Yes, it was a retail disappointment.
And yes, it’s still Nintendo’s least-successful console ever.
But despite all that, the GameCube is actually one of my favorite systems.
If I could relive one console generation over again and play its games for the first time…I
might actually pick the GameCube.
It was just such a cool system.
And if there’s one thing I’d do differently?
I’d give its James Bond games more of a chance.
As a snotty college kid who refused to accept anything that wasn’t GoldenEye, I missed
out on some really cool Bond games on the GameCube.
None cooler…than From Russia With Love.
So if you’re like me, and you kind of…ignored some the Bond games from Electronic Arts,
it’s worth mentioning that they had a pretty interesting evolution.
In fact, EA started with a gamble, as their very first Bond game was a third-person shooter.
A huge departure from GoldenEye, obviously…and probably why a lot of GoldenEye fans wrote
them off.
But after that, EA kind of settled into a rhythm.
Their next three Bond games, including the popular Agent Under Fire and the underrated
Nightfire…were again first-person shooters.
Then, they went back to third person, with 2004’s Everything or Nothing.
Sh*t got confusing, basically.
And significantly less GoldenEye.
Anyway, Everything or Nothing was actually a really fun Bond game.
If you could…forget your nostalgia, long enough to play it.
And a year later, EA followed it up with this, From Russia With Love.
And what’s interesting about this one is that…it’s pretty much doing all the same
things Everything or Nothing did, only it looks way cooler doing them.
Sean Connery tends to have that effect on things.
And that’s what makes From Russia With Love special.
It’s a 007 throwback, taking the series back 40 years…to the early 1960s, and movies
like Goldfinger, and Thunderball.
And of course, From Russia With Love.
So James Bond is played by the original Bond, Sean Connery, for the first time since 1983.
That’s awesome.
And EA did some serious work to make the character look the part.
The facial detail, the animations…it really looks like classic 007.
That instantly makes this game cool.
But you know, it’s more than just Sean Connery.
For me, the presentation in general…is From Russia With Love’s most defining element.
It really nails the feel, and the style, of 1960s James Bond.
That goes for the gadgets and environments, even the character himself.
This is a more physical Bond, so you can do a lot more with melee attacks than prior games.
Then, of course…there’s the environments.
Always good, occasionally stunning.
Seriously, this is a gorgeous GameCube game, both in terms of its style and its technique.
So the game looks good, it sounds good, it has an awesome concept and style…what’s
the drawback?
Well, it’s not so much a drawback as a lack of other highlights.
From Russia With Love is just a prettier and more polished version of Everything or Nothing.
Which would be great, but…there is one thing that game did better than this one.
And that’s level design.
In comparison, the levels in From Russia With Love just aren’t as exciting, or eventful.
Fortunately, though, the game does play better than its predecessor.
The whole third-person cover-based shooter thing was still a few years from defining
the industry, so this one still feels kind of primitive.
But it’s better than Everything or Nothing, for sure.
It still uses this auto-lock system for targeting, but it’s much more reliable this time.
Still not perfect, and far from what they are today, but…still an improvement.
And the game throws in some RPG elements, too.
You can upgrade your weapons and gadgets after each level, which is a really fitting addition
to a Bond game.
This is an interesting Bond game to go back to.
Not only because the game itself goes back, but…because it comes this close to being
great.
It’s beautiful, it’s stylish, it plays well…but it’s just missing a little something
in its level design.
Had that been improved, this game could’ve been a contender to GoldenEye’s throne.
But even so…this is an awesome Bond game.
It’s James Bond 007: From Russia With Love.
An easy recommendation for GameCube fans old and new.