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The World Is Not Enough

Review

by Tom Carroll

First-person shooters have been an up and down affair on the N64. It seems that each and every one gets compared to GoldenEye. Most of them, it seems, come up short to a game that many have concluded may be the perfect blend of action and strategy on any console system.

Now it's time for another claimant to the throne to appear and, saints preserve us, it's 007 himself to do the deed. Loosely based on the film of the same name, this game follows James Bond as he strives to save the world (yet again!) from terrorists. As with GoldenEye, the single-player game is good enough, but the multiplayer modes put it over the top.

One thing should be perfectly clear before continuing. GoldenEye creators Rare didn't do this title ... they were too busy crossing gender lines to produce the popular Perfect Dark. Instead, Eurocom Entertainment was tapped to bond with Mr. Bond. And what a bonding it turns out to be. Eurocom's own engine developments caused publisher Electronic Arts to be stirred, and a bit shaken when Rare announced its departure. Just like gadget master "Q, " Eurocom stepped in and delivered.

This movie-cum-cart begins with Bond on his way through the Suisse bank in Bilbao, Spain. His mission: to meet Lachaise (nice double entendre, that), a suspicious banker type. From such inauspicious beginnings, the game winds through Bond's encounters on the ski slopes, skulking through Davidov's security office, choppers that chop-chop-chop, and the samurai submarine showdown. What's not to like? And good thing the film was hot enough to support this kind of game, eh?

Okay, so the game seems like a movie to this point. How does it play as a game? Great! For starters, it has 14 single-player missions that will tax your credulity with the versatility of the game's engine. In one level, you're playing cat and mouse with an enemy operative while life goes on around you. In another you, as Bond, must negotiate the flooded innards of a sunken submarine ... not easy to do when you've forgotten your water wings in your other tuxedo.

In a third mission you have to find a way to defuse terrorist actions in a subway. Some of this action is strategy driven, as in locating and using the air pockets inside the sub to support you as you swim. Some of the action, a la the subway encounter, is purely testosterone driven -- walk, react, aim, shoot, move on.

The game is made even more fun because each level or mission is supported with a gaggle of glorious gadgetry. You'll love the pen grenade, phone tap, smart card, and keypad decryption device. The night vision goggles and X-ray goggles come in handy from time to time. There is even a wrist watch that shoots drug-tipped darts and deploys a nifty grappling hook to help reach hard to reach heights.

Needless to say, this stuff isn't just for show; you'll need to figure out the proper way to use each of the gadgets. Like Tony Hawk, grinding from rail to rail to rail, 007 needs to go from night vision goggles, to silencer pistol, to swipe card, to dart watch, to safecracker device, to obtain vital photo documentation that's inside. It's all in a night's work for the first, and still best, secret agent.

Yet The World Is Not Enough takes a few hits in areas that crop up whenever a group of people endeavors to put together a videogame that is both broad and deep. One of the game's levels called, "Cold Reception," takes place, amazingly enough, on the ski slopes. Bond must ski down a mountainside, serving as target practice for every two-bit thug and hoodlum lurking behind hedgerow, rock or fence post. Bond must take out the enemies and the level depends largely upon reaction time and learning the course. The level would have been much better if the player could have piloted "Free Range Bond" down the slope, but the action takes place on a rail. While probably done for valid reasons (limiting the scope of the action so that only a subset of possible bad guy actions needed to be addressed is probably a good one), the level comes across as much more forced than the others. It sticks out like a sore thumb, or, in this case, an errant ski pole.

Much of what would force the average gamer to stop playing this game has to do with the A.I. of the enemies. The bad guys react well enough and do things you expect them to do. Sometimes there are even surprises, like when you are sneaking up behind a baddie and he turns around at the last minute. "Seeing" the gun in your hand, he reacts accordingly and ... sticks his hands in the air. Often, however, guards don't react at all when one of their number is shot; they continue their patrolling as if nothing had happened, or worse, as if they hadn't really ever liked the guy at all. Every good game has a workaround for its ills, no matter how tiny or large. What's the workaround for the AI problem? Start off playing the game on "00 Agent" mode and you won't have any time to worry about what the damned guards are doing. You'll be fighting for your life from the word go -- and loving every minute of it.

The game's multiplayer levels are based on the single-player stages. They play fast and furious, as there are plenty of spots to spawn guns, ammo, and other niceties. The game offers a plethora of multiplayer modes, including Capture the Briefcase; Capture the Flag; Last Agent Standing; King of the Hill; Team KotH; and Deathmatch. There's more than enough to keep any group of Bond groupies going for hour after hour.

While The World Is Not Enough may not be better as a single-player game than GoldenEye (that would be sacrilege, after all) it is at least on par, which is high praise indeed. And such a rating amply demonstrates that Eurocom did its homework when they designed this title.


Graphics graphics rating

The game's graphics are tops. The Eurocom game engine allows for as great a city adventure as I've seen on the N64 -- lots of distance without over-fogging. The poly and texture counts in each scene would cause many other game engines to chug, but Eurocom's technology loses nary a frame ... even in four player multi-mode.

Sound sound rating

It's as good as you're likely to get on the N64 ... and that's actually not a slam (though it sounds like one). The game's audio and SFX are actually quite easy to listen to, even over a long duration.

Enjoyment enjoyment rating

The single-player mode is very fun, and fans of GoldenEye's stealth missions will not be disapointed. Villain AI is sometimes questionable, but overall does not detract from the game.

Replay Value replay rating

Much like GoldenEye, this game encourages the avid player to retry the game at different levels of difficulty and entices him/her to finish it with a more perfect score. Naturally, it routinely gets a dusting off whenever two or more are gathered together for a bit of good-natured fragging.

Documentation documentation rating

The manual is vital for the first few moments, just to get down button usage and other little details. After that, it lies in the corner, as ignored as the Maytag repairman.