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Mr.
Anthony dons his tuxedo...
By James
Anthony
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Ssssshh!!
You smell that?
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The James Bond classic
Goldeneye made (or is that saved) the N64, and 007 Agent Under Fire
will come close to doing the same for Playstation 2.
I can see it now, the game will sell bazillions of copies
and for many very valid reasons.
It has all the ingredients of the ancient classic, but with superior
graphics, storyline and multiple action modes.
Your basic mission is to save the world from all manner of nasties.
A well-known corporation is becoming a little, how do you say, screwed
up? It owns data that will essentially allow it to clone people.
After this it just plans on taking over the world - but they didn't
count on one thing - 007.
To help you (or hinder you) there is the usual bevy of beauties
- CIA agent Zoe Nightshade, Bebe and Bella, the killer twins, and
the deadly Carla the Jackal - as well as the likes of chief boffin
R (move over Q) and M.
You have 12 levels to complete and each brings a different set
of problems to solve. The 3D-action ones are a throwback to the
days of Goldeneye - only with much better graphics. There is a terrific
selection of weapons, gadgets and doodads that will have wannabe
secret agents grinning from ear to ear.
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Have
a look at those shadows - very nice
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The Wolfram P2K, rocket launcher, sniper rifle and assault rifle
are all fine at bringing down those pesky henchmen, but you can
also opt for the killer judo chop.
Next come the driving missions where you can jump into a couple
of Beemers: the 750iL or Z8, or get a decent British motor in the
Aston Martin DB5.
All of the cars have outrageous weaponry attached, but the fantastic
part about them is the superb driving physics of the cars. Seriously,
a lot of motor-sport developers should sit up and take notice of
the amazing feel of driving one of these Bond cars. They react perfectly
to input via the controller and before long you'll be performing
180-degree, handbrake skids, while firing stinger missiles at your
foes.
There's even a level in there where Zoe Nightshade takes control
of the 7 Series BMW, while you ride shotgun, literally. You're given
360 degree movement, as you pop out of the sunroof, to shoot all
the baddies who are very keen on giving you an bloody nose.
They include other cars and vans and helicopters making for an
adrenalin-pumping, almost Time Crisis 2-like level. The freedom
to move around, shoot guys with a machine gun or change to a rocket-propelled
grenade launcher is extremely cool.
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It also
stores 300 numbers, has 12 ring tones...
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Also on hand to assist you in beating the ratbags are a host of
special gadgets that R provides. These include the Q-claw, a fantastic
little grappling hook, the Q-jet for flying about, the Q-Laser for
zapping through locks and the like and lastly the Q-decryptor, vital
for busting into hi-tech, high security establishments.
Along the way you can pick up armour or extra ammo and, of course,
you can nick the bad guys' guns.
The action is fast flowing - in a sort of a Time Crisis way - and
you need to manage to complete a number of mission objectives before
moving on to the next level. Most are fairly straightforward, but
as the game progresses, the tasks get substantially tougher.
Apart from being Bondie on your own, you can go multiplayer and
test your abilities against his enemies. There's a multiplayer training
ground where you take on other agents in combat training, protect
the flag and a golden gun area where - as you would expect - one
cap knocks your enemy dead. In singleplayer you need to unlock the
Golden Gun mode.
007: Agent Under Fire is one of the most accessible, fun and interesting
action games around in a long time. It may be a bit short, but we
guarantee you'll play it through more than once. Like Goldeneye
you are also given a brozne, silver or gold rating at the end of
each level. Get all gold on all levels and you'll be in for a neat
surprise.
At the end of the day, Agent Under Fire is an extremely entertaining
action title, with just the right amount of variety to add a massive
dose of addictiveness. It's very engrossing. If I practise enough
I'll show that Doug McDonald a thing or two - him having kicked
my butt at Goldeneye for far too long!
If you buy a PS2, then 007: Agent Under Fire would be an ideal
game to partner it.
Game:
James Bond 007 - Agent Under Fire
System: Playstation 2
Players: 1-2
Memory Card: Yes
Developer: Electronic
Arts
Distributor: EA
Rating: 70%
(Ratings
Key/Explantion)
James Bond 007 - Agent Under Fire is on the shelves now.
007: Agent Under
Fire website
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