James Bond 007: From Russia with Love

James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
Developer(s)	EA Redwood Shores Rebellion Developments (PSP)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Distributor(s)	MGM Interactive
Series	James Bond video games
Engine	Havok Physics
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox & GameCube NA November 1, 2005 NA November 15, 2005 (GC) EU November 18, 2005 JP March 2, 2006 (PS2 only) PlayStation Portable NA April 3, 2006 EU April 13, 2006 JP May 11, 2006
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

James Bond 007: From Russia with Love is a third-person shooter video game developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond 007, whose likeness and voice is that of Sean Connery. The game is based on the 1957 novel and the 1963 film of the same name.^[1] The game follows the storyline of the book and film, albeit adding in new scenes to make the game more action-oriented, as well as changing the affiliation of the main villains. Additionally, it features many elements of later Bond films to recreate the feel of the era such as the Aston Martin DB5 that debuted in Goldfinger (1964) and the jet pack from Thunderball (1965).^[2] From Russia with Love is also notable in that it is the first video game to use Sean Connery's younger likeness as James Bond and the first to include all new voice work by the actor after 22 years off the role.^[3] From Russia with Love is the last James Bond video game EA Games marketed before they lost the rights to Activision in 2006, as well as Sean Connery's last role before retirement.

Gameplay

James Bond using the jetpack seen in Thunderball to save Elizabeth Stark.

Unlike in the 2004 game, 007: Everything or Nothing, From Russia with Love features a third-person multiplayer deathmatch mode, however it lacks a cooperative feature that was present in Everything or Nothing.

Plot

One of the most obvious changes to the story for the video game is the absence of the villainous organization SPECTRE, who played a vital role in the film. Due to legal issues that have plagued the James Bond series of films since 1963, the organization was renamed as OCTOPUS and appears to lack a central leader in the same vein as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The SPECTRE name was tied up in a long-running dispute over the film rights to Thunderball, between United Artists/MGM and the now-deceased writer Kevin McClory.

The game begins with a standard pre-title sequence in which Elizabeth Stark, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom's daughter, is kidnapped by OCTOPUS while attending a party. Fortunately, Bond was assigned to attend the party for just such an event, and he defeats OCTOPUS and rescues Stark.

Similar to the film, OCTOPUS has conceived a plan to embarrass British secret service agent 007 for the death of Dr. Julius No from the film Dr. No, in which No was an agent of SPECTRE. The plan involves the theft of a Soviet encoding machine known as the Lektor with the help of a defecting Soviet agent, Tatiana Romanova. However, Romanova is being used by OCTOPUS to lure James Bond into a trap; their ultimate goal is to let him obtain the Lektor and then ambush him for it, killing him in humiliating fashion as well. Romanova is sent by Rosa Klebb, an agent of the KGB (in both the novel and film, an agent of SMERSH) who has secretly defected to OCTOPUS. Her immediate subordinate, Donald "Red" Grant, protects Bond through the first half of the game and attacks him in the second. The game ends with a final assault on OCTOPUS headquarters, during which Grant is fatally shot by Bond.

Additional Characters

• Miss Elizabeth Stark: Stark is the daughter of the British Prime Minister, whom Bond rescues in the pre-title sequence.
• Eva Adara: The driver and henchwoman of Red Grant. She is both a driver and pilot. She is ultimately killed in the level "Octopus Base" where she attacks Bond with a parked fighter jet. When it is damaged to the point where it is about to be destroyed, she flies down the underground runway at Bond who is using a jet pack. Bond easily avoids her plane which then smashes into the closed hangar doors at the end of the tunnel. Her role in the game was, however, minor.

OCTOPUS members:

• Red Grant is OCTOPUS's chief assassin and also starred in the film version. He kills his victims by choking them with dispersible wire from his watch. He follows Bond throughout the game, similar to the film. When Bond and Grant meet on the Orient Express, Grant first shot Kerim Bey before unleashes his men on Bond and escapes with the Lektor device through a train station in Zagreb. Bond and Tatiana meet up with Grant again on another track, where a firefight ensues. Eventually, a beaten Grant stumbles onto the tracks, and is "run over" with the Orient Express. Later when Bond enters the Octopus Headquarters, after dismantling the warheads Bond heads back to the Control Centre. Suddenly, an octopus-like apparatus descends from the Control Centre ceiling and it is revealed Grant is operating it from the inside. Bond attacks the war machine, and it eventually explodes. Grant is still alive, so Bond walks up to him and shoots him with a revolver, avenging slain ally Kerim Bey.
• Eva Adara is one of Red Grant's henchman. She is a pilot and was killed when she takes off in her plane, intending to crash into a jetpack-clad 007. Bond flies out of the way, and she crashes into the hangar door. The plane explodes, taking her life.
• Rosa Klebb worked for the KGB but secretly slipped over to OCTOPUS. She does not play a major role in the organisation apart from luring Tatiana Romanova to help her to steal the Lektor, a Russian decoding device. Identical to the movie, she enters Bond's Venice hotel room disguised as the chambermaid. She holds Bond at gunpoint, the orders Tatiana to leave with the Lektor. Instead, Tatiana knocks the gun out of Klebb's hands. Bond and Klebb fight for a short while, then Tatiana picks up Klebb's pistol and shoots her to death.

Cast

Many of the cast from the film version of From Russia with Love return in likeness. Sean Connery, the first actor to portray James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, returned to the role for the first time in 22 years since the unofficial 1983 remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again. Connery not only allowed for his likeness of Bond to be used (appropriately from the 1963 film), but also recorded all new voice work for the character. In addition, two new characters were added to the story, voiced by Natasha Bedingfield and Maria Menounos, were added to the main cast (with the actress' likenesses incorporated).

Development

From Russia with Love is the first title developed by Electronic Arts Redwood Shores to use an integrated game engine for the 3rd person action and driving segments. It was a new engine that was not based on any of the technology used for previous titles in the series but the result was similar to Id Tech 3.^[4]

The game was penned by Bond veteran Bruce Feirstein who previously worked on the film scripts for GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, in addition to the script for the 2004 video game Everything or Nothing. Feirstein would also go on to write stories for future Bond games at Activision, including the 2010 remake of GoldenEye 007, third-person shooter Blood Stone, and 50th anniversary game 007 Legends.

The game's soundtrack was composed by Christopher Lennertz. Additionally, Vic Flick, best known for playing the original guitar riff in the James Bond Theme announced that he contributed to Lennertz's score.

On April 5, 2005, Sean Connery was slated to lend his voice and likeness for the game. Connery said "As an artist, I see this as another way to explore the creative process. Video games are an extremely popular form of entertainment today, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all fits together".^[5] On October 20, 2005, From Russia With Love was complete.^[6]

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (GC) 73.65%[7] (Xbox) 69.37%[8] (PS2) 69.25%[9] (PSP) 63.81%[10] Metacritic (Xbox) 71/100[11] (GC) 70/100[12] (PS2) 69/100[13] (PSP) 61/100[14] Review scores Publication Score EGM 6.17/10[15] Eurogamer 6/10[16] Game Informer 7.75/10[17] (PSP) 6.75/10[18] GamePro [19] (PSP) [20] GameSpot 7/10[21][22] (PSP) 6.3/10[23] GameSpy (Xbox) [24] (PS2) [25] (PSP) [26] GameZone 6.9/10[27] IGN 7.9/10[28] (PSP) 7.1/10[29] Nintendo Power 7/10[30] OPM (US) (PS2) [31] (PSP) [32] OXM 8/10[33] Maxim 6/10[34] The Times [35]

From Russia With Love received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the GameCube version 73.65% and 70/100,^[7][12] the Xbox version 69.37% and 71/100,^[8][11] the PlayStation 2 version 69.25% and 69/100^[9][13] and the PlayStation Portable version 63.81% and 61/100.^[10][14] Many points were given to the enhanced graphics and play difficulty. The Times gave it a score of four stars out of five and stated that "It’s enough to make you toss your trilby on to a hat-rack in delight."^[35] However, Maxim gave it a score of six out of ten and stated that though the game was challenging, "it's also sometimes pedestrian, with a host of uninspired levels and dim bad guys ruining what could have been the triumphant return of 007."^[34] Within three months of its release, it had sold approximately 277,000 copies.^[36]

See also

• Outline of James Bond

References

External links

• James Bond 007: From Russia with Love at the Internet Movie Database
• James Bond 007: From Russia with Love at MobyGames