James Bond 007: Nightfire

James Bond 007: Nightfire

Developer(s) Eurocom
Gearbox Software (PC)
JV Games (GBA)
TransGaming Inc. (OS X)
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Aspyr (OS X)
Distributor(s) MGM Interactive
Series James Bond video games
Engine GoldSrc (PC)
Proprietary Engine (Consoles)
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, OS X
Release date(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox & GameCube
NA November 18, 2002
EU November 29, 2002
JP January 30, 2003 (PS2 only)
Microsoft Windows
  • NA November 28, 2002
  • EU December 6, 2002
Game Boy Advance
  • NA March 17, 2003
  • EU March 28, 2003
OS X
  • EU June 21, 2004
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution DVD (PS2 & Xbox)
Nintendo optical disc (GC)
CD-ROM (PC & OS X)
Cartridge (GBA)

James Bond 007: Nightfire is a first-person shooter video game featuring fictional British secret agent James Bond and a sequel to Agent Under Fire, published by Electronic Arts in 2002. The game was developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube video game consoles, Gearbox Software developed the game for Microsoft Windows, JV Games developed the game for the Game Boy Advance and TransGaming Inc. developed the game alongside Aspyr who published the game for the OS X. The computer versions are substantially different from the console versions, featuring different missions and a modified story line.

It marked Pierce Brosnan's fourth appearance as James Bond before the release of his fourth and final Bond film Die Another Day. His likeness was featured in the game, but not his voice, which was provided by Maxwell Caulfield.

Gameplay

The Player plays the Role, as James Bond

NightFire is primarily a first-person shooter, mixed with some driving sequences. The player can use many weapons, which are as follows: Wolfram PP7, Golden PP7, Wolfram P2K, Golden P2K, Kowloon Type 40, Raptor Magnum, Deutsche M9K, Storm M9-32, Suisse SG5 Commando, Korsakov K5 Tranquilizer Dart, Frinesi automatic 12, winter tactical sniper rifle, winter covert sniper rifle, Militek mark 6 Multi-grenade launcher, AT-420 Sentinel, AT-600 Scorpion, Delta Repeater Crossbow and finally the Phoenix Samurai Laser Rifle. In addition, there are numerous amounts of mounted weapons found throughout the game. As with previous James Bond games, the weapon models are based on actual weapons, but with the names changed. Some weapons appear in the console version but not the PC version and vice versa.

Each version of the game differs significantly from the others. The PC version, for example, has fewer levels than the console versions and does not implement driving mode. It begins the plot right at Drake's Austrian castle, skipping over the French mission. Also, in this version, Rook dies much earlier on, in the astronaut training facility that Bond infiltrates. The Game Boy Advance version resembles the PC NightFire more than the console versions. However, the very general overall storyline and characters remain the same in all versions.

Multiplayer

In the multiplayer mode of Nightfire players can play in multiple levels, including Fort Knox, from Goldfinger, Atlantis and the sub docking pen from The Spy Who Loved Me, and many Nightfire related levels, including Drake's castle, Drake's underwater base, and Drake's secret missile silo. Other levels include "Skyrail" and "Ravine". The player may choose to play against AI bots with customizable reaction time, speed, and health, or other humans. The amount of usable bots vary in the console versions. In the GameCube and Xbox version, up to six bots may be used. In the PlayStation 2 version, up to four bots may be used and up to four humans can play. In the PC version, up to 12 bots may be used. The PC version also has an online multiplayer mode.

Some medals obtained will unlock new characters. Notable characters included from previous James Bond films include Francisco Scaramanga and Nick Nack from The Man with the Golden Gun, May Day and Max Zorin from A View to a Kill, Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, Elektra King and Renard from The World Is Not Enough, Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob from Goldfinger, and Baron Samedi from Live and Let Die.

Plot

Console Version

The game's prologue mission starts in Paris, with James Bond (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield with the likeness of Pierce Brosnan) helping French Intelligence operative Dominique Paradis evade a gang chase while chasing a truck with a stolen nuclear weapon, before continuing in his car. After stopping the truck from blowing up the Eiffel Tower, Dominique and James celebrate New Year's Eve.

The British Government sends Bond undercover to a party in industrialist Raphael Drake's Austrian castle. M (voiced by Samantha Eggar) believes that the party is a cover for the exchange of a missile guidance chip between Raphael Drake and Alexander Mayhew, who manages the Japanese branch of Drake's industry, Phoenix International, and had stolen the chip from the United States. Phoenix is believed to be a front for weapon smuggling. M gives Bond the instruction for 007 to rendezvous with CIA agent Zoe Nightshade and Dominique, who is posing as Drake's mistress. While Zoe distracts the guards, Bond makes his way to the exchange and steals the chip. Agents Nightshade and 007 try to make an escape on a cable car, when Drake's bodyguard, Rook, attacks the cable car with a rocket-launching helicopter. Bond shoots down the attacking helicopter using rockets found in the cable car. James and Zoe then escape Drake's forces in an armoured snowmobile before continuing in James' car. They rendezvous with Q (voiced by Gregg Berger), who takes them out of Austria.

After the breach, Drake threatens to kill Mayhew, should the operation fail. Mayhew contacts MI6, saying he will provide vital information if Bond comes to his rescue. At his Japanese estate, Mayhew is attacked by Drake's men, consisting of Japanese thugs. Bond fights his way through the estate and manages to obtain a file from Mayhew's safe. As they are prepared to make an escape from the estate, Mayhew is killed by a ninja. The file leads Bond to Mayhew's office at the Phoenix Building in Tokyo.

Bond is able to infiltrate the building while the guards are changing shifts and secures official NightFire documents. He is then attacked by Drake's men before Dominique provides a distraction, which allows Bond to escape via parachute off the roof of the building.

The NightFire documents lead Bond to a nuclear power plant being decommissioned by Phoenix International. Bond retrieves evidence of Drake's activities and escapes. However, he is then double crossed and captured by Kiko, Mayhew's former bodyguard, and turned over to Drake. On the top of the Phoenix building, Drake plans to kill Bond and Dominique, who has been discovered as a mole. Dominique is kicked off the rooftop by Kiko and dies. Bond escapes to the ground level before being saved by Australian Intelligence agent Alura McCall.

M sends Bond and Alura to Drake's private island, where M believes Drake is keeping rockets to launch into space. The pair infiltrate the island and eliminate Drake's defences. Bond makes his way to Drake's underground silo, fighting off Rook, who wants revenge for almost killing him in their previous ordeal, which Rook survived. Bond kills Rook and reaches the silo where the space shuttles are kept. When attempting to board one, Kiko activates a trap which sends Bond into the blast pit, however, he takes refuge in the blast chambers to protect himself when the shuttle launches. After getting out of the blast pit, Bond uses the same trap against Kiko and sends her into the blast pit. Unable to reach the blast chambers in time, she is incinerated when his space shuttle launches.

Bond reaches the U.S. Space Defense Platform, where Drake is. He successfully sends all eight missiles off course, saving millions of lives, and causes Drake's laser weapon to malfunction, leading to a huge explosion. Finally, Bond kills Drake. As the station goes up in flames, Bond blasts from an escape pod and goes back down to Earth, where M informs him that astronomers from around the globe are reporting "unexpected meteor showers" (which is actually the debris of the now-destroyed Space Defense Platform).

PC Version

The plot, as in the console version, revolves around Rafael Drake, an industrialist, who is suspected behind the theft of a missile guidance hardware device intended for orbiting US weapons platform. With NATO classifying that its recovery is critical, the British Intelligence sends James Bond to Austria where a party is held at Drake's private castle. M believes that the party is a cover for an exchange between its host and Alexander Mayhew, who manages the Japanese branch of Drake's industry, Phoenix International, a front for weapon smuggling crime ring, and had stolen the chip from the United States. 007 is told that he will rendezvous with a deep undercover operative planted in Drake's cricle of trust, along with CIA's very own agent, Zoe Nightshade, whom Bond worked with previously on the Malprave case.

Bond infiltrates the party and maintains low profile, eventually reaching his checkpoint where he meets his contacts, and the undercover operative is revealed to be a French Intelligence agent, named Dominique Paradis, who poses as Drake's mistress, giving her colleagues with all the information they needed. Zoe and Bond altogether manage to recover the guidance device, decapitating everyone in the process that encountered them with force. They eventually confront Armitage Rook, Drake's personal henchman and head of security in a helicopter while they were making their escape through a cable car. 007 shoots Rook down with a rocket launcher, which crashes into the cable car right after the agents leap out of it. They head into the mountains and locate an escape route through a very secret and private airport owned by Drake's company. They manage to steal a plane and fly away into the Swiss borders.

When Phoenix failed to reclaim the missile guidance device, Drake has threatened to kill Mayhew for the mishap back in Austria. Mayhew contacts the MI6, requesting protection in exchange to give evidence of Drake's operation 'Nightfire'. Bond is sent to Japan to meet him in his estate, and suddenly they are attacked by Japanese Yakuza thugs. Bond fights his way through the estate and manages to obtain a file from Mayhew's safe. As they try to escape, Mayhew is assassinated by a ninja, who battles Bond, as well, and eventually meets his demise. The file leads Bond to Mayhew's office at the Phoenix Building in Tokyo.

Aided by Kiko, Mayhew's female bodyguard, Bond infiltrates the Phoenix Building, while the guards are changing shifts and secures official Nightfire documents. He is then attacked by Drake's men before Dominique provides a distraction, which allows Bond to fight off an assault team helicopter on the roof, destroy it and escape via parachute, jumping off the edge.

The evidence leads Bond to power plant which contains a space training facility down deep underneath. Sneaking his way inside, Bond witnesses Drake's activities and installs himself into the training field, as well, where he confronts Rook, with a scar on his face, who vowed revenge against Bond. The clash ends up with 007 overpowering the muscleman who crashes into a ventilator and is torn apart into pieces. Bond escapes, but finds himself in the custody of outnumbering guards led by Kiko, who hauntingly double crosses him. On the top of the Phoenix building, Drake plans to kill Bond and Dominique, who has been discovered as a mole. Dominique is kicked off the rooftop by Kiko and dies. Bond escapes to the ground level before being saved by Australian Intelligence agent Alura McCall.

M sends Bond and Alura to Drake's private island, where Drake has set up a jamming signal. The pair infiltrate the island and eliminate Drake's defenses. M makes Bond aware of the UN, EU, and NATO forces arriving on the island to dismantle remaining enemy combatants. Bond makes his way to Drake's underground silo, fighting Kiko's henchmen and ninjas to get first into a space shuttle intending to capture the Space Defense Platform. Bond traps Kiko in the blast pit, where she is incinerated when his space shuttle launches.

Bond reaches the U.S. Space Defense Platform, located in the outer space, where Drake is. He sneaks into the base, and disables all the four nuclear missiles and saves millions of lives. Then, he heads into Drake's private quarters where he confronts him for the last time, as they clash in armed combat. Bond eventually kills Drake and lures himself into his escape pod as the station self-destructs and explodes right after he enters the Earth's atmosphere.

The final scene shows Bond and Alura celebrating the victory in Bond's Aston Martin on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, as M informs them that astronomers from around the globe are reporting "unexpected meteor showers", which is, in fact, the debris of the now-destroyed space station. It ends with Alura embracing Bond in romantic manners.

Characters

Development

The game had been in development as early as September 2000,[1] and was announced as James Bond 007 in May 2001.[2] By February 2002, the game's working title was James Bond in...Phoenix Rising.[3] The game's final title was unveiled in May 2002.[4] In July 2002, Pierce Brosnan's head was scanned with a laser digitizer to create the James Bond character model.[5][1]

Driving levels were developed by Savage Entertainment and a team at Electronic Arts.[6] Nightfire marked the first time a James Bond video game features an original song, "Nearly Civilized" performed by Esthero. Its original score was composed by Steve Duckworth, Ed Lima and Jeff Tymoschuk.

In January 2003, Electronic Arts announced that a Game Boy Advance version of the game was in development by JV Games.[7]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(GC) 81.94%[8]
(Xbox) 81.02%[9]
(PS2) 80.83%[10]
(GBA) 71.00%[11]
(PC) 64.50%[12]
Metacritic(GC) 80/100[13]
(Xbox) 78/100[14]
(PS2) 77/100[15]
(GBA) 66/100[16]
(PC) 59/100[17]
Review scores
PublicationScore
AllGame[18][19][20]
(GBA) [21]
(PC) [22]
Edge4/10[23]
Electronic Gaming Monthly8.5/10[24]
Eurogamer3/10[25]
Game Informer(GC) 8/10[26]
7.75/10[27][28]
GamePro[29][30][31]
(GBA) [32]
GameSpot7.9/10[33]
(PC) 6/10[34]
GameSpy(Xbox) [35]
[36][37]
(PC) [38]
GameZone(PC) 8.9/10[39]
(PS2) 8.3/10[40]
8/10[41][42]
(GBA) 7/10[43]
IGN(GC) 8.5/10[44]
(Xbox) 8.2/10[45]
(PS2) 8.1/10[46]
(PC) 7/10[47]
(GBA) 6.5/10[48]
Nintendo Power(GC) 4.4/5[49]
(GBA) 3.5/5[50]
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)[51]
Official Xbox Magazine8.4/10[52]
PC Gamer (US)57%[53]
Entertainment WeeklyC[54]

Nightfire received positive reviews. Many critics praised it for having a well thought out and consistent plot. Reviewers also commended the accurate James Bond model, bearing good resemblance to Pierce Brosnan. IGN gave the game a score of 8.2 and said that, "Eurocom Entertainment... has delivered what is easily the best 007 offering in years".[55] Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the GameCube version 81.94% and 80/100[8][13] the Xbox version 81.02% and 78/100,[9][14] the PlayStation 2 version 80.83% and 77/100,[10][15] the Game Boy Advance version 71.00% and 66/100[11][16] and the PC version 64.50% and 59/100.[12][17]

Reviews toward the game have also pointed to the realistic animation of the James Bond character. However, while the reviews have been generally positive, some critics believe that the main negative aspect of the game is its relatively short length. Critics also noted that Nightfire does attempt to steer away from previous Bond games (notably GoldenEye) and add a more interesting story line. Critics also derided the game's multiplayer bots, which have difficulty navigating through the multiplayer maps. Because of this issue, bots are not available in the map Ravine at all.[33] Entertainment Weekly gave it a C and stated that, "It's bad enough that you have to sit there and watch as Bond does his thing, but what's really frustrating is that these [cinematic] sequences (parachuting off a skyscraper, somersaulting to avoid gunfire) illustrate precisely the kind of actions that you should be able to control."[54]

In 2008, PC Games Hardware included Alura McCall, Makiko Hayashi, Dominique Paradis and Zoe Nightshade among the 112 most important female characters in games.[56] In 2013, The Linc called Nightfire the arguably most successful title in the James Bond game series.[57]

Fan Remake

In 2013, fans of the original game began porting the PC version to Source engine,[58] planning to release it on Steam as Nightfire: Source.[59] As of February 2015, there is a publicly playable Alpha version available to download on its forums.

References

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