Game #1177: James Bond 007 - Agent Under Fire

 I've always wanted a laser watch.

 James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire is a very interesting game because it's not based on a pre-existing story and Bond himself isn't played by Pierce Brosnan, who was playing Bond at the time. As ominous as that sounds... I found Agent Under Fire to be a neat little package.

 The game feels somewhat thrown together, for instance, there's no Story Mode. You pick "Select Mission' and then pick a stage, upon beating the stage you are thrown back into the Mission selection. Which is a bit weird considering the era it released in. The plot is told, mostly, through narration before each mission... and the game doesn't have a proper ending. No, really, you defeat ONE of the villains, and then Bond escapes the facility and... that's it. There aren't even ending credits. The game itself is rather short, being made up of 12 short missions...

 ....which is something I consider somewhat of a strength. The game has three styles of gameplay: On rails turret sections, car driving stages and your more traditional fist-person shooting stages. Stealth is mostly optional, and you can play the game like a straight up shooter. And I liked it. The missions are brief, so they are highly replayable, and sometimes you even get alternate routes. Every mission has a set of hidden Bond options, which are basically cool stuff, some of it optional, that gives you bonus points.

 All 12 missions, while short, are packed to the gills with action, the game is so short that it never lets up, being made up of exciting moment after exciting moment. You also get a small assortment of gadgets, used mostly for Bond actions, such as a grappling hook, a Watch laser, a Decryptor and a jetpack. The guns are fun to use, aided by a generous auto-aim that makes up for the analog stick's potential inaccuracy. Level design is pretty straight forward, although I'll admit that a few sections left me stumped for a few minutes until I figured out how the game wanted me to progress. Word to the wise, if you're stuck you probably need to look for places you can grapple on to.

 Considering I don't particularly like James Bond... I had fun with this game. It's a very shallow affair, but it's very fun and exciting. While it feels a bit low-budgety in some regards, as far as gameplay goes its quite tight, which is what matters in the end.

 7.5