James Bond 007: From Russia With Love Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 November, 2005

I find the parallel... amusing.

Version tested: Xbox

EA's said that it chose From Russia With Love for its next Bond film adaptation partly because it was Sean Connery's favourite film, and partly because it had all the elements that the devs wanted. Talking to us a while ago, producer Kate Latchford highlighted "the locations, the women, the fun scenes, the enemies". Those things probably were part of the thinking, and indeed the game adopts a similar light-hearted approach to the film, has women, has the locations, has the enemies - but I suspect the choice also had plenty to do with the film's suitability for third-person gunnery, stealth and driving around. The things that worked in EA's last not-awful Bond game, Everything or Nothing. What with the gypsy camp shootout, Constantine's canal, the road trip to Station T., the sniping, the assassination attempts - From Russia With Love obviously maps rather better to the EoN template than, say, Dr. No.

And of course where the film doesn't quite fit, EA can apply the usual film-to-game concertina effect. Instead of simply being tailed by the Russians, it can be a constant machinegun fight against goon-cars, which can be flipped with the Aston Martin's tyre-buster out of Goldfinger, culminating in a quick out-of-the-car bit to reach a gun emplacement to blow up a tank blocking the way. Instead of a simple gun- and fist-fight at the gypsy camp, there can be hostages to rescue, and a section where you have to protect Kerim Bey using a sniper rifle. Instead of propping up Kerim's arm when he wants to top Krilencu, it can be a whole sniper-protect mission and in the end you can pull the trigger and dispatch the oily Russian as he stands there in that billboard's gob threatening to put one in Kerim's temple.

And hey, since the Red Grant hedge maze intro doesn't really work as a tutorial, why not have a separate prologue mission where you have to rescue Natasha Bedingfield from terrorists at the Houses of Parliament, ending up dodging rockets as you zoom round Big Ben in a jetpack firing at a helicopter? Then do the hedge maze to introduce the stealth! It's Bond - who's going to quibble?

'James Bond 007: From Russia With Love' Screenshot 1

Point. Shoot. Waggle stick for next target. Shoot. Waggle. Shoot.

It almost seems rude to take a contrary stance on this. After all, this is an entertainment industry, and we shouldn't be surprised our favourite stuff's increasingly commodified - we're encouraging them with our money because most of their games are probably just as good as anything else and have a proper licence. And this is certainly true to that - people who simply want to be James Bond, do some shooting and hop in the occasional vehicle, searching out upgrade points to increase ammo and armour capacities and replaying levels in search of perfection and slightly contrived "Bond moments", will find From Russia With Love perfectly to their taste. It has no more problems than the average third-person action hybrid, and it's presented with typical EA glitz.

The mechanics are reasonably well thought out and intuitive - you hold the left trigger to auto-aim, and right to fire, you can dispatch enemies with Bond-like fist skills by responding to a random button-prompt when you move in close, you can lean round walls by backing up against them and pressing Y and then sidling along, and you can roll out from behind things by pressing B. If you get the drop on an enemy, you can go into stealth-crouch with one button and then club them on the back of the head with another. Transitional bits - rappelling, jumping gaps, etc. - are signposted and you press A when you're told to, and objectives are clearly highlighted on your mini-map. Gadgets are used at obvious points, and by hunting for glimmering search-able cupboards and filing cabinets you gain "research points" to expand your weapons' and gadgets' various health and ammo-type capacities.

'James Bond 007: From Russia With Love' Screenshot 2

L, B, shoot. (This is turning into a player's guide.)

Hop in the car and it's plain sailing too. A is forward, X is back, B is handbrake, L is target, R is fire, and Y explosively flips anybody stupid enough to pull up alongside you. The handling's a bit basic - the car turns on a sixpence, and feels very unnatural - but never mind because it's passable.

The mission design, too, is pretty much as expected. Most missions are perfectly doable on the first go - and since you can select your preferred difficulty level beforehand, anybody really suffering can always give up and move on a bit more easily - and involve a combination of gunnery, stealth and vehicular activity, whether boat, car, jetpack or what-have-you. Enemies are set up to be knocked down, zip-lined in when you complete objectives, and there are various casts including some who can't be clubbed in the head, some manning turrets, etc. The health system is a bit Halo-esque, but not quite - your main health bar only runs down when you've used up all your armour, and armour's the main thing strewn about so you have to keep an eye out for top-ups. And of course there are shoot-the-chopper bits, a huge variety of weapons (pistols, machineguns, shotgun, bazooka, sniper rifle, et al), and lots of in-game cut-scenes detailing the plot, all voiced by a 75-year-old-sounding Connery and other, decent impersonators, some of which diverge slightly from the exact course of the film.

Who's going to quibble?

'James Bond 007: From Russia With Love' Screenshot 3

It's actually easier to use normal weapons on snipey bits. If you have any ammo.

Well, yes. Grr. I don't have a problem with this genre of game - I just find this approach galling. From Russia With Love had a sense of humour, so why not use a bit of imagination to fill the game out in a similar way? Why not let players explore Q-branch looking for hidden jokes, rather than just shoehorning them past a couple of dull skits and into (another) training course? Why not let the players explore the possibilities of the action sequences a bit, instead of prescribing everything? Why spend so much time messing with the Constantine canal that lets Kerim and Bond see into the Russian embassy, to cite an example? Does it really need to be an unpleasantly exacting on-rails shoot-'em-up section (with no checkpointing) featuring rocket-launching Russians, rival boats, several "Shoot the locks!" interludes, and then an entirely superfluous run-through-a-base-shooting bit ending in a jetpack ride back through the canal tunnels shooting at similarly jetpacked Russian guards? And where the hell did all these jetpacks come from anyway?

Here's the difference between Everything or Nothing and From Russia With Love: whatever you thought of its approach, Everything or Nothing had to be invented; From Russia With Love just had to be filled. And it has been - with stuff from Everything or Nothing. Yes, it's what the people buy, but is that all they should be given? EA has so much money at this point that it's in a prime position to create games that transcend the supposed barrier between arthouse and cultish gaming trends and commerciality. Where's our industry's Star Wars, Ang Lee's Hulk, or Pulp Fiction? Ok, a review's not really the right place for this kind of rant - but this is how the game makes me feel. Annoyed. Cross, even. Bits of it are fun. It's well put together. Structurally, there isn't a lot wrong with it, and the things that are wrong with it technically - silly things like brightness controls you can only get to by quitting the current game entirely, and balancing issues to do with ammo loadouts during tougher battles - are forgivable. Go ahead and buy it if you want. You'll probably have fun. But this wasn't a labour of love, and hasn't inspired much in me.

6 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (59) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Psi #1 6 years ago

    can anyone remember a decent bond game apart from goldeneye?

  • All_Action_Hero #2 6 years ago

    as bad as the eurogamer preview didn't suggest it would be!

    xbox version again? is this multiformat?

  • brainbird #3 6 years ago

    The World Is Not Enough (N64) was "decent".

  • krudster #4 6 years ago

    Well. that would actually involve having a 360...

  • Talha #5 6 years ago

    I think EG should take approval from XBox fans before reviewing any game, since apparently they don't want game version on their own console reviewed. Also, they should only publish game reviews AFTER it has been proven that they have sold at least 5 million copies.

    Nevermind the fact that this game would have been average no matter what the platform.

  • krudster #6 6 years ago

    Oh, and you do realise this will be one of the 10 best selling games of the year, right? :)

  • Talha #7 6 years ago

    @krudster: Stop dallying around, come out of the closet, let the cat out of the bag, break the news that you guys really ARE on a retainer from Sony, and you only review bad games to diss the XBox version and that you never intend to review a 360 game and even if you do, you won't score any of them above 5/10.

    Go on, ADMIT IT!

  • jellyhead #8 6 years ago

    So Eurogamer, you want me to accept a 6 as my score?
    No, Mr Bond-Game-Franchise, we want you to DIE!

  • Eraysor #9 6 years ago

    How strange. The preview made the game sound excellent, and yet the review seems to denounce some of the things said in the First Impressions piece.

  • gamesb*tch #10 6 years ago

    Talha: In the absence of Krudster being too polite to call you a cock - you are a cock.

  • gamesb*tch #11 6 years ago

    Yeah like the trailer (a compiled video of highlights) for Brothers Grimm looks ace, but the movie WWWWOOOAAAHHHH!!!

  • statix101 #12 6 years ago

    Yet more EA mediocrity the sheep masses will gobble up........

  • octo #13 6 years ago

    Your review highlights one of the many problems I have with EA's treatment of Bond. In *the name of the game has been exhausted on the internet and is no longer allowed to be written down* not only were locations recognisable, they seemed to be based around extended maps of the film locations themselves. The tunnel / toilet opening for example. The rocket base. Not exactly the same but with elements that added authenticity.

    If they're going to continue knocking out this pap, I wish they'd just invent an entirely new wrapper of bullshit around it. How hard can it be? I'll invent something right now! "James Bond in From Prague Another Day".
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 13:29

  • Bezzy #14 6 years ago

    Hey Tom, I think I love you!

    Lovely ranting.

  • Psi #15 6 years ago

    James Bond, Electric Boogaloo

  • krudster #16 6 years ago

    haha, you guys. You kill me.

  • kangarootoo #17 6 years ago

    @LeDilettante

    "What would be nice though, is having some 360 games reviews posted here, instead of games most people here have no intention of buying anyway."

    What a load of rubbish. The XB has an installed base of several million across Europe. There aren't even that many XB360s available to buy so how are reviews of games we can actually buy and play right now not relevant?

    I think perhaps replacing the words "most people" with "I" in your original post might have made clearer what was actually in your mind.

  • MoFo #18 6 years ago

    Eraysor, that's hardly anything new. In fact you rarely find a preview that is bad because previews are most likely small chunks of the game being presented by PR and marketing types who are only going to show you something that makes a game look great. Hence people will more often than not come away thinking the game is going to be great. I thought everyone knew that about previews anyway.

  • kangarootoo #19 6 years ago

    This platform nias shite is getting so tired. Those of you continually banging on about it need to try and seperate "perceived bias" from "the world not agreeing with you all the time".

    I really get the felling that some of you would call conspiracy if the traffic lights turned red ahead of you just as you were about to drive past. There is good and bad news about both Sony and MS and I personally want to hear all of it.

    When I first starting seeing comments about bias (from both sides of the bizarre fanboy fence) I thought it was a joke, because I still don't see the connection. I'm just reading news as it happens (give or take an hour or two delay, which for the record, only childish lunatics care about).

    Its interesting to note (but only barely) that the people shouting bias from the sidelines are also the same people with an open and prolific preference for one particular platform or the other (even though neith of the bloody things can be bought yet). I haven't yet seen anyone who has stated that they like both platforms equally winge on about apparent underground movements, brainwashing and backhanders.

  • spindizzy #20 6 years ago

    @disc. Are you joking? Do you SERIOUSLY think EG has some sort of a vendetta against MS/XBox?

    Edit: okay .. question answered! ;-) (and phew!)
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 13:43

  • MoFo #21 6 years ago

    Well Kangaratooo, I have both consoles, I think they're both shite and I'm going back to playing Snakes and Ladders with myself.

  • jozz #22 6 years ago

    How can you summarize that EG are biased because they decided to review a game for Xbox instead of the other consoles. As far as I can tell EG reviews are actually insightful, personal and give a no nonsense approach to scoring.
    What would you prefer, Ign style reviews where whoever pays them the most money on advertisment gets the best reviews?

    No suprises with this game then. EA doing what they do best= appealing to the masses with all the shinny stuff.

  • Furbs #23 6 years ago

    LeDilettante, if you dont like it, then excuse my french, mais fuck off sil vous plait et set up votre own website.

  • kewny #24 6 years ago

    shurley shume mishtake.......

    methinks 4/10 ;)

  • kangarootoo #25 6 years ago

    @LeDilettante

    Are those two things really mutually exclusive? Could we not have XB360 info AND reviews of current games? Sure we could conduct polls to find out exactly WHICH current games should be reviewed and exactly WHICH XB360 issue spoeple were most interested in, but there are only so many hours in the day.

    There seems to be a huge assumption on your part that EG got the balance wrong this time, when in fact all you really have (unless you have already ran your polls) is your own opinion. For the most part EG supply me with the articles I am interested in reading. The fact that so many others seem to read their pages (including yourself) suggests that they are reasonably satisfied too. If that isn't a poll of sorts then I don't know what else to suggest to you.

    EDIT: To clarfy my last point. If EG were so out of touch with that their readers want to see, as you suggest in this case, they wouldn't be the successful website that they are would they? The fact the have increased review staff and review output suggests to me in fact that they are on the up. Sure, you can't please all the people all the time, but try and see that for that it is instead of calling shennanigans everytime you aren't given the contents of your "best website EVAR" wishlist.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 13:53

  • Blerk #26 6 years ago

    ... besides which, Kristan already said they don't have 360s. You can't review the games if you don't have them. Unless you're a print magazine.

  • Fozzie_bear #27 6 years ago

    The review criticises an average by-the-numbers game's publisher for playing it safe. I dare say all criticisms apply equally to the PS2 version. If anyone's reading in anti-XBox bias on the part of EG then they really need to calm down a bit and wonder whether any of it really matters or not. If you desperately need a website to validate your choice of games console by only reviewing the best games for it then i pity you.

  • Bitkari #28 6 years ago

    In Soviet Russia game pwns you!

  • Xerx3s #29 6 years ago

    /Reads score.
    /reads publisher name.
    /reads talha post.
    /sighs & wanders off.

  • kangarootoo #30 6 years ago

    @LeDilettante

    "just replying to kanga saying that people care more for a Bond game review than EGs opinion on the launch line-up."

    I didn't say that. You made that comparison and I suggested it wasn't realible to do so.

    Anyway, enough of this bickering. We all like games of varying types and we all like reading EG articles of varying types, so we all have something in common and there is no need for flames or sulking of any type.

    Hurrah!

  • All_Action_Hero #31 6 years ago

    how come you've got no 360 then?

    MS punishing you for being up sonys arse?

    muahahaha!

    even my local comic book shop has a 360!

  • Furbs #32 6 years ago

    Why not fuck off there and wank over one of its controllers then?

  • octo #33 6 years ago

    Just literally set him to "ignore".

  • gaijin #34 6 years ago

    "they really need to calm down a bit and wonder whether any of it really matters "

    4 teh w1n

  • ralphwolfenstein #35 6 years ago

    Krudster said:

    "Oh, and you do realise this will be one of the 10 best selling games of the year, right? :)"

    My 360 says you're wrong. Not. A. Chance.

  • Stickman #36 6 years ago

    I love 'angryFurbs' in this thread!

  • kangarootoo #37 6 years ago

    @Furbs

    "Why not fuck off there and wank over one of its controllers then?"

    LOL

  • All_Action_Hero #38 6 years ago

    ha ha, yes, applaud the idiot comments that resort to insults like you usually do!

    muahaha!

  • kangarootoo #39 6 years ago

    @ralphwolfenstein

    You seem to be suggesting that the best selling games this year will be XB360 games (correct me if I'm wrong there).

    Do you really think that any title on a brand new console, that launches with two months left of the year to go, that most gamers aren't actually going to buy before Xmas, is going to sell more than a James Bond licensed game for a console that already has an installed userbase several years old? Really?

  • Furbs #40 6 years ago

    I am Furbie, hear me roar :p

  • kangarootoo #41 6 years ago

    " ha ha, yes, applaud the idiot comments that resort to insults like you usually do! "

    I applaud people that make me laugh. Insulting ranting children in a snappy and witty way makes me laugh. Ergo I applaud Furbs insulting you.

    EDIT: What is all this "muahaha!" business you keep writing. Is it some kind of joke I'm not getting, or is it you getting into evil character, or it genuinely supposed to represent the way you laugh? I'm honestly curious.
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 15:20

  • Tyronne #42 6 years ago

    Well I think this is going to be a game which I use the game free 10 day rental plan on,I mean if anything its got connery in it.

  • krudster #43 6 years ago

    Wow, Ralph! That's fighting talk. Six previous Bond best-sellers says this'll fly...

  • Derblington #44 6 years ago

    Kangarootoo - It's his own version of canned laughter. He has to use it here as no-one else finds him amusing.

  • Derblington #45 6 years ago

    I think people still haven't realised that 'shit game' doesn't mean 'bad sales'.

  • All_Action_Hero #46 6 years ago

    muahaha.

  • teabagger #47 6 years ago

    Derblington: I think EA realised that some time ago

  • Furbs #48 6 years ago

    Yeah that NFS game seems to be gettng alot of hype on some other forums I lurk on (mainly American), it could be huge. Still, if it has daytime tracks and is similar to the original Hot Pursuit I'll be interested...

  • AceMaCool #49 6 years ago

    A tortoise walks in to a bar and sees Shaun Connery sitting in the corner having a quiet martini.

    Bold as brass, the tortoise walks right up to Connery and starts earaching him with some guff about this bag of special edition PSP’s he’s got on him.

    “Check these out Shaun, they’re amazing. They have digital satellite T.V tuners in them, you can play any game in them - even xbox 360, they have super-duper-sharp picture technology, in all they are just about the most frickin’ awesome technology money can buy.”

    “Oh really?” says Shaun. “They shound fantashtic. I’ll take two for the grandkids.”

    “Oh” says the tortoise. “They’re not for sale I’m afraid.”

    “Not for shale? Not for shale??... Then… Why the hard shell?”

  • Stickman #50 6 years ago

    "muahaha."

    Razor sharp!

    Blatant plaigarism from the forum, but:

    Sean Connery's agent rings him and says, "Sean, baby, have I got a role for you?! Lead actor, and it's got Oscar written all over it. Shooting starts tomorrow, and you'll have to be there fairly early. They want you there for ten-ish, OK?"

    "Ten-ish?", says Sean, "Ten-ish? But I don't even own a racket."
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 15:40

  • All_Action_Hero #51 6 years ago

    muahaha! that was a good joke!

  • Feanor #52 6 years ago

    Hehehe, I'm three out of three in my little game of guessing the Eurogamer score before reading a word of the review.

    /now reads review

    That's Animal Crossing or the DS?
    Edited by 1 at 16/11/05 @ 16:20

  • SlackMaster #53 6 years ago

    / reads posts the leaves ... to many people tossing each other off.

  • Corben_Dallas #54 6 years ago

    laughs at brilliant bond jokes

    excsshhelllent!
    :)

  • Pho-Zoon #55 6 years ago

    / reads posts the leaves ... to many people tossing each other off.

    Yep, you guys should really stop shouting at each other.

  • kalel #56 6 years ago

    can anyone remember a decent bond game apart from goldeneye?

    Yup, I really like The Linving Daylight on the Atari ST.

  • LOLLERS #57 6 years ago

    People should have to pass some kind of intelligence test to be allowed to post on the Eurogamer forums. Anybody that fails gets redirected to gamespot or something.

  • Psi #58 6 years ago

    kalel was that the overhead shooter type that was also on the amiga, if so thats teh only other bugger i could think of too :)

  • Psi #59 6 years ago

    oh and bond on the ninty ds, dear god got it at the weekend as it was cheap, didn't see any reviews for it as this is the only site i check

    i wanted to tear my own tongue out and bleed to death it was so bad.....

    maz kart next week and kirby... have strength...

  • Furbs #60 6 years ago

    Psi, that was Licence To Kill, I think its what kalel means though. Living Daylights was an iffy side scroller on the 8bits iirc.

    I'd class Everything or Nothing as a decent game though...despite the controversy (lets not go THERE again eh older readers?)

  • kangarootoo #61 6 years ago

    "People should have to pass some kind of intelligence test to be allowed to post on the Eurogamer forums. Anybody that fails gets redirected to gamespot or something."

    Irony.

  • Stickman #62 6 years ago

    "People should have to pass some kind of intelligence test to be allowed to post on the Eurogamer forums. Anybody that fails gets redirected to gamespot or something. "

    FAO LOLLERS

  • Hufftur #63 6 years ago

    Perhaps I will have to buy this, for Connery's sake.

    In Everything or Nothing you had something called 'Bond sense'. Slow-mo trickery this was, inspired by the Matrix/Max Payne.

    Is there a 'Bond sense' in From Russia With Love?

  • MikeD #64 6 years ago

    I'm a bottle of scotch!