From Russia with Love takes us back to the beginning of the James Bond franchise-back when James Bond was still played by the awesome Sean Connery … when James Bond still kicked major amounts of ass … and when major crime organizations and memorable super villains existed. Sadly, I haven't seen the movie (although I really want to), but I can tell this by playing the game: it's an awesome film.

The story follows the movie's storyline: James Bond, 007, is sent on a mission in Istanbul to try to obtain a Russian cypher called 'Lektor' from a defecting Russian agent. However, the Russians are not aware that this is just a ploy by the evil organization Octopus to lure James Bond into a trap. People who are familiar with the movie can notice that the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (as it is called in the movie), is OCTOPUS. I'm not 100% aware what exactly is up with the name change, but it has to do something with licensing.

A variety of weapons and gadgets lay at your disposal, as they should in any Bond game. You get your silenced PP7, but as you progress, you get a shotgun, SMG, assault rifle, rocket launcher, and so on. Many interesting and useful Q gadgets lay at your disposal, such as a maneuverable Q copter, laser watch, and the likes.

Combat is pretty simplistic yet very fun. You lock onto your targets with the left trigger and shoot with the right. However, if you want to save ammo, get a few Bond moments and eliminate your enemies fast, press X to go into a more accurate way of shooting the enemies. This way, you can get headshots and shoot out radios on some guys, preventing them from calling back up.

Bond wouldn't be Bond without sweet disables, and Metal Gear Solid 3 like CQC (Close Quarter Combat). Sneak up behind someone and press right to disable them. If you are already engaged in combat and you are close to someone, press R to shoot and almost all the time you get prompted to press a button (A, X, Y, B) to disable your enemy, in Bond-like fashion

Once again, you can't have a 007 game without sweet vehicles. In some levels, you need to drive around from place to place, destroying the enemy's cars. You switch from machine gun to rocket launcher. Also, the cars have their own special 'CQC.' You press Y next to an enemy vehicle, and rods come out of your wheels, damaging and/or destroying the enemy. You also get a jetpack on some levels, which you can fly around with and shoot the enemy with the rockets or machine gun equipped.

The graphics look pretty good, EA always manages to make their games looks quite nice, and From Russia with Love is no exception. Beautiful water and fire effects make the Xbox version look excellent. There are some frame rate problems here and there-a few hiccups-but nothing unforgivable.

The sound … the theme song that everyone and their mother knows is once again back, and surprisingly enough, Sir Sean Connery voice acts Bond! Why is this surprising? Because quite often, a lot of actors won't lend their face or voice to the game (Al Pacino likes doing this). This greatly adds to the authenticity of the game.

Multiplayer is also available here. Of course, it isn't quite matching the legacy that Rare has left the gaming society with their little game called Goldeneye, but it isn't horrible either.

To be honest, I enjoyed From Russia with Love-more so than I would have ever thought. If you're a casual gamer, then I safely say pick this one up. You'll have a lot of fun playing this, and even a 'hardcore' gamer might have fun with it, especially taking a break between those 'hardcore' games. A game like this is a perfect break from all those serious games out there. If this is the way Bond games will be made from now on, then I'm hoping EA will make very good use of their licensing. (Goldfinger or Dr. No, anyone?)

Feb 26, 2006 | 0 comments
Mate Bors