| 007: Everything or Nothing | |
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| Developer(s) | EA Redwood Shores, EA Canada, Griptonite Games |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Writer(s) | Bruce Feirstein Danny Bilson Paul Demeo |
| Composer(s) | Sean Callery Jeff Tymoschuck |
| Series | James Bond |
| Engine | id Tech 3 |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance |
| Release date(s) | Game Boy Advance Home consoles |
| Genre(s) | Third-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | DVD-ROM, Nintendo optical disc |
007: Everything or Nothing is a 2004 third-person shooter video game, where the player controls James Bond. Bond is modeled after and voiced by the former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, making it his final performance for the character in game and film. Developed by EA Redwood Shores (third-person levels) and EA Canada (vehicle levels), it was published by Electronic Arts and released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the GameCube consoles. The Game Boy Advance version was developed by Griptonite Games.
Although the game achieved Platinum Hits status on the Xbox, it is one of the few games that has not been made backwards compatible with the Xbox 360. This was also the last James Bond game to have an original story and title until the release of James Bond 007: Blood Stone in 2010.
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Everything or Nothing is the second Bond game played in the third-person (the first being Tomorrow Never Dies), 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,[1] 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, Heidi Klum and Vladimir Cuk 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.
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.
The gameplay is a mix of third-person shooting/action sequences and vehicle sequences. In third-person, Bond can move, take cover, aim and shoot with a lock-on system, engage in hand-to-hand combat, use his spy gadgets and perform some context-sensitive actions. The lock-on system has a precision aiming dot that can be moved with the right thumb stick to target specific areas of the body. It does not snap to these areas, making it possible to completely miss your target.
A unique feature, "Bond sense", allows you to see the world how Bond does, allowing you to spot things that Bond can interact with. Using Bond sense slows down time so the player may have a chance to spot objects or enemies, but the player cannot move or take action without deactivating Bond sense.
Vehicle missions have Bond driving around a linear path or large area completing objectives. Vehicles usually carry multiple weapons from machine guns to heat-seeking missiles. Many have specific gadgets like rubber dissolving acid or nanobots that can destroy almost anything. A few missions require Bond to leave his vehicle to complete objectives only reachable by foot.
Like in Agent Under Fire and Nightfire, Bond moments are present again allowing the player to complete certain actions that "only Bond would think of";[2] for example a player might have to explode a barrel next to some entrenched enemies or stay undetected.
The game's screenplay was written by Bruce Feirstein, based on a story idea by Danny Bilson and Paul Demeo.[3] Dr. Katya Nadanova (Heidi Klum), a nanotechnology professor at Oxford, is kidnapped by terrorists in Egypt. James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to rescue her and destroy her new invention, a nanobot that can dispose of nuclear waste. Bond finds her on a moving train, and is able to rescue her after a battle with the terrorist general. After Bond leaves her at a nearby military base, she meets with Nikolai Diavolo (Willem Dafoe), a Russian businessman; he receives a vial containing a few of her nanobots that Bond missed.
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, as seen in the film A View To A Kill.
Some time 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 (Shannon Elizabeth), to help him find the mine. When he finds 003 in the mine, Diavolo kills him. With his dying breath, 003(Jack) tells Bond that something is going to happen in New Orleans. After rescuing Serena and hiding her in Jack's safehouse Bond races toward an airfield on a new standard issue Triumph Daytona 600 motorcycle and leaves.
In New Orleans, Bond discovers that the nanobots that Dr. Nadanova created have been altered by Diavolo to 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 by Jaws (Richard Kiel), so they can destroy them and flood New Orleans. Bond destroys the truck before it can reach the levees, but he doubts Jaws is finished.
Bond returns to Peru to learn more about Diavolo’s plans at the platinum mines. He wins a race that Diavolo holds and tries to interrogate him, but Diavolo captures Serena, and Bond is forced to let Diavolo escape to the mines. Bond sees to Serena and heads out to the platinum mine. Once there, he is captured by Nadanova and placed in a death trap by Diavolo. Diavolo explains that he intends to use the nanobots to destroy the Kremlin and use his army of nanobots and platinum made tanks to restore the USSR. Bond breaks free of the death trap and escapes the mines in a helicopter piloted by Serena.
Bond follows Diavolo to Moscow where he has already begun his assault on Red Square. After preventing the release of the nanomites, Bond discovers that there is a missile silo under the Kremlin. Diavolo has replaced the nuclear payloads of the missiles with nanobots 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 his seat and manages to activate one of the missiles from a control tower. Bond shoots Diavolo with a rocket launcher. Diavolo manages to press the launch button but dies when he falls into the missile silo just as the missile takes off. Bond then destroys the missile with some shots from a nearby rocket turret.
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.[4] The driving was based on the engine from Need for Speed.[5]
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 were also, at the time, 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. Since then, Joss Stone has performed the theme for the game James Bond 007: Blood Stone as well as providing her voice and likeness in the game for the character of Nicole Hunter.
The in-game music was composed by composer Sean Callery, with additional music by Jeff Tymoschuk. Later in 2006, when publisher Electronic Arts began making their published games soundtracks commercially available, Callery's score appeared for sale exclusively on Rhapsody in digital only format with tracklisting as follows:
Notably, the album does not include Mya's theme song "Everything or Nothing".[6]
| Scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 83.10% (Xbox)[7] |
| Metacritic | 84/100 (GCN)[8] 83/100 (Xbox)[9] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| 1UP.com | A (PS2)[10] |
| Edge | 5 of 10[11] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 83 of 100[12] |
| Game Informer | 8.5 of 10[13] |
| GamePro | |
| GameSpot | 8.8 of 10 (Xbox)[14] |
| IGN | 8.5 of 10[15] |
| Nintendo Power | 8.8 of 10[16] |
| Official Xbox Magazine | 82 of 100[17] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B-[18] |
The console version of the game was generally well-received by critics. GameSpot gave it an 8.8, calling it "a really great game, perhaps the best James Bond game ever made".[19] IGN said "EA shakes things up and gives us a fresh new perspective on how good Bond can be."[4] The game has an 84% ranking on Metacritic.[20]
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."[20]
The Game Boy Advance version of the game received an aggregated ranking of 70% according to GameRankings,[21] as opposed to the console versions 83%.
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."[22]
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."[23] 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."
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