James Bond games after GoldenEye 007 |
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| BY Matthew Razak May. 13th, 2008 | More on: |
From Russia With Love
When I read about From Russia With Love the first time, I immediately checked my bank account for ten million dollars magically appearing because I was sure that that day was the day that all my dreams were going to come true. Only through the wonders of gaming could Sean Connery ever reprise his role as James Bond and no other gaming company could of pulled that off except EA. So thank you EA for being a multi-million dollar, money grubbing, soulless, corporate company, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Of course reality is often a cold dose of water and while having Connery back as Bond was possibly the greatest moment in mankind’s history, having old Connery’s voice coming out of young Connery’s face was immensely creepy. As far as loyalty to what many describe as one of the best Bond films ever, there isn’t as much as you’d like but, then again, From Russia With Love doesn’t really fit into a shoot em’ up format at all since it is one of the more down to earth Bond films.
I was immensely excited for this game since I liked Everything or Nothing so much and figured this would be similar, but with Sean Connery and thus instantly better. Sadly, EA decided to revamp the engine and the new one just seemed to run a bit sluggishly and not as smoothly as Everything or Nothing’s. While the new ‘Bond focus’ mode was great, allowing you to target a gun in an enemies hand or perhaps a grenade on their belt, I think it actually hindered the gameplay more than helped it. Though it was always hilarious to shoot a grenade off a bad guys belt and watch them look around frantically before being blown up. The rocket pack, originally from Thunderball, also felt a bit crammed in and the overall feel of the game just wasn’t as Bondian as Everything or Nothing, which is sad because Connery still brought that ‘je ne sais quoi’ he always had to the character.
I did like the hand-to-hand combat more in this game as it felt much more like brawler Connery than I expected it to. Plus the cut back on super high-tech gadgets, thanks to the time period, made stealth and shooting much more important and more fun in the game. Multiplayer was a big pile of third-person meh, despite the fact you could fly around in jet packs.
Really, any complaint you may have with the game can be easily dashed away by pointing to the fact that it was Connery voicing Bond. Plus, the entire retro feel for a game is something few and far between and awakened a hope in me that we would be seeing many more classic Bond films made into games (you hear me Activision?). Of course, this will probably never happen again since EA has lost the license and while From Russia With Love didn’t exactly sell poorly, I doubt the sales were strong enough to make it worth while cutting Connery another check.
May 13th, 2008
at 5:57 pm
I am also a huge james bond fan. However, I will say that the more that I think about it, the more I realize how careful people need to be before playing first person shooter games such as 007. People need to keep in mind how these games can potentially affect them, causing an increase in aggressive behaviors and thoughts. Just something to keep in mind!
May 13th, 2008
at 7:58 pm
What are you on about Brent? Shooters are relaxing, unless they’re really poorly made of course :)
May 13th, 2008
at 10:36 pm
Brent, please give up on what you are trying to accomplish. We are here to play James Bond games. If you wanna discuss politics, there are plenty of forums to do that. We are responsible adults and we will take any actions we commit in our own hands. I hope you understand.
May 14th, 2008
at 11:19 am
No reason to be rude to the fellow. Brings up a possible point that has been shown scientifically (I do not know the articles off hand, although I’ve read about them long enough to believe they are there, although I would like to actually read some of the research) that for a brief period (No studies have found a long lasting correlation to be found) after playing games you may feel more violent, or whatever the tones of the game are.
However - this is nothing new to media. After watching the Fast and the Furious you can’t tell me your friends don’t want to go use their e-break around the upcoming corner.
May 14th, 2008
at 11:23 am
My usage of the term rude is a bit heavy-handed. You guys were much more civil than many other responses I have seen in the past. I understand your opinions but I also believe that this is as good as any a place (probably better, cause you’re reaching the directly affected audience) to discuss this kind of stuff.
September 21st, 2008
at 6:13 pm
though brent does have a point on the somewhat possible outcomes of how someone takes a shooter, goldeneye was made in a time before the more realistic games came out that really blurred those lines between reality and fiction. if you play goldeneye, its all polygons and it’s hilarious how fake it really is. if your going to put blame on real violence today on anything, put it on GTA, not that they’re bad games by any means (i still think GTA3 was the best), but GTA really puts you in a world thats literally based off real buildings and neighborhoods, and lets you mow people down and even kill cops.