007: Agent Under Fire

Pros • Maintains James Bond look and feel; impressive graphics, cool characters • Multiplayer action breathes some life into the game • Fun driving modes	Cons • Not enough challenging puzzles • A.I. isn’t the brightest (even on the tougher settings) • Gameplay is too easy, too short, too linear
Bottom Line Agent Under Fire’s single-player game is too short and too easy, with limited replayability. It’s fun while it lasts, and the game does successfully combine a first-person perspective shooter with third-person perspective racing game. With an espionage story plucked right out of the MGM flicks, Agent Under Fire puts the player in the body of James Bond (i.e. a Pierce Brosnan look-alike) as he jet-sets from city to city to unravel a sinister plot. Naturally, this 3D shooter also features the latest weapons and gadgets, sexy women and dangerous driving, as well. The single-player game is short and sweet but the multiplayer is the only real reason to keep coming back.

Often when I give lectures about the multibillion dollar gaming industry, I talk about the kind of gratification the player receives for taking part in the story, rather than being spoon-fed one as with passive entertainment (e.g. movies, TV shows). “Why watch James Bond when you can be James Bond?”, I tend to ask the crowd, rhetorically.

Now, coincidentally enough, I find myself reviewing a new James Bond game, dubbed Agent Under Fire. And indeed the player assumes the role of the suave spy, complete with familiar 007 scenarios and exotic locations, characters, cars, gadgets, and weapons.

But was this piece of interactive entertainment as gratifying as I preach it should be? The answer is both yes and no; Agent Under Fire is fun and immersive while it lasts, but unfortunately it’s a short ride with little replayability (save, maybe, for the multiplayer modes).

The game begins with the MGM lion roar, a James Bond-esque intro movie featuring a collage of action scenes and the instrumental theme song that accompanies every 007 film. Without giving too much of the story away (and its plot twists), the missions revolve around Bond as he sets out to thwart a criminal mastermind, Malprave, who is planning to take over the world via cloning technology. The first few levels involving a failed attempt to retrieve Malprave’s briefcase with the cloning plans and blood samples.

Primarily, Agent Under Fire is played from a first-person perspective, but a few of the missions also involve riding in or driving vehicles such as cars and a tank. One of the prettiest levels involves racing through the streets of Hong Kong--first as a passenger armed with weapons to destroy helicopters, barricades and enemy cars, and then driving the BMW Z8 as you must stop a van but not destroy it with weapons.

Naturally, there are all kinds of weapons to use through the game (pistols, sniper rifles, dart guns, grenades, missiles, etc.) and some of the missions will call for guns a blazin’ while others require more stealth (more Bond’s style, of course). Plus, there are a handful of cool gadgets right out of Q’s lab such as a laser to burn through locks and a claw to scale buildings.

My biggest beef with the single-player gameplay is that it’s very easy and quite short. Put it this way--I was able to finish the first 5 out of the 12 missions on medium difficulty (each level with multiple objectives) in less than 45 minutes. Fortunately, the action gets tougher later on in the game. In total, it’s still only a 6- to 8-hour adventure. Also, the enemies aren’t the smartest so it’s easy to pluck them off and continue on with the mission objectives.

Graphically, Agent Under Fire is quite the looker and that’s easily the game’s greatest asset. The player models are absolutely stunning and highly-detailed (especially key female characters such as Zoe Nightshade). Plus, the indoor and outdoor environments are gorgeous, be it an underwater oil rig, a city street, or a large house. The level design, on the other hand, is somewhat linear, predictable, and lame for the most part (especially compared to the more imaginative and interactive levels found in similar 3D shooters such as Red Faction, Half-Life and No One Lives Forever).

The multiplayer options are fun, supporting up to four players (with the addition of a PlayStation 2 multi-tap peripheral). There are four game modes (typical ones such as Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, etc.), plus many characters and weapons to choose from. Personally, while I’m not a fan of split-screen multiplayer gaming, this proved to be a welcomed addition to the otherwise short gameplay of the single-player game. Frame rates remained relatively smooth, probably maxing out at about 30 frames per second (and double that for the single-player game).

To wrap up, Agent Under Fire is a good--but not great--game that could’ve been much better with longer and tougher gameplay. The game is certainly a fun and polished joyride while it lasts (plus it sticks very close to the James Bond look and feel) but players will undoubtedly stick to the multiplayer modes rather than run through the linear adventure a second time.

Quite simply, it’s a good rental as you’ll finish the single-player game over a weekend and have time left over for some multiplayer fun.

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