notice that the game doesn’t keep up its high levels of quality throughout the entire experience. Technically, the game's graphics are quite impressive. The old adage is that graphics aren’t that important, but they should matter a bit more when you’re making a game based off a visual medium like film, especially now that current hardware can do so well in recreating it. Thankfully, From Russia With Love does not disappoint and with few exceptions maintains a high quality of presentation throughout. The sound effects and voice acting are quite good. Again, coming from a source material with such a rich heritage, it was important for the sound to reflect that same high quality and does a great job. Musically, the game presents the classic Bond montages and musical elements superbly.
Gameplay: The difference between a Bond game and Bond movie is interactivity. It’s fun to watch Bond be Bond, but there is an even greater potential for fun in being Bond. It is important to separate a Bond game from feeling like a generic action/ adventure/ shooter by infusing it with that unique Bond flavor. After all, this isn’t just some common man or soldier with a gun, this is James Bond. From Russia With Love succeeds at this in some areas, and falters in others. While it definitely has a peppering of Bond flavor throughout, and creates some truly immersive Bond-like moments, the core of the game still plays like a fairly typical 3rd person shooter. If you do not find the Bond elements especially interesting, you probably won’t get much out of this title. Additionally, the driving portions of the game feel very rough, and is one aspect where the Bond veneer is sorely lacking. You have access to all of the assault tank-style weaponry of a Bond car, but the game lacks the controls to let you drive it smoothly. Perhaps I’m just a horrible driver, but I simply couldn’t cruise down the street like the smooth cat Bond is. The controls had me veering off and bumping into everything under the sun. If that sort of thing doesn’t bother you, it’s not big deal, but you feel decidedly un-Bondlike while doing it. Of course, the entire point of a Bond game is for the Bond moments - when you see an incredibly daunting situation and figure out a way to sail through it like it was trivial. Certain stages actually have specific moments just like this, and if you figure out the easy way through, you get awarded with a “Bond Moment” award. Even shooting has an extra level of Bond style to it. With the press of a button, you can shift into a secondary shooting mode that allows you to shoot specific areas on an enemy. If they have a radio, you can shoot that off; if they’re hanging from a rope, you can shoot the rope, etc. You also frequently will earn red stars for doing this which, like the “Bond Moments”, contribute to your score at the end of a stage which you can use to purchase upgrades. No Bond game is complete without gadgets and From Russia With Love delivers. Even the very first stage has you flying around on a jet pack, and the requisite laser watch is ever present. You often aren’t required to make use of your gadgets, but doing so cleverly can make your tasks much easier.
Difficulty: From Russia With Love offers three difficulty settings for each stage, awarding you special points for clearing them on the most difficult. If you aren’t too concerned with unlocking all of the game's extras and just working through the storyline, you should be able to find a difficulty for every stage that will challenge you enough to make the journey fun without encumbering you with unnecessary frustration. In short, any player should be challenged as much as necessary.
Game Mechanics: The story of the game follows that of the movie, with Bond intentionally springing a trap laid for him by a criminal organization called SPECTRE. The plot gets more complicated as things progress, as plots tend to do, and the result is a faithful retelling of this 1960’s classic. The game features an obligatory multiplayer mode, but as I said before, the real fun in this game is from the peppering of Bond style on situations in the single player game. When you get to multiplayer, all that’s really left is that fairly typical 3rd person shooter core. The multiplayer mode isn’t really anything special. You’ll likely have far more fun on the single player missions, especially if you’re a big Bond fan and don’t abhor shooter games.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
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