When you are an agent in Her Majesty's Secret Service you can be assured of never having a quiet Sunday afternoon to potter around the garden. The agent in question, Mr J. Bond, has to cope
with a rather nasty drug problem. Not one of his own, you understand, but one posed by a certain Mr Big, who has this habit of peddling illegal recreational pharmaceuticals.
Big's HQ is in the wetlands near
New Orleans and the only reasonable way of getting to them is by
powerboat. To ensure you have
slightly more than a fighting chance, Q has supplied you with a rather
special powerboat. Not only has it
got a top speed of something dangerous, but it also has a neat line in
creative weaponry, such as a nasty
cannon with a supply of very nasty
missiles.
Since bespoke powerboats of a
destructive persuasion do not come
cheaply, you have a chance to practice on what look suspiciously like
the Norfolk Broads. A percentage
rating is given once your time or fuel
is up. It is always dismally low.
Two other exercises are available,
both allowing training in the various
3spects required for the final mission. The Sahara exercise is a
natural obstacle course. You even
get to scrape the boat up a ramp,
with accompanying graunching
noises - shades of the original film.
The North Pole run is more of an
out-and-out carnage drive with
nasty boats and planes, most of
which can be shot. Working out how
to shoot the planes isn't
immediately obvious but is, as they
say, easy when you know how.
You are not entirely on your own
on your one-man crusade to keep a sharper image than Jonathan Ross.
Helicopters occasionally buzz overhead to dump fuel or extra missiles.
You must drive over these to pick
them up, but Sod's law dictates that
the canister is dropped immediately
in front of rocks.
The New Orleans "final" mission
throws everything at you - tunnels,
ramps, narrows, lock gates, waterside gun emplacements - generally the works.
Everything moves very quickly. so
a sharp eye and very nimble fingers
are required. Only when you've
hammered through enough helland-high-water do you get a crack at
Mr Big's dope emporium. The chances of actually getting that far are
pretty slim, far slimmer than the
ubiquitous Bond girl who is probably draped by the side of the able
agent.
If this game leaves you shaken but
not stirred, you can rely on James
Bond 007 to remain unruffled. The
presentation is as slick as the man
himself.