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They don't make them like this anymore. By far the best Bond game imo. GE N64 has aged really poorly. But everything people remember loving about that game is there in Nightfire, which has actually aged brilliantly.
I think what I love most about it is that, while it is a brilliant game (with big wide open memorable levels, lots of diversity, fun gadgets, all that cool stuff) it's the least "gamey" Bond game. The plot plays out just like a Bond film would. And the plot is actually quite good: the villain's scheme is actually better than a lot of what we've seen in the films (a nuclear monopoly is a much more interesting idea than another holding the world to ransom or giant space laser plot). I also remember it being quite well written and acted.
I need to play it again soon. Amazing game. The Austria castle level is just perfection: it's the only time a video game has really nailed it in terms of making me feel like James Bond.
That said, I'd still buy an HD remaster.
I think GE is/was more groundbreaking (the strength of Nightfire is how it takes GE's formula and polishes it) but I've always preferred Nightfire for a couple of reasons. For a start I always prefer the original story Bond games. I don't just want the games to be playable Bond films, I want them to be new Bond films. Nightfire fits the bill and it's also a lot more cinematic than Goldeneye (and any other Bond game before it). It was the first time that I really felt like I was playing through a Bond film. Nightfire also has the benefit of being made on better technology: it still looks decent today, whereas GE unfortunately doesn't. It's not just the graphics either: the more time passes, and the more new consoles that come out, the more I hate the N64 controller. Nightfire is also a lot more cinematic in general (the gunbarrel, the cutscenes, etc) and it feels like there's a lot more variety. You're not just wandering around gunning people down. You're speeding through Paris in an Aston Martin, you're edging across a window ledge of a fortified mountain top Austrian castle, zip lining round a power plant, defusing nuclear warheads in space, battling ninjas in a sprawling but beautiful countryside Japanese estate, breaking into an office building and knocking out (but not killing) the guards. I haven't touched the game for years but I remember all of that plus more while in GE, I find it hard to remember any level that wasn't just killing loads of people (except the stuff like protecting Natalya). If it had the film regulars (Brosnan, Dench, Cleese) or went with an original take (I didn't like how we were still in the AUF universe but Q was different, Bond now had Brosnan's face, etc, it felt distracting), and some sort of hand to hand combat mechanic (although I do remember being able to punch guards to knock them out) then it'd be pretty much the perfect Bond game imo. As it stands, it comes very close.
Even the multiplayer, which was amazing for its time, was refined and perfected by Nightfire imo. I wish I could go back to 2002 and play it for the first time again. It really was something else. I remember it came out around the same time as DAD and at the time I was really grateful because it sort of helped me cope with the disappointment of that film: least I had the game.
I remember how glad I was when I won Baron Samedi :D
I thought that PC version had better multiplayer representations of the classic levels. I loved played Fort Knox on the PC version.
But Nightfire is one of the greatest and overlooked shooter games. I prefer Agent Under Fire, but absolutely adore Nightfire. It's what introduced me to James Bond, before I saw the films.
I like a lot of the level on the PC version better and playing a keyboard and mouse feels a lot better then playing with a controller.
Only problem I have with console gaming is playing with a controller. Feels like I cant control my character however, keyboard and mouse far more superior.
yeah i remember, that was quite a shocking moment back then...
and the following escape through Drakes building was one of my favorite parts on the PC version. Very intense. Reminded me a lot of Die Hard.
haha thats a good idea though, i never thought of that.
The stairwell did confused me a bit the first time around, i did not know which direction to go