We must say though that although developer Eurocom have done a stellar job producing what has to be one of the nicest looking games on the PS2 and have improved on some of Agent Under Fire's downsides it still has some minor pitfalls. As a little history lesson we should add here that Eurocom was also responsible for producing The World Is Not Enough for the Nintendo 64 and in hindsight and for the benefit of those that never played it, TWINE was a damn good effort as a Bond game considering the N64's limited technology. Furthermore TWINE was originally also planned as a PC and PS2 release as well but these were canned and from the ashes arose Agent Under Fire. This was developed inhouse by EA themselves using an enhanced version of the Quake 3 engine seen in TWINE and the expertise of the Need For Speed development team for the driving parts in the game. For Nightfire though EA again contracted Eurocom to employ it's programming know-how from the TWINE experience and also again used it's NFS team to build on the wonderful driving segments seen last time around.

Nightfire has many similarities to Agent Under Fire in general appearance, game structure and storyline. It is the second Bond game not based on any particular movie and instead uses an original storyline, although the theme is rather obviously not original ie. evil magnate decides to blow up the world = you must try and stop him using every conceivable weapon and gadget at your disposal! Your main opponent this time is one Raphael Drake, CEO of the Phoenix International Corporation, which is contracted by governments to dismantle nuclear missiles and also to clean up decommissioned nuclear power plants around the world. Problem is that instead of disposing of the waste and missile components, Phoenix has been stockpiling the weapons of mass destruction and Drake's ultimate plan is to hold the world to ransom by overtaking a missile defence platform in orbit around the Earth.

We said earlier that Nightfire is one of the best-looking PS2 titles thus far and on presentation Eurocom score top points. The game puts you straight in the mood as soon as you hear the familiar Bond theme and the very slick opening FMV with accompanying soundtrack oozes class! It's obvious the further you move into the game that the licence has been exploited to the max but not in a tacky way and there's just so much here from the world of Bond to enjoy that diehard Bond fans will be beside themselves! EA also managed to snag a deal for Nightfire to actually facemap Pierce Brosnan's likeness onto the Bond character so the whole experience is ramped up considerably by this.

The very first level, called the Paris Prelude, sets the scene for things to come with it's mixture of rendered in-game video that blends into an on-rails "sniper gun from a helicopter" segment and finishes with a rescue and a blast through Paris in the trusty Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. It's action all the way in true Bond style and the high production levels give the overall theatrical feel that EA were obviously aiming for.

Gameplay, as in Agent Under Fire, is a mixture of the 3 same components – first-person shooting, driving and on-rails segments which essentially have you shooting the weapons while someone else drives the vehicle. The first-person shooter areas make up the majority of the gameplay and they are somewhat better than in the previous game. This is mainly due to the fact that you usually have more than one way to complete certain stages and each approach can bring into play quite different methods. Now don't get us wrong as this doesn't meant the game isn't following a somewhat linear path but the linearity is a lot less apparent than it was in Agent Under Fire. The larger, more open maps do give the impression that you can "go anywhere, do anything" but in fact there is always a pre-determined ending to each level. A good example of utilising different approaches to achieve the same goal is on the second level, The Exchange, where Bond has to infiltrate Drake's castle set high in some snowy mountains. You have to decide whether to storm right in through a main gate or take a stealthier approach using the grapple and creeping around ledges to access an open window or door.

There's a good mix of different first-person shooter levels in Nightfire where you have to employ varied tactics to achieve your objectives. On one level you might be taking out a whole bunch of snipers at distance so you can gain safe access to a facility but on another you might need to use only a tranquiliser dart gun to stop innocent security guards from raising the alarm. The weapon range again includes an impressive array of very well-realised real world guns including no less than 6 different pistols and 4 machine guns. There's also the dart gun, the Frinesi automatic shotgun, 2 nice sniper rifles, a grenade launcher, 2 missile launchers, a magazine-fed pump-action crossbow and the experimental Phoenix Samurai Laser Rifle. Is that enough for you?! Oh, there's 6 different explosive devices too and a whole range of gadgets including familiar ones like the Q-Claw (grapple) and Decryptor but also new ones such as the Phoenix Ronin which is a rapid-fire auto sentry cannon disguised as a suitcase!

The driving levels in Agent Under Fire were some of the best fun we had with that game and they were very well done with an excellent driving engine, nice controls and some really nice, big maps full of shortcuts and jumps to drive around in. Nightfire driving segments are also good and a little more varied but they don't seem to have quite the same "wow" factor as in the previous game. You'll still have a lot of fun though firing off missiles to take out enemy cars and helicopters and something quite different this time around is being able to drive the Vanquish underwater! Yes, in one mission the Vanquish transforms into an underwater vehicle and you have to infiltrate Drake's island base fighting off enemy subs and avoiding mines along the way.

The on-rails shooting levels make up the third style of play and here you'll really just be pointing the gun at targets and shooting whilst being driven around in some vehicle or using a gun turret. One level sees you manning the gun on an armoured snowmobile whilst roaring through a snowy forest landscape persued by enemies. Another quite different one sees you in a small microlight-type plane trying to blow enemy aircraft out of the sky and destroy enemy gun turrets before they get you. They're a bit of fun and the levels look nice but can also get a little tedious and you may even dread having to play them through a second or third time if you decide to replay the game.