007: The World is not Enough Review

After last year's putrid Tomorrow Never Dies, it's hard to have any faith in EA's ability to pull off a decent James Bond game. Electronic Arts tried to do too much in Tomorrow Never Dies, and the result was a disjointed experience. Another Bond movie has made its way through theatres, so EA is back at it with The World Is Not Enough. TWINE outperforms Tomorrow Never Dies on most counts - the gameplay is more focused, the James Bond aura is much more conspicuous, and the stealth elements have been emphasized more. While the foundation for a solid playing Bond shooter is present, glaring flaws prevent the gameplay from building on it.

The World Is Not Enough keeps a narrow gameplay focus. Instead of attempting to bring every last scene of the movie to life, EA has instead concentrated on getting the shooting and stealth elements locked down. This means you'll be watching the more robust action scenes instead of playing them, but the trade-off is well worth it. There are plenty of real-world weapons to make use of, and each one has its own firing pattern and lethality. The number of gadgets used while playing through the game is the most ever for a James Bond game. There is an inflatable jacket, a credit card lock pick, a cell phone stunner, telephone bugs, fingerprint scanners, and more. Unfortunately, some of them are used for such petty purposes that they simply drag the game down. Using the credit card lock pick is nifty the first few times, but as the game wears on, far too many doors need to be picked and the process of waiting for the tool to work its magic becomes cumbersome. Shooting out cameras is starting to get really old. It was revolutionary in GoldenEye and still fun in Perfect Dark, but it's time for game developers to move on. TWINE is full of reused gameplay ideas that would have rocked the house a few years ago but are now just blasé. If you haven't had enough of this type of shenanigans already, playing through TWINE - with its numerous rehashes of past video game scenarios - will be enjoyable. One glaring omission in the gameplay is the lack of multiplayer support. This is inexcusable. Considering the game takes less than a day to whip through, there's not much left afterward to enjoy.

The artificial intelligence of TWINE's enemies is both shaken and stirred. After being shot with a tranquilizer gun, enemies pass out on the floor for a few moments, wake up, and go right back to the routine. It's possible to run directly behind them without being detected. It's also possible to stand in plain view 20 feet down a hallway and never be seen. Enemy attacks are straightforward and lack any sort of variety or stealth. They run into plain view and begin shooting. Taking cover isn't a part of the program. Bumping up the difficulty level makes them shoot more accurately, but it doesn't make them become any more intelligent.