James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (GameCube) Preview

EA have certainly used their licence to release endless reams of Bond games onto consoles very well, no fewer than three have rained out of the publishing behemoth onto Nintendo home systems. The World is Not Enough was the best of the bunch and the N64 title is still enjoyable today, on the GameCube things have been far from enjoyable. Agent Under Fire was fun enough, but in the end was like having your eyes bathed in Hydrochloric Acid, Nightfire wasn't much better. But we will give EA the benefit of the doubt. Could it be third time lucky on the GameCube for Mr. Bond or will he finally bite the proverbial bullet as far as gaming prestige goes?

The idea behind Everything or Nothing is to do Bond at its biggest and best without making it so ridiculous it becomes a spoof. Thankfully the perfect balance would seem to have been met. For a game based on a film series, but no particular film in that series, they have still managed to rope in Judy Dench (who plays M), Pierce Brosnan (James Bond) and John Cleese, of Faulty Towers and Monty Python fame. There are various other smaller names dotted about all over the place to bolster up the character list and enable EA to make a plot of some description. The presentation of the characters is truly stunning and you can easily see a likeness between the real person and their videogame counterpart.

The first thing you notice is that EA have preferred a third-person perspective, which to say the least seems like an odd decision. They say it makes it a more cinematic experience, we say it gives EA a higher chance of mucking up this game altogether. Camera angles are the main issue here. We were worried when we first saw this game a little while back, it all looked a bit off centre, but a few months in development and behind the scenes work seems to have got the game back on track. One feature that has caught our eye is the new targeting system, which allows you to switch between enemies and target them individually. Faced with more than one foe, and one is targeted, a simple hit of a button will allow you to toggle between them and pick which one you want to kill first, quite sadistic really. Even more clever is the ability to pick which bit of an enemies body you want to pepper with bullets. Moving about a smaller aimer you are able to use headshots, groin shots, leg shots and indeed any shot anywhere on the body you like. This brings an added depth to shooting, which in the less intelligent shooters can result in you standing there hitting fire and running about like a crazed dervish.

Bond has also got a rather stealthy for his latest outing. You can sneak, crouch and stick to corners. The latter allows you to take aim whilst still around a corner before spinning out and taking down anyone who is unfortunate enough to be standing about admiring the view. Like in other games in the Bond catalogue this one doesn't just focus on the shooting, there are driving sections put together by a special and totally separate development team. There are certain sections where you have to chase people down on motorbikes or in classy cars, its all very cool and it is certainly very James Bond.

There are three modes of difficulty included, Operative (easy), Agent (medium) and 00 Agent (hard). Thankfully EA's idea of difficult isn't enemies that can take a disturbing amount of bullets before actually keeling over, this time things are far more satisfying. Your foes will try and outthink you; more objectives will be set up, taking the gamer deeper and deeper into the levels. Essentially the better you are the more game you get to see.

A problem with shoot-'em-ups nowadays is that they are too linear, Everything or Nothing looks to change all this. At points you choose to go one way or the other and this changes ever so slightly how you see the game. There are more side-quests and a lot more areas to explore making it feel more like you are playing the game rather than you simply being pushed through it from start to finish. This is something we have never seem before from EA in a bond title, this is innovation from Electronic Arts, an oxymoron if ever we heard one.

Just like in the films (and just about every Bond game ever), Everything or Nothing is stuffed full of gadgets. None is more impressive than the Spider-Bot. This is a nippy 'cute' little device that can locate hidden areas and or enemies and blow itself up; inspired fun and surely something to bring a smile to even the most serious of gamer. Yes it has been done before, in Perfect Dark on the N64 there was something similar, and it has been in numerous other titles, but that still doesn't make it any less fun! One thing we can't quite get to grips with is the 'Bond Sense'. This stupidly odd inclusion works thus: the game goes all dark and spooky, now you can select weapons in the midst of an ongoing gun battle along with being able to see all sorts of other things such as hidden foes. It all sounds stupid to us, Bond just uses his cunning and good looks to win the day in all the films, so why does he need to have a demented superhero power to beat puny enemies in Everything or Nothing.