In celebration of the upcoming James Bond film, No Time To Die, being released October 8th 2021 let’s take a look at the different entries during the golden age of Bond video games on the PlayStation 2.
To read about Bond’s PS2 debut click here
Title: James Bond 007: Nightfire
Genre: First Person Shooter
Released: November 18th 2002
Platforms: Xbox / Ps2 / GameCube/ Gameboy Advance / Windows / Mac IOS
Developed: EUROCOM
Published: EA
~ Nightfire was released four days before the film, Die Another Day came out in theaters. It was significantly better than the movie. There is also a trailer for the film in the options menu of the game.
~ Nightfire was based of the 1979 Bond movie, Moonraker starring Roger Moore.
Who Plays Bond?
Pierce Brosnan plays Bond in the game… sort of. Brosnan’s likeness was used for the game – as a last minute decision- replacing former digital Bond, Andrew Bicknell but Pierce’s bond wasn’t the complete package. The voice acting was done by Maxwell Caulfield of … let’s see.. Grease 2 fame.
Bond Girl(s)?
Alura McCall is an Australian intelligence agent who essentially shows up out of fuck all no where and saves Bond. Then for the rest of the game she helps Bond take down maniac Rafael Drake. Oddly enough, Nightfire is not only set in the same universe as Agent Under Fire but is a spiritual sequel that even retains Zoe Nightshade (CIA agent from AUF). Basically development fucked up – Nightshade is clearly not bothered that the Bond she knows has upgraded from Bicknell to Brosnan looks. Not saying many people would complain about that but it’d be a bit strange.
Per typical Bond stories – the bad Bond girl is generally sexier. Or maybe that’s just me. Ahem. Anyways, Kiko is a Japanese bodyguard for one of Rafael Drake’s little henchmen that can’t defend himself. Proficient in martial arts and with firearms she’s a bad bitch.
Bond Villain
Well first off, Drake is Brazilian and Russian. Which is a solid combination of good looks and general mischief. Drake is the owner of Phoenix International – a nuclear decommissioning company.
But instead of decommissioning the nuclear warheads he actually just stock piles them. Which is a rude thing to do.
To make matters worse, after stockpiling dozens of supposedly decommissioned nuclear warheads deep in the ocean he also hijacks the United States space program. Where he brings up a couple of nukes (since he just has so many laying around at this point) to bomb every NATO country into submission.
His ultimate dream is a “corporate takeover” of Earth. One planet ran by one board of directors. Where countries border lines no longer exist, all other world leaders are wiped out and the entire globe answers to him. Sort of like what Jeff Bezos is literally doing right now.
Honestly, Nightfire plays smooth and is a fun and crazy adventure. The regular gameplay is smoother than its predecessor, Agent Under Fire but between the game’s hard to follow plot that just goes bananas to several levels in a row towards the end that feature driving and flying missions that bogs the game down badly it loses its momentum altogether. Unfortunately, by the end you be thankful to send Drake’s lifeless body floating forever into space for more than the right reasons.
Overall: 80% (BRONZE)
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