| James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing |
Cover art |
| Developer(s) |
EA Redwood Shores, EA Canada |
| Publisher(s) |
Electronic Arts |
| Series |
James Bond |
| Engine |
id Tech 3 |
| Platform(s) |
PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance |
| Release date(s) |
Game Boy Advance
NA November 17, 2003
PAL December 5, 2003
GameCube, PS2 & Xbox
NA February 17, 2004
PAL February 27, 2004
|
| Genre(s) |
Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) |
Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB: T
OFLC: M15+
PEGI: 12+
|
| Media |
DVD-ROM, Nintendo optical disc |
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is a 2004 third-person shooter video game, where the player controls Ian Fleming's master spy, James Bond. Bond is modeled after and voiced by the former James Bond actor, Pierce Brosnan. EA Redwood Shores (third-person levels) and EA Canada (vehicle levels) developed and published Everything or Nothing for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the GameCube. The Game Boy Advance version was developed by Griptonite Games. Everything or Nothing also marks the sixth and last performance of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, both in game and film.
Overview
Everything or Nothing is the second Bond game played in the third-person and is the first Bond game to feature a two-player cooperative mode. However, unlike its modern predecessors, Everything or Nothing lacks a true deathmatch multiplayer mode[citation needed], a popular staple in Bond games since 1997's GoldenEye 007.
For the first time in any James Bond game, Electronic Arts hired many actors to model the characters after, as well as their voice talents. In addition to Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench and John Cleese reprised their roles from previous Bond films, and the game features well-known actors Willem Dafoe, Shannon Elizabeth, and Heidi Klum as well as actor Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in the classic 007 films. Everything or Nothing is also the second James Bond game to have its own original theme song but the first to be sung by a well-known singer: R&B artist Mya, who also has a part as a Bond girl in the game. The soundtrack was composed by Sean Callery. The soundtrack features a new rendition of the famed James Bond theme by Callery.
The game was written by screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, who also wrote the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and co-scripted the Bond films GoldenEye and The World Is Not Enough.
Everything or Nothing includes 29 missions as well as 4 unlockable bonus missions, numerous gadgets supplied by Q and the return of the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish from the 2002 film Die Another Day.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the gameplay portrayed in From Russia with Love, including a mechanic that requires Bond to pause for a moment after triple rolling.[citation needed]
Plot summary
Dr. Katya Nadanova, a nanotechnology professor at Oxford, is kidnapped by terrorists. James Bond is sent to rescue her and her new invention, a nanobot that can repair electrical wires. Bond finds her on a moving train, and is able to rescue her after a battle with the terrorist general, though most of the nanobots were destroyed. After Bond leaves her at a nearby military base, she meets with Nikolai Diavolo, a Russian businessman; he receives a vial containing a few of her nanobots.
Diavolo is revealed to be a former KGB agent who was mentored by Max Zorin in his youth. Diavolo holds a deep hatred for Bond due his involvement in the death of Zorin back in 1985 on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Later, Bond is sent to look for 003, who has gone missing after being sent to investigate a Peruvian platinum mine. Bond enlists the aid of an American geologist, Serena St. Germaine, to help him find the mine. When he finds 003 in the mine, Bond discovers that he has been tortured. With his dying breath, 003 tells Bond that something is going to happen in New Orleans.
In New Orleans, Bond discovers that the nanobots that Dr. Nadanova created have been altered by Diavolo to hold a chemical that can eat through any metal known to man, except platinum. Bond destroys the laboratory being used to make the nanobots, but finds out that a truck full of nanobots is being driven to the New Orleans levees, so they can destroy the levees and flood New Orleans. Bond destroys the truck before it can reach the levees.
Bond returns with Serena to Peru to learn more about Diavolo’s plans at the platinum mines. Once in the mines, he is captured by Nadanova and placed in a death trap by Diavolo. Diavolo explains that he intends to use the nanobots to destroy everything responsible for the destruction of his Soviet homeland. Bond breaks free of the death trap and escapes the mines in a helicopter piloted by Serena.
Diavolo travels to Moscow where he intends to use his nanobots to release toxic gas into Red Square. Bond follows him. After preventing the release of the gas, Bond discovers that there is a missile silo under the Kremlin. Diavolo has placed payloads of the nanobots on the missiles and plans to launch them at his targets.
Bond enters the silo and deactivates the missiles. He is then attacked by Diavolo and Nadanova in a Soviet jet. Bond shoots the jet down, killing Nadanova, but Diavolo ejects and manages to activate one of the missiles from a control tower. Bond shoots Diavolo with a rocket launcher, then destroys the missile with some shots from a nearby rocket turret.
Scenes from other Bond films
There are scenes in Everything or Nothing that are in reference to other Bond films.[citation needed] They include:
Game engine
Everything or Nothing's game engine evolved from the engine used in Agent Under Fire. Like its predecessor, the driving sections were developed using a separate engine by EA Canada[1]. Erik Strickland and Louis Gascoigne[2] were the lead engineers on the 3rd person action portion of the game.[citation needed]
Music
The game features a title song of the same name performed by Mýa. Her song is similar to Madonna's "Die Another Day" in that three different versions exist: Everything or Nothing has the main version, a Jazz version that plays when Bond is visiting the Kiss Kiss Club in New Orleans, and a techno version that plays over the end credits and during the bonus training missions; "Die Another Day" has the main version, a Dirty Vegas remix for the end credits of the film and a Deepsky Edit (which was not featured in the film). Mya and Madonna are also the only two artists to perform a Bond song and act in their respective Bond projects: Mya plays NSA Agent Mya Starling in Everything or Nothing while Madonna plays fencing coach Verity in Die Another Day.
The in-game music was composed by composer Sean Callery, with additional music by Jeff Tymoschuk.
Reception
Console
The console version of the game was rather well-received. GameSpot gave it an 8.8, calling it "a really great game, perhaps the best James Bond game ever made".[14] IGN said "EA shakes things up and gives us a fresh new perspective on how good Bond can be."[1] The game has an 84% ranking on Metacritic.[15]
However, some critics were not as impressed. UK gaming magazine Edge gave the game a 5/10, saying that "It's perhaps because the title benefits from such a high production spend, in fact, that the average design and execution becomes more pronounced."[citation needed]
Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance version of the game received largely poor scores, with many critics bemoaning the lack of polish when compared to its console counterparts. GMR magazine said that "This poor man's 'Spy Hunter' is the part of Everything or Nothing in which nothing is, in all honesty, preferable."[citation needed]
Game Informer bemoaned the game's poor controls and awkward isometric camera, saying that "I’m not a big proponent of the isometric view, and marrying it to sloppy stealth-style gameplay only exacerbates the problem. It’s sort of hard to plan your next move when you can only see about 10 virtual feet in front of you, and as a result it’s usually easier to just run and gun your way through the levels."[16]
However, some publications were somewhat more favorable. Gamespot's review called it "A brief yet satisfying action game that faithfully captures the look and feel of a typical James Bond movie."[17] Likewise, 1UP.com thought that the game as a whole was serviceable, save for how short the game was, saying that "The only serious black mark on EoN is its length -- you can bulldoze through Bond's story in a few short hours, and the extra difficulty levels will likely not be enough to entice you to try again."
References
External links
