Battle of James Bond Shooting

Classic action adventure is a game of enjoyable moments about James Bond 007.

The game follows the plot in a fairly loose fashion. It has all the basic story details right, but it rewrites a lot of the key scenarios to suit itself. Big climactic sequences, like the confrontation on the train, are completely changed--and not necessarily for the better. The action sequence where Bond is ducking and dodging a low-flying helicopter that's trying to kill him

That's gone from the story altogether. There are also some weird detail changes, like how SPECTRE is renamed "Octopus" (evidently due to legal issues surrounding the name, but disappointing nonetheless). Furthermore, the first and last levels of the game are completely tacked on, with practically no story relevance whatsoever. The film's ending doesn't exactly come across as fodder for a great last game level, mind you, but what the developers pulled together here isn't satisfying or interesting.

Interestingly enough, the best parts of James Bond Shooting are the ones that EA managed to successfully translate from the film. The shoot-out with the Russian soldiers in the gypsy camp, the daring heist of the Lektor from the Russian consulate, the big boat chase with the agents of SPECT--er, the agents of Octopus... These are the sequences that are the most memorable and enjoyable by far, not necessarily because of how great the gameplay is, but because they appropriately stretch out a few minute-long film sequences into a 10-to-15-minute level without sacrificing the great bits from the film. Fortunately, there are several of these in the game, and they serve to counterbalance the conversely mediocre story bits that EA added and changed.

Battle of James Bond Shooting looks and plays a lot like Everything or Nothing, which isn't surprising since it's running on an engine that seems very similar to its predecessor's. Bond is dealt a variety of weapons and gadgets to use, including a few nifty ones like the Q-copter, a miniature helicopter that both provides Bond with surveillance of hard-to-reach areas and acts as a weapon (in that it will explode on command). Bond also has a special belt that lets him rappel up and down steep areas. Rappelling was in Everything or Nothing, but it's not quite the same here. It's more of a quick mechanic used to get around than something you'll ever find yourself using in a big action sequence. There's no rappelling down buildings while stuff's blowing up here.