Scully ON THE GAME

From Russia With Love

It's always been an annoyance to the PlayStation community that the best Bond game, Goldeneye, was only available on the Nintendo 64. Back before the days of the Xbox, that was a real slap in the chops. Try as they might, four successive Bond releases on both the PS1 and PS2 never quite matched up to the N64 offering. Don't get me wrong, they weren't bad, just not as good as the other consoles.

Then came 'Everything Or Nothing' and a new benchmark was set. It had everything a Bond game should have, and more. It was slick, stylish, completely over the top, and it had Pierce Brosnon and co. doing the voiceovers. How could anything live up to this? Well, it couldn't, and sadly the following game, 'Rogue Agent', failed to set the gaming world alight (more like shot down in flames) and Bond fans on all consoles were left wanting once again.

Now we have 'From Russia With Love' and I'm doing really bad Sean Connery impressions again. The question is, is this an 'Everything Or Nothing', or a 'Rogue Agent'? Luckily, it's neither.

As the movie world heads into unknown territory with a new Bond, EA have decided to pick up the original, as both media head down the 60's route with a more stripped down back to basics feel, losing much of the techno-wizardry that has overtaken the newer movies and games.

The opening cut scene begins with a panning shot from Big Ben down to the familiar silver Aston Martin cruising across Westminster Bridge to Parliament and I think to myself, "very cool but if I don't get to drive that DB5, then I'm giving this a zero". Really. It'll be toys out of pram time. Spit the dummy. I want to drive the car.

The first level is a simplistic chase designed to let you get to grips with the controls, which are relatively simple, and then save the girl from the bad men. The onscreen Bond responds well to the controller and the guns and gadgets buttons are quick to master. Select gun, hold Lock-In button, pull trigger, bad guy falls down. A little too easy? At first the automatic aiming system seems to make it seem so, but as the game progresses and the enemies become more numerous, it's obvious that action is the name of the game and manual aiming just isn't going to cut it. There's no real stealth involved here, it's all about quick reactions and shooting first. That said, the addition of the Bond Focus for manual aiming adds to the experience, allowing more precise placing of bullets. Shooting radios to prevent enemies calling for back up makes life is easier and shooting grenades off their belts… well, just makes it more fun really.

Unlike previous games which try to be all things to all players, racing, action, stealth, puzzling, FRWL knows what it wants to be and does it well. That's not to say that there's no variety here, you get to fly the jet pack on several levels, there are a couple of boat chases and, most importantly, that famous car. Oh yes, complete with machine guns, rockets and my personal favourite, the tyre punch, you can drive around the streets of Istanbul causing mayhem.

There are still gadgets involved, but not to the level and complexity of EON. It's this simplistic approach that makes FRWL feel like a more consistent game. Previously, the designers often wanted to cram in as many locations and variations as possible, sometimes making games a little frustrating as the constant change of pace and game style never allows any one of them to shine. It was like playing one level of Splinter Cell, then one of Wipeout with a little shoot 'em up thrown in as well.

FRWL takes place for the most part in Istanbul and all the famous scenes from the movie are there. The underground waterways, the gypsy camp (yes, including the cat-fight) and the villain's all important secret lair. The level design is outstanding, the lair is especially fitting to the style and era of the early films. The sound is crisp although as the music track cycles, you do get the 'about to be attacked' bust from the orchestra at rather odd moments. Having 'Elevator music' playing in the lifts in the midst of a firefight is a real nice touch.

Personally, though, I think the real coup here was getting Sir Sean Connery to dub the voice of Bond. It adds a legitimacy that has been absent before and allows the script to divert from the film version in order to tailor the situations to the game, while still following the film plotline. The rest of the voice acting is also good, too many games now sound like they just dragged someone in off the street and said "read this". The actors here sound professional doing passable impersonations of the actors from the film.

FRWL also has a simple Multiplayer section, with three multiplayer scenarios for you to try. Classic is the standard Kill-the-other-player-before-they-kill-you set up. Sabotage is a variation of Capture the Flag. The last Dogfight is a jetpack battle. After I'd played the main section for a while I asked Herself to try out the multiplayer part. It was hugely entertaining for me while she was still getting to grips with the controls. Not very fair I know, and I'm sure I'll suffer later, but sometimes you just have to stay in the Bond persona and show off. Unfortunately she soon realised that while I was a better shot, she could beat me every time, if only she could get close enough to use her hands and feet. It's the insincere apologies I remember, the "oops, sorry Hon" as she 'accidentally' dropped a hand grenade on my head, or the wicked cackle as she fires one final bullet into my corpse, just to make sure I'm dead. Looks like I'll be paying for dinner tonight and perhaps sleeping with the light on.

On the down side the game play is very linear, there is no real exploration and limited interaction with the environment. That is, you can only climb the things they want you to climb and not the identical box next to it. This could be partially responsible for the shortish length of the game. It took me less than two days to complete on Agent mode. Granted, I'll go back and try it on OO Agent but this is more of a repeat than new game play. There are things to find and collect as you go, but most are so obvious it's almost impossible to miss then, reducing the re-playability. There are also some frame rate problems, just when the action hots up and the screen becomes busiest, the games starts to judder and the flow is lost. An annoyance but not major issue and this only happens occasionally.

Of the collectables, there are Schematics and Attaché Cases hidden in most levels, which give you Research Points that you can use to upgrade you weapons and gadgets. There are also Awards given for such things as speed and difficulty and whether or not you scored the Bond Moment which open up bonus levels during play.

Conclusion

All in all, From Russia With Love is a return to form for the Bond series, different enough from the previous games but still true to the universe. Simplified but not tedious, the style fits the movie era from which it's taken. Solid gameplay, excellent sound, superb graphics, let down by minor niggles and a short lifespan. Best Bond game ever? Possibly, only Everything Or Nothing is as good. Personally, I enjoyed this one more.

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From Russia With Love
Not the longest or most taxing of games, but probably the best Bond title available and a must for dedicated fans.
Overall Rating:	9 out of 10
ESRB Rating:	Teen (13+)
Publisher:	Electronic Arts
Available for:	PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube