Still Game? is an occasional series in which I replay a game from my youth, to see if it really is as good as I remembered. This week: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing on PS2.
I'd forgotten how good Everything or Nothing was until I started playing it again. I'd also forgotten the reason I bought it in the first place.
I had a demo! It was of the first major level, and it was an great introduction to the game. As Bond, you were required to rappel down an exploding dam, pausing only for brief shootout sequences, followed by a dramatic chase through Egyptian scenery designed by someone who had seen a lot of postcards of Egypt. There were a lot of explosions involved, naturally.
Yep, back in the day they sometimes gave away demos of PS2 games with magazines. Ah, happy times. You're lucky to get a demo for a PC game these days, although maybe the rise of digital distribution means console games get demos these days? Or is everyone doing pre-purchases now? You know, the thing where you buy a game before you know if it's any good? That's a great option.
Focus, Bond
Where was I? Oh yes, how good this game is. For starters, it had the full weight of the franchise behind it. The voicework is all that era's actual movie stars - Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, John Cleese (surprisingly supportive of Bond in the early levels, but fortunately gets more sarcastic) and they're joined by a host of others including Willem Dafoe (I forgot he was in it!) and Richard Kiel, AKA Jaws.
Jaws is a surprising inclusion considering he was from a different Bond era and the character never actually spoke. Mostly all he does is growl, but he's a nice addition to the game.
Everything or Nothing goes full bore to provide a proper Bond experience. The game opens with Bond taking down a compound full of terrorists and a shoot out against a Harrier jump jet, followed by a proper Bond intro sequence with its own theme, which isn't half bad.
You also get to do a whole ton of proper Bond stuff. There's car chases, helicopter chases, shoot outs, fist fights, Bond gadgets, international locations aplenty, the usual roster of Bond girls, more shameles product placement than you can shake a stick at, plenty of terrible puns, casual sexism and even a few references to Bond films past.
Movies as games, the industry kiss of death
Even with the full weight of the Bond franchise behind it, Everything or Nothing could still have turned out badly. But it didn't, and here's why.
Firstly, it doesn't try to be a particular Bond film, so it's free to do whatever it wants. This results in a lot of variety and some good pacing. There are dramatic set pieces and huge shootouts with waves of enemies, but there are also stealth missions and sections where you just have to drive from one place to another.
Secondly, despite the linear nature of the game, the player is allowed a lot of freedom in how they complete many of the levels. Remember that train chase from the demo? You can either drive Bond's car or a motorbike and the route and experience is quite different depending on that choice.
There's also a depth involved thanks to the inclusion of some apparently simple gameplay mechanics. Bond's rappel gadget adds an extra dimension to many of the levels by allowing vertical movement. Again, it would have been quite easy to mess up this feature, but it keeps the player fully in control, even allowing shootouts mid-rappel.
There's also the 'Bond sense' mode, which allows you to freeze time briefly to look around and target enemies. It serves double function as both a compensation for the limitations of the controller and effectively giving the player razor sharp reflexes, which feels great when you get it right.
Each level features hidden 'Bond moments' that encourage the player to play more like Bond (i.e. take ludicrous risks) and also act as a replay incentive. They vary from taking the more dangerous route through a driving section to pausing to give a woman a brief massage while sneaking through a location.
It's also quite difficult, but in an encouraging way. Each level can be replayed as many times as you like and there are different difficulty settings and rewards for completing them. A lot of thought has clearly gone into making Everything or Nothing more than just another hollow nod to a popular franchise. I heartily recommend it.
Running it if you don't have a PS2
I'm running my original PS2 copy of Everything or Nothing on my PC using PCSX so I can take screenshots easier and benefit from the improved screen resolution that it offers. It's not perfect - menus and cutscenes flicker horribly and some in game scenery isn't rendered properly - but it's pretty good.
To make it run properly you need to enable "Hardware Depth" and set the renderer to "OpenGL (Hardware)" under Config -> Video (GS) -> Plugin Settings.
Bonus feature
I forgot to mention something! As if all the official Bond stuff and doing it well wasn't enough, Everything or Nothing also has a two player co-op mode, featuring a number of campaigns completely unrelated to the main game. It's an amazing addon for an already great game.
If only it was 2004 and you could still buy it. Sorry. I'm keeping my copy.
