Speaking of the cinemas, while they may have cut out all of the driving sequences, they didn't bother to change the cinemas leading up to them. There are a few moments in the game where the cinema implies that you're about to witness an action-packed driving sequence, but all we get is another cinema that shows that we managed to survive that race. It's almost as if the game is not showing you the best part of the action scene on purpose, it's just there to tease you. This problem is only amplified late in the game where it's painfully obvious that there are supposed to be a couple of race sequences in a row.
The cinemas in From Russia With Love are not especially sharp, the video quality has a muddy look that isn't very attractive. Actually, the entire game isn't very attractive. Some of the locations are nice, but most of the textures are large and blocky, and many of the enemies and objects are repeated. To be fair, the console game wasn't especially attractive either, but some of the polygons are more obvious on this handheld version. That's not to say the graphics are bad, but they aren't going to blow you away.
The music is pretty good … for a few minutes. The game's score sounds like it comes right out of the movie, but it can get a bit repetitious and all start to sound the same after only a short amount of game play. The voice acting is strong, though, so the cinemas are usually worth paying attention to.
With only eight levels (and no racing sequences) it's not going to take long for you to save the world and get the girl. Perhaps Electronic Arts sensed this, because they have gone ahead and added a whole bunch of odd mini-games you may or may not want to play. These mini-games are timed missions that have you doing everything from shooting a certain amount of enemies to racing your Q-Copter to shooting down an enemy helicopter. Do these tasks fast enough and you'll get your initials on the leader board. It's certainly nice to see Electronic Arts add something to this version of From Russia With Love, but since these missions weren't fun in the campaign mode I suspect most people won't want to play them outside of the game. They are also extremely short, most taking less than a minute to accomplish. They don't even begin to make up for the lack of the driving missions.
Along with the mini-games, From Russia With Love also features multiplayer game play for up to six players. The game comes with a few variations, including a standard deathmatch, a last man standing battle, and flying versions of both modes (where you use your trusty jetpack). Unfortunately none of these modes are much fun. For one thing the levels are extremely small and they aren't much fun to move around in. It's also entirely too easy to auto aim and kill somebody instantly (this is especially true when you're playing with the jetpacks). And that's just the tip of the iceberg; From Russia With Love also features a pointless radar, stupid power-ups, and other awful features that render this mode useless.
From Russia With Love just doesn't have a lot going for it. The game's controls are fundamentally broken, the cameras are terrible, the game is extremely short, the mini-games are a joke and nobody will be entertained by the multiplayer modes … this just isn't a very good Bond game. About the only thing Electronic Arts gets right is 007's look, circa 1963. Everything else seems to come a short, one thing the real James Bond never had to worry about. This is nothing more than a lazy port of a mediocre console game.
D
Electronic Arts quickly ports this disappointing console game to the PSP. And guess what? From Russia With Love is a disappointing PSP game that is hurt by poor controls, a lazy camera, and some strange editing decisions!
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