James Bond 007: Nightfire: (Xbox Classics)

Games companies are weird. This release comes in the same year as the 40th anniversary of James Bond, as well as Die Another Day, the 20th film to feature the loveable old womanising drunk. So what do EA, proud bearers of the 007 games license, do? They make a game based on an amalgamation of all the Bond movies, with their own "original" story line, then go and stick Pierce Brosnan's face and a bunch of clips from Die Another Day in it. Whaaaat?

Bizarre marketing decisions aside, this could finally be the game to come out from behind the shadow of the seminal N64 classic GoldenEye. Which means, of course, that this is a stealthy first-person shooter (with a few car-racing levels thrown in for good measure) bolted onto a cracking multi-player mode. Following on from GoldenEye is a bit like being asked to make Citizen Kane 2, but EA have sensibly gone back to the spirit of the original and NightFire is much more strategic than their last attempt, the rather shallow Agent Under Fire. Once again you can learn a pathological hatred of security cameras as you use an even wider array of Q gadgetry to kill people without them even noticing.

The multi-player mode is also good, with meatier weapons than last time, including a particularly fun remote-control missile launcher. People are always crooning about nobody doing it better than Bond, but in the gaming world that's not always been true; with this game, though, it looks like he's taken the ejector seat straight to the top of the first-person shooter pile. --David Jenkins

I also have to say it sits proudly somewhere at the top of my favourite games list.

It really is a joy to play, with lots of action, not _too much_ thinking, and tons of variety to the levels. The missions really are varied.

The driving is top notch, but a little linear in the way it's done. Could have done with loads more though, as it really is great fun blasting on the roads.

The shooting levels are great, with some levels having different ways to go, so to avoid enemy and just shoot them from behind.

Along with a great singleplayer with plenty to unlock, NightFire also comes with a brilliant multiplayer. It really is recommended, with lots of game modes to try, brilliant range of stylish Bond weaponary, and the ability to add up to 6 bots into play. This game really is on par with Goldeneye, and having owned it for about 4 months, can still be found in the console often.

Sound and graphics are top also top notch, very nice sounding weapon fire and beautiful videos.

This game comes highly recommended by me....It's Goldeneye with cars! The next game is what I'm looking foward to next.


nIGHTFIRE   December 14, 2003
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This game is a lot of fun. The single player campaign is very good with challenging missions. However there are not ewnouigh of these. The missions are good with good graphics and scenery. the really great thing about this game is the multiplayer. Tip-Unlock the EVERYTHING cheat. I don't remember whast rthe code is but you can find it on the web. After doing this I found myself spending 6 hours on at a time. Sometimes from 8 till 3 in the morning.

3.5 for single player and 5 for the multiplayer i gave this 4 stars.


ANOTHER JAMES BOND YESS!!!!   June 11, 2003
 2 out of 8 found this review helpful

This game is great. its very realistic and cool. i think that everyone should get it. the driving levels are very cool and the handeling of the cars is brilliant!!! THIS GAME RULES!!!!


Multiplayer is excellent, single player is average   April 30, 2003
As a single player game, Nightfire is pretty good... its not great, but its not rubbish. When you first play you will immediately be struck by how good the graphics are, and they are better than a lot of xbox games out there - detailed bad guys and environments, nice movie clips, and Bond just looks like Bond. It FEELS like Bond, and thats an important aspect of such a game, and there are plenty of little quips and double entendres as we are treated to in the films. The controls are a bit awkward, but as soon as this started to bug me I had a nosey around the options and was pleased to find that I could alter the thumbstick controls to work like Halo. This controller setting is called the Goldeneye setting, and there are a lot of other parallels with the Goldeneye game on the N64. Difficulty levels are the same (Operative,Agent, 00 Agent) and the weapons are similar too - players of the original Goldeneye will be pleased to find Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers and Remote Mines amongst others.

So once I had altered the controls, it all became a lot more enjoyable, and going through the game on the Operative first, I was engrossed by the fast paced action and the satisfaction of seeing a dead bad guy drop to the floor. At times it became a little frustrating because of the lack of save points - as other reviewers have mentioned - and a mistake late on in a mission can send you right back to the start. This is most notable in an underwater level where you are in the Vanquish car, and took a lot of attempts to finally overcome. There are a few sections in the game where you are in vehicles, and - whilst a nice detraction from running around shooting people - eventually become a bit of a bore, and I found myself longing for the next first person shooter level on more than one occasion.

On the harder difficulty levels the little annoying and frustrating things become more significant, and - about 2/3 of the way through Agent (medium), I eventually stopped playing the single player stuff because it just made me want to throw the controller at the wall. Surely it shouldnt get this annoying until the hardest difficulty level.

The best thing about this game is the multiplayer, without a doubt, and - if you often play multiplayer shoot outs with your mates - it really is worth buying for this factor alone. The weapons are awesome, the environments are large and really enjoyable, and the options you can set are just nuts. Mini-vehicles (little tanks and helicopters that you can attack other players with), fixed gun mounts, endless game types/scenarios, even bots (cpu controlled enemies) like Time Splitters. You can even set the game up so that you are on the MI6 team with 2 cpu characters on your side, and play against a mate who is on the other team with two other cpu characters. AND you can edit the bots individually, eg. speed, agression levels, personality (assassin, vengeful, berserker, etc), accuracy, and more. There is the occasional slow-down in multiplayer but this is mainly when you have lots of enemy bots all attacking each other. Bearing in mind the positives, this is a rare negative.

Overall I would give Nightfire three stars for the single player, but a big five for the multiplayer, so thats a four overall. If you like multiplayer shoot-outs, I promise you this really is well worth the money.