Price: £39.99 Players: 1 EA has spent a small fortune on Everything Or Nothing, hiring the voices of Pierce Brosnan, Willem Defoe, Shannon Elizabeth and Heidi Klum as well as scanning in their likenesses. They bill the game as "the only Bond movie released this year". The graphics look excellent and the sound is first rate. Mya's theme song, although hardly a classic, is vastly superior to Madonna's warblings for Die Another Day. The script is by Goldeneye writer Bruce Fierstein and works well enough to hold a game together. There are enough variations on the alternate shooter/driving/rail-shoot levels to keep things moving at a brisk pace.

Ultimately the key question is - how enjoyable is it to play? Well it may be significant that I, a merely average gamer, finished all 20 plus levels in a weekend. Some of the missions are linear and very short. However there is also the incentive of unlocking awards and image galleries for those with high scores to increase the longevity of the game. Gameplay is smooth with no signs of slowing on single player version. I personally found the omission of manual-aim capability very frustrating especially on later levels when the player is attacked by multiple opponents. On the other hand the addition of "Emperors Tomb"-style hand-to-hand fighting is diverting and the chance to do stealth kills is welcome in a Bond game. The developers have thrown in everything but the kitchen sink to make this game work and that is part of the problem. For instance there is a point in the game when the player is behind the wheel of an Aston Martin V12 Vanquish with a plethora of lethal accessories chasing a limo which carries a hitman en route to wipe out one of the heroines. Sounds like fun? It is when driving across downtown New Orleans but once the limo is spotted it disappears down a handy side street depriving the gamer of the chance for a prolonged high speed shootout. Yes the game is clever but its not fiddly details we want at a time like this its a full-blown adrenaline-powered 007 experience. (Incidentally gadgets like the acid slick fail to appear on the inventory. Bugs or evidence of sabotage?) When the game works it really works and there are times, ie when leaping from the top of a cliff to grab Shannon Elizabeth in mid-air while the villains take leisurely potshots at you, when you really feel like Bond.

Overall, though the levels which seemed most enjoyable were the rally and the stealth ones, both of which felt as though they were cobbled in from other games. Performance-wise John Cleese and Judi Dench are the best actors on the soundtrack. It is a pity then that both are often relegated to giving hints during gameplay, some of which point out the glaringly obvious. This is a problem for any game with the wide spectrum of popularity of Bond. However, there is no excuse when, after being nursemaided through the use of all manner of techniques and gadgets, the one item that is difficult to use, the "network tap" in the penultimate level, is given no briefing whatsoever which seems to have led to the annoyance of several players. The weakest performance, undoubtedly, comes from Pierce Brosnan. Opinions have always been divided about his effectiveness as an actor but even those who adore him on screen will find it hard to applaud his work here. Voice work is not his forte it appears. Traditionally Bond games boasts a multiplayer level but the one presented here seems to have been added as an afterthought and is, frankly, inexcusably poor. It would be unfair to call this latest Bond title disappointing but with a few refinements it could have been so much better.

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Review copyright © James Harris, 2004.