James Bond 007: Nightfire

James Bond 007: NightFire is a first-person shooter video game based on James Bond. This marked Pierce Brosnan's fourth appearance as James Bond before the release of his fourth and final Bond film Die Another Day, however, in the video game, his likeness was featured, but not his voice, which was provided by Maxwell Caulfield. NightFire was developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox. Gearbox Software developed the game for Windows, which Aspyr Media later ported to the Mac. The computer versions are substantially different from the console versions, featuring different missions and a modified story line. It was published by Electronic Arts in 2002. In 2003 EA released NightFire for the Game Boy Advance, this time developed by JV Games.

Story
The game's prologue mission starts with James Bond helping [Dominique Paradis]] evade enemy cars while chasing a truck with a stolen nuclear weapon, before continuing in his car. After stopping the truck, Dominique and James celebrate the new year.

M sends Bond undercover to a party in industrialist Raphael Drake's Austrian castle. M believes that the party is a cover for the exchange of a missile guidance chip between Drake and Alexander Mayhew, who manages Phoenix's Japanese branch and had stolen the chip from the United States. Bond, CIA agent Zoe Nightshade, and Dominique, who is posing as Drake's mistress, meet in the library. While Zoe distracts the guards, Bond makes his way to the exchange and steals the chip. James and Zoe then escape Drake's forces in an armed snowmobile, before continuing in James' car. They rendezvous with Q, who takes them out of Austria.

After the breach, Drake threatens to kill Mayhew should the operation fail. Mayhew contacts MI6, saying he will provide vital information if Bond comes to his rescue. At his Japanese estate, Mayhew is attacked by Drake's men. Bond fights his way through and manages to obtain a file from Mayhew's safe. Mayhew is killed by a Ninja during the process. The file leads Bond to Mayhew's office at the Phoenix Building in Tokyo.

Bond is able to infiltrate the building while the guards are changing shifts and secures official Nightfire documents. He is then attacked by Drake's men, before Dominique provides a distraction which allows Bond to escape via parachute off the roof of the building.

The Nightfire documents lead Bond to a nuclear power plant that being decontaminated by Phoenix Corporation, Drake's firm. This is a front for weapon development. Bond retrieves evidence of Drake's activities and escapes. However, he is then double crossed and captured by Kiko, Mayhew's former bodyguard. He is turned over to Drake. On the top of the Phoenix Building, Drake plans to kill Bond and Dominique, who has been discovered as a mole. Dominique is kicked off the rooftop by Kiko and is killed. Bond escapes to the ground level before being saved by Australian Intelligence agent Alura McCall.

M sends Bond and Alura to Drake's private island, where Drake has set up a jamming signal. The pair infiltrates the island and eliminates Drake's defenses. Bond makes his way to Drake's underground silo. He then fights off Kiko, and gets onto one of three space shuttles intending to capture the Space Defense Platform. Kiko dies in the blast pit when Bond's space shuttle launches. Bond reaches the International Space Station, where Drake is. Bond successfully sends all eight missiles off course, saving millions of lives, and causes Drake's laser weapon to malfunction, leading to a huge explosion. Finally, Bond uses a laser gun to defeat Drake. As the station goes up in flames, Bond blasts from an escape pod and goes back down to Earth, where he celebrates the victory with Alura.

Gameplay
Overall there are many weapons that the player can carry including grenades of various sorts and other types of explosives. In addition, there are numerous amounts of mounted weapons found throughout the game. As with previous James Bond games, the weapons that appear are based on actual weapons, but with the names changed. Some weapons appear in the console version but not the PC version, and vice-versa.

The following is a list of some of the console version's weapons and their respective real-life counterparts. Pistols
 * Wolfram PP7 : Walther PPK
 * Wolfram P2K : Walther P99
 * Kowloon Type 40 : Glock 18
 * Kowloon Type 80 : Glock 18 (Auto)
 * Raptor Magnum .357 : Desert Eagle .357 Magnum w/ laser sight
 * Raptor .50 : Desert Eagle .50 AE

Sniper Rifles
 * Tactical Sniper : Arctic Warfare
 * Covert Sniper : Arctic Warfare Suppressed (AWS)

Shotguns
 * Frinesi Auto 12 Shotgun : Franchi SPAS-12

Automatic Weapons Rocket Launchers
 * SG5 Commando (both versions) : Sig 552 Commando
 * Storm M32 : Ruger MP9
 * Deutsche M9K : HK MP5K
 * AIMS-20 : XM29 OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon)
 * Sentinel Guided Missile Launcher : AT-4 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher
 * Scorpion : AT-4 Heat-Seeking

Multiplayer
In the multiplayer mode of Nightfire, players can play in many different levels, including Fort Knox, from Goldfinger, Atlantis and the sub docking pen from The Spy Who Loved Me, and many Nightfire related levels, including Drake's castle, Drake's underwater base, and Drake's secret missile silo. Other levels include Skyrail and Ravine. The player may choose to play against AI bots with customisable reaction time, speed, and health. The amount of usable bots vary in the console version. In the Gamecube and Xbox version, up to 6 bots may be used. In the PS2 version, up to 4 bots may be used. In the PC version, up to 12 bots may be used. Some medals obtained will unlock new characters.

Playable Characters

 * James Bond
 * Dominique Paradis
 * Alura McCall
 * Raphael Drake
 * Kiko
 * Armitage Rook
 * Ninja
 * Snow Guard
 * Yakuza
 * Black Ops
 * Phoenix Commando
 * Phoenix Soldiers

Unlockable Characters

 * Renard - Get a Platinum Medal on Paris Prelude.
 * Jaws - Get a Silver Medal on Paris Prelude.
 * Baron Samedi - Get a Platinum Medal on The Exchange.
 * Oddjob - Get a Silver Medal on The Exchange.
 * Max Zorin - Get a Platinum Medal on Alpine Escape.
 * May Day - Get a Platinum Medal on Enemies Vanquished.
 * Francisco Scaramanga - Get a Silver Medal on Enemies Vanquished.
 * Xenia Onatopp - Get a Platinum Medal on Double Cross.
 * Christmas Jones - Get a Platinum Medal on Night Shift.
 * Auric Goldfinger - Get a Platinum Medal on Chain Reaction.
 * Wai Lin - Get a Silver Medal on Chain Reaction.
 * Raphael Drake's Suit Look - Get a Platinum Medal on Phoenix Fire.
 * Electra King - Get a Platinum Medal on Deep Descent.
 * Nick Nack - Get a Silver Medal on Deep Descent.
 * James Bond's Tuxedo Look - Get a Platinum Medal on Island Infiltration.
 * Pussy Galore - Get a Platinum Medal on Countdown.
 * James Bond's Spacesuit Look - Get a Platinum Medal on Equinox.

Maps

 * Skyrail
 * Fort Knox
 * Snow Blind
 * Phoenix Base
 * Atlantis
 * Missile Silo
 * Sub Pen
 * Ravine

PC version:
 * Austria
 * Casino (Combat Training and Team Combat Training game modes only)
 * Caviar (CT and TCT only)
 * Fort Knox
 * Island
 * Instanbul (comes with the patch v1.1, CT and TCT only)
 * Japan
 * Jungle
 * Maintenance (CT and TCT only)
 * Office
 * Power (CT and TCT only)
 * Romania (Capture The Flag game mode only)
 * Space Station (comes with the patch v1.1, CTF only)
 * Tower (CTF only)

Reception
On Metacritic, the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox metascores are 80, 77, and 78, respectively. The PC version has a metascore of 59 and the Game Boy Advance version has a metascore of 66.

Other versions
Each version of the game differed significantly from the other. The PC version, for example, had fewer levels than the console game and did not implement driving mode. The Game Boy Advance version resembled the PC NightFire more than the console game. However, the main storyline and characters remained the same in all versions.