First Impressions: The name is still Bond, James Bond.
James Bond will always return. It's inevitable in the movies, and it's beginning to look that way in the video game world as well. After spending the coming Christmas in the arms of Christmas Jones at the end of The World is Not Enough, James Bond is called back into action. Now he's an agent under fire in this original 007 adventure. That's right kiddies, it's brand spankin’ new, it’s not based on any movie, book, or cartoon starring Bond's arrogant nephew.
As far as the story goes though, it really is original, or original as a Bond story can get. Interrupting your order of shaken, not stirred martinis and bedding beautiful women comes word that a criminal mastermind named Malprave has developed the technology to clone people for the purpose of a fully staffed post office. No! This is a Bond villain; he wants to create an army that will help him take over the world. Faster than you can say "Bond, James Bond", our suave hero is off to save the world.
As everyone knows, the world of Bond revolves around beautiful women, his trusty Walther PPK, martinis, and all those little toys Q makes. Really, what would a Bond game be without some new toys? Well opening up the weapons closet, EA has given us the standard assortment of pistols, shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, and a nifty little gadget called the Q Claw. Basically, Bond is going to make like Batman with this grappling hook that will let him scale buildings quick enough to put Spider Man to shame. If you've seen the hookshot in action in The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time you'll know exactly how the Q Claw will work. But if climbing buildings isn't your thing, EA has promised us that Bond will don a jetpack once more (easily the coolest thing from the old school Bond movie Thunderball).
And of course James Bond has the coolest cars. This opens up the second big change for the Bond gaming universe. EA has said that about one third of the game will involve a combination racing/car combat style in addition to the first person shooter parts that we all know and love. I'm a little worried about this because mixed genre games rarely ever work. Just look at Star Wars: Shadows of The Empire, certain levels are always better than other levels and they always leave you wanting more of the great levels and less of the boring ones. That always hurts replay, but if anyone can make it work, EA can.
Graphically, Agent Under Fire moves at the magic number of 60 frames per second, so the action is always fluid and sharp. And we get some fairly nice visuals to go along with our zippy frame rate. The graphics are truly Bond-like and will definitely give Red Faction a run for its money as the most attractive shooter on the PS2. The look of the game really takes everything we saw in GoldenEye and The World is Not Enough and cranks it up, PS2 style. I like what I’ve seen so far.
And in case you’re worried, Agent Under Fire will feature a four player multiplayer mode. There is really nothing else like a Bond death match, so let's hope EA can make it as good as the gaming public expects it to be. But as for right now, EA hasn't shown or even said anything about the multiplayer mode other than that it exists.
