James Bond 007 in Agent Under Fire

The government secret agent, James Bond is back in an all-new adventure on the Nintendo GameCube. Unlike many other Bond games, this is the first that has its own original story and is not based on a movie. This gave the developers more freedom to create a truly unique plot without infringing on the restraints of a movie license. In this latest incarnation of the Bond series, players will have many varied missions from normal first person shooting, to driving the exotic cars such as the BMW Z8, and will have to complete several rail shooting missions.

The plot of this game is to stop an evil corporation from cloning the world leaders, murdering them, and then replacing them with the clones. The missions in the game are varied well enough to keep the gameplay interesting. Each level is in a glamorous location such as South China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and many other places. In one specific level, Bond will start off in the Aston Martin DB5 trying to recover stolen computer chips. While in this level, gamers will have to fight their way through hordes of enemies, find the computer chips, and eventually escape. While escaping, Bond comes across a tank, to make an interesting getaway. When James gets in the tank the player will have access to chain gun and cannon to ward off the enemies, while making sure not to use all the ammo till a safe passage is found. These things help keep the game true to its movie brethren, instead of mowing down a multitude of enemies with the assault rifle.

As mentioned before the single player game can be summed up into 3 major parts, driving, first person shooting, and rail shooting missions. The driving portions of the game are extremely well done. EA has used its previous experience with its racing series, Need for Speed, to polish up these levels to make the game feel more alive. The rail-shooting missions are an interesting concept to add to the series, and also helped keep the game fresh from the monotonous massacring enemies on foot.

It wouldn't be a James Bond game without all the high tech gadgets and the advanced weaponry. This time James will have access to devices such as: the Q-Claw, Q-Laser, Q-Remote, Q-Jetpack, Q-Camera, Q-Specs, and others. While most the items look like an ordinary cell phone, they all have various features. The Q-Claw is one of the most unique devices, since it will allow Bond to grapple to a previous unattainable place. The Q-Remote helps download computer information and unlocks doors that require a security code. Q-Laser is a little high beam laser, which will cut locks open. The Q-Specs is a pair of infrared sunglasses which helps detect enemies while in the dark. The weaponry in the game is outstanding as well, ranging from pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, and other deadly forms of attacking enemies. The only problem with the weaponry is when Bond gets in an intense situation, and there are no more bullets it doesn't automatically switch to the next weapon. Players will have to do that manually and while trying to get to the next weapon, the enemy will be barraging James with bullets.

One thing in common with all the previous James Bond games are the extras added to help increase the replay value of the single player missions, and Agent Under Fire is no different. Each level Bond will have to get a certain amount of points to get awards. These points are based on how fast you went through the level, the number of Bond moves done, how many enemies you kill, and various other things. The Bond moves can range from going an alternative route to get in a level, to jumping a ramp with a car. When the player performs these moves a text appears with "007" and the classic Bond music plays for a few seconds. At the end of the mission all the points are added up and if the gamer obtained a certain amount, they will be awarded with additional weapons, levels, and other things for the multiplayer game.

Multiplayer in this game is fantastic since there are so many different options to choose from. Players have the option of choosing these modes: Combat Training, Protect The Flag, Golden Gun, Anti-Terrorist Training, and Top Agent. Combat Training is a free-for-all against one another. Protect The Flag is the typical capture the flag mode. In Golden Gun mode, one shot will kill anyone. Anti-Terrorist Training is a mode where the players must defuse bombs set all over the level. Finally, Top Agent mode is where the top player must use their outstanding abilities to defeat everyone else in the game, a 3 versus 1 mode. The one thing that puts the GameCube port over the PlayStation 2 version is it will allow players to put in bots and computer controller characters in the multiplayer. The only condition is that there can only be a total of four characters in the game at a time, players and bots.

Agent Under Fire is rate is rated "T" for teen, and takes up 3 blocks on your memory card.

Gameplay: 8.5
Agent Under Fire is an enjoyable game once player come to grips with the controls. Fans of Golden Eye will have to get acquainted with the dual analog control scheme, before they can gain any pleasure from the game.

Graphics: 9
The game is wonderfully rendered from the character to the car models. The texture use is crisp and each environment is exceptionally done. All of this occurs without any slow down as the game is locked in at a constant 60 frames per second, even in multiplayer. The only thing that can use improvement is the character animation because at times looks very unrealistic.

Sound: 8.8
The classic James Bond musical theme is played from time to time in this latest edition of James Bond. The sound effects used for the gunfire were accurately portrayed, as well as the sounds for the cars. The voice acting was standard, but it could have used a little more flare.

Difficulty: 7.2
The main problem with the entire game is that it was too easy. The few times when you are wondering what to do next, M, Bonds' boss, basically talks the gamer through each mission taking the fun out the what to do next, and takes away that "surprise factor".

Concept: 8.9 
Agent Under Fire offers many new aspects to the series that future games need to have and expound upon, such as the driving missions. These extra things added to the game help make the game feel more like its movie counterparts, and helps the player feel like they are truly James Bond.

Multiplayer: 8.8
The multiplayer in this version is better than the PlayStation 2 version since it allows the addition of bots, and has less slow down. With all the different modes, this will keep gamers occupied for a while.

Overall: 8.7
Agent Under Fire is a good First Person Shooter for the GameCube. Even though it is on the easy side, this game will keep Bond fanatics coming back till the next game.