007 Games Part 11: Agent Under Fire (PS2)

Super AiG's Guide to Every (old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 11

Game 23 - Agent Under Fire (2001)
Formats: Game Cube, PlayStation 2, Xbox.

Today's Bond game is Agent Under Fire, (aka. James Bond 007 in... Agent Under Fire™, according to the side of my game box), the first game by future Dead Space developers Visceral Games. This was the first Bond game to hit the sixth generation consoles, (computers had to sit this one out again) and I'm going to be playing it on the PlayStation 2.

There was no Bond film to tie in with the year this was released, but instead of adapting one of many untapped classics like Dr No, You Only Live Twice, or Octopussy, they decided to just make up their own story instead. Probably one with lots of gun fights.

No gun barrel scene this time, but it's always nice to see a level select. It's got multiplayer too, though I won't be testing that out. I do know it doesn't have bots though.


LEVEL 1 - TROUBLE IN PARADISE.

Right, it appears that a CIA agent has managed to get themselves captured while trying to retrieve a case of suspicious research materials, and I've got to break into this botanical research base and get them both out.

Fortunately this guy arrived a minute before me to put the case back, or else I could have been stuck searching the place forever for something that wasn't even there.

Hey it's another GoldenEye style first person shooter! I was expecting it to be third person for some reason. Maybe I'm getting it confused with Everything or Nothing.

As soon as I'm outside I get Q's voice in my head telling me what to do next. Oh sorry, I mean 'R', as they apparently took Bond's joke in The World is Not Enough seriously and thought that was the actual codename for the new quartermaster in charge of Q branch. Sadly he's not voiced by John Cleese this time.

Anyway Q gives me two options for breaking into the base. I can either grapple onto to the roof with my grapple gun phone, or... who even cares what the other option is, no one's going to choose it.

Hey it's like a homage to the second level of Goldeneye. It's far easier to hold the aim steady in this though. Crap, I forgot if M said these people were evil or not though. Damn it's no good, I can't resist, the beret's too tempting.

One bullet was enough to put him down (though I'm sad to report that the beret did not fly off) and I continued on to the second stage of the level.

I think they're on to me. I shouldn't really be taking the time to aim my shots manually seeing as I'm standing right out in the open here. Probably best to just unload the magazine in the direction of the badguys and hope they drop more bullets afterwards than I just used.

Fortunately they're none too bright, and aren't that bothered about finding cover.

Whoa, you think your laser sight is bright enough there pal? Maybe if you're struggling you could try using a scope, I hear they're pretty good these days.

Not that James Bond ever needed a scope to kill a guy in one hit. Sure he may have used one on occasion in the movies, but everyone knows he could have made the shot with a pistol if he felt like it. Fired from the hip.

I wonder what that guy was aiming at anyway. I should go and have a look.

Wait, that's not James Bond. Did they not want to pay for Pierce Brosnan's likeness or something?

 He looks like what you get if you morph pictures of all the Bonds together.

What, seriously? The sniper was keeping watch on the CIA Agent... who's been chained to a pole. I forgot how cartoony the Bond films could get at times.

She's called Zoe Nightshade by the way, and I don't think it's a codename.

Oh wait, she's actually tied to a giant submarine, and it's about to launch! Bond villains fucking love their elaborate death traps.

Well the smart thing for me to do here would be to pick up the ultra-bright sniper rifle, and take out all the guards from this elevated position before racing down to save her. But I don't do so well with time limits, they make me do dumb things...

Fortunately every one of these idiots is standing next to a barrel of whatever they use to make movie explosions, and I'm actually doing alright by running straight in with just a pistol and 16 bullets.

Actually I lost most of my body armour (health) 10 seconds after this screenshot, but there was extra armour lying around everywhere. No regenerating health in this by the way, and I'm able to carry a fair number of guns.


FOUR MINUTES LATER.

Killed the bad guys, saved the girl, and still had time left to look smug. Cue the opening credits.

Aww, no opening credits. Though I did get the Gold Medal and the Golden Gun, so I ain't complaining. And because it's got a level select screen, I can replay the level later to get platinum or whatever.

You know, so far this doesn't seem bad. They've even gone the extra mile and added a Bond girl silhouette rolling onto the screen and posing with her gun. Just because they could.


LEVEL 2: PRECIOUS CARGO.

Seems like we're taking a break from running around secret bases for a rail shooter section, as we escape the from the botanical research center/submarine pen through the streets of Hong Kong. It looks like I'm on foot, but I'm actually in a car right now (the game predates Die Another Day so it's a BMW of course) standing up through the sun roof.

LATER.

Still in a car shooting things with my gun. Can't really think of anything else to say. Though I suppose I could mention that I like how shooting the tires makes the cars spin out of control.


LATER STILL.

Okay and I'm finally back to the plot. Q himself has flown into the country just to personally show off a shiny new tricked out BMW Z8 for the pair of agents to wreck. I guess it must be a slow week back at Q branch.

But then, out of nowhere, another one of those bloody cars that have been chasing me around the city all afternoon shows up. And Bond gets a rocket to the face.

Fortunately Bond and Q are fine. Anyone working at Q branch probably has a lot of experience dodging stray missiles. But sadly Zoe didn't survive the explosion, and the case has been stolen back by the villains. For the second time.

Bond tries to look angry and distraught, but just ends up looking more smug. And I don't even know what Q looks like. Not John Cleese, that's for sure.

Guess we've gotta go get that case back again then. Lucky Q brought over that car really.


LEVEL 3: DANGEROUS PURSUIT.

This level lets me drive the car myself, as I chase down the van containing the case, with Q air dropping power ups for me to grab. I can actually drive around the city freely, though once I find the target I'm not allowed to let it out of my sight.

The trouble with this is I have to get alongside the bastard to use my EMP to shut him down, but his van's as fast as I am. A boost might help, but I need to find the damn boost items before I can use them.


LATER.

Damn, that must be like the fourth time I've screwed this up, and every time I'm thrown right back to the start of the level. The van's got a bloody machine gun on the back, so I take damage by chasing it. I'm not even sure what the hell I'm supposed to be doing to catch this bastard.


I got sick of the game at this point, and hit the power switch to take a break. And then I learned that the game doesn't autosave and I'd just lost all my progress. Oops. But yeah I think I'm done with this now. I'm all for trying another first person shooter level, but the shooting so far hasn't been interesting enough to inspire me to persevere through this crap to reach the next one. Besides, I'm sure there's no shortage of other GoldenEye inspired Bond games for me to try instead.


Tomorrow on Super Adventures I take a look at Bond week's penultimate game: a GoldenEye inspired first person shooter.