007: First Light is shaping up to be one of the greatest entries in a long line of James Bond games over the years. With Hitman developer IO Interactive at the wheel, First Light blends sandbox-style action with a tightly-knit story to help it look and feel completely different to an Agent 47 outing. Unsurprisingly, as First Light launches later this month, there’s been a lot of looking back at the Bond games of yesteryear, with GoldenEye, Nightfire, and Everything Or Nothing often regarded as the best of the bunch. But there’s one title that doesn’t get the love it deserves, one that even the most diehard Bond fans may have missed – and it’s an absolute blast.
Living in the shadow of the N64 version
The World is Not Enough on PS1 is actually a very fun game, but sadly was completely overshadowed by the universally acclaimed N64 version. On the face of it, it’s easy to see why. Nintendo’s system allowed for larger, more detailed game areas and smoother visuals. Developed by Eurocom, who sadly no longer exist post the misfire that was 007: Legends, it felt like a “successor” to GoldenEye in nearly every way, with voice acting, improved AI, reload animation and more varied missions. Oh, and of course multiplayer. The PS1 version was developed by Black Ops Entertainment, using a vastly improved version of 1999’s Tomorrow Never Dies Engine – this time ditching the third-person perspective for a first-person view.
The result was a game that was an entirely different experience on both platforms. The PS1 version, which I loved, actually felt tight when it came to gunplay. Whereas TND was loose and felt broken at times, Black Ops had clearly refined and pushed the engine even further for The World is Not Enough. Whereas you could absolutely play through nearly every level without swapping from your ‘Wolfram PPK’, the sheer amount of weaponry on offer, and the way each gun felt, was rewarding. Uzis were aggressive, fast and felt wildly untamed, while assault rifles and snipers all had a kick that helped you “feel” like Bond.
The World is Not Enough’s PS1 version tried something different
Medal of Honor’s best bits were when you went behind enemy lines and could show a ‘pass’ to soldiers to get into other areas. The World is Not Enough also had these quieter missions, which felt pretty sophisticated at the time. Sneaking around an underground bunker, you could wave certain badges to get past guard checkpoints. You could even disable power to create darkness and sneak past patrols, although this was – as you could imagine – slightly scripted. These are all mechanics we take for granted today, but at the time felt fresh and new – and Black Ops didn’t get enough credit for it. Hell, there was even a Casino level where you could just sit there and play Blackjack for as long as you wanted.
Then there’s the gadgets – with the ‘Cellphone Stunner’ the pick of the bunch. The game did a fantastic job at encouraging you to use them, and objectives like scanning a flask for fingerprints helped make you feel like Bond. It was an element missing from GoldenEye, and in that sense, The World is Not Enough on PS1 clawed back some points. Sadly, that’s probably the only area where Black Ops’ title gets some points against Rare’s masterpiece. The environments, while richly detailed and well-textured for a PS1 game, were prone to weird bugs and glitches. The character models all looked the same, with Denise Richards’ NPC in particular looking like something out of a nightmare. Grenades were absolutely awful… this list goes on.
Still, after all of this time, I still massively rate this PS1 Bond outing. It’s not perfect, but it did make the 10-year-old me feel like the spy, which is exactly what First Light is setting out to do.
