Title: The World is not Enough   Developer: Black Ops   Type: Shooter
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The World is not Enough
"This is the second PlayStation game to feature that philandering British secret agent 007, James Bond. Last years Tomorrow Never Dies was a third person affair that sadly missed the mark because of flawed control. This time around it's a pure first person shooter, in a similar vein to the mighty 'DooM'. "
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PSone REVIEW:
 
The set up of the game is once again impressive. After all, what 007 product would be complete without the customary breath-taking intro? White circles walking horizontally across the screen as Pierce Brosnan suddenly takes aim… \'BLAM!\' straight into a medley of neatly entwined movie footage and in-game samples, backed by Monty Norman\'s unforgettable James Bond Theme.

After deciding whether to play as a run-of-the-mill Agent or a 007 sharpshooter you are then briefed on the upcoming mission. Following a short chat with \'M\' it\'s time to see what gadgets \'Q\' has to unveil for each mission. Now pay attention to \'Q\' because correct use of the gadgets in The World is Not Enough is essential to completing a level. Without knowing how and when to use his grappling watch, finger print scanner, micro camera, credit card door opener, etc. James won\'t be getting very far… and neither will you. (Congratulations are surely in order to EA as they actually got the actor John Cleese to do the \'Q\' voiceovers in his usual \'eccentric\' manner.) Finally, Miss Money Penny utters a few sexual innuendoes to help Bond get in the mood for some serious \'action\'.

Each level is entwined by even more glorious FMV taken directly from the movie of the same name, but it\'s the reworked game engine that becomes immediately noticeable. As soon as the first level begins the improvements shine through and you couldn\'t fail to be impressed by the smooth textured scenery. An awful amount of effort has obviously been taken to present a continuous, seamless and detailed environment. Okay, it may not have the depth of a Tomb Raider game but for a first person shooter it\'s pretty solid and rather pleasing to the eye.

Perhaps I was incorrect in comparing The World Is Not Enough to the vast sprawling 3D multi-levels of Doom at the start of this review. What you actually get is a series of confined passageways that always lead to the inevitable outcome, making getting lost virtually impossible. There\'s only one way into each level and one way out, although the game does try to fool you occasionally by offering a two-way junction but both routes always rejoin after a short distance. Even when giving chase through the streets of London it\'s \'left, right, left, right, up, down, in, out...\' Think Medal of Honor and you\'ll get the picture. Because it\'s so very linear the all-important investigative element of the gameplay is sadly lost and it soon becomes a simple case of \'shoot and move on\'. The occasional level does attempt to steer away from this narrow routine by introducing the player to stealth, such as when sneaking around bugging the telephones in Davidov\'s villa, but these instances are few and far between.

Gone is the frustrating control system from the last Bond game to be replaced by a configuration more suited to a first person shooter. Toggle weapons, strafe, use and shoot… wonderful! The missions are quite varied and involve chasing crooks, fist fights, protection, stealth, diffusing a bomb, but mostly shooting. Oh, there\'s also a casino sub-game early on where James must play Black Jack and win 100K before the level can be completed.

Overall I found The World is Not Enough to be great fun to play but much too brief. There are only 11 missions and with some of the levels being played against the clock you are forced to race through them in a couple of minutes. The World is Not Enough? More like The Game is Not Long Enough.

FEATURES:
 
· All new first person perspective in rich highly detailed environment

· Employ stealth, espionage action, and overwhelming firepower in each demanding mission

· Full arsenal of Q-Lab gadgets including X-Ray glasses, cuff link camera and more

· Over 10 exciting missions in exotic locations - race through Istanbul, fight through a Russian Nuclear Submarine and ski your way through the Caucasus mountains

· Follow the plot through real-time 3D cinematics and exciting clips from the blockbuster movie.

OPTIONS:
 
• 1 Disk(s)
• CD Media
• 1 Block required on Memory card per save (min)
• Up to 1 Players (without Multi-tap)
• Uses Dual Shock Pad Buttons
• Uses Dual Shock Pad Analog Sticks
• Uses Dual Shock Pad Vibration facility

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Review SUMMARY and SCORE
Martin  "Much improved over last years effort with loads of new gadgets and guns to play with, although a little on the short side. Sadly there is still no Bond multiplayer mode, which is inexcusable after Medal of Honor and Quake II both included a deathmatch.

One thing bugged me throughout… I couldn\'t understand why there were only a couple of models for each character. All guards looked the same. All agents were identical. All soldiers were obviously related. Even distinguishing the main boss characters from the common hoods was almost impossible. On the Russian Roulette level Bond could interact with two women and a courier… but all three had duplicate clones in every single room and each woman had this identical strange twitching habit… as if a pigeon has just sh*t on her shoulder. Very weird… and quite lazy."
Graphics  17/20
Playability  46/50
Sound  9/10
Lastability  10/20
82%
This is a fantastic game that we think you will enjoy playing for quite some time.
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REVIEW SCORE GUIDE:

OUR PLEDGE:

We promise that we have fully played 'The World is not Enough' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.

SUMMARY OF FINAL RATING (%)

00 - 59 This makes your console seem like an older machine. It utilises little or none of the PSone power.

60 - 69 This game is little more than average and we advise renting or play-testing before considering a purchase.

70 - 79 This is a good solid title that should still appeal to those who like this type of game.

80 - 89 This is a fantastic game that we think you will enjoy playing for quite some time.

90 - 100 This game either pushes the boundaries of it's genre further than ever before on this system, or creates a completely new gaming experience. Either way, it should not be missed and is an essential purchase in our opinion.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ:

It is very important that you are aware that the criteria we use to obtain review scores on the PS2 is very different to that used for games on the original Playstation (PSone). The Processing and Graphical power of the two consoles are vastly different and as our reviews are graded against what we estimate is the achievable potential of each system, it does not mean in any way that a game scoring 80 percent on PS2 is worse than a Playstation (PSone) equivalent which scores 95.

A more detailed breakdown of this guide can be read here.


READERS REVIEWS:


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