Discussion
After the sweet N64 version, I must say that I’m also happy with the PlayStation version, but for a completely different reason. The Nintendo version, which was converted by Eurocom, seemed like it was trying to be a successor to Golden Eye which it was in spades. Black Ops seemed to take a different approach with Sony’s version, almost as if they really wanted you to be “in the role” of James Bond.

The first major difference is that this World is a one player fest. No multi-player here, that’s only in Nintendo’s camp. What we do have though, is one of the most accurate movie-to-game conversions yet, right down to the movie clips included.

10 missions await you, with some very impressive visuals. Yet again the programmers figure how to squeeze out some highly detailed textures, giving us the most photo-realistic faces you could get on the PSX. The levels, though more straightforward then the 64 Bit version, are all very well detailed and look like they were part of the movie backdrops. There’s no pop up and no fog at all. There is some occasional warping, but c’mon, it’s expected. Included as a bonus are quite a few minutes of movie footage, so much in fact that they even threw in the ending, unedited!

Now, here’s the part that makes it stand apart from Nintendo’s. Rather than all the sneaking around and “first person shooter” game play emphasis, here you’re involved in more investigative and movie-related ideas. Take the casino for example. In the movie, Bond simply persuaded his way into Zukovsky’s office. Here though, you first have to sneak your away in, and then earn Zukovsky’s information by playing enough Blackjack to earn $100,000. Or there’s the nuclear facility, where you’ll need to earn various ID cards to finally make your way in. It’s a very different approach to the game, which works out quite well.

Like before, the sound is also really good. Great voice acting from the cast, with John Cleese reprising his role as R. Even better, they brought back Moneypenny! Nothing like getting a sexual innuendo before you head out to save the world. Most of the supporting cast has at least one line each, while others have more, and each one counts. The sound effects are also done well, but for some reason they sometimes get lost in the music.

The control is also just right, but there seems to be a small amount of lag time in between each weapon change that you make. Those few seconds can sometimes mean your death or mission failure from an enemy pushing the alarm before you could get to him.

While some may whine about the lack of anything multi-player on the CD, you can’t deny that this is a great game based on a great (though flawed) movie.

• John Cleese reprises his role as gadgets master R.
   
• Uses a character engine Developed by Killer Game.
   
• Supports a new 3D engine that allowed a longer point of view.
   
• There is a glitch in the first stage's end scene. When the female goes running off, she heads right into a closed door, and keeps going...into the closed door.
   
• Check out a possible missing variant down below.
   
• If you check your local cheats web-site, there's a pretty interesting trick that will allow you to rake in the required amount of money you need in the poker game a bit too quickly. If done right, you can actually win an almost maxed out amount that could crash the game!
   
• There was actually a PlayStation 2 version of the game planned, but it never made it to the major development stages.

There was a point in the PlayStation's life where the SLUS on Greatest Hits releases were still the same; eventually they added 'GH' to the end of it. This change over provided an added insight into the PSRM numbers which reveal printer's marks. This SLUS-GH variant has a PSRM number of 020542, while the original release is 020540.

If the PSRM numbers are sequential, that would mean that there is a missing Greatest Hits release. It is a guess that the SLUS would be SLUS-01272, and the disc PSRM would be 020541.

If you have any information on the possible variant, please drop me a line.

Greatest Hits Variant: SLUS-01272GH / PSRM - 020542