When most people think of James Bond video games, the lauded GoldenEye 007 made by Rare on the Nintendo 64 is what comes to mind. A great game from top to bottom and one that took the first-person shooter genre to new heights.
With such an all-time great in the ranks of James Bond video games, it is understandable that some people are sleeping on EA’s fourth attempt at the British secret agent, James Bond 007: Nightfire.
Nightfire came out alongside the 40th anniversary of the film franchise and coincided with the Bond film Die Another Day, but Nightfire’s story was its own creation. The story was interesting and had Bond going all over the world to track down Raphael Drake to stop him from using a newly made US militarized space station from destroying targeted locations on Earth with a stolen missile guidance chip. Basically stopping Drake from firing a giant space laser at unsuspecting people.
There are a ton of gadgets and secret agents from different agencies all over the world in the game and, of course, fun, stealthy shooting. A classic Bond story from start to finish that is underwhelming in my opinion and just whacky story-wise.
Where this game truly shines is the multiplayer. My brother, sister and I used to play this game on repeat. We had it on PS2 and with the extremely innovative multi-tap could play with four players.
The multi-tap was an insane contraption that PlayStation threw together to make it so four people could play games. They didn’t originally design the console to do so so it was their only solution — a very tape-and-glue solution but it worked.
Ok, enough about weird quick fix contraptions, Nightfire’s multiplayer carried on the legacy of GoldenEye 007 by making a multiplayer mode with just a ton of options. There were different weapon set modes, capture the flag, bots to play alongside, vehicles to use, gadgets to get from place to place, and well laid out maps with interesting buildings to explore.
Maps were interactable and littered with easter eggs. There was always something to discover and different ways to try and compete.
Going from playing with only vehicles, mini helicopters and tanks, to snipers only, to the Phoenix weapon set, to only explosives made for a different feel to each round and when you added different bots that always added to the challenge.
It is a game I personally love. I don’t even know if I was ever particularly good at it, but it was some great memories and always good for a laugh.
I am sure it holds up today even alongside GoldenEye, mostly because there are two joysticks on a PlayStation controller instead of whatever that abomination on N64 was.
Nightfire is an absolutely outstanding arena shooter that shines in multiplayer and is perfect for some wacky madness with characters that have names right out of secret agent name generators. I am looking at you CIA agent Zoe Nightshade.
Nightfire is a nostalgic game from my childhood that I wanted to reminisce on, but if you get the chance, somehow, check it out. I am sure it still holds up today.