With 007: Nightfire, Electronic Arts has found a way to meld the memories and desires of both audiences in what is definitely the best Bond game since Goldeneye and arguably the most entertaining first-person shooter since Halo. If you want gadgets and romance, Nightfire has it. If you want rapid-fire multiplayer battles with dozens of characters, Nightfire has it. And if you want variety of gameplay modes that would make even the most ADD gamer proud, Nightfire has it – for about 10 to 12 hours.

Gameplay
From the opening sequence, you’re thrust into the James Bond universe. A slick montage with smooth “Bondian” music tells the story of an international escapade that will ultimately take you to space before moving on to your next love interest. Although the story will leave you shaken but not stirred by its originality, it’s about as Bond as a Bond game can get without being tied to a feature film. And its production values are top-notch.

Toward the end of this intro you watch a rendered video of Bond rescuing a damsel being pursued by van-driving thugs trying to disable her vehicle. Just as you’re about to settle in with some popcorn, though, the scene comes under your control, with you in charge of the Aston Martin’s missiles and guns. Lesson Number One as you race through the streets of Paris: learn to expect the unexpected, and look good while doing it.

As unexpected as the opening driving sequence may be, it foreshadows just how varied the gameplay in 007: Nightfire truly is. You start the game expecting a first-person shooter, but you soon find out that the game has multiple modes to pique your interest. Of the game’s 12 missions, three involve driving (or captaining) the Aston Martin, one involves using extreme stealth, one tests your proficiency with a sniper rifle, one puts you behind the trigger of a snowmobile-mounted chaingun, and still others involve classic FPS action with all the trimmings (grenades, guns and rocket launchers).

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Bond game without a steady supply of gadgets from Q, and 007: Nightfire has them all: laser-shooting wristwatches, microfilm cameras, code-breaking PDAs, even miniguns in briefcases. And they’re not just decoration. Throughout the game, you’ll be rewarded with 007 Points, special accolades for accomplishing an objective as only Bond could. The levels are designed in a way that using different gadgets or taking an alternate route will lead you to accomplish an objective more effectively. Although it’s not as open-ended as Splinter Cell in this aspect, it provides for some unique ways to accumulate 007 Points. Earn enough of those points, and you’ll unlock extra goodies at the end of each level (upgraded grappling hooks, multiplayer modes, multiplayer skins, etc.)

As you well know, any game, regardless of its options or depth, can be absolutely massacred by control issues. Fortunately, 007: Nightfire allows you to customize the controls to a certain extent, so you’re bound to find one that suits your tastes. If you’re a Halo junkie, go for the Nightfire scheme; it’s about as close as you’ll find in the game to the controls in Bungie’s title.

Yet as approachable and unforgettably “Bond” as the game may be, it’s not without its issues. For one, the AI is at many times missing some of its “I.” Pace back and forth or left to right, and you can easily avoid getting shot, even by the sharpshooters in later levels. Walk into an empty room to avoid a firefight, and multiple enemies will march right in to their one-by-one death in an orderly fashion. At times the game can also feel slightly unbalanced, with some levels insanely easy while others (Deep Descent) will have you throwing your control in frustration.

Graphics
Say what you will about EA and porting its games to all three consoles, but I was pleasantly surprised by the graphics in Nightfire. For starters, they bought the right to use Pierce Brosnan’s likeness in the game, and they did an amazing job recreating his mug. Character animations are great in the cut scenes, and they’re at least passable in-game, though nothing spectacular. The framerate throughout, though, is as solid as a steel-jawed villain—something you don’t often find in a ported game.

The graphical design of each level is quite solid, from snowy levels in which you can watch individual snowflakes fall to seaside nuclear plants where the ocean crashes against the plant’s foundation. Certain portions of the terrain are deformable, and windows either blow out entirely or crack like bullet-proof glass when you shoot them. Perhaps the best deformable touch, though, is dispatching of entire clusters of enemies by shooting a single explosive barrel nearby.

Yet where the game excels in Bond’s likeness and environmental panache, it falters in the two elements you see most frequently: enemy design and your right arm. Enemies look remarkably similar, whether they’re Asian, Russian or Texan. In fact, they often look so similar that you’ll wonder if Nightfire mimics the plot in Attack of the Clones. Where this lack of variety is even more surprising, though, is in the female characters. Save for the main three or four female characters in the game, if you encounter two different women in cocktail dresses, you’ve quite literally encountered them all.

As for the right arm graphics, you’d think the polygons in that particular appendage would be a little less obvious in a first-person shooter. Fortunately, the weapons, gadgets and reloading animations are at least on par with other high-quality FPSes. But it still doesn’t forgive the one block, two block, red block, blue block graphics of our right-handed spy.

Sound
007: Nightfire does a great job immersing you in the game with its use of sound, though there’s not a single element that really stands out as spectacular. Except for the theme song, of course. You just can’t go wrong with that one, and there’s nothing you can do to avoid humming the classic theme song for hours on end.

In addition to Dolby Digital for gunfire and environmental sounds, the game uses dynamic audio for its background tracks, which means the music changes to suit your situation (idle, in danger, in the middle of a firefight, etc.). As a result, you always feel like you’re in the middle of a James Bond movie, from environmental effects to soundtrack.

If there’s one glaring down side to the audio, it’s that your Bond character is a spitting image of Pierce Brosnan but doesn’t sound a thing like him; there’s just not the classic Bond accent we’ve all grown up with. Ultimately it doesn’t matter, because you don’t hear Bond talk much outside the cut scenes, but it would’ve been a nice touch. I know at least four UK-born people myself whom EA could’ve hired and who would’ve done a better job at voicing the classic spy. Maybe next time.

Replayability
Nightfire has a nice selection of multiplayer modes to start the game, and as you earn 007 Points and medals throughout the single-player campaign, you’ll unlock additional multiplayer modes that add to the longevity of the title. If you’re hoping for a methodical spy-like multiplayer experience, though, you shouldn’t look to Nightfire for saving grace. The multiplayer modes in the game are closer to Unreal Championship and Timesplitters 2 than they are to the methodical pace of Halo. For many people that’s exactly what they want; just make sure you know what to expect.

With all the multiplayer options, a variety of bots and a fun single-player campaign, you’d think the game has almost infinite replayability. Fact is, the short (10- to 12-hour) single-player campaign doesn’t exactly help the game’s longevity, and the frantic multiplayer modes actually feel frighteningly similar because of their pacing. As a result, you’ll likely play the single-player game for a while, switch to multiplayer, replay some single-player levels to unlock more options, then realize that the Next Big Thing is already out in stores.

007: Nightfire will give you one heck of a ride, and its variety of gameplay options make it the most enjoyable first-person shooter since Halo. Several games might outdo Nightfire on a single aspect (technical, graphical or multiplayer), but as an entire package, this game is hard to beat. With a few more hours of gameplay and some more multiplayer variety, 007: Nightfire could easily achieve the same level of greatness as Goldeneye. As it is, it’ll have to settle for best Bond since that classic title.

See more screens on the 007:Nightfire media page