007: Agent Under Fire review

Worth the ten bucks I paid.

Review written by
Nova

Similar to many reviewers, I find great joy in reviewing games that I bought and played years ago as I find myself wanting to play the game again during the time I remember the good times... and swallow the bad. So here's my review to a game that I found in Blockbuster's "we don't want it anymore 'cause it doesn't make us money anymore" bin.

Gameplay

As a player of n64 bond games, I can say that this game plays pretty much the same. But that is a good thing as I can recall most noting the excellence of a certain Goldeneye. The player starts out somewhere in China (one out of the three normalities: China, Russia, and the middle east). And as the story progressed, I couldn't help but feel the ache of repetition. Of course they put in a few driving and riding missions in to shake things up a bit, and with solid controls, a plethora of on-car weapons, including rockets, missiles, machine-gun, and so on, these are welcome additions to an average, bargain bin, unknown, turkey sandwich. One annoyance I ran into was when I was being chased by the villain in a helicopter who wanted nothing more than to turn Bond into swiss cheese. The game gave me a bazooka and I immediately thought, "shoot the helicopter". I did and the heli went down. Unfortunately for me, the game didn't want me to shoot the helicopter. A message came up saying "mission failed", and I was forced to start over the thirty minute mission. Common sense may not come in handy.

But don't get me wrong, even with the few impossibly hard missions and some annoying characters, this is still a diamond in the piece of coal that is the video game industry average spill. But if you're anything like me, you'll find hours of fun with the surprising multiplayer, which I wish some more well known games would imitate. You can change gravity, change weapon arrangements, change speed, add jetpacks, have up to three bots (which is especially nice if you have no one to play multi with in the first place), make everyone die from one bullet, and even make everyone use the famed "golden gun" which is an instant kill but needs reloading every time it's shot. There are plenty of areas to fight in too but most are pretty much the same layout. In short, single player is average while multiplayer takes the cake.

Graphics

I can say that while some of the environments are flashy, most of what you see is a mediocre on rye and you will see better on Nightfire. As an fps (first person shooter to the unnerds), gun detail is pretty important to develop an opinion and if I had anything to say about it, I would give a big, neutral ehh. It's alright but doesn't stun me. In all honesty it has been a while and I can only remember a few problems. There is a somewhat open world in some missions and while it is cool in more realistic games, watching people phase through your car when you try to run them over looks incredibly bizarre. Naturally everything that isn't part of the mission objective is indestructible, but it is interesting to note that windows on even the tallest skyscrapers break when shot or hit by something and store windows will do the same with the addition of an alarm. The graphics are generally lower end Gamecube and if I can relate it (especially the driving) to anything, I would say Grand Theft Auto III, but without the violence and blood.

Sound

Sound/music is probably the least on anyone's mind when thinking about a game. But this game does okay. Voices are interpretable, each gun has its own unique sound, and the music gives good atmosphere. Calm music plays when you are in a state of peace and the overture begins to play as soon as bullets begin to fly. The cars both also have individual noises.

Lifespan

I was personally surprised at the number of missions. Of course not as surprised as the number of missions in 007: Everything or Nothing. Even after playing, several of the missions are still a lot of fun, especially the driving ones. There is even a mission that involves a tank and while it is a rail shooter, it is fun to try to set some records. There are awards to collect and achievements to achieve even after the game is complete. I still have fun playing multiplayer with bots and even setting up certain rules for these matches is fun and the combinations of these rules are countless. If I'd put a number of hours I'd say maybe 30 hours depending on how much multiplayer you want.

The game is decent. There are evident flaws and while it is the review's job to point them out, I'd be nit-picking if I introduced every little one. You'll have fun with this game and it's a steal when you think about it. It was ten bucks when I bought it four years ago, I can't imagine what it's worth now.