James Bond 007: NightFire - daytrum - the technology guide for families

Publisher: EA, www.eagames.com

Ages: seven and up.

Parental Advisory:

Violent, first-person shooter

You have to wonder how a relic from the cold war can appeal to kids and teens. But James Bond still seems to capture the imagination of males old and young. Drawing on this, EA's James Bond 007: NightFire serves a satisfying Bond adventure that manages to bring some new elements to the Bond game experience.

Since the spy's breakthrough GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 gaming console some years ago, James Bond keeps coming back in first-person shooter titles. In these games, you play from Bond's perspective killing everything in sight, exploring areas and accomplishing missions. As you would expect, the games are as violent as the Bond movies.

NightFire offers an original storyline that evokes Bond's adventures from the past 40 years. Here, you operate as Bond to defeat an evil, criminal mastermind who is bent on nothing less than world domination. While the action is mostly that of a first-person shooter, NightFire adds elements such as driving, piloting underwater crafts, and gadgets.

The gadgets are particularly intriguing and include tranquilizer darts, night-vision glasses, and a laser-equipped watch that can melt metal. The action occur in outer space as well as underwater in the South Pacific and the game adequately provides the requisite Bond staples that include: action; attractive females; exotic locales, and spy gadgetry.

NightFire includes a great collection of multi-player games - 12 in all - that include capture-the-flag, deathmatch, team deathmatch, king-of-the-hill, and demolition. The game's graphics are excellent, and Bond himself (the virtual Bond in the game) has never looked more lifelike.

In the end, James Bond 007: NightFire delivers to both gamers and fans of the James Bond movies. The title is the latest and greatest Bond console game that offers first rate gameplay and makes you feel as if you are in the middle of a Bond movie.

1/21/03 www.daytrum.com Editorial Staff