007 Racing

- Platform: PlayStation
- Release Date: November 22, 2000
- Similar Games: Grand Theft Auto -- Mission Pack #1: London 1969 (PlayStation), Driver 2 (PlayStation), The Italian Job (PlayStation)
Game Description
In 007 Racing, you'll take to the streets as the world's most famous spy. Over the course of the game, you will get to drive Bond's various vehicles, such as the Aston Martin DB5, BMW 750, BMW Z8, Lotus Esprit, and BMW Z3. But these aren't just base models, as that would hardly suit a world class leader of espionage. These fast cars have been updated with the high-tech gadgets and armor that one would expect from Q's secret underground shop. Along with powerful (and stylish) armor, the cars can be equipped with rockets, automatic guns, smoke screens and oil slicks.Each of your missions are objective-based, giving you an area in which to drive and a list of different tasks to accomplish, including hunting down enemies, escaping areas with counter-agents hot on your tail, or locating different items before the bad guys do. You'll globe hop to accomplish your mission, heading to places such as Eastern Europe, Amsterdam, South America, Mexico, Monte Carlo, Louisiana and New York. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
While the concept was interesting, the execution leaves much to be desired. If only it was better designed, this could have been a great title, but all of its kinks serve to render it very weak. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game GuideProduction Credits
Project Management: Brian JoblingProgramming Manager: Andrew Perella
Studio Manager: Malcolm Montgomery
Lead Programmer: Peter Davie
Programming Team: Cameron Patterson, Joanne Middleton, caleb Leeke, Steven Stewart
Art Team: Michael Cairns, Brian Howie, Jonathon Chater, Malcolm Chater, John Collins, Richard Coates, Oliver Gainford, Steven Mulholland, Chris Owens, Michael Owens, Anthony Thornton, Mark Ward
Game Design: Kev Shaw, Paul Jobling, Malcolm Montgomery, Brian Jobling, Andrew Perella, Darren Jobling, Peter Davies
Game Set Up: Graham James, Campbell Muir, Steven Haigh, Jonathon Stobbs,
Operations Manager: Darren Jobling
Sound Effects: Jonathon Colling-Octagon Music Productions
Menu Music: Allister Brimble
PRODUCED BY EA CANADA
Executive Producer: Hanno Lemke
Producer: Tony Parkes
Associate Producer: Serena Whitters
Assistant Producer: Jason DeLong
Localization Producer: Arlaine Walker
Contributing Producer: Scott Blackwood
Contributing Designer: Scott Probin
Production Coordinator: Xenia Mul
Senior Development Director: Marcel LaForce
Development Director: Brett Bradstock, Harry Ross
Technical Drector: Brad Gour
Art Director: Scott Jackson
Mission Music: Morphadron, Wicked Lester, Crispin Hands, Lionshead Entertainment
Mix Engineer: Hiwatt Marshall
Speech Engineer: Jennifer Lewis
Speech Editor: Rob Plotnikoff, Crispin Hands, Saki Kaskas
Charactere Dialogue: Richard Schenkman, Global Multitronics
Original Story and Characters: Brooke Burgess
Video Compression: Mark Ricard
Photography: Adam Myhill
Marketing Manager: Peter Royea
European Marketing Manager: Audrey Meehan
Intro and Finale Sequence: Digital Animations
"Bond Girl" Sequences: Ballistic Pixel Lab
Title Sequences: William Morrison
Special Guest Talent: John Cleese
Voice Talent: Miles Anderson, Tim Bentnick, Adam Blackwood, Caron Pascoe
Voice Talent Canada: Allister Aibell, Deborah Demille, Phillip Hayes, Bill Mondy, Rebecca Reichert, Kim Restell, Elizabeth Carol Savenkoff, Cathy Weseluk, Serena Whitters
Character Model Talent: Inez Jesionowski, Liesa Norman, Mary Kwan, Sara Stockstad, Kenneth Jeary
EA CANADA QA
QA Project Manager: David Ham
QA Team Lead: Darcy Pajak
QA Software Testers: Gordon Thornton, Paul Byrom
Project Testers: Michael Bromley, Tim Dale, Navdeep Gil, Ryan Greenlow, Mike Love, Robert McDermott, Michael Mahar, Avinash Narayen, Andrew Pojar, Brad Porteous, Dan Smith, Carvy Spindler, Justin Wiebe, Chris Dellinger
QA Tech Lead: Brian Oberquell
Mastering: Peter Petkov, Cary Chao, Rafael Erana
QA Database Administration: Bob Purewal, Jason Feser
EA REDWOOD SHORES
Package Design: Mike Lippert
Package Design Management: Vyn Arnold
Public Relations: Jerris Mungai
Internet: Bobby Lew
Package Illustration: MGM
Documentation: Anthony Lynch
Documentation Layout: Big Idea Group
Customer Quality Control: Anthony Barbagallo, Tony Alexander, Benjamin Crick, Dave knudson, Micah Pritchard, Darryl Jenkins, Andrew Young, Dave Kellum, Benjamin Smith
LICENSING EA INC.
VP Business Affairs: Joel Lizner
Director Of Business Affairs EARS: Robert Gonzales
Director Of Business Affairs EAC: Brian Ward
Director of Business and Product Development: Frank Pape
Legal: Sue Garfield, JoAnn Covington
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited: David Byrne, Julia Dalton
BMW AG: Lars Freisinger, Hans Peter-Ketterl
Group Lotus Limited: Katie Dann
MGM INTERACTIVE
President, Home Entertainment Group: David Bishop
Executive Producer: Neil Hadar
Executive Producer: Simon Matthew
Executive Producer: Pamela Trucano
Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs: Robert Rader
Senior Test Lead: David Guzman
Testers: Carlo Serrano, James Myers
Senior Financial Analyst: Eric Medel
Assistant: Laura Wilson
MGM Special Thanks: Phyliss Gordon, Mark Leino, Matt Lieberman, Chris Neel, David Elsey, Lee Nedler, Alyssa Moore, Davis Pope, DANJAQ, LLC, Megan Crawfor John Ryan, Leigh Matty, Jonathon Cook, Gail Murphy, Hobson International, Trina Allen, Karen Roberts, Pacific Artist Management, Karen Roberts, Post Modern Sound, David Croft At The Tape Gallery, Mark Lange, Sam Hofer, Tom Raycove, Francois LaFleur, Jessica Cecena, Carmen Vars, John Casablancas, Vancouver Model Management, Tracy Juliver, Tse Chung Lo ~ Eric Caroen, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
It's probably safe to assume that most gamers have at one point or another dreamed of fillingEven with a host of intriguing concepts, 007 Racing doesn't manage to entertain, especially considering its great theme. Jumping into a fast car and blowing things up should fundamentally be an engaging experience, and when people manage to get it wrong, questions must be asked and companies must be held accountable. Such is the case with this title, which has the ideas but lacks the control, design consistency, and smooth, attractive look that the concept demands.
While the cars all have noticeably different handling, they don't control quite as well as you would hope from their expensive and exclusive reputations. Rather, they're all fairly sluggish, with turning and acceleration that misses the mark. They don't feel attached to the road enough, and that really hurts the title, since they are the focus and attraction to the game in the first place.
The weapons aren't as fun to use as they should be, either. For starters, you can hold but one, meaning if you accidentally pick a weapon that you don't want by running over it, there's nothing that can be done to stop it. And aiming is impractically difficult, often making you wish that you had a crosshair to guide you as you fire away.
The missions given to you are certainly varied, but their problem is that the quality is inconsistent. Most of the missions are of the hunt-and-kill variety, and these are generally annoying only because of the game's suspect control. But others, where racing is the predominate theme, can range from thrilling to incomprehensible to just plain dull.
Even the great missions only serve to highlight how disappointing the game is, although they do at least manage to deliver some enjoyment for your hard-earned money. But they won't satisfy anyone enough to justify playing through the rest of the game.
007 Racing looks as if it came out the day after the console was released rather than during the year 2000. Nearly every visual aspect of the game is substandard, from the bulky models, made even more apparent by the smooth sheen that sports cars should feature, to the textures, map design, and so forth. Everything looks downright ugly, which is disappointing when you consider the number of beautiful games released on the platform. What went wrong?
In the end, despite a theme that seemed infallible, complete with Spy Hunter gameplay and some interesting objectives to complete, the control, look, and overall feel of 007 Racing fails to thrill, chill, shake, or stir your consciousness to warrant giving it a go. ~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide





