No spy mission ever goes completely right, but at least this one is enjoyable...
Worst Feature: Without those asthetics, this would be a pretty shallow action title
As with most liscensed games, before going into this one you should ask yourself an important question. "Am I a fan of the source material?" If you said yes then ask yourself a not as common sub-question. "How big a fan of the source material am I?" If you answered yes to the first question then you'll probably enjoy this game as I did. Unless you answered the second in the relam of James Bond super fanboy. Why? Simply because while this game does an admirable job mimicking the plot of the film, even including some recognizable moments and locales...it hacks up the plot quite a bit to throw more levels in and even adds extra (if a bit unnecessary) villiains. And as a super fanboy, you will never stand for that. (And calling "SPECTRE", "OCTOPUS" even though everyone knows that its "SPECTRE")
I didn't mind it as much though, because the game knows exactly what its for and executes quite well on that level. It's Sean Connery Bond fan service, (Not the anime kind of course) simply tailor made to put you in his expensive shoes. Connery even suits up one last time to provide his own voice for the game, and while he sounds much older then Bond really should, you won't even care cause it's Connery man! While the graphics are passable, they are nothing special. They are really just there to provide a place to house the animations, which are meticulously well done and accurate to movie Connery's "shoot from the waist" pistol stance, to knockout chops, and diving rolls. All the animations capture the man perfectly and add to the Bond fan giddy thrill. While you spend most of your time in your classic grey suit, you get more outfits such as dinner jackets and tuxedos, who else but Bond could pull that off in the middle of a firefight?
The music is straight from the movie and usually the right tracks kick in at the right times, music picks up as the bullets start flying, or as the cars start exploding. They all serve the levels very well, one in particular has you invading the volcano base of "SPECTRE", (I don't care, I'm calling it that) with the 007 theme subtilely playing the background. Very cool. The gameplay itself is pretty unoriginal but competent. Most of the time you will be on foot, guns at your side sneaking but mostly shooting your way to your next objective. I honestly found sneaking more fun, as getting in close and pistol whipping someone in true Bond fashion is much more fun then just shooting him. The shooting is sort of plain but is made a tad more interesting with the Bond Focus feature, while not innovative, is just a zoomed crosshair allowing you to focus on critical shots. Headshots are quick and easy, but more fun are the context sensitive shots like shooting a zip line to send an enemy falling, or shooting a grenade off of his belt to dispatch him and his friends in one fell swoop. The gameplay tries to mix it up a bit with driving and jetpack missions, but they are all the same and while driving the Aston Martin is another giddy fan moment, its pretty shallow and all the missions are basically the same, save for one which features some cool jumps.
The game itself is a light adventure, short and pretty easy. But therein lies the good part, as Bond always makes things look incredibly easy, the game itself never gets frustrating but you still feel as unstoppable as Bond looks on the screen. If this was intentionally done, or if its an unintentional effect I can't really tell, but it works pretty well and kept me hooked on that feeling. For as run of the mill as this is as an action game, it would never be that good without the coat of 007 paint, but since the appearance is all there it really is quite fun for the 007 fan.