2 December 2005 8:24 GMT / By Chris Hall
What does Bond, James Bond, really mean? It invokes images of a young Sean Connery, curvy girls and sketchy scripting all lovingly wrapped in 60s cool. But does this latest bizarre Bond move on the PS2 stand-up to scrutiny? Lint, Pocket-Lint, investigates.Picking From Russia with Love seems bizarre, but for any Bond fan, it’s a welcome step away from the somewhat mediocre console missions Bond has been on recently. We all know that GoldenEye was what the N64 was all about, but since then, it’s not been so exciting. Of course, those dissenters amongst you will think that EA are just trying to cash in on the strengths of Bond’s history; perhaps they are, but its no bad thing, and the result is surprisingly satisfying.
You are literally thrown into the action of the first level, that also doubles-up as the tutorial, although there is little to learn. As with all these things, spending some time with the game will makes it all the more natural, and the emphasis is on fun here - you can happily roam around, picking up ammo and armour, making stealth a little less important. To be honest, it’s a relief and afterall, you are Bond. The action works on an aim and shoot set-up, so there is no random waving of the cross-hair. You also get your hands on vehicles, such as the Aston Martin, the Thunderball jetpack.
But the place that makes the biggest impact is how the package has been put together with Bond in mind - the title sequence virtually brings a tear to your eye, the emotive music, the screen legends flashing across the TV: Sean Connery, Desmond Llewelyn (God rest his soul) and Bernard Lee bring substance to the story, beautifully recreated in the game, along with more modern pretenders like Natasha Beddingfield. Conceptually, it is very satisfying.
Verdict
Technically, there isn’t much to shout in gaming terms about this latest Bond yarn - yes the graphics are ok, the storyline fun and so on, but nothing really blows you away, which is understandable, considering the changing face of the console world. Is From Russia with Love going to leave a lasting impression? Probably not, but whilst you wait for the PS3 to be released, this is a great game to get your teeth into. The outstanding thing is the sheer Bondness of it all - if you have all the films, you can’t miss out on this game.
Score
Review Recap
- Made by
- EA
- Price as reviewed
- £35
- Latest price
- Compare prices
- The good
- Oozing Bond all over; great fun
- The bad
- Easy gameplay
- Quick verdict
- The outstanding thing is the sheer Bondness of it all – if you have all the films, you can’t miss out on this game
- Score
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Gaming, PS2, EA, James Bond
