I fianlly got the chance to try out EA's James Bond: Agent Under Fire.

Over the past two days, I've played the game through once in Operative (the easiest difficulty) mode. The graphics aren't spectacular by any means, but there are some high points such as the face textures and the surrounding architecture. Sound effects are spot on, with good remixes of the Bond theme throughout. The only problem some may have is the repetition of the famous Bond theme everytime something special happens in the game. It becomes quite annoying many times. The control is excellent, as a few different options are available, but the default settings (dual analog) work very nicely.

Although I fully realized how unfair it was of me to do so, I couldn't help but keep Rare's classic FPS Goldeneye in the back of my mind as I booted up EA's Agent Under Fire. Unlike Goldeneye, which focused nearly exclusively on being a straight first person shooter, Agent Under Fire offers two other modes of play, driving and arcade shooter missions. Surprisingly, these missions are done very well. In my opinion, an entire game of driving missions in this vein would be more than welcome.

As of yet, I haven't had the chance to try out multiplayer. That will be covered in the upcoming review.

Bond fans and FPS nuts alike should take note. This is a solid game, well worth the time it takes to try it out. On the other hand, with only twelve missions the game is a bit on the short side, and if you don't plan on using the multiplayer much, you might want to limit this one to a rental.