Techtite's Macintosh Game Reviews!

"...what was the beef the major PC game rags had with this game? I don't know. One even named it one of the biggest 'coasters' of 2002, which is a bit harsh."

---from the review

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Sometimes, it's really annoying to see games come out for the PC prior to the Mac. Not that I should talk --as both a Mac and PC owner, I'm "one of them," sort of-- but PC gamers are terribly spoiled. Consider how they cried like babies when 007: Nightfire was released for PCs as well as video game systems. Their gripe...? That a few "car chase" levels were deleted from the PC version. Oh, the horror! Can anyone imagine a worse fate? Like, how about, not having the game come out for your system at all? Well, at least Mac owners don't have to worry about that anymore. As of October 2003, 007 Nightfire is out for the Mac. Yay!

Okay, at least the PC whiners were right about one small complaint: the storyline could've used some work. This game will appeal to the action gamer far more than the adventure gamer, for this very reason. It just doesn't "pull" you into its storyline any more than say, a 007 arcade game might. Don't get me wrong: Nightfire is a good game, yes, though not exactly cinematic with its storytelling. By the time the credits rolled in the end, I had no idea what project "Nightfire" was, nor did I see a need to bother finding out. This is strictly a Bond game (for better or worse).

Of course, as a game, this is a very good one. The textures and level design are both very impressive. They are also very "Bond," so don't expect any boring mission objectives, here. How dull is it in the typical FPS game, to slosh through a sewer, jump over illogically floating platforms over lava...again??? It's this lack of such been-there, done-that clichés that made me love this game even more. At last; an action game that does NOT include a cliché sewer level, or an even more cliché lava level! HUZZAH!!!. Instead, you help James Bond escape an air hanger, climb a skyscraper, and sneak through a ritzy tycoon's mansion (shown here), among others. Call me a demolitionist wannabe though my only beef with these game maps was that so little of it was destructible. How cool would it have been to enter a bad guy's ritzy estate, then slowly wreck it in the resulting shootout? However, that's a pittance of a gripe, so let's move on...

As for gadgets; yes, there are a lot of them. However, it deserves mentioning that some are rarely used, although they were fun when you could use them. This includes a tranquilizer dart pen (with surprisingly unlimited range!), a palm pilot that decrypts digital locks, a credit card that hides a mini CD-ROM "worm" for computer hacking, and a few others. Now, all the kiddies who wanted something like a rail gun, rocket launcher or lightning-shooting-thingie can just chill: this is James Bond, after all, and sadly Bond is often considered to be in the "real world" in some fashion. This means all Bond is allowed to use, aside from the gadgets, are standard guns. In other words: no "ray guns," or the like. Darn.

While the action is often quite fast and furious to keep Bond alive, there are rewards for the person who takes the time to explore this game a little. There are often alternatives to harder missions, for example; looking for that hard-to-see grappling point allows you to use the grappling hook to take a different route; often, a far-easier one, since you solved the level with thought, not brawn. Of course, "experimenting" can also lead to a hidden joke or two. Yes, the randy Bond can use his secret "X-ray goggles" to see the (ahem) Victoria's Secrets of all ladies you meet. I'm not saying this is what made me like the game; it's simply in the spirit of James Bond's ribald humor, and an amusing "hidden feature" of the game.

There is of course the PC gamers' gripe to consider: the video game version is better. This is certain, since an incomplete game is always the inferior one, and the PC and Mac versions have been stripped of the video game version's car-chase levels (I sense a compatibility issue with the car-chasing levels that, at the 11th hour, was sheepishly abandoned). However, it's really not that big of a deal. Really. These levels were merely petty attempts to force-feed a racing game into a FPS game. However, when the whole point is that Mac owners get to play a game as James Bond, are they going to cry like babies that a racing game level or two wasn't put in the game...? Come on.

It's not like the video gamers have "multiplayer" the way computer gamers do. The video game version's "multiplayer" is the standard split-screen, only-if-you-have-extra-controllers deal, while Mac gamers get the full-fledged internet multiplayer. This includes "deathmatch" mode, as well as capture the flag. It also offers additional locales to compete in. Not only are many maps based on the game; some are based on classic Bond locales like Fort Knox, a la Goldfinger.

It deserves mentioning that, to this gamer, this game's problem was too much originality. This isn't even getting into how I used some gadgets 100 times (the laser wristwatch) and others only once or twice (the dart pen). The truth is: the levels are diverse. TOO diverse. Consider one game level, where you rescue hostages. This is a nice, heroic mission for Bond to set his sights on, and yet, it's the only such mission in the game. What's worse; only one, single hostage (shown here) sees fit to offer a "thank you." Harrumph. The bottom line; if you love a mission, save your game near the beginning of it, because you won't see anything like that mission for the rest of the game. In the end, too little repetition can be a bad thing, can't it?

However, what was the beef the major PC game rags had with this game? I don't know. One even named it one of the biggest "coasters" of 2002, which is a bit harsh. Clearly, they never played ReVolution or Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza. Fortunately, neither did we, because those games were never ported for the Mac (one of the bittersweet perks to being a Macintosher; "coasters" are rarely ported to the system). However, yes, there's room for improvement whenever a sequel is made. If there is to be a Nightfire 2, I want more hostages to save, more evenly distributed needs for EACH gadget, and perhaps a "bot" type option in multiplayer so I can practice alone, a la Unreal Tournament 2003. Other than that, this wasn't half the "awful" game the PC brats painted to be. I, for one, had a lot of fun.

---Techtite