You know, the Bond games were never really about, first-person shooting.
I mean, look at this.
Cars that shoot rockets, snowmobiles that have turrets…women, that wear very little
clothing.
Even in the snow.
Come on.
It’s not a shooter.
It’s a simulation.
About…how to be a scoundrel.
Scoundrel simulator.
It’s James Bond 007: Nightfire.
So this was the fifth Bond game released after GoldenEye.
You know, the 1997 classic that just…defined a platform, and re-defined a genre.
No big deal.
Actually, it was a huge deal.
And as with any game that brings that kind of legacy, GoldenEye also brought some expectations.
Unreasonable expectations, for every 007 game that would come after it.
Including 007: Nightfire.
And that’s why…sometimes, it’s a good idea to go back and play games you’ve written
off, you know?
I mean, no Bond game will ever be GoldenEye—it’s not fair to expect that.
But I think for a long time, that’s what a lot of us did.
We expected GoldenEye.
That’s what I did.
I wrote off Nightfire in 2002, but more than a decade later…here I am.
I finally played it again.
Only this time, I left those expectations back in 1997.
I had fair expectations.
And you know what?
Nightfire exceeded them.
Now, with all that said…there’s one thing you need to accept right away, with Nightfire.
That’s that…by any objective measure, it has really clunky controls.
I mean, if you want to see how far shooters have come in the last decade…play something
like BioShock, and then try Nightfire.
It’s like trading the hottest car on the lot for a…1942 Chrysler Saratoga.
They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
And for good reason.
So if you’re young, and maybe you grew up with dual thumbsticks…well, that wasn’t
always a thing.
If you’re used to walking with the left stick, and looking around freely with the
right, at the same time…Nightfire is gonna feel really weird.
And even for those of us who played these games back in the day, it’s surprisingly
hard to get back in that groove.
I’m not sure I ever felt fully comfortable controlling 007.
He seemed to do just fine, though.
So with all the old-school FPS control stuff out of the way…almost everything else about
this game is awesome.
In fact, I was really surprised how good it looks.
And it’s not like this is some late-cycle GameCube game.
This was 2002.
The system was only a year old, but Nightfire was already pulling off some impressive stuff.
And as a side note for Nintendo fans, it really shows you how lazy most developers were with
their Wii games.
That Nightfire, on the GameCube, looks as good or better than a lot of Wii games.
And that polish carries over to the audio.
Nightfire sounds as good as it looks.
You know, older shooters move at a whole different pace than modern ones.
That’s one of the things I like about them.
And Nightfire feels mostly old-school, in that respect.
It feels a lot more like GoldenEye, in terms of its levels and gameplay, than it does modern
shooters.
It’s just a matter of getting a grip on the game…literally.
If you can get used to the decade-old controls, this is a really fun shooter.
And a fantastic addition to your GameCube library.
By the way, huge thanks to our pal Kevin, from Jersey City, New Jersey for sending it
in.
I hadn’t thought about this game in years, and if it wasn’t for him,
I would’ve never had this…come-to-Bond moment.
Nightfire would be a terrible GoldenEye.
But it’s a pretty good Nightfire.