Lackluster game made by people who didn't take it's expectations seriously. Dreadful controls and short life span.
Now calling Tomorrow Never Dies the sequel to Goldeneye is sometimes a little unfair considering how they the game was made by different people and has different gameplay, but sadly the reality it was the next Bond game so it has to be treated as the sequel. The game is based on the movie on the same title and follows the storyline with some minor changes to it. Also additional locations and scenes were thrown in to make the game longer. Tomorrow is a third person shooter, unlike Goldeneye which was a first person shooter. In the game you must complete all the objectives in the mission to finish it with some people who wish you not be succesful. Your given a range on weapons to shoot them. To kill them you can either shoot them in the third person perspective which features automatic lock on, which can be annoying at times since you sometimes maybe not be aiming the at the person in your face. There is the option of shooting in first person, but its utterly pointless, since your cross hair moves so slowly and being able to point it accurately is impossible. This makes it quiet difficult to shoot enemies jumping all over the place, more frustrating is when the enemy fires back at you. When this happens Bond stalls and groans when he gets hit. Which is a pain when this happens since you can't return fire and allowing the bad guys to clean you up in no time. Also the respawning enemies which creep up behind you can got on one's nerve.
In addition to shooting at terrorists, the developers have thrown in some interesting variety to the game. Some sequences you will deploy your skis, something not seen in action games. Disapointingly they are not any fun, since at the same time you will have to avoid the trees and defend off threats. Trying to doing both is some what too challenging. You can however drive a famous Bond car which you get to use its arsenal, but its all offensive and theres not much in the way of defensive like oil slick as most have seen in Bond films.
However the game is not very hard since you have numerous extra lives and your never short of a loaded gun thanks to a handgun with unlimited ammo, so the game requires no rationing your bullets. Objectives are often obvious, while at sometimes you may get stuck, but once your put something in the room together with a gadget you back on track. Tomorrow failed to feature the many things that made Goldeneye so memorable, notably its lenght and replay which Tomorrow has zero. The game is over in just a few hours since there is only ten missions, half the number in Goldeneye. There is no reason to play them again since the game failed to feature any extras or unlockables like in Goldeneye to keep this game warm. There is no multiplayer mode which was one of Goldeneye's famous features that extended its lifespan.
Although I am cutting the game a little short, some positives are in the title. The presentation is of a high level, with some polished visuals for the Playstation, while its not at smooth and clean as Goldeneye. The level on detail on the environments and model is impressive, there is however some glitches that ruin it. Tomorrow's soundtrack is interesting, which features some greatly composed original tracks as well some brillant remixs of the now famous 007 theme. But mentioning the woeful gameplay the game's sound and visuals is not enough to excuse it.
Tomorrow Never Dies indeed was not a huge success, but sold well enough for EA to continue making Bond games and a suprising re-release of the game in 2002 bundled with The World Is Not Enough. The game has no redeeming features to recommend to any gamer, even to a fan of the movie. If your looking for the "Complete Bond Experience" which this games claims on the case, your better off looking at some of the other Bond game titles or possibly buying one of the DVDs.
GAME SUMMARY
Graphics - 8/10
Detailed in many areas, but some blurred models, which sadly is ruined by a few noticiable glitches
Sound - 9/10
Interesting soundtrack featuring a few original tracks and various remixs of the famous 007 theme.
Gameplay - 1/10
Frustrating controls and setup make this game annoying to play.
Length - 2/10
Sadly this game can be finished in a day or two and there no real reason to play it again.
Overall - 5/10
Lackluster game made by people who didn't take it's expectations seriously. Dreadful controls and short life span.