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Bond, James Bond. Shaken, not stirred. The World is not
Enough is the game based off the movie of the same name, the
latest Bond movie (it came out about a year or two ago). The
game is your standard First Person shoot em up, based off the
game engine of the first Bond game, Goldeneye (my favorite
game for N64). I selected TWINE with some trepidation,
because I had heard it wasnt as good as the first game. After
playing it for about 8 hours this weekend, I can now proudly
proclaim to you that it flies significantly better than a cast iron
bald eagle. The game even has a few perks. After being stuck
on one mission, the one where you meet Christmas played by
Denise Richardson in the movie for the first time, I decided to
have a little innocent fun. *Snigger* About the first thing I did
upon seeing her, was to cap her in the head, for playing such a
ditz in the movies Starship Troopers and Drop Dead Gorgeous.
With the formalities out of the way, and after identifying myself
to her, I proceeded to stalk her on my hands and knees all the
way through a Russian nuclear missile bunker, armed with my
trusty watch laser, and attempted to pop her in the butt.
Unfortunately, every time I got within optimal zapping range, Id
end up groping her butt, and she would turn around and glare at
me for some reason (Bond: "*blink blink* Yes? It wasnt me,
uhh . . . *points to nearby scientist* HE did it!"). Anyway,
because she wasnt co-operating with me, I "accidentally"
capped her again with the laser, right between the eyes. It
slipped, really. Aside from killing Christmas repeatedly (Bond
succeeded where the Grinch failed), the actual game is decent. I
found it changed a little from Goldeneye, but most of the
changes were just a different way of doing something, or
changes for the better. Now for the actual breakdown.
Plot. This is the game of the movie, therefore it is pretty much
the same, with a few small, minor irrelevancies. The movie was
actually helpful in solving some of the small puzzles. The
missions are generally uncomplicated. You spend a lot of time
running around killing people, but some of the missions involve
not shooting all the innocent little bystanders, or even just
sneaking around, not killing anyone. Like I said though, its the
plot of the movie. I never unlocked them, but it looks as though
there are some extra missions that dont fall within the scope of
the movie, similar to the special Moonraker mission in
Goldeneye.
Graphics. Its a N64 game, which unlike my beloved computer,
doesnt pack a killer graphics card. The game will take the
RAM expansion for the N64 (we dont have it) and the options
let you set what detail levels you want on stuff, etc. The people
are decent looking, perhaps a slight bit blocky on the curves,
and the scenery, while varied, isnt very highly detailed in any
way, form, or fashion. Its a console game though, pretty good
graphics, Ive just been spoiled by graphics cards, and Id have
to say that the graphics are about the same as, probably a little
better than the Goldeneye game.
Sound. The sound is surprising, especially for a cartridge game.
All the clipscenes, and gameplay for that matter, have vocal
talking, unlike a lot of games that make you read the captioning.
The array of sound effects was also impressive, like each gun
had different sounds for firing and reloading. The score of the
game was unremarkable.
Gameplay. The scope was bigger in this game than Goldeneye.
Movement wise, they added a jump function. There is also an
interesting section where you ski, and I believe another section
where you swim, but I never made it to the submarine part, so I
dont know. They did cut out the boat chase, so you dont get
to control the boat, it is just briefly shown in a clipscene. Gun-
wise, there are several new guns. Also, most of the guns have
secondary features. For example, your PP7 or whatever its
called in this one, the trusty handgun you always carry, has a
silencer. Another hand gun has a laser sight. The automatics
usually have Auto and Burst or Single Shot selections. The
assault rifle has a grenade launcher. Its very interesting, and I
liked it. Reloading times are realistic, unlike Goldeneye.
Different weapons take different times to reload. The shotgun
you have to reload one shell at a time. Bond also always has his
watch, which means you always have a laser, a stunner, a
grappling hook, and sometimes tranquilizer darts. There are also
special items you can get, like x-ray glasses and night vision
goggles. Mission-wise, most missions are kill em all type things,
but several involve discretion, like not shooting civilians or
people on your side, like armed guards. At least one mission
involves a lot of sneaking and no killing. One mission is times,
and you have to defuse a bomb, etc. You get the idea. The
game gets bonus points for changing the style every now and
then, like the level where you snow ski.
Other stuff. The game gets some points for special effects.
There are helicopters in this game that stalk you. One shoots
bullets and rockets at you, and another has the big chainsaw
thing, and it can kill you if it touches you. The game also has
multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode is ok. The game won't
let everyone arbitrarily choose which character they want to be.
It has characters classified as Good and Bad, and it wont let
two Good players, for example, fight each other. One has to be
Good and the other Bad. Multiplayer mode, however, does
have different versions of play, like team mode, capture the flag,
and some others (no Man with the Golden Gun, like Goldeneye).
The game loses points on it's intro. When the game starts, it
shows about 5 or 6 pages of logos, and there is no way to skip
them, so you have to wait through 30 seconds of stupid screens
to play. The game also requires a memory card to save, unlike
Goldeneye, where you could save to the cartridge. (The game
does redeem itself a little by letting you kill Christmas, though).
Final Ratings:
Plot: 6.99
Graphics: 7
Sound: 8.2
Gameplay: 8
Other Stuff: 7.8
Good 9.1
Bad -1.3
Overall: 7.598
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