007: Agent Under Fire

EA's putting Bond back in action for his latest mission, this time on the PS2.

In AUF, Bond takes on Identicon, a shadowy corporation bent on a creepy human-cloning scheme. The game's 12 levels involve first-person combat/stealth, car combat, and rail shooting (vehicles drive automatically while you blaze away). The missions range from rescuing a CIA agent to storming an oil rig at sea, and the cool part is how seamlessly the three gameplay styles blend together.

Unfortunately, the action has a "vanilla" feel. Although the missions are engaging and fairly exciting, you've played ones just like them dozens of times before, and the hefty helping of silly, ornate gadgets and Bond-girl quips is cumbersome.

The controls smoothly handle the three gameplay styles and the variety of weapons and gadgets, but the restless auto-targeting is too touchy. Visually, AUF delivers eye-catching environments and special effects, but blocky characters and unnatural animations sometimes spoil the show. The audio performs sweetly, though, mixing that classic music with explosive sound effects and good voice-overs.

AUF's solid but somewhat flawed espionage action makes it a perfect weekend rental. You'll enjoy a brief tour of duty as 007, but laying out the cash for a purchase will probably make you feel shaken, not stirred.

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