007 : Agent Under Fire

007: Agent Under Fire for PlayStation 2 is Electronic Arts' original James Bond adventure, released in North America in November 2001. Developed by EA Redwood Shores with driving work from EA Canada and published by EA Games, it arrived before the GameCube and Xbox editions that followed in 2002. Rather than adapting one of the films, the PS2 game gives 007 a standalone mission made for the game, combining first-person action with vehicle chases, gadget use, and a split-screen multiplayer option.

The single-player campaign sends Bond after the Identicon Corporation and its connection to Malprave Industries. CIA operative Zoe Nightshade has been investigating Identicon in Hong Kong when her cover is compromised, placing Bond in the middle of a mission involving stolen blood samples and an international conspiracy. The investigation carries him from Hong Kong through Bucharest and the Swiss Alps to an offshore facility, where the villains' plan to replace political leaders with duplicates becomes clear. Familiar MI6 support comes from R, while original characters including Nigel Bloch, Adrian Malprave, and the assassin Carla the Jackal drive the story.

Most missions play as a first-person shooter, asking players to explore guarded interiors, deal with enemies, and locate key objectives. Bond has a Walther P2K as a regular sidearm alongside a selection of firearms and heavier weapons with fictional names. His mobile phone conceals the Q-Claw grappling device, Q-Decoder, laser, and remote transmitter, and other missions supply specialized equipment such as an electronic-disruption card or a jetpack. The game rewards selected uses of gadgets and the environment with Bond Moments, which contribute to a mission score and help encourage more than a straight firefight.

Agent Under Fire also breaks up its on-foot assignments with set-piece vehicle levels. Bond drives the BMW Z8 supplied by R during pursuit sequences, while other stages put the action on rails and leave the player responsible for aiming and firing. This mixture lets missions shift between infiltration, shooting galleries, escapes, and car chases without treating every location the same way. Difficulty choices and end-of-level performance scores provide a reason to revisit the campaign, and the PlayStation 2 version supports competitive multiplayer, including four-player matches when used with the PS2 Multitap.

The game began life as a proposed PlayStation 2 and PC version of The World Is Not Enough, but EA reworked the project into an original story instead. It was built with technology associated with id Tech 3 and EA's graphics tools, while cinematic teams including Industrial Light & Magic and Pacific Data Images contributed to its presentation. Agent Under Fire established EA's early-2000s console approach to Bond: a self-contained, gadget-heavy spy adventure that uses the character and MI6 world without tying its plot to a single film. On PlayStation 2, its blend of solo missions, driving sequences, and local multiplayer makes it a distinct entry in that run of 007 games.