Agent Under Fire follows Bond as he infiltrates and foils the nefarious plan of an evil organization called the Malprave Corp. In typical 007 fashion, Bond has loads of gadgets and beautiful women abound. The writing could use some work, however; the story is utterly forgettable and none of the enemies really appear threatening in the least.

Agent Under Fire is a good-looking game. On the whole, the graphics are on par with other second-generation PS2 releases, which is to say that they are excellent. Frame rates are consistent in the shooter levels and there is no slowdown. Most levels are very large with no detectable pop-up.

The vehicular levels don't fare as well. There is noticeable slowdown when the action got heavy, although there is no evidence of clipping or pop-up.

The sound effects are good and the soundtrack comes right out of the movies. The voice acting is fine with the exception of Bond himself. Bond's voice comes across as flat and without the swagger that defines James Bond.

As for the game itself, the first-person shooter levels represent Agent Under Fire at its best. Bond has a selection of weapons to use against his enemies and a collection of gadgets to get past the puzzles. The controls are intuitive and responsive and there are no cheap deaths (or many deaths at all). The mission objectives are well explained by M (your superior at the Ministry) and you never worry about what to do next.

The vehicle combat missions look good and control well, but have little substance. On the default difficulty, there is almost no chance of losing and the game walks you through what to do. The "rail" vehicle missions are the worst of the three types of missions. In these levels, someone else takes the wheel and you take the gunner position. The "rail" missions are remarkably boring and often make no sense. In one area of the game, your vehicle moves in a slow and steady circle around an enemy who is in an elevated and covered position. Only an idiot would fight under such conditions and James Bond is no idiot.

James Bond has one unique element that separates it from other action games and that is the Bond moves, which are bonus points you earn for playing in character. That usually means doing things in the coolest way possible. For example, in the first level you are given the option to go through the front door or use your grappling hook (called a Q claw) to go in through the ceiling. No secret agent worth the name would walk in through the door. This system works well in the shooter levels, but not at all in the vehicular missions. During the vehicular missions Bond moves are reduced to making difficult jumps and destroying large enemies. The Bond moves don't seem the least bit special in these instances and instead distract you

from your mission in order to find them.

On its default difficulty setting, the game is very easy and it serves only to allow you to earn the weapons and equipment you need to survive at the higher difficulty levels. On this setting Bond can charge right into a field of enemies and kill them all before losing a quarter of his health. At the higher difficulty levels, Bond becomes mortal again, but the knowledge you picked up playing it through the first time means a skilled player could get through the entire game in a weekend. This also lessens the game's replay value.

Agent Under Fire is a fun game, but not necessarily that impressive for a second-generation PS2 game. Everything here has been done before, and done better by other games this season, but if you're a fan of Bond you could do a lot worse than Agent Under Fire.