After the success of GoldenEye, it was only a matter of time before a new Bond game sought the same success...
With a new James Bond movie in 1997 came a new game with it two years later, but Tomorrow Never Dies went the route of a third person action game to change things up a bit. The change in formula didn't go over well with critics and fans alike, and it being a Sony PlayStation exclusive didn't help much, either.
Trying to recapture some of the franchise's past glory, The World is Not Enough was released on both major platforms as a first person shooter. Though it also brought multiplayer back into the fray, TWINE perhaps had too much to live up to.
I haven't seen the movie in it's entirety, but from what I can tell, it follows the plot as much as a video game can. It takes a few liberties in order to facilitate gameplay at some points, but that is usually the case with games based on movies.
From a graphical point of view, TWINE is only somewhat remeniscent of GoldenEye. The smooth textures and fluid animation seen in the first game are gone, replaced with a more realistically textured environment at the expense of aliasing and overall frame rate. It really isn't the fact that the game looks any worse than GoldenEye - just more jagged, and maybe not quite as aesthetically pleasing.
Gameplay remains more or less the same, with a few tweaks. The controls feel as smooth as they did before, and a new inventory system lets you get to special items (such as key cards, devices, and others) without having to pause the game first. This allows for a more fluid and faster-paced gaming experience.
The sound is pretty good for a game of it's generation - characters have actual lines of dialogue this time around, and though a few NPC's have a tendency to repeat sentences, it doesn't get in the way of an immersive experience. As usual, the guns sound as real as they should... for a Bond game, that is.
As for multiplayer, there isn't anything groundbreaking to be seen. Straightforward game modes with varying rules to be tweaked makes it fun enough, at least for a while.
In the end, The World is Not Enough has a few shortfalls, but still manages to be a rather fun single player experience. Electronic Arts attempted to duplicate the feeling of excitement Rare generated with GoldenEye, and though it doesn't quite feel up to par with it, finding and picking up that unique blue TWINE cartridge for a few bucks doesn't hurt!