007: Nightfire review (2003)

The game opens with a cinematic Bond-style sequence and a power ballad, but the playing experience quickly undercuts that promise: in gameplay you feel less like James Bond and more like M’s gun valet, shooting bad guys while the Pierce Brosnan–modeled 007 enjoys the cutscenes.

The nine missions stitch together familiar spy clichés—guns, gadgets and glamorous parties—around a thin plot about industrialist Rafael Drake and his nuclear missiles, taking you from a costume ball to an underwater lair and eventually into space. Technical problems and uneven AI hamper much of the experience.

Early bugs range from collision issues that send Bond tumbling off a cliff to camera objectives that fail to register, and guards display baffling behaviour—ignoring nearby gunfights but instantly homing in on the player. The damage model and boss encounters are inconsistent, and suggested stealth tactics such as shooting out overhead lights do not work as advertised.

007 nightfire, james bond, pierce brosnan, gameplay, cutscenes, technical problems, ai issues, rafael drake, nuclear missiles, underwater lair