The World Is Not Enough

Overview

The World is Not Enough is one of many James Bond games being released for the PlayStation. It offers the player a chance to take on the role of James Bond and go through ten levels of gameplay. On the back of the box it says "10 exciting levels." I am going to have to challenge that.

The goal of the game is to achieve the missions given to you by M at the beginning of each game. Q will provide you with a variety of gadgets to achieve the greater goal of the levels and Moneypenny will make a comment to you, which turns out to ultimately be a minor clue to what your adventure is going to bring you. The game allows you to follow the missions from the movie intertwining cut-scenes from the film to add realism in gameplay. Sound like something you want to play? I'm going to have to challenge that too.

Gameplay, Controls, Interface

I had no idea what to expect when I popped in the disk. It's the first time I have played a Bond game and I quickly found out that this was a first person shooter. The quality of gameplay was definitely lacking -- the best way to describe it is give you short synopsis of the first mission: It starts off with scenes from the game intertwined with scenes from the movie and from there allows you to pick a skill level. There are only two offered, Agent and 007. I started off with Agent to get a feel for the game. I was briefed by M on what I was to do, was given a bunch of gadgets by Q, and was advised by Moneypenny before starting the mission. All of this was followed by another cut-scene from the movie before moving into the game. I was tasked with meeting with a banker on the third level of a building and not many obstacles in between.

I made it through the metal detector and past the first guard only to encounter another guard who would not let me pass through his door. I backed away from the guard to think of what to do and to my surprise the guard wandered away from his post to look out a window. Yes, that's right, to look out the window -- allowing me to sneak through his door. Very disappointing. I thought that maybe this was because I had chosen the lower skill level and discovered, although I hate to break this to you, that it was the same at the 007 level.

Onto the second floor -- cameras, guards, and alarms were all that confronted me before moving on. On the third floor I encountered yet more guards, alarms, and two locked doors. I figured out how to open the doors, a task which was not challenging, met with the end guy, got the goods, and escaped with minimal damage to myself. At the end of the first mission I was scored on my performance and was sent on to the next.

Each mission was different. In one mission I had to ski down a mountain shooting down the bad guys who were flying above me. In another I had to go into a casino and win enough money to bribe the informant for information, and yet another where I had to work my way through a home -- bugging phones, taking pictures and all the while going undetected. While all this sounds fun, it was truly un-challenging. I went through all of these levels of gameplay in an hour or so. 007: The World is Not Enough presents no challenges for the player. I would have liked to see the makers of the game throw in some twists. I did not come across any levels that made me stop and think about my next move.

The controls were easy to use (a bonus for the game). You are able to aim your gun at a specific target, strafe left or right, duck, crawl, etc. The character movement was also well done. The game has a certain amount of A.I., which also adds to the plus column of the game. Unfortunately it didn’t add enough to the game and I still found myself bored.

After you complete missions you can unlock movie scenes and cheats. It allows you to play the game with things like unlimited ammo or invincibility. I could see some of the advantages of a few of the cheats, but some were not worth the effort. For example, there is the cheat for unlimited ammo, but throughout the game, everyone you kill drops ammo, so there is no reason at all for that cheat. However, there were some cheats that were fun, like the stealth mode or invincibility.

Multiplayer

I know that the other PlayStation Bond titles were multiplayer, which was probably one of the draws for those games. This one, however, is a single player game. A curious choice considering the popularity of GoldenEye. People who played GoldenEye told me that the fun of it was in the ability to play against your friends. I can't tell you why they didn't offer this option, only that it was a poor choice.

Graphics & Audio

I have seen what the PlayStation has to offer in its graphics and 007: The World is Not Enough seems a little lacking. I wouldn't say that they are the worst, but I have also seen better. There seems to be a lack of eye candy throughout the game -- nothing to really hold your interest. Things up close are passable, but at a distance they seem to lose a lot. The music is all right but if you happen to be one of the ten people in the world who doesn't know the Bond theme song, you will by the end of the first level. The voice-overs are just wrong. The voice for Bond sounds more like he's from New Jersey than from England. That was the most astonishing thing in the game. How do you make a James Bond game where the voice for Bond isn't even British?

Bottom Line

I was assuming this game would offer all the flamboyance and excitement that anything with James Bond in the title should display. I am sorry to say that it did not live up to that. If you like first person shooters where the goal is to kill all that gets in your way, then this would be right up your alley. If you like games that pose a challenge other than how fast you can aim and shoot a gun, save your money.

Although the game did have some redeeming qualities, there were not enough of them to make me want to continue playing. There was never a question of what you had to do or what your mission was. While I am pretty sure that getting Pierce Brosnan for the voiceover was not really an option, at least they could have found someone with an actual English accent. 007: The World Is Not Enough just does not live up to the hopes that I had going into it. The world is not enough? Well, neither is this game.

Licensed To Thrill! Behind closed doors at Eurocom for The World Is Not Enough. Since Goldeneye, N64 gamers the world over have been crying out for another Bond game. Well, it's been in the works for a long time but now it's just about here and it promises to be hot as radioactive chilli sauce! Be warned though... the following information is For Your Eyes Only!

Who'd of thought it? As we were growing up, the closest any of us got to playing Bond was during school break-time when it simply involved beating up your best mate with imitation Karate chops to the neck and then sauntering away, humming the Bond theme tune. How things have changed. Now, thanks to that lovely mistress we call technology, any of us can don the tuxedo and Walther PPK (it's a P99 now, actually – Roy) and take on all manner of enemies, all thanks to a black console, a cartridge, a bunch of carefully arranged polygons and a joypad... Which brings us rather nicely to the N64's forthcoming Bond release, EA's The World Is Not Enough... Yes, yes, we all know that Rare seems to have some kind of Midas touch when it comes to games and especially 'that' Bond licence, but now Eurocom is singing, "Anything you can do, we can do better!" as the long-awaited true sequel to Goldeneye finally appears on the horizon. Can they finally silence all those cynics who say that Goldeneye can never be bettered? We'll know soon enough!

Come with us, if you will, to a wonderful, magical place where dreams can come true: Derby! Before you cry out "What the bloody hell are you on about? Derby? We thought you meant Disneyland or something", come closer and read carefully a tale of teamwork, naked ambition and vodka Martinis, shaken and not whisked in a blender!

Somewhere top secret (yeah, right!) in Derby is a building that houses a bunch of top developers currently working day and night to slap the final touches on the quite amazing-looking The World Is Not Enough, and it seems – for the moment at least – that these hard working chaps are on to a winner. Eurocom developers have been all too aware of the critical autopsy that their game is likely to attract, mainly because of the high standards it has to live up to and partly because of the mauling Tomorrow Never Dies received on the PlayStation. So, what are the odds of Eurocom improving on all the strongest points of its predecessor whilst simultaneously learning from the mistakes of others?

Bloody...

If you do get time to... then you'll be able to... awe at some of the... rendered "exotic"... World Is Not Enough... supported by an E... that enriches envir... as the London Und... the Caucasus Mou... all the whole thing... like a veritable firs... paradise that no o... to be rescued from points of its predecessor whilst simultaneously learning from the mistakes of others? At the moment the odds are definitely favourable! Why do we say this? Maybe it has something to do with the simple fact that 64 Magazine has had its dirty, filthy, nasty hands all over the latest playable code and also managed to meet those fine upright citizens behind the game for a good old chinwag!

Turning up fashionably late 64 Magazine arrived at Eurocom HQ after a train journey that was about as stressful as Tom Cruise's in Mission: Impossible. Ushered into a room with a big TV screen and a large table, our punishment for turning up late to this sneaky peak of TWINE (as it shall be referred to for the rest of this article) was to go head-to-head with its creators for an extraordinarily unfair bout of deathmatch action! Naturally, we got our butts well and truly kicked (but, hey – these guys invented the game, after all!) After licking our wounds though we got to jump feet first into the game and explore for ourselves. Even from this brief glimpse of what TWINE had to offer, it showed us that it was far more than a match and possibly even greater than Goldeneye. (Surely a statement like that deserves an exclamation mark? – Roy). It definitely left us with a massive appetite for more and a lovely warm feeling in our bellies.

Eventually though, we were dragged off (kicking and screaming) so that we could have a chat with Tim Rogers and Bill Beecham from TWINE's development team! To get the top-secret information we desired, we trapped them in our own custom-made interrogation room, with two-way mirrors and everything! We made them sweat and aggressively forced the answers out of them, which was rather unfortunate because they were actually very willing to help and couldn't understand why we were being so cruel! If this interview doesn't make you hungry for the finished product then you're obviously as mentally twisted as Blofeld himself!

Interview

• Whose voices actually appear in the game?

Bill/Tim: Most of the voices are actors from a number of agencies, who have done a really good job of bringing the characters to life. We were also lucky enough to have John Cleese do a couple of recording sessions just for the game, so there is a lot of dialogue from him in there too.

• How much collaboration was there between Eurocom and MGM, the owner of the Bond franchise?

Bill/Tim: MGM and Danjaq were very helpful. We visited Pinewood while they were filming the final sequences to take a look at the sets and production models. They also supplied a huge quantity of photographs for reference, which allowed us to really get the levels in the game looking just like the sets in the film.

• Tomorrow Never Dies on the PSX came in for a lot of criticism, what mistakes from that game where you able to avoid?

Bill/Tim: Well, we weren't involved with making TND. We did take a look at it, and realised that we wanted to concentrate on a first-person game rather than trying a hybrid of styles.

• Are there any major influences (from other similar games) in TWINE?

Bill/Tim: Obviously we looked at previous Bond games, as well as a lot of other first-person action and espionage games on the N64 and other consoles. We're big fans of PC games as well, so there are probably influences from various PC first person shooters in there.

• What was Eurocom's main objective?

Bill/Tim: We wanted to do more than simply re-create previous games. We looked at the good things about previous Bond games, and tried to build on those strengths while at the same time developing other areas of the gameplay. The character of James Bond is not just about shooting hordes of bad guys: we were keen to develop the stealth and espionage aspects too. The film has a huge range of situations and some great action sequences, and we wanted the player in the game to be able to do everything that Bond does in the film.

• What special treats can we expect to see in the game that will make sure it's a cut above the competition?

Bill/Tim: You are James Bond – isn't that enough? The great thing about developing for such a strong franchise is that you have this great world to play with. Bond villains are really evil; Bond girls are really beautiful. When you combine that with the most powerful engine yet developed on the Nintendo 64, there really is absolutely no substitute.

• What elements are you proudest of?

Bill/Tim: I guess we feel most proud when we show people the game and they tell us that they can't believe it's running on the N64. The size of the playing area; the amount of detail in the levels; the special effects like the reflective floors and particle explosions; the amount and quality of the speech in there... all this and without the game slowing down. We put a lot of effort into making sure the game is always smooth and playable, rather than over-stuffing it with features which made it too slow or locking off half the game to people without the Expansion Pak.

• How "interactive" is the game? Is there much room for any exploration?

Bill/Tim: The game is very interactive. For example, there are supporting characters throughout the levels who will react to you differently depending on how you behave. If you run into the bank with your gun drawn, the security guards will run and trigger the alarm, while the cashiers will put their hands up and beg you not to shoot. When you're sneaking through a forest at night, the guards will use field radios to call for backup if they spot you, but if you're smart you can creep up and disable the radios first. As to how much exploration is possible, it varies from level to level. If it's a race against time as you chase a traitor across the rooftops of Istanbul or try to prevent a nuclear meltdown, you don't have much time to go sightseeing. When you're trying to sneak undetected through the gardens of Elektra's villa or get through a moonlit forest to a remote military airstrip, you'll need to explore as much as possible in order to find the best route to success.

• What special multiplayer options are there?

Bill/Tim: There are all the 'standard' multiplayer games – Capture the Flag, King of the Hill and so on – plus a lot of extra Bond-related options: Uplink, where you compete for control of satellite dishes transmitting secret data; or Golden Gun where you have to beat the other players in a race for all the pieces of Scaramanga's famous gun and put it together to create the ultimate multiplayer weapon. Then there are the customisable settings – you can choose to play with covert operations weapons only, or explosives or automatic rifles only, and so on. The Bots also need a special mention: you can play against any of the characters from the game (and that's a lot of options) and their personality and performance varies depending on who they are. So for instance... you choose to fight Renard, and you know he's going to be a tough and evil opponent. It's part of the strength of the franchise again – people can recognise characters and know what kind of Bot they would make. This is especially true when you start unlocking the bonus characters, we've put a few favourites from past Bond films in there too, and they really make for some tough games.

• How hard was the game to put together?

Bill/Tim: We started working on the engine about a year before we began developing TWINE itself, and then we had about a year and a half to get the game designed and built. It was hard work, but it was fun too, and definitely worth it.

It has been a very, very, very long wait but finally – and after many people have died holding their breath – Bond has returned to brighten up our beautiful black machine! It has been a long time since Goldeneye graced our control pads and nothing else has quite filled that first-person perspective, tuxedo-clad void since! We're not saying there haven't been any great shoot-'em-ups because we all know that there have! Perfect Dark gave us just about everything we could have wanted and more from the genre, but what makes all the difference is not what you are shooting at but who is actually doing the shooting. Joanna Dark definitely rocked our world all right, but you know what they say, girls want to have him, men want to be him and, hot damn, do we want to be James Bond!

When we heard, all those months ago now, the news that there was going to be another officially licenced Bond game, it caused quite a stir amongst the Goldeneye fans, I can tell you! So you can imagine the excitement when the review copy finally appeared in the office. There was an almost nervous silence as we slipped the cart into the appropriate slot and switched the venerated machine on. And we were not let down! In fact, this was probably one of the nicest surprises we've had in this office since Roy knocked himself out and, when he awoke, began to act all funny, giving handfuls of cash away to everyone he met. We made out like bandits!

Casino Roy-ale

In a news-friendly soundbite: The World Is Not Enough is a Bond game that deserves a medal of honour for excellence. From the word go, this game had a lot of doom merchants worrying that it was never going to deliver the goods, because of the absence of Rare and with the huge success of Perfect Dark that set a new standard for how a first-person guns-and-guts game should behave. If you actually weigh up the evidence yourself, then you can see just what Eurocom had to overcome...

Firstly, with Goldeneye being this 'untouchable' game, a lot of fans would obviously expect any sequel to follow the exact same formula, just upping the ante by about 100%. Examining the PlayStation's Tomorrow Never Dies game shows that if the structure is meddled with, the gameplay suffers too. Secondly, Perfect Dark kinda already remastered the Goldeneye formula so successfully, that it would ultimately be compared to any other Bond titles.

With TWINE, Eurocom had to give in to the maxim: "You can please some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time". Basically Eurocom's finished product is a nice fat two-fingered salute to those who wished to dig the grave before the man was dead. We think you know what we mean! (Er... no, actually – Roy.) If you are after another news-friendly soundbite then how about this one: If you loved Goldeneye, you're gonna love this! Right – enough of all that type of journalism, on with the review!

From Russell With Love

Possibly the only thing that really ruins this particular Bond game is the lack of polish in presentation. Whereas we have been treated in the past to the familiar image of 007 walking into the sights of an assassin's rifle only for him to spin around and pop a bullet straight into the screen... it doesn't happen here and even the game's title screen lacks imagination. Instead, we have to wade through a number of dull screens listing a whole stream of copyright information! Fine, we may be just being fussy but the scene isn't really being set, and although the game is definitely a winner, it seems a tiny bit rough around the edges. Essentially TWINE isn't as immersive as we'd have liked due to its unimaginative presentation.

Although it is predictable and boring to again draw comparisons with Goldeneye, if you are going to present a Bond game in the same manner as the aforementioned title then it is only logical that the new game will be measured against Rare's offering. Whilst Goldeneye immersed its players in "Top Secret" files containing the objectives of the next mission and the menu screen was actually the wrist-watch Bond wore and contained the game's inventory and vital information, TWINE seems to be lacking in this area. Although we are led to believe all the mission information is stored on Bond's mobile phone, there is no actual sense of this, because the game simply pauses and flashes a menu screen that in no way really looks like said item. This does not ruin the gameplay at all, no sir, it just taints the overall feel of the game. Instead of believing you could actually be Bond (if you have that kind of vivid imagination), TWINE merely admits to being a game where you pretend to be the top MI6 agent!

Never Say Nicky Again

Just like Mr Bond himself though, this game doesn't disappoint, and is packed with all the great stuff that fans of the franchise will adore. On closer inspection TWINE is more akin to Medal of Honor or even to what Mission: Impossible tried and failed to be. It sticks remarkably close to the plot of the film, taking only the odd liberty with the story to ensure great gaming. Each mission is packed with plenty of challenges to satisfy those of us with trigger-happy fingers and each task starts out relatively simply. As the action unfolds though, you can bet your bottom dollar that things are gonna get far more tricky!

Of course, depending on what difficulty setting you are playing, the stages differ in certain places. An obvious example would be on the first stage at Lachaise's bank. Apart from trying to get in to see the manager himself and escape with a suitcase of money on Secret Agent, on 00 Agent, video tapes must be found and destroyed, and you must take care not to kill any of the poor innocent security guards who are only doing their job. There are a wide variety of game styles on offer here and each separate stage gives you a lot to see and do. Some tasks require you to race against the clock to defuse a bomb, chase down an escaping villain or even apply some undercover surveillance with spy cameras and phone-tapping equipment. Some levels require more thought and a heavy reliance on stealth to get you through. It might now be appropriate to discuss the difficulty of the game which, even on the simpler stages, can be rather harsh...

For Your Alex Only

The World Is Not Enough can be a right tease in some places. Many of the levels are relatively straightforward and providing you can keep track of where you are in whatever particular environment you find yourself in, you won't really have any worries. But that is where they pull the rug out from underneath you, because in a blink of an eye all hell can break loose and you could find yourself in the middle of a bloodbath which requires all of Bond's tricks and cunning in order to get out alive! Sometimes the odds seem almost impossibly stacked against you, and it requires a calm, patient mind to tolerate the kind of adversity that you're faced with.

One particular example of this is on the sinking submarine level towards the end of the game. This level may possibly have you tearing clumps of hair from your skull as you try to navigate your way around the water-logged deathtrap! The layout of the area is exactly the same as in the previous level, however because the submarine is on its end, filled with water, slowly getting hotter and with few air pockets to keep you alive... well, it is not the easiest of tasks to master! Firstly, it is tricky navigating your way around, as it is quite hard to remember exactly which way you are meant to be heading. It is also difficult to move Bond around in all the directions available. This means using not only left, right, up and down but also the aim functions to twist around to the direction that you want to proceed in.

As a closing level to such a great game, it is not entirely satisfying and quite difficult too – and that's only on Secret Agent level, imagine what it's like on the 00 Agent setting!

Although not entirely necessary, it helps to have seen the film prior to playing the game as the movie gives clues as to how to escape a level alive. One such instance is during the scene at the Russian nuclear bunker where Bond first meets Renard. If you have seen the film then you will be well aware that at the end of that scene Bond has to escape the bomb-blast by jumping on a pulley system that winches him across a long tunnel to relative safety. This scene is almost identical to the one in the film – which is excellent – but when Renard is confronted towards the end and he sets off the bomb, it is not immediately obvious to the player that to escape the blast he/she must jump on to the pulley to survive. If you try to run down the tunnel you never, no matter how quick you do it, make it out in time. It can be very frustrating when you simply cannot seem to get out of this situation and it is only if you really think back to the movie that the solution becomes immediately apparent.

There are other moments during TWINE that require you to not exactly use your brain as such, but more to second-guess the game in order to move on. Some of the stealth stages are strong examples of 'one false move and your done for' gameplay, and as a result can cause many a sticky end. In fact, sometimes the challenge is almost over before it has started, and it requires patience if you are to successfully achieve your goals. By the time you have completed some levels you should have almost worked out a formula as to how to complete the whole game! Despite this fiendishly cunning game design though, there is so much to do that getting through each stage is always much more of a pleasure than it is a chore.

The Man With The Gannon Gun

So, what does it look and sound like? In a word, beautiful. In more words than that? Okay, each level looks like it has been plucked straight from the celluloid it has been based on. The environment is stunningly recreated and has some really extraordinary visual effects thrown in too. As you walk towards the sun, solar flares catch the screen and light filters in through windows. X-ray glasses and night-vision effects are also very convincing. Each area is carefully created to complement the film and also to help invent some intriguing places to stage the action! Small touches that can be used to your advantage also make pleasant diversions during all the crazed gunfire! If you do not want to get pulled into the crossfire of a dozen nasty terrorists then take a shot or two at a barrel of flammable liquid and watch it not only explode gloriously but also notice that the flames spread across the floor. If you are lucky the flames spread right across to another bunch of barrels situated next to a group of bad guys. We think you can guess what happens next! Another wonderful aspect of TWINE is the sound, which is not just confined to the great music and explosive sound effects, but also extends to speech from the characters. Most of the voices are fairly convincing unknown actors doing impressions of the ones from the movie, but R (Q's successor) is actually voiced by the man of mirth himself, John Cleese!

ChandraBall

Was TWINE worth the wait? Most definitely, but is it better than Goldeneye? Well, yes... and no! It certainly looks and sounds better, is more involving and has improved upon various areas of the previous best-selling Bond title but because it is not presented as well overall it lacks that essential "more than just a game" atmosphere! Some might complain that since Goldeneye's release all those many years ago, there haven't been any great strides made in the first-person genre, apart from Perfect Dark. To those people we say... well, balls to you! If you look at it on a very basic level, those who loved Goldeneye will want more of the same and with TWINE they get all that and that little bit extra! It must be said, though, that TWINE offers some improvements on the original James Bond shooter, but these aren't to be found in radically different gameplay. As a successor to Goldeneye, TWINE stands up very well indeed and if you like your games challenging with lots of action it's well worth tracking a copy down!

Everyone and their mom has been screaming for a sequel to GoldenEye for years. While this probably had more to do with GoldenEye's stunning game design than it had to do with the James Bond license, it can't be denied that assuming the role of a sly agent provocateur doesn't have its own allure.

While Rare had nothing to do with this sequel, concentrating instead on getting Perfect Dark out the door, Electronic Arts wasted no time getting not only an N64 version of this Bond-based first-person shooter together, but a PlayStation (and PlayStation2 on the way) version as well. Imagine a touch of GoldenEye gameplay mixed with a dash of Syphon Filter, and you'll have a good idea what developer Black Ops has in mind. There will be a full arsenal provided and designed by the ever-ready Q, and video clips from the original motion picture to tie the various levels together. Hoping to arrive in a more timely fashion than Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough will arrive in the fall.

Disappointed with Tomorrow Never Dies? Upset that it wasn't GoldenEye 007 for the PlayStation? Maybe The World Is Not Enough will be something more exciting. Electronic Arts now has the exclusive rights to the James Bond franchise and will be bringing out the latest installment (based on the most recent movie) before the end of the year. Look for 3D action/ adventure and cool multiplayer features. The PS2 version is based on the Quake III engine, but we hear that the PlayStation game will boast the next best thing...a 3D graphics engine that produces visuals even better than those seen in EA/Dreamworks' Medal of Honor.

What's the deal?

Different developer, same cocky hero. Electronic Arts has handed Bond's tuxedo to Eurocom, a developer who isn't oblivious to the astronomical expectations set by Nintendo's GoldenEye. Michael Condrey, associate producer of TWINE, is confident that they know what gamers want. "The player gets to be Bond again--the sexy girls, the state-of-the-art Q-lab gadgets, the exotic locations," he told us. TWINE N64 follows the movie, but embellishes it to squeeze different types of gameplay and missions into it. "We have added control features, expanded multiplayer modes, and new gameplay mechanics such as skiing and underwater navigation," Condrey said.

All of those additions are nice, but we were hoping some heavy petting of the Bond women. No luck there, but TWINE's multiplayer modes should provide plenty of foreplay. "The multiplayer arenas are each unique from the single-player missions, and although some share similar themes, each is completely different in architecture," said Condrey. "My favorite occurs between two jets in flight. The level allows for the player to fight inside, out, on top of, and between these two jets as the player maneuvers around." That sounds tricky, even for 007.

So why is it a must-get game: When Eurocom sounded so confident about their project, we wondered if they've been drinking one too many shaken (not stirred) martinis. But after dusting off our GoldenEye skills and getting some trigger time in on an early version of the game, we found that their Brosnan-like cockiness might be rightly justified. This worthy game could be the perfect sequel to GoldenEye, even if the movie wasn't.

Don't automatically assume The World is Not Enough isn't something special simply because Rare isn't behind it. In fact, from what we've seen so far this game might have the stuff to compete with GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, and that ain't easy.

Prolific U.K.-based developer Eurocom has taken on the daunting task of creating what's essentially the sequel to GoldenEye, with a mission structure that loosely follows the TWINE film plot. But simply calling it a sequel doesn't do the game justice. Even though TWINE looks, plays, moves and controls a lot like GoldenEye in parts, it really is its own game.

Eurocom is using a game engine specifically designed for the N64, which delivers a nice balance between detail and framerate. The graphics utilize the Expansion Pak, and are certainly impressive, though not revolutionary. Thankfully, this allows the framerate to be fluid in most play modes. TWINE also has tons of impressive voice-acting, a kick-ass musical score and excellent sound effects.

TWINE features more than 40 weapons (some straight from the movie) and gadgets (that you actually use time and time again). Whether it's the scope on your sniper rifle--which now has a night-vision mode--or the variety of insane watch gadgets (poison dart, laser and more), you shouldn't get bored anytime soon.

Overall, there are more than 10 levels, filled with intense, multi-tiered objectives. And even though the game (mostly) follows the plot of the big screen version, it elaborates upon certain scenes and adds objectives (or we should say plot points) the film never had. The skiing level is of particular interest. In it, you're on a track of sorts, but are able to control left and right to a degree. It's a unique gameplay twist, without sacrificing the overall feel.

And that's just the one-player game. The robust multiplayer mode--complete with crafty Al bots--has over 10 arenas and a ton of options: more than 20 characters and a number of gameplay and weapon types can be found. You can play Capture the Flag, Team Battle or variations of either. And of course, there's always the good ol' deathmatch. Up to four people can play at any one time, which includes the number of bots.

The name's Bond, James Bond! After an epic wait the suave and sophisticated secret agent is making a comeback on the N64. Shockingly though this title is being made not by Rare but by EA! Thankfully however like Goldeneye this is a 3-D first person shooter split into mission-based levels. There are ten levels in ail based on scenes from the film and split into several objectives. Whilst on these levels you'll get to play with no less than 40 weapons and gadgets! So far this is looking amazing and - dare we say it - possibly even better than Goldeneye'.

First Impressions

What can we say? It's another Bond game - and about time too! Thankfully this game is already looking much more impressive than the rather duff Tomorrow Never Dies which popped up on the PlayStation, and it does indeed look like it might be able to rival Perfect Dark for playability. It's time to don that tuxedo again and run around your house pretending that your clenched fingers are really a Walther P99!