Being Bond on a Gameboy Advance Budget

Believe it or not, there was a time I didn't like James Bond. I can't remember what movie I was taken to see, but I remember seeing the trailer for "Moonraker" and just thinking "Ugggh, that looks bad." Of course, I was all of 8 years old.

But around the time I started noticing girls were a lot different from guys, in ways I really liked, I became a James Bond fan. I don't remember if I saw "The Spy Who Loved Me" on television, or if it was "Octopussy" in the theatres, but I was hooked. I wanted to be the guy to save the world and get the girl, in-between tossing around humorous one-liners.

With all the elaborate shoot outs, stealth and vehicular chases you'd think the Bond franchise would be a natural for video game play. Somehow I missed out on the Atari 2600 game and amazingly nothing Bond was ever officially created for a Nintendo system until the classic "Goldeneye" for the N64.

"Goldeneye" was pretty much the gold standard upon which other console First Person Shooters were compared to for a long time. However the games that followed based on 007 could be categorized as mediocre at best. That old thereom (going all the way back to E.T.)that movie based games pretty much suck started to hold true with 007.

So why in the world did I pick up "Everything or Nothing"? I guess it was the mixture of all the positive reviews for the X-Box/PS2 /Gamecube version combined with Heidi "so easy on the eyes" Klum that convinced me to drop 30 sawbucks down and take a chance. (I didn't have a "next generation" console at the time, still happy with my little grey PS1).

From the start I was impressed by the visuals and the gameplay. A perfectly rendered animated drawing of Q gave me my mission in text, before revealing a photo-realistic postcard of my first destination, Cairo. In addition to giving you primary goals to complete a mission, you're also assigned secondary challenges to try to complete. You'll be given a certain number of points for completing each task which can be used to upgrade your equipment, so it's to your advantage to try achieving the extra goals.

I generally prefer my drivers and shooters played in the 3rd person, so right from the start I enjoyed this Bond. I like how it encourages you to sneak upon your enemies, rather than just blaze away. Of course, there are times I like to zone out and just "run & gun". You can do that too if you choose, but you'll generally miss the mark on the secondary quests. Its a lot easier and more forgiving than it's newer generation brethren, so you fastboys can probably play through the whole game in one or two sittings.

In addition to the sneaking and shooting, you'll also need to be able to drive defensively. You'll mostly be going straight on 4 lane highways, but the baddies will be shooting and tossing all kinds of stuff your way.(Rockets, oil slicks, machine gun fire, etc.) For me, these were some of the more challenging parts of the game, as your high speed sports car can only take so many hits. It's essentially the classic "Spy Hunter" game, but with the camera held at a different angle.

One of my few gripes about this game occurs during the driving sections, and even a couple of the stealth missions; the game is so detailed its sometimes hard to see what you're supposed to do on the tiny Gameboy screen. Again, maybe its the years of squinting at the old Gameboy without the backlight that ruined my vison. You eagle eyed guys and gals might not even notice.

For me, it was so bad, I quit playing because I was dying and I didn't know why. Fortunately, I "rediscovered" this game when I purchased an adaptor for my Gamecube. Okay, I'll fess up, it's because of this game I bought an adaptor for my GC so I could finish. Currently, I'm still dieing, trying to take out a tank with my Astin Martin, but at least now I can see the projectiles colliding with my car.

In the time between dropping the Gameboy Advance adaptation and picking it up again via the GC adaptor, I've had the pleasure of playing the PS2 version. Between the two I really prefer the way the Gameboy plays (especially in the stealth missions), but the storyline is almost too bare bones. If storyline is really important to you, go with the higher generation version. (The storyline for "Everything or Nothing" is actually superior to that of the last two films, in my opinion.)

If you like Bond, old-school style gaming, and have great eye-sight, then I highly recommend this game. The only way this game could have been better is if Sean Connery himself were Bond.