Look! It's a first-person shooter. No, wait, it's an action-adventure game. No, wait, it's both.
Games like Red Faction (THQ) did this well. Half-Life (Sierra) did this well. Deus Ex (Eidos?) did this well. And Agent Under Fire tries to do it, but ultimately comes up short. These games all try to do the same thing - create a hybrid that draws from the strengths of the best first-person shooters (a la the Quake series) and the best action-adventure games (the Metal Gear Solid series). Essentially, it's an attempt at creating a first-person shooter experience with a plausible, dramatic, and entertaining story.
Red Faction had the whole package: a compelling story, superb gameplay, and brilliantly designed levels. Half-Life pioneered this genre of games some three or four years ago and its success rested squarely upon its story and its intense atmosphere. Deus Ex did the same. Agent Under Fire's real weakness is that it fails to shine in any one of these areas. The story is solid but fairly unoriginal and uninspired; the gameplay lacks originality; and the levels are moderately sized but poorly designed. The result is a game that is supremely mediocre: nothing more and nothing less.
Gameplay
It's all pretty standard here. You run, shoot, drive, and use gadgets. That's what James Bond always does, so that's what he does here. And the control to get you there is fairly solid in Agent Under Fire.While I did have some issues with the default control scheme - mainly with the pitch being too fast - you have a variety of options to reconfigure the controls. So after a little tinkering, the control is fairly solid - although the overall speed of the game, especially in multiplayer, feels bogged down. I'm not referring to the framerate, but that the characters themselves simply move slowly. And while there is an option to make them faster, I didn't find it very noticeable.
The various levels are scattered and each is designed completely separately from the next. There's a lack of coherency, making it feel like sections of footage were merely patched together to create a final product.
And the James Bond gadgets are here in full force. But from a gameplay standpoint, they're not used well at all. For instance, in one level where you must rescue a hostage who is tied up, you have to cut her loose using a handy dandy handheld laser. But why? I feel like most of these gadgets are forced into use. In any non-James Bond game, your character would "untie" the hostage without the use of the laser and you wouldn't think anything of it. So...why the laser? It's Bond, dude, that's all it is.
Grade: C
Graphics
Running at a constant 60 frames per second, Agent Under Fire is generally a pretty game. But it is far from perfect.
The biggest graphical letdowns are the explosions. Simply put, they look crappy. They look like two-dimensional orange blobs. Sure, it's a minor point. But for an effect that's so prevalent and so often measured as a benchmark of graphics, you'd expect more from a top quality title. Where are the flashy particle effects the Gamecube is capable of? They're not here.
Moreover, the textures are clean and crisp and the animation of the characters is above average. The characters don't display the detail or fluidity of movement found in other top caliber games though (Metal Gear Solid 2 comes to mind). And Agent Under Fire handles a wide variety of incoherent levels nicely. From driving through cities, to running through elaborate corporate complexes, the graphics hover above par.
A solid Gamecube effort, Agent Under Fire fails to really shine in the graphical department. It simply doesn't push the envelope like other Gamecube offerings.
Grade: B-
Sound
How many times do I need to hear the James Bond theme song? Enough already. While this isn't the only background noise in the game, it sure does feel that way at times. And the other sound effects are also pretty mediocre.The voices are fairly well done - it seems that game developers are finally realizing that having good voice acting really can help a game. Thank God that the days of the voice-acting from the original Resident Evil on Playstation I are gone. It seems that developed editors finally hired real voice actors. Good job. But much like the rest of the game, while solid, it lacks shine. Is it unrealistic to think that they could have gotten Pierce Brosnan to do the voiceovers? Well, yeah, probably...but then again, Tobey Maguire (who plays Spiderman in the new high-budget comic book flick coming out next month) and with Bruce Campbell are doing the voice acting in the new Spiderman game.
Throw in the standard gunshot and explosion noises and once again we find an average offering from Agent Under Fire in the sound department.
Grade: C-
Replay Value
I'm a fan of the game that provides depth in single-player mode. After all, for $50 of my money, I'd like a game that will keep my attention for a while. Agent Under Fire really proves lackluster in its single-player mode. Lacking an intense story to draw you in, and lacking a crispness in level design (not to mention some weak, if not down right stupid, enemy A.I. in places), interest in the single-player mode fades quickly.The multiplayer mode, however, is substantially stronger. And thankfully, it's fully customizable. You choose which weapons are available each round; you choose the number of enemy bots; you choose the strength of the bots; you choose which Bond gadgets are available; you choose how fast the players move, etc. The options abound here, and when configured to your liking provide for a pretty fun multiplayer experience. While I never owned an N64 or had the chance to experience the ultimate Bond multiplayer game Goldeneye, my friends who did assure me that this is the best multiplayer Bond game since.
While I'm more of a fan of squad-based multiplayer games, such as those found in Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike, the multiplayer in Agent Under Fire is quite fun. With a few friends, you'll keep coming back for this action.
Grade: B+
Overall
Poor and inconsistent level design, average graphics and sound, and a weak single-player mode really bog down Agent Under Fire. With some more imagination and innovation, and a little more shine, this could have been something special. As it stands, though, it falls right to the middle of the heap.
Overall: C+
