Great, now I have to talk about something I've been dreading for the last three years. It's time to talk about my absolute least favorite genre of games, bar none.
I know I've talked at length about my general dislike of racing games, but there are plenty of titles in the genre I like. I mean, I F-Zero GX is tied for my highest score ever and I certainly didn't hate games like Chocobo Racing or even NASCAR '99. I don't love racers, but there are plenty of them I like, and I understand what people see in the genre. But you already knew this wasn't a racing game as soon as you saw "007" in the title (there actually does exist a 007 Racing game, which I will try to track down, but this isn't it). No, instead, everyone's favorite super spy is going to force me to discuss a genre I absolutely loath: cover-based 3rd person shooters.
Bottom line, these games just aren't playable if the lock-on functionality and cover mechanics are bad, and they are terrible in EON. I felt like I could never actually 'stick' to any of the objects I was supposed to hide behind and when it did finally work, I would end up ducking behind the wrong object and get killed in the process. If I was able to successfully find cover, the targeting would bounce around what at what seemed like complete random. It took forever to target the enemy I wanted and half the time it would drop off as soon as they moved anyway. That led to a lot of sitting around waiting, or I should say even more waiting than usual. I already find cover-based games boring because I always feel like all you do is wait. You hide, you wait 20 minutes for enemies to stop shooting, you shoot back, you wait again. Having to work around the core mechanics of the game prolongs and already drawn-out experience and adds a side helping of frustration to the equation. Some titles in the genre do an okay job of giving you the illusion you are playing an action packed, bullets flying everywhere chaotic shooter, but EON can't hide its boring nature. The first level has you rappelling down an exploding building and because of the mechanics, it still manages to be boring. People rag on RPGs for being slow paced, but I'll take slow paced over literally doing nothing while enemies shoot at you any day.
Wait, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, Everything or Nothing. Level design is a critical aspect of cover-based shooters because you need to provide enough objects to hide behind while also not making it feel too contrived. But EON manages to not do either. There are tons of big, open spaces that you are constantly forced to run across to find cover and you spend most of the game as a sitting duck. It would be acceptable, dare I say even good, design in an FPS or more action oriented 3PS, but it doesn't work here at all. You can't base your game almost entirely around finding cover and then not provide said cover. Things get a little better when you go inside buildings, there are always plenty of hallways to skulk around, but even still it just feels like there aren't enough places to hide. This is compounded by the fact that enemies drain your life bar very quickly. That shouldn't be a problem, in fact it should be like that in a cover-based 3PS, but the poor level design makes it feel unfair rather than like something that should be happening. I should also mention, there is no indicator of where you're being shot from, which is a major, major problem.
While we are on the subject of enemies, I feel like there are entirely too many of them. Maybe it's because you die so quickly, or that there are set pieces where they come at you without warning when you are nowhere near cover, but I think the real issue is lack of ammo. I found like I was constantly running out of ammo, which is a major problem in a game where your shots are going to miss more often than not. Again, this is okay in stealth and survival horror games...but this isn't either one. I guess I understand what they were going for, most Bond games have some level of stealth involved and that's certainly the case here. But most of the game is still centered around gun battles and shooting things behind cover, where you will often find yourself improvising because you are out of ammunition. Honestly, the best parts of the game come when you aren't shooting, whether it be the car chases or exploring the levels using gadgets.
It's a shame too, because the presentation level is off the charts excellent. This really looks and feels like a proper James Bond film, with a crazy intro, sultry theme song and strong cast of Hollywood superstars. The plot is supposed to take place after the events of the final Pierce Brosnan 007 film, the abysmal "Die Another Day." Fortunately, there are no Korean generals getting plastic surgery to make themselves look like random British guys involved in the story, which sees Bond dispatched to Egypt to rescue a nanotechnology expert named Katya Nadanova. After succeeding in doing so, the secret agent finds that a terrorist named Nikolai Diavolo is trying to use the technology to bring about untold destruction. If you've ever seen a James Bond movie, I'm sure you could guess how the plot unfolds from here.
Everything or Nothing adds to the whole "big budget movie" feel with its topflight voice cast. Brosnan lends his voice (and likeness) to Bond and he does a great job here. Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, Shannon Elizabeth and Mya all make appearances and they all put in strong efforts as well. I know I've mentioned this in the Rise to Honor and King Kong reviews but having casts like this wasn't common in video games at the time. There are plenty of series standbys as well, with Richard Kiel appearing as Jaws, Judi Dench as M and John Cleese as Q. It was really cool to see these iconic characters, though I'm a little upset that I have to assign a poor rating to a game that features Judi Dench. It was nice to see care taken to make the game feel at home in the 007 universe, probably more so than any other Bond game to that point, but it can't make up for poor gameplay.
Again, you should take what I say about EON with a grain of salt. You should take what every reviewer says about every game with a grain of salt, because whether or not someone enjoys a game will always be some level of subjective. I try to be as objective as possible when it comes to these reviews, but I can't always do that. I struggled with it in racing games at first, but I've learned to look a little more at what makes a good racing game and what doesn't from an objective standpoint as I play more and more of them. And again, I've always had a thing for certain racing games, the Mario Kart titles, Crash Team Racing, F-Zero, etc. But I am trying to wrack my brain for a cover shooter I've ever liked, and I can't come up with one. I just can't. That said, I've played a handful that I could tolerate, and, thanks to its finnicky controls and lack of balance, I can't even put EON in that category. This game wasn't reviewed all that poorly by the mainstream gaming media, so maybe it is just me, but I didn't even remotely enjoy it. It's a shame because it does a lot of things right with presentation. That alone makes it's score a bit more respectable.
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