8 replies to this topic

[jim74454]

Hey,

Today I was flying home from Orlando and in the airport I picked up a copy of GameNow magazine. On the cover it has a picture of Bond and Dominique Paradis infront of a blue gunbarrel with the caption "WORLD EXCLUSIVE! 007 NIGHTFIRE: IS IT BETTER THAN GOLDENEYE? SEE OUR REVIEW AND STRATEGY GUIDE!"

So of course I picked it up:

The review, word for word:

(NOTE: This is a review of the CONSOLE version)

007 NIGTFIRE
Every Bit As Good As Goldeneye

Indulge me as I step back in time to August 1997. Rare's GoldenEye debuted in stores for Nintendo 64, accompanied by little hype or fanfare. I rented it and wound up waking friends - on a weeknight! - at 1 a.m., insisting they come by to check it out. We played till the sun came up.
After a string of disappointing follow-ups (The World Is Not Enough, Agent Under Fire), I thought that I would never play a Bond game worth comparing to Rare's masterpiece. I was wrong. To my shock, Nightfire is every bit as good as GoldenEye. I can't believe I'm writing such a thing, but it's true. Playing EA's new disc gave me the same hyperkinetic, this-is-so-cool feeling that Rare's breakthrough cartridge gave me five years ago.
This one starts up with an energetic sniping and driving stage - a pretitle scene, as they call it in the movies. Complete that, and you're treated to a lavish title sequence that really gets you into that "James Bond" mood.
Then the meat of the game - the first-person shooting - begins. The FPS levels are beautifully designed; they allow you to take a number of different paths to reach key locations, and each route is unique. You'll fubd yourself retrying many missions just to see what happens when you travel down a different path that you ignored on your prior runs.
Even more impressive are the Aston Martin driving sequences: It's a rush to blow things up while burning a lot of rubber. Or trading lots of water: Bond's submarine-car is also great fun to take for a spin.
As for multiplayer, Nightfire's four-player split-screen mode is tough to top. This year only TimeSplitters 2 offers as much bang for the multiplayer buck. But Nightfire trumps TS2 with its first-rate single-player mode, making it the best all-around FPS adventure title you'll play in 2002.

Pros:
-Action - packed gameplay that never lets up
-Branching paths

Cons:
-Auto-target system is a little too helpful
-No system link or online support

Extras:
-Extensive set of multiplayer options
-New card-collecting system

Over-all Grade:
A
-Ethan Einhorn
WOW! WHAT A GREAT REVIEW! IT EVEN MADE THE TOP-10 LIST OF GAMES PLAYED BY THE EDITORS AT #6. ALSO LISTED AS A MUST FOR THIS HOLIDAY SEASON.

OTHER NEWS FROM THE MAGAZINE:

I will not put the guide up as it will take too long, however here is some more information on the game:

Their list of all the multiplayer characters:
-Bond
-Drake
-Dominique
-Alura
-Kiko
-Ninja
-Rook
-Commando Elite
-Snow Guard
-Yakuza
-Black Ops
-Bond Tux
-Drake Suit
-Christmas Jones
-Elektra King
-Wai Lin
-Xenia Onatopp
-May Day
-Oddjob
-Goldfinger
-Jaws
-Scaramanga
-Baron Semedi
-Renard
-Nick Nack

I must say that I am not very pleased with this list. They put Nick Nack in over Red Grant?! Oh well. I wonder if Eurocom made everyone the same height like in The World Is Not Enough or this time they took into acount the fact that Jaws is huge and Nick Nack is a midget.

There is a picture of the Golden Gun cheat. It looks like it is the same from Agent Under Fire - just a gold Walther P99 or Wolfram P2K as it is called in the game.

You will be able to use the video game equivilents of both a Walther P99 and PPK.

All versions of the game have been delayed until November 21st.

[0010]

WOW! I can't believe it is that good. I haven't been getting my hopes up too much for this one because of the past failures but they finally looked to have gotten it right. Thank you EA and Eurocom.

[jim74454]

I am thinking that EA tried a little of everything:

Tomorow Never Dies - 3rd Person Perspective
The World Is Not Enough - 1st Person Perspective
007 Racing - Driving
Agent Under Fire - Next Generation Graphics, Rail Shooters

...and saw what the responses were to each variation. I am thinking that from the begining they wanted to make a game as good as GoldenEye was. However, they needed something new and they tested their ideas to see public reaction so they could make the ultimate Bond game (Nightfire incorporates everything from the previous games)

If the game is as good as the review says, I don't think I will mind EA's previous flubbs as much because I know they were working to create such a good game.

[rafterman]

they gave it a 9 on their website www.gamers.com

[jim74454]

IGN - who grades the Bond games really hard - gave it an overall score of 8.5 out of 10. They only had 3 problems with it: the single player mode was too short (although it has 12 long missions), sometimes (VERY VERY RARELY) you shoot a guy and he doesn't flinch, and the driving levels don't look as polished. But still, an 8.5 from IGN is GREAT.

They said:

Recommended to everybody. But if you're a 007 fan, NightFire is a must.

They also said:

This is still the best Bond game since GoldenEye, easily.

[jim74454]

One review said: Where GoldenEye is a Sean Connery, this is a Roger Moore (a good one - The Spy Who Loved Me, not A View To A Kill). Not quite as good but still great. Much better than the Timothy Daltons Agent Under Fire and 007 Racing.

[mkkbb]

So we are still waiting for the Pierce Brosnan game then!

[jim74454]

My personal review - I bought the PS2 version yesterday:

I think it is a GREAT game. Multiplayer is fun with lots and lots of options. However, I feel the level selection in multiplayer to be weak. Maybe there are unlockable ones. The previous post of multiplayer characters does not name them all - Pussy Galore for example. But it is still very fun.

The single player is good too...very good. I found it as enjoyable as GoldenEye. However I had two problems. First, the animations of Pierce's face when he is talking sometimes just downright look awkward. Second, the voice actor they used sounds nothing like Pierce.

Overall, I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

[PaulZ108]

8.anything from IGN is at least a 9 from anyone else. IGN seems to grade everything hard, Bond games especially, that isn't the latest installment of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (Which they always adore).