This will be the fourth instalment of Bondage from EA. The first, The World is Not Enough, was a quality game that was close to being as good as Goldeneye. The next two, sadly, have been shameful attempts to make money by producing a run of the mill shooter, with a Class A licence. Hopefully, as with the other EA games I have written about recently, this will all change with the arrival of Everything or Nothing.

At first glance it seems as though the EA improvement policy has even managed to stretch as far as 007. Firstly the camera system has been changed, so now all the action will be viewed in the third person. EA claim this is to make the game seem more cinematic and more like a Bond film. A cynic might suggest that it is to make the most of the money they paid to get a digitised model of Pierce Brosnan for Bond…

As far as weaponry goes, not only can you use one of over 20 guns or gadgets issued by Q lab, you can also utilise objects from the game environment. Hopefully this system will be implemented well as so far games using this feature have still had very few items that you can actually use. Another possible problem is the amount of gadgets you will be given. In the previous two instalments, players have been led by the nose from one place to another, told what gadget to use and where. There has been little room for individuality and freedom of expression that games like Timesplitters 2 have. However, a new system implemented in this game will allow gamers to take multiple routes through a level. Hopefully this will help put you back in charge.

The game appears to use more stealth than previous titles. This should please many gamers who like nothing better than a head shot from 500m away, or the crack of a breaking neck after creeping up on a guard. This, combined with the new cinematic viewpoint, certainly seems to make some parts of the film very movie like. The problem with a third person view point is that you often find yourself facing the camera, and in a game where you need to see what's ahead of you to survive, it could be a major problem.

One thing that can be indisputably said to have been improved are the graphics. The screen shots released so far show a far nicer looking world than Bond has previously inhabited. Explosions are fiery, there are more textures and the character motion has been improved. It also boasts the sort of exotic locations (Peru, China, Egypt and the like), fast bikes, fast cars and women that belong in a Bond game.

No Bond game would be complete without multiplayer. This title has had multiplayer optimised for the Cube, and it features a four-player multiplayer. The main game is also playable as a two-player co-op mode, hopefully one as enjoyable as Timesplitters 2.

There certainly seems to be plenty of content in the game, however, only time will tell if its all show and no go, or actually another surprise offering from EA this year. As you can probably tell by this article, I am still more than sceptical about this game. There were too many flaws in the last two that I find unlikely to have been properly addressed. But, I hope this will be good as the Cube needs a decent shooter, besides the glorious Timesplitters 2. Wait and see!