007 Racing

Pros • Combines racing and vehicular combat • Decent frame rate • A few interesting levels • Many cars to drive and wreck	Cons • Collision detection should be in the shop • Enemy AI is in the shop • Blocky graphics • Handling of weapon inventory is a mess • Really, The Bond name does nothing for this game
Bottom Line Sadly, this attempt at bringing together elements of the Twisted Metal and Ridge Racer games just doesn’t score as well as it should have because of poor execution. Guns, girls, explosions, booze, fast cars and more girls! That is the basic recipe for your average 007 flick. Like many Bond based games, 007 Racing tries to bring some of the atmosphere of the movies to your PlayStation. Racing at least offers the fast cars. Unfortunately, the action is left almost as cold as a shaken (read: not stirred) vodka martini and proves that even the world’s greatest super spy can’t save ‘em all.

What would you do if somebody gives you the keys to some of the more memorable Bondmobiles? Wanna go for a ride in Sean Connery’s classic Aston Martin DB5, Moore’s Lotus Espirit or one of the tricked out BMWs that the Brosnan Bond finds so pleasing? Well, if you really wanna go for a ride in these vehicles- your best bet is to save up a few bucks (about $800,000 or so) and invest in one of these dream cars, as Mr. Bond’s racing tries hard but fails to deliver and smacks into the brick wall of mediocrity (ow!).

Oh, Grow Up 007!

Why has 007 taken up racing anyway? Is he bored with MI6? Maybe wants to take on Jeff Gordon. In any event, there is not a tremendous lot of strict racing to be had in this game. Rather, 007 Racing focuses more on automotive mission based combat and other tasks that need to be accomplished. Whether it’s the destruction derby-like levels involving smashing into enemies or using ridiculously high tech gadgetry like missiles, smokescreens and oil slicks, 007 Racing tries to add a bit of attitude to the tried and true race for the checkered flag.

The differences in how the cars handle are surprisingly small. Does an Aston Martin from the ‘50s handle much like a BMW of the ‘90s? I’ve never driven in either manner of car, but I doubt they would offer nearly the same ride. It’s a point somebody in EA R&D should’ve noticed and implemented better.

Interestingly, when designing the cars, Q (or is R?) and his crew were not concerned about which weapon James might actually want to use at a given time. Accessing your arms stash requires constantly flipping through weapon after weapon trying to feverishly find just the right one. Once you acquire a weapon in the game, it becomes your active choice thus requiring more frustratingly feverish weapon selecting to change it. Not a good idea when there are rockets flying, mines exploding, or bullets piercing the air around you.

If this had been a slightly faster paced FPS, the clumsy interface alone would’ve helped this game be awarded a score of a perfect "0", but there are enough less frenzied moments to keep the interface from ruining every game. Which brings up another issue.

Most of the enemies you’ll be facing are dumber than most of the nameless, faceless drones Bond unflinchingly offs in most of the flicks. Baddies are quite content to smack headlong into you, often without attempting to make proper use of long-range weaponry. Of course the fact that collision detection is so devastatingly poor, not to mention the shoddy AI, may help explain their need to be so up close and personal.

The level design varies from shamelessly simplistic to modestly complicated. There are enough levels and missions to keep Bond fans happy, but more hardcore types may be looking for a bit more involving gameplay.

A View to Be Killed

James Bond is well known for his travels to many a distant country. Usually his missions involve him going to exotic locales primarily to bed their women and kill off many of their men. 007 Racing features many different places to play in like New York, Bavaria, Amsterdam and cultural capital of the universe Louisiana (?). While the locations are ripped from the Bond films, the bad visuals are not. There’s just enough color variation to help you distinguish the cars from the roads or the background from the foreground, but the pixels are pretty large and blocky. Still, EA did mange to squeeze a decent frame rate out of 007 Racing which, when it comes right down to it, may be enough for those not expecting a lot from this game.

Sound effects include the famous Bond theme (played endlessly) and commentary by John Cleese as R. The other voices for opponents, M and others are done okay, but I’m still not quite sure what part of the world the Bond accent is from- I doubt it’s Scottish.

007 Racing feels somewhat incomplete. The AI is sometimes non-functional, as is the spotty collision detection. The graphics aren’t horrible but they do kill some of the atmosphere that the Bond flicks rely so heavily on. With some more fine-tuning we could’ve had the ultimate racing game, but after an hour so, you’ll find that like most Roger Moore Bond movies, this is a rental at best.

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