Was it Good? - 007: Nightfire

A section of this video is sponsored by Gamer Subs, but which section exactly is a closely guarded MI6 secret. This message will now self-destruct. When he was a child, he loved two things, video games and James Bond. He thought he was the coolest guy ever. English super spy with a license to kill, protecting queen and country from whatever vaguely Eastern European billionaire had a supply of nuclear weapons this week. I vividly remember having two James Bond movies on VHS tapes which to you Zoomers in the audience were like betamax tapes, but they worked. Best films were Golden Eye and Tomorrow Never Dies objectively featuring the best Bond Pierce Broen.

I watched those tapes until they wore out and then I said to my mom, mother, that's what I want to do with my life when I grow up and she watched. Again smiling proudly she asked me do you want to be a super Suave secret agent and I said no mom I want to be Pierce Broen you can't dmca now and that has never changed. I still want to be Pierce Brosen, in fact, be one. Honestly, wanting to play James Bond was the main reason I started acting in the first place, but then I discovered that there's an old Hollywood curse that if you say you want to play James Bond, you almost never do it afterward. many years.

I have accepted my true place in the acting world is being the guy who shows up when you ask Henry Caval what you want, but one day many years ago, after my little boy was tired of running around the playground screaming you close the door, there is a draft or pretending to pull. Jonathan Price at a newspaper printer I went to a friend's house and he had Golden Eye on the N64 and that was the first time my two loves of video games and James Bond collided. I don't need to tell you how influential Golden Eye was for the N64, it's still considered one of the most important video games of all time, one of the most important speedrunning games of all time.

It's the Counterpoint example that everyone points to when someone says that all FMS based video games are bad, so I would never say anything bad. about Golden ey because I'm afraid KL works will find out that all my gorilla speeduns were fake, but there are other James Bond games that are actually pretty

good

. James Bond games. Golden ey was not the first to be shaken and not shaken in 1982, then a few more, including Live and Let Die, the computer game in 1988, and James Bond. The Duel in 1992 for the Mega Drive. Golden Eye in 1997 was just the first game to see the mainstream success of Incredible World and was followed up a year later with Tomorrow Never Dies. for PlayStation, which makes sense because that was the next movie, now they changed the formula slightly, this was a third person shooter and it was received pretty poorly, so they tried again with World is Not Enough, again at first glance person, but again with mediocre to bad reviews. and then they gave up and made a racing game that was even worse and now James Bond had three bad games in a row, it wasn't a great place to be so they stopped trying to adapt existing movies and just wrote a new plot for a independent game.

Agent Under Fire and the reviews were mixed, so maybe this was the way to keep the movies and games separate, so they gave it their all and tried again and in 2002 we got 007 NightFire, a completely new story, although somewhat generic and predictable, Pierce Brosam. At least his image, if not his voice, returned, and we got everything you'd expect from a Bond game. Cars, girls, guns, gadgets, music, a new intro song. A recurring miniboss. We have to shoot down a helicopter with a machine gun hidden inside a briefcase. We even got a sponsorship from Phillips Shavers to tie it into the upcoming Die Another Day movie, which was a little strange, but we'll get to that.

Overall, we have everything that brought Bond together, but am I being blinded by some sweet Cade Nostalgia glasses? with little cameras and missiles or NightFire was really decent to find out I went back and finished the game, saved the day, the girl found the link moves and yes of course I replayed the Ski Hut multiplayer level with the Bots and the little ones. helicopters, all to answer the simple question 007 NightFire, was it really as

good

as ever? A huge thank you to all the supporters on Patreon and Twitch who keep the channel alive. More information on how to join this list of exceptional agents at the end of the video for now, pay attention 007, we are about to start and the game starts immediately because after starting it, you are thrown directly into the action with a shooting tutorial.

The link is hanging from a helicopter flying low over the streets of Paris. New Year's Eve watching a high speed car chase as some bad guys in black sedans chase our fellow agent, French intelligence agent Dominique driving a classic red sports car above Bond, however the start is mechanically quite jarring because I remember playing this as a kid and it was the first game I played where you are thrown directly into the game instead of having a main menu. First quick note about this game, the game was released for PC, PS2, GameCube and Xbox, and for this video I will be playing the PlayStation 2 version because surprisingly the console versions are actually better received than the PC version because They contain entire levels that are missing from the PC version, so in the introductory helicopter level you have extremely limited controls over gun aim.

It sways slightly, but it will automatically re-aim where it needs to be and then just tell you when to pull the trigger, you'll shoot a tire and the enemy car will explode and roll over. It's less of a tutorial and more of an Interactive Cut with a little narrative background since the game doesn't make this clear. We are working with Dominique to recover a stolen nuclear weapon that is currently being transported by truck through the streets of Paris. Dominique drives to a construction yard, so we shoot a cable to loosen him. a drop ramp and some pre-rendered scenes and then our car appears and of course it's a self-driving Aston Martin, it even appears on two wheels to drive between some enemy cars and at this point I'm smiling like a schoolgirl. because now we can drive that car you see, the night is divided into three types of gameplay sections, the first exploration shots and bond levels that allow you to eliminate the bad guys and do Bond moves that we will see later, then the levels driving, including your Aston.

Martin a jungle Jeep and later the same Aston Martin but as an underwater submarine and finally the types on Rails Shooting Gallery where you drive the turret of a snowmobile or a small plane each section has strengths and weaknesses although it is strange that the opening The The tutorial starts out as an on-rails shooter and then moves into driving, but it never actually contains any normal first-person gameplay, so we're just chasing bad guys. You have guns, of course, in your car, but you also have Bond devices, so we use smoke. screen to obscure the cars behind us and then an EMP to stop the enemy truck.

You can't choose to do this, you have to do it, but it's a nice touch because the game isn't just about firepower, so we save the day, get the girl champagne. to the glow of New Year's Eve celebrations in Paris, es Theo's almost civilized opening song and honestly it's an absolute hit, the music, lyrics and visuals can't play too much for you because of those pesky laws, but go ahead and Go ahead. Listen, it's pretty cool, so we create a profile, start a new game and choose a difficulty, we'll see what changes later. 11 levels in total, but for now it turns out that an evil billionaire has stolen the guide key to a nuclear weapon. space station good night 007 a redesigned piece of missile guidance Hardware destined for US orbiting space weapons platform has been stolen NATO warns that recovery is critical if a hostile power reverse engineers this device las The platform's global defense capabilities would be severely compromised.

Recent intelligence implicates Raphael Drake in the theft. It's hard to believe, since Drake is a respected green industry list whose Phoenix International dismantles obsolete atomic reactors and dismantles nuclear arsenals that an allied agent planted in Drake's organization reports that Alexander Mayu, a British expatriate who runs the Japanese branch from Phoenix, is on the way. to Drake's Castle in Austria the stolen guidance device will change hands tonight during a formal meeting at the castle Drake's security teams are men hardened as a double agent you may have to respond to aggression with aggression good luck Bond so nuclear weapons a castle a space missile platform a stolen Guidance Chip and a sketchy philanthropist named Raphael Drake We are firmly in the James Bond era of the mid-2000s.

Simple enough mission, visit Drake's private party held at his castle chatau, steal the guide chip you will now notice the voice acting and while the cast of bonds, like brosen, lent their likeness, they did not lend their voices. Bond's voice is voiced by Maxwell Coldfield, the renowned theater actor who also voiced Braum in the Aragon game. First-person levels are now quite short and are often divided into smaller ones. focused sections but if you forget your objective the pause menu can give you hints on what to do now with short levels you can complete them very quickly but where is the replayability that comes in the scoring system and link moves?

Because night fighting isn't about being fast but rather graceful, you can just run around with all guns blazing, that's a totally viable if somewhat disconnected strategy, but if you do you'll get a low score at the end of each level. You see a score page that shows your accuracy, how you handled enemies, whether you were stealthy, how much health you had left, and a few other things, but there are three things on this page that really matter the most if you want to get the most points, the difficulty. you are at your completion time and your link moves when on easy you get no medium increase points or the agent gives you double the points and the hard or double O agent gives you triple the points now finishing a level quickly also gives you a big point boost, but What you really want to look for are link moves, while the levels are short, they are packed with alternate roots that sometimes have interactive scenarios and different ways of dealing with enemies, for example if you You sneak behind an enemy with a silent weapon.

You can make them surrender and then knock them out with a single punch. Subduing an enemy non-lethally gets you a lot more points than killing them, but if you do something particularly clever you'll get a link movement bonus complete with a bit of visual flourish and musical sting. letting you know you've done well, there are a few of these to find in each level, let's take level one, you can just run up the hill shooting and reach the castle, which is the first section, the entire level completed, that's doable. strategy, but what if instead you wait for the delivery truck that is going up the hill behind you, wait for the truck to stop under the front door, and then get on the truck from the front door and then you crouch down to remain hidden and be led to the door? group which is a link move and if you want maximum points at all levels you will want to find all the link moves.

Finishing parts of the levels can actually start in a slightly different part of the next level depending on which link move you use. to get there if you used one, but that's not the only option to enter the castle, if you miss the truck and don't want to shoot, you can crawl along the side of the road and go down into the canyon. use your grab phone gadget to attach to the castle wall then drop over the edge taking out the guards and run that way, that's also a link move meaning you can't get all the moves in one single game, which encourages replayability.

Keep in mind that that grip phone is one of your devices and you can only use it in very specific places with very specific hook locations, usually when you can, a small message appears in the top right corner. Now the fun of using the claw is often curbed by how infrequently you use the device. In fact, you can use it. It would have been nice to have a lot more places where you could try it, even if it doesn't necessarily give you much of an advantage because as it stands, you know that a grab move is always a good option and is often considered a link move.

I would have liked to be able to use this in other non-essential places. When you finish a level you get your total score and if you get a gold medalin a mission, you will unlock something else when you play that mission again. Now you'll see these little Bond tokens spinning around where each one is worth several thousand points, so collecting them could be the boost you need when combined with Bond's moves and quick play to reach that magical million points. points. Complete the Platinum level with a high score in the levels. It unlocks things for both the single-player game, as we'll see later, and the multiplayer sections, like new weapon modes or characters, while I'll try to find Bond MO moves as I go.

I won't focus on a race 100% at the beginning. Because the game is all about replayability, it is literally designed to encourage you to do that. It's as much a puzzle as it is a shooter, and finding the perfect route is half the fun. That's why the levels are so short. I also discovered that you can shoot at spotlights that are aimed. Enter the canyon and increase your stealth bonus which is great so we take the truck to sneak into the castle and now we find the security room to let us in. If you play NightFire as a straight shooter, you'll miss a lot of the subtlety of it.

James Bond likes how you can press Select to put on the shades and then switch between two visual modes, Green Light Night Vision and Blue Light Heat Seeking, while in Blue Light mode you can not only see footprints of both the enemy as yourself, but also if you're close enough to a wall, you can see an enemy's body heat signature through the wall, letting you know when to hide or when to jump for a quick headshot. and when to keep the headshot. Manual aiming does not aim down, but rather does what Golden Eye Time Splitters does: open a crosshair that is now more sensitive and you can guide it to the edge of the screen and rotate slowly, but Be careful while manually aiming like this.

You can strafe left and right, but you can't move forward or backward, so we've seen the phone grip and Two-Tone Shadows, but how about the iconic laser watch, useless as a weapon but great for cut wires or fry electrical circuits? Don't cut the red wire because that will activate the guards and they will kill you and you will get the lovely blood dripping down the death graph on the screen. Fortunately, replaying a level means restarting that specific section, not the entire level, and if you die a lot, which one? You will be very, very good at running in certain sections.

You will also find that most weapons have two firing modes. Guns can be silenced or not, but being silenced reduces damage. The machine guns switch from burst to fully automatic and the burst has less recoil. The modes are situational. I try to be stealthy to hide, use the heat-seeking goggles and the silenced pistol, but the AI ​​in this game is very, very forgiving, as long as you're crouched, you can be in the way of a guard and they can't. I still don't see you cutting all the wires in all the fuse boxes for another Bond move and then continue searching for this party, another Gadget.

Your lighter is actually a small camera used in very situational parts to document the enemy's plans. It has another use. Although the camera can detect enemies through walls and track them with a small green box around it, very similar to the blue glasses, but using the camera means you're not using a weapon, so this is strictly worse. The last device in this level is your car. kit key, which is actually a stun gun, is only really useful for sneaking up on enemies, it's basically a last resort. Now I got lost in this level because you don't have any map or at least you don't have any map in your UI.

If you look around, you can find a map. sign on the guard room wall which is a lovely touch game information to solve game problems memorize the route get to the party while we're inside we can't use our weapons but it's okay this is just my car key , don Don't worry about it now, if you were a kid like me and you had this game like me, this is the level where, let's be honest, you spent too much time using the spy camera to take pictures of things I like to imagine. M sat on it. MI6 HQ sees these charges in real time and just buryes their head in their hands and wonders why they always have to send James in, so we wander around and this absolute unit of a waiter just walks past me.

Now I remember this moment because it is so great. and this matters because he is an important character who will appear again later. I love how his introduction is so simple and yet it ends up being so important. I also love that Bond uses the gadgets in the scenes because it ties the cutscenes and gameplay together so well. Together we reach the pilot and see Drake, but he is not alone, he is standing next to Dominique, our old friend from French intelligence, so we run to the library and find her. It seems that she is actually posing as Drake's girlfriend to get close to him and help recover the missile guidance chip.

We also meet Agent Nightshade, a CIA agent, it seems that the guidance chip was originally an American invention. Of course Agent Nightshade is an attractive woman in a red dress so we arm ourselves and now we can shoot people who aren't sure if I'm the world's greatest spy or these are the world's worst guards but we shoot our way through the conference room and Eaves falls on the meeting here is Mr. Drake the missile guidance module we stole from the Americans I trust this effort brings us one step closer to globalization you It has saved our technicians considerable time.

Mayu, can we speed up the other NightFire items too? Absolutely sir, we are underway training assault teams to keep their hands off me. We, the CAU, delivered a horde to you, sir. I was looking for The Powder Room, this lock. piix and the 9mm hey, it's a tough neighborhood if this security breach leads back to Japan, it's your head. You can secure this in the safe room. I doubt she'll be alone and close the castle. oh hey, Hench's henchman is back, so Drake has the Nightshade chip agent. has been captured and we have to get out of here, shoot our way out, jump out the window and zip line our way out of there, we have to grab the briefcase and then leave, but before we do that, make sure to use the laser on your watch to melt the pins that hold them. the door secure and then grab the rocket launcher inside, it will come in handy soon, with everything secure, head to the cable car oh look, it's Agent Nightshade.

Great, she escaped with the rocket launcher briefcase and Agent Nightshade, you can start your escape, but not so fast because Hench's henchman has returned and is in Hench's helicopter, but it's okay, the rocket launcher we took earlier is ready If useful, it has guided missiles, so dodge the incoming fire, fly four missiles at it, and watch the helicopter crash. Lower level complete but we're not out of the woods yet, literally the cable car crashes and now we're in the Austrian countryside and more scenes, why do you always seem to end up at the top? A lower center of gravity, that's unpleasant.

A little business, isn't it perfect? Oh, Bond, little Scamp, you just can't help it. Can you, fortunately, find a heavily armed snowmobile? Nightshade drives, we shoot, you have missile or machine gun mode, eliminate the enemies that are chasing you in the other snowmobiles shoot the landscape to take down some guard towers, explosive barrels or eliminate large cover tunnels, blow up some bridges and helicopters and, finally, even passing through a restaurant. Short but pretty fun level and we ended up taking out another helicopter by crashing the snowmobile through it. In slow motion it looks like we are on foot from here, where exactly is here?

James, not far from my meeting point, this car was here all night, maybe, but it looked like you needed a rest. I don't remember getting much rest, James. Head to the extraction point, we will meet you there, hurry up, we are almost out of Austria, it is only a short drive away on the ason, now the local police will chase you while you bomb the street, so use the smoke screen on them and don't hit them. civilians or you will fail the mission, the airtime jumps here count as Bond movement, so it's a short but fun level, you know, because it only has like three bits of driving, the driving in this game is much better than what has the right to reach the truck.

Aim for a frozen lake, but we have a problem with enemy snowmobiles and swarms of helicopters, so now a timed arena battle begins and time is very tight. Drift, collect missiles and shoot down all enemies. Now this is fun, the AI ​​is competent, the ammo is plentiful, and the entire Ice Lake Car battle is straight out of Die Another Day. We eventually eliminate all the enemies and get out of there. Now Drake may have the chip, but his business partner Mayu may be willing to defect. Alexander Mayu has contacted Raphael Drake. The head of Asian operations, Mayu, fears that Drake intends to kill him, holding him responsible for his minor setback in Austria in exchange for our protection.

Mayu will deliver evidence that exposes Drake's master plan, a Nam NightFire code, a plan that Mayu insists threatens global security, the name is Bond James. Bond's son mius is waiting waiting for him. He may have a lawsuit that James Bond himself brings to him. Our informant is waiting for you at his Japanese farm. Ah, Mr. Bond, finally, this is Kiko Hayashi, my bodyguard. I assure you that she is certainly quite skilled at NightFire. the data makes you we weren't expecting other guests please stay with Alex it's Drake fast we need to get to the security bunker this is probably a good time to mention that this game has 33 minutes of cutscenes that are basically a third of a Bond movie.

Also reminiscent of Kiku The Bodyguard. We'll show up again later, so we break into Mayhugh's compound and rescue him from the local guards who are still on Drake's payroll. This level boosts stealth, but you don't have to be stealth. You will also notice that your basic weapon is now gold, this is an unstoppable improvement from the high score in the previous level and makes it a little more powerful. However, you quickly find a magnum that is even better the first time I experienced this, it was kind of an immersion that was broken a little jarring by seeing a different colored Gun.

I wish you had the option to turn it on or off before each mission begins. You can use the security system to find out where the enemies are by looking through the cameras, but since you haven't explored the level yet. you don't have a map, this information is kind of useless because you don't know where these cameras are, then we get this big scene of all the enemies pointing at a door and preparing to shoot, letting us know hey, hey, maybe don't do it. gets in there, but it's okay, we have our special New Gadget, a Phillips electric shaver, even when I was a kid.

I remember this being very strange, but basically Phillips had a promo at the time to tie in with the new movie Die Another Day. He goes down, takes a step back and then detonates it. The haters flail around blinded, but even I knew this was just blatant product placement and it was really awkward. Fortunately, I, an adult, is beyond such a body. Chilling. It's this offer. This is the sponsored offer. Use code Josh for 10% off gamer subscribers if James Bond can do it can I get back to the video? Link moves in this mission involve shooting enemies from the Shadows or finding hidden vents to crawl through.

We eventually get to Mayu, but he won't leave until we've destroyed his computer and saved his staff, so we sneak away and look for the maids who are being held at gunpoint. If you hesitate too long after finding them or the shootout gets complicated, they will die and you will have to start over, but saving them will save you. a kiss I want to say now James Bond is just a walking guti Factory in the purest style of the mid 2000s we cleaned the computer hard drive by shooting the monitor because that's how people thought computers worked back then we saved some girls Plus we took some time off to go for a little swim in the decorative pond and I love how you can shoot this fire extinguisher to distract enemies and drop them.

It's a lovely ambient touch. The staff now saved to locate Mayhew's safe containing information about the NightFire project. I like how accessing the roof and dropping onto this upper floor is considered a link move, but the main benefit you get from doing so is simply a better Vantage Point environmental reward rather than items or weapons, sowe took the safe contents and got out of there, unfortunately not Mayu. I'm not going to get far, we're done here Mayu, come on, what's up with Kiko? Have you seen her? She is a big girl. I'm sure she can take care of herself.

She waits here, let's get moving. This leads to a mini boss fight against the masked killer. It's not real. The mechanics here just shoot a lot and grab the arm around the edge if they need to with Mayu dead, we're going to need more information to find out exactly what the NightFire project really is, so we take Mayu's credentials and we're going to break into the Phoenix tower Industries. Drake's nuclear decommissioning business, if there is any incriminating evidence, should be here somewhere. An index says that the key and password should allow you to enter the main Phoenix system, but they will already have the entire building locked down.

Anything can be penetrated with the right tool. you have been working hard7 so has Q Branch, you will find several useful items that have been added to your inventory tranquilizer darts for inconveniently placed guards, silent and non-lethal, a decryptor for hacking computers, keyboards, elevator controls, etc. , etc. and finally, the Q worm. There is a lady present. She plugs this virus into one of the computer's terminals and the worm allows MI6 to monitor her systems. I tried to return these tools in usable condition, but I'm holding my breath. James asks, we must rush the guard chain changes in 30 minutes.

James goes up to the lobby and then looks for the elevators in the main tower. The night shift is the most stealth-rewarding mission and all your gadgets come into play here. The only problem I have is that the game is still missing some vital stealth systems. local area maps or sound meters the ability to distract guards and alter patrol routes or hide bodies after you've killed them now they always say you should criticize a game for what it has, not what it doesn't, however, NightFire was released in a After the world of Metal Gear Solid, I thought we would all have understood how the stealth sections should work.

From now on, you start with the tranquilizer gun, a non-lethal weapon, and as long as the guards don't raise the alarm, you'll be Well, now the entire building is protected by laser cables and you can only see them using the night vision curtains. You can find the laser controls and disable them or time your jumps to avoid activating the lasers again. I love how the level map is. While it is not a UI element, it is a game asset that you can simply look at and memorize, we need to install the Q worm on a main PC terminal to access the NightFire files and I have used all my Tran darts as well Back to the good punches in the face of the guards, we have to enter through some doors locked with codes and you can find PC terminals online that contain codes or use your Gadget decoder, which takes time but always works and doesn't set off alarms simply.

Please note that your decoder is a flip phone which shows the true age of this game. This was cut by Age Technology in 2002. This game was released the same year as Morrowwind was not super smooth, but we managed to get through the first few floors, unfortunately, a helicopter flyover allows us. We know French double agent Dominique is here, which probably means Drake scaling the outside of the building to get higher is cool and gives us more opportunities to use the grappling hook to get into more vents for more Bond moves. Remember this because we will. come back here soon stick the Q worm on Drake's PC and then run this takes you to a very unfair section where you literally start on a roof and get shot at by a bunch of guards and a helicopter meaning you'll die super fast if you don't move .

Fortunately, you don't need to kill any of them, you just need to jump off the edge of the building. Land in true Bond style in a sports car full of attractive women. Sorry to come at you like this, but would you mind giving me a What did the Q worm discover? We have decrypted the NightFire files you obtained last night7. They contain quite worrying data about a closed nuclear power plant not far from Tokyo. Phoenix Corporation has been hired to clean the plant of radioactive material that now suspects large amounts of construction has been secretly carried out inside the towers.

Your mission is to infiltrate the plant and discover what Drake is hiding. Of course, dismantling a nuclear reactor is an incredibly delicate and dangerous operation. Yes, that's why we've invested in robotic technology like those incredibly expensive forklifts, but keeping our people safe is important and when our work is done, the beaches here will be clean enough for our kids to swim and their grandparents to fish. Thank you, Mr. Drake. I appreciate the exclusive interview. Is the interview over, Mr. Rook? All the snipers returned to their position. Why does everyone in this game sound so fucking sexy?

Ok, we've had the stealth level, now it's time for the sniper level, the biggest open space, the best sight lines and scenic obstructions. Sneak around the outside of the power plant, take pictures of whatever Drake is building inside, and then exit with a charm. You can actually hear the enemy snipers talking to each other on the radio, chatting about where they think James is and this is great since you know which one. areas they are currently looking at. I also love the visual touch of having a flashing green exit light above the end of the level door, a subtle but noticeable flourish to guide the player and, Oh look, Hench's henchman is back, just up, no will die.

We have a few more fighting opportunities here, but once at the top, make absolutely sure you take out all the enemy snipers because you can't survive the rope swing. If any of them are still alive, activate the crane, which makes it spin and then run. Along the beam and drop into the building, make your way and find a super advanced space age laser gun. You can use it as a turret to hold off waves of enemies and then you need to use a sustained laser blast from the gun to melt away. the blast doors on the other side of the room, this is a great combination of shooting mechanics and exploration mechanics, just make sure you take a photo of this weapon before you leave to let MI6 know, hey, Drake is making super operational weapons from space age that could be a problem so it turns out that the decommissioned power plant is actually a training ground for some kind of militarized space force and Drake has plans to invade the orbital space platform with the collected information, we figure out We turn around and leave and then we run into Kiku Mayu's bodyguard and it turns out who could have seen it coming.

She is evil. She would ask you to join us, Mr. Bond, but why would she waste caviar on a man who won't live long enough to enjoy it? Give mine to Kiko. She earned it. Don't take it. Personally, women have an advantage, you see that they can blind us with love but that's why we have other eyes to look at them like the camera hidden in the staircase that leads to the helipad I don't understand aael please don't insult me ​​anymore it's a shame I fell quite in love with you and now it's time for you to do the same for me.

Goodbye, Dominique, use the helipad and take care of the body. No, it's no use, Mr. Bond, you've seen too much of my operation to live on, but I wanted you to enjoy this. Moment first, so we return to Phoenix Towers. Dominique is dead and we have to escape quickly. Remember the vent over the elevator from the previous visit here. Well, it's still usable and it's still a link move that gets us to the room with better weapons. early and I love this touch because it rewards the player who acts based on prior knowledge. Now Dominique's death is actually something Bond fans would have expected because of a very strange rule originally written by R Dar, the author who wrote You Only Live Twice, he explained.

I was told that there were three Bond girls in any given film and while they are all attracted to Bond, the first starts out as an ally but are killed shortly after the film, usually dying in Bond's arms or near Bond. in a way that he will blame. himself for the second one is always a bad boy and will be seduced or flirted heavily and then defeated in a bloody and exaggerated way and the third girl is an ally who survives until the end but will not flirt with James until the end. The mission is complete, she is the girl you get when you finish the mission and save the world knowing this formula, we can guess that Kiku is the evil Bond girl, leaving a third one yet to appear, let's see if this game sticks to the formula what we have.

What we need to do is escape, but without our decoding, we actually need to hunt down some PCS with codes for certain doors and then when we are on the ladder, the enemies will repel the central shaft cable and shoot you, and that is one of the More ways In the game's cinematic moments, you can really imagine that this is a Bond movie, we even find a new Gadget, the Phoenix Ron, in a briefcase that turns into a remote-controlled Minun turret and, oh god, I guess that Drake had another helicopter ready to go, but you didn't.

You need to shoot down this helicopter, in fact, being face to face with it with any type of weapon is a bad idea because it will kill you, but if you don't kill it, you will be bombarded with missiles whenever you are inside. any room with a window, so at best, slapping the minigun case, hiding somewhere, using the remote and shooting the helicopter is an absolute damage sponge, but killing it counts as a move of link, use a delayed grenade launcher to take out some enemies. I turn a corner and then need to break into the security room and reactivate the elevators, but for the life of me I can't find which PC has the security room code.

I know one of them has it, but I'm going crazy. and I kinda missed the pause hint menu, however it says that if you can't find it you can just shoot it to get in, so I throw a grenade at the glass and yeah that works, that's the choice. I love getting into the elevator, but then the enemies start falling. Axle-timed charges, so now it's crazy to not only shoot enemies but also use the laser on your watch to scramble and disable dropped charges before they explode. Stacking mechanics. I love getting to the lobby, don't bother trying to find everyone.

He just runs and luckily before we get out we are saved by another car driven by another beautiful woman. We need to live. Mr. Bond Aura Mall Australian intelligence on loan to the MI6 Cube branch has been monitoring the tower's security systems through the heat we planted. They saw you in a bit of a pickle so here I am, that's Aura Mcll, another agent who works for another agency Bond girl number three, the formula was correct, so how does Drake plan to take his private army into space? Well, you did well in Drake's training. Installation 007, we agree that the rockets to launch these astronauts into space are probably housed at the Drake Missile Disassembly Facility in the South Pacific, although UN inspectors have given the island their seal of approval , perhaps his unofficial visit will reveal that more MCO agents will provide backup.

Vanquish should provide the most discreet approach to Drake's Island's MCO agent, please, we're driving there precisely in time for James and Allora to invade Drake's private island together. Fortunately, our Aston Martin is also amphibious, so this is a type of underwater stealth that levels out the controls. in 3D space they are actually very easy to use, the car drives great, responds well and the graphics are good, so we dive into the underwater tunnels shooting guided missiles and guiding them towards the energy boxes of the laser grids that block your path to disable them avoiding all the enemy submarines as you go, Bond's first two moves in this level are quite simple, simply attack the enemies from a distance, blow up the fuel tanks as you find them, remember that the The PC version didn't have any of these levels, which is a real shame, eventually we reach a large open cavern and discover that Drake's plan takes a bit of a turn for the worse.

His little charity, which dismantles nuclear arsenals, hasn't actually been dismantling anything, but storing them. He has nuclear missiles and submarines under his control, so in this room we eliminate the enemy Patrol subplant. explosive charges in the docking arms of all the submarines and blow up their small fleet, then we drive up and out of the water making sure to park the car somewhere far away, there is never valet parking when you need it most, you steal oneof Drake's armored vehicles. jeeps and drive towards the base of the island. Now the driving levels are mostly linear. You have very small Freedom areas, although like here you need to smash a smaller part of the complex and download security codes to access the rest. island, but stay there, they don't know you're a spy, so drive carefully and the doors will open so you can download the codes safely.

It's even a bond move to do this while driving, you have to shoot the other one. cars and then the incredibly powerful Sentinel defense turrets, which are best taken out with missiles from a distance. I have to say, I love the whole vibe of this level. Hidden routes, a cinematic jump in front of a scenic waterfall, but then for some reason a mini boss fights a turret in a circular arena, the only real way to win is to have full health and just shoot while the damage builds up afterwards To shoot down the turret, we hijack one of the smaller islands, play Allora flies and shoot another one on the rail section to shoot down the enemy planes. and more Sentinel turrets as they appear, the difficulty here is that the health carries over from the previous section and the Jeep Sentinel fight always ends with you on low health.

Fortunately, if you die, you can restart just this section with half health. The plane section is It's pretty simple, you can't speed it up, just shoot down other planes and eventually you'll be shot down by this railgun, but that's okay because in the next part of the level you've taken over the railgun and now you're using it to defend yourself. . This area switches between the main gun to take out tanks and the smaller laser cannons to take out strafing enemy planes. Basically, this whole level is driving a car, operating a plane gun, and then controlling a turret, and when everything is dead, we sneak away. at Drake's base, Arara stays behind at the radio and James sneaks inside back into stealth mode.

Now we have a crossbow. I'm not complaining, it's one of the best weapons. SC with silent and deadly range. The claw becomes even more useful here because finally you. we have choice air vents that you can crawl through. We're tasked with following Kiku, the bodyguard, and we're told to be stealthy, but that goes out the window pretty quickly because we're doing it the same way he didn't drive a tank over a wall while standing still. through the hatch only for them to see us hiding in the shadows this link must be seen circuit board red or green I guess with green ah fantastic my MI6 training was worth it it's good to know that the bad guys follow the big book of Code correctly with colors your security system with a really nice touch.

Alara is now on the radio telling you which hallway Kiku is in and the hallways are numbered, so he chases after her and makes it to the main security room. This is the part of a Bond movie where James decides. Well, the best thing to do here is just blow everything up, so we laser override all the security overrides and blow up the mainframe, then we're going to escape, but guess who's back? He's Hench's henchman, he's still alive and sporting a nice scar from the helicopter crash earlier. Remember. In true Bond style, the expensive henchmen don't die until they die a death worthy of them.

Fortunately, we have found a new weapon, like 20, a sci-fi machine gun with the alternate firing mode as a grenade launcher, so now it's a battle against Rook, that's the name of Hench's henchman, we attack him with some grenades and finally We shoot him down and by doing so you get his space laser weapon. Fantastic with the laser gun we are going to escape from the complex, this means running through the Baye missile making sure to avoid the enemy. shoot mines as we do it, you can see the red laser shooters glowing on them, you can even use the laser gun to detonate them early and pay attention because look at this cheeky little bomb placement, normally you wouldn't see this until it was too much.

Late, lovely use of scenery and objects to hide the dangers we overcome and Spike's difficulty here is quite intense. Finally we reached the last room, a large open hangar with a small pool of water in the middle, we eliminated the guards, opened the door and jumped out of it. balcony like a super spy forest and in case you haven't been paying attention to the plot, the bad guy gives a completely evil monologue over the radio explaining the entire plot, so Operation NightFire is arming the orbital space platform with nuclear weapons and then runs the entire planet as a corporation with a board of directors instead of sovereign nations with Drake of course at the top of this global corporation, billionaire evil standard, so now we must try to stop the shuttles transporting the soldiers and some from nuclear weapons to space.

Kiko catches us off guard and drops the access bridge we are standing on, sending us tumbling into the launch bay below and we have only seconds to find the only open launch control room and hide from the flaming exhaust of the shuttle or get burned and, if you survive the first launch, when the doors open again. You must defeat the wave of Assassins who are now somehow in the pit with you. This part reminds me of that part in Siphon Filter where you have seconds to jump into the safe room to hide from a shuttle launch, this leads to an AA mini boss battle against multiple assassins and ninjas and more thugs hiding in more rooms to survive, even more shuttle launches and when everyone is dead, we chase again.

Kiku, she rides the elevator and we move forward in the scene and then she runs to board a ferry just like we did and we have a few seconds to get to the bridge controls and in a beautiful moment of karmic justice we do the same. What he did to us, Dr. dropped the Gantry Bridge, sending her plummeting, but unfortunately he can't get to the safe room in time and Fried along with the shuttle launch dies a death worthy of a henchman named after him. Private Drake. The military is already in space and the orbital platform is probably already armed with nuclear weapons.

Bond does the most Bond thing he can think of: put on a spacesuit and go take care of the station and Drake personally. James. I'm still connected to Drake's communication system. I intercepted enough radio conversations to learn that Drake's combat troops have overtaken the defense platform. Some of the original crew might still be alive, but I can't confirm that he can tell you that the Drs deployed a laser defense network that draws energy from the platform's core. I enjoyed his company James, be careful, tell him he's doing something stupid, Mr. Bond. I just blocked the hostel stream.

Nothing can stop Operation NightFire, not even my own death. That's a theory I want to test. It has already failed miserably, but Play with my missiles if you must create a splendid target for my laser cannons. This begins the final level. Equinox, half free motion in 3D. Shooting gallery. Half time puzzle. You have to use the laser. The main firing mode of the weapon. A weak beam that recharges to sustain the enemy. Astronauts now finding their way around a full 3D environment can be a little confusing and a little nauseating until you get used to it.

Three shots will send enemy astronauts floating into the void, but as you attack them, the missiles begin to arm themselves to fire. On Earth you can't destroy the missiles directly, but as they are armed you can shoot the docking connector that is revealed to disable the missile and throw it off course. This can be a challenge since the final step will launch multiple missiles at once and you need to get the timing pretty tight to fire all the docking connectors with the missiles all dealt with. Drake himself attacks you, so he switches to the secondary fire of the laser gun, a single overloaded shot, charges the weapon and expands it into the depths of space with the project.

NightFire thwarted the race back to the orbital station and took the only escape pod back to Earth. He landed incredibly exactly where he parked the shaken, not shaken Aston Martin or is shaken, not shaken. It definitely highlighted astronomers around the world reporting unexpected meteor showers, well done 007 So I'm sure the world won't mind if I take a few days off. We will let autopilot be our designated driver. Oh, James, cue up the credits and the theme song, and that's NightFire. Now it's time to go back and find all the link moves and link tokens you miss to reach platinum in each level and unlock all the upgrades for multiplayer.

So speaking of multiplayer, let's play a little because this game has computer controlled enemies with Bots and various modes. Capture the flag, assassinate the King of the Hill and the The included maps are pretty decent, but of course there is one map that stands head and shoulders above the rest, sky lane, a ski slope with a base at the top and base of the mountain and a cable car connecting the two with hidden mountain trails around. On the other hand, this map feels like a combination of facing worlds from Unreal Tournament and Blood Gulch from Halo 1, a game that was released.

I will remember you a year before. The multiplayer maps also have grapple points that allow you to move around the level and remote control vehicles like small tanks or helicopters with missiles are great for simply attacking your teammates directly. Honestly, the multiplayer was pretty good, especially split-screen, and that's NightFire, a solid and fun, if somewhat short and predictable, main story with a built-in scoring system. to encourage replayability and a very satisfying multiplayer with simple but fun weapons and map modes, and now that we've replayed it all, we can ask the simple question: is there really any good NightFire in this strange kind of quality limbo where yes , it's a good game it didn't do anything very bad but it also didn't do anything well enough to be considered an all-time great or to change the formula or reshape the genre it was perfectly competent in the short experience it wanted to be it's one of those games where giving it six out of 10 seems unfair but giving it seven seems like too much praise, so it exists as a sort of honorary seven, we accept that the game was good but didn't do enough to push it to be great.

The devices were fun, but they were used so frequently and under such rigid limitations that I never felt like I was actually choosing to use them. Now it was time to use the device, which I was always told to do. The link movement system was excellent and feels that way. It really could evolve into something much more fleshed out and Shooting Gallery's variety of underwater stealth driving turret levels definitely has a lot going for it, but the fact that they were all separated by long loading screens means that you often feel like you're playing three. different but still good if they are not connected games and if you think I'm being harsh on this game because it was released in 2002, remember that Halo Combat Evolved was released a year earlier and brings with it a large open world.

Vehicles, sniping, stealth, which actually genuinely changed the genre. and then Time Splitters 2 was released the same year with an amazing multiplayer experience, a level editor, a longer single-player campaign across multiple timelines. NightFire is a good James Bond game in the list of James Bond games, but against its contemporaries at the time when it was an above average gaming experience, but not brilliant, but like Golden Eye Tomorrow Never Dies or Die Another Day, the over-the-top action, the quintessential Bond attitude, and the fun cutscenes definitely make NightFire a game worth replaying, if only for one night, to finish. the review I will give NightFire 007 are you paying attention? where are you going?

You better not get in that sports car with that other woman James, bring that laser gun back J, don't drive into that lake, 10 cheers for seeing another one Big thanks to all the supporters on Patreon and Twitch who keep the thing alive channel. You can support from just £1 a month. Check out the video description for links to Patreon Twitch Twitter and our Discord and as always 007, have a great day.