Stepping into the shoes of 007 has never been quite as easy as this…

GoldenEye wasn't healthy for the Bond franchise. Well, it was healthy at the time, but sitting here and looking back in hindsight at the series, it's clear to see that gamers were setting their expectations too high for future instalments. Any attempts to recreate the classic formula were mediocre at best, often succumbing to endless corridors and waves of monotonous henchmen. Fans of Bond who wanted to play as the super suave MI6 agent were largely unimpressed.

However, after the downfall of Nightfire et al, EA have taken a step back and had a long, hard look at the current formula. It appears that EA have been a busy bunch of people, not only reviewing the possible flaws of previous titles but pulling in a number of star names to add to the authentic feel of the game. Somewhere along the line, the answer must have clicked in someone's head. The public want to be Bond. So why not make a game where you're effectively starring in your very own James Bond movie? Roll opening credits. [Your Name Here] is James Bond in Everything or Nothing.

Implementing an appealing idea is one thing, but amending the tiresome gameplay formula made grudgingly famous in previous Bond outings is a completely different mountain altogether. Everything or Nothing is a significant step in the right direction, changing the perspective from where we view the action and adding a host of new gameplay elements to keep things fresh. In previous games, Bond has only ever shared a facial likeness to his big-screen counterpart, yet EA have pulled out all the stops to pull in James Bond regulars and other Hollywood names to further authenticate the title.

In the opening scene, we're treated to Bond interrupting an illegal business deal which naturally leads to a hostile battle between the two parties. Bond is caught in the middle and you're immediately put in control. M feeds mission objectives down to you through a communications link and you're to complete these in however you deem appropriate. This was the first step to recreating that trademark Bond feeling in a game. The player needs to actually feel as if they are Bond. In this opening mission, it couldn't be anyone but Bond.

In Everything or Nothing, you're hot on the tail of Nikolai Diavolo (Willem Dafoe, Spiderman), an ex-KGB agent who plans on afflicting the world with evil through the use of nanobot technology. Diavolo is tied to ex-Bond villain Max Zorin, who fans of the franchise will remember as being played by Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill. The game follows the movie legacy closely, and features a guest appearance from metal-mickey Jaws, as well as casting regulars Dame Judi Dench and John Cleese as M and Q respectively. Heidi Klum, Shannon Elizabeth and of course, Pierce Brosnan as Bond himself also feature prominently throughout the game.

For the majority of the game you'll be playing a third-person action shooter with heavy emphasis on cover. It's very reminiscent of kill.switch, in that a press of a button will place Bond against a wall, while another will lock on to an enemy. By pressing fire, Bond will stick his head out and pop off a few shots. The targeting system does its job but there are occasions where it refuses to lock-on to the nearest enemy. This becomes increasingly frustrating when enemies can walk around you because the game refuses to target them.

At all other times, you'll likely be positioned behind the controls of some sort of transport, be it one of the many luxurious cars you'll get to wreck, a new "Q-Bike" or a helicopter. Where the action really picks up is when you're racing a train in order to board it from the underside in your car, or when you're flying along on your motorcycle, narrowly avoiding falling pieces of architecture. All of the vehicles have on-board weaponry, so taking out enemies with front-mounted machine guns or heat-seeking missiles is very much possible.

Everything or Nothing is far from the perfect game though. While the game on a whole is mightily polished, certain sections do suffer from the mediocrity of the previous games. The game certainly benefits from the change of perspective, but the third-person shooting sections do start to wear a little thin, especially when the targeting system lets you down at a crucial moment. Everything or Nothing isn't entirely the most original of titles either, and everything you encounter here has been seen before, just without the instant appeal of Bond at the helm.

It's a massive improvement on previous offerings though, and anyone looking for a full-on Bond experience will find it right here. The well-scripted story and exceptional cast all add to the enjoyment of the game, as you'd expect from actors and actresses of this calibre. While it may be far from the Bond game everyone was hoping for, it's certainly leagues ahead of anything we've seen since GoldenEye made a name for itself on the N64. Those of you who live the dream of one day stepping in for 007 will not find a better alternative then this.

Scot Bennett