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Before making its name with Dead Space, developer Visceral Games (then known as EA Redwood Shores) created Agent Under Fire, a James Bond FPS that has developed something of a cult following in the 20 years since it first launched. The game started life as an adaptation of The World is Not Enough, but was later reworked into an original story. Pierce Brosnan was nowhere to be found. Instead, English actor Andrew Bicknell stepped into the iconic role. However, on the cover art his face was bathed in shadow, making him look kinda like Brosnan from a distance—specifically the average distance between a person and a GameStop shelf—but not quite. A pretty shrewd marketing move from EA there, I must admit.
The game launched on November 13, 2001 and even though reviews were fairly lukewarm at the time, it's now considered to be one of the best attempts to translate James Bond to video games. The story is wonderfully silly, even by Bond standards, concerning a plot to kidnap eight major world leaders and replace them with evil clones. EA apparently worked with MGM and series owner Danjaq to develop the story, although I question how much involvement they actually had. I can imagine Barbara Broccoli skimming the outline like: "World leaders… clones… yeah, whatever. Do what you like." Bond's mission takes him to exotic locations including Switzerland and Hong Kong, and he teams up with a CIA agent, Zoe Nightshade, whose name isn't nearly rude enough.
Agent Under Fire is not as revolutionary as GoldenEye, which brought a new level of realism to the FPS genre, as well as making it a viable genre on console. But what it lacks in innovation, it makes up for in sheer entertainment. It's an incredibly fun shooter, with killer set-pieces, a deft mix of stealth, action, and driving, and an impressive variety of atmospheric environments to shoot, quip, and sleaze your way through. The shooting is chunky and satisfying, with a nice GoldenEye-inspired manual aiming mode. The levels capture the drama and scale of the films, with some very Bond set design. The game also uses id Tech 3, the same engine as Quake 3 Arena, which means there's a solid technical foundation underpinning everything. It's just a very playable FPS.
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Need For Speed developer EA Canada worked on the game's driving sections, which makes them a lot better than you might expect. Games in the early 2000s were guilty of including half-baked, poorly designed driving levels to try and add variety, and they were usually terrible. They're far too short in Agent Under Fire, and there are only two of them, but skidding around the streets of Bucharest in an Aston Martin DB5 will never not be entertaining. The cutscenes are also gloriously corny: particularly Bicknell's comically raised eyebrow (which looks like it's trying to escape from his face) and the dialogue, which is more Roger Moore than Pierce Brosnan. Agent Under Fire is a slightly weird tonal mix of late '90s and '70s Bond, which I actually kinda like. It adds to its unique charm.
As Agent Under Fire approaches its 20th anniversary, and with a new Bond in cinemas, there's never been a more perfect time to revisit Visceral's take on the series. Calling it a classic is probably a stretch. That title comfortably belongs to GoldenEye. But the game captures one of the most important aspects of the Bond films: being a hell of a lot of fun. It's big, bold, and loud, the story is ridiculous, and things are constantly blowing up as you blast your way through its lean, pacey single-player campaign. EA released quite a few Bond games while it held the licence—including getting Sean Connery to reprise his role as Bond for the first time in 22 years in an adaptation of From Russia With Love. But Agent Under Fire was easily the highlight, and still worth a play today if you have the hardware.