007: The World Is Not Enough

007: The World Is Not Enough for Game Boy Color is based on the film of the same name starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, and in 2000 offered handheld owners their own pocket-sized version of a Bond adventure. While the big consoles got a first-person action shooter, the Game Boy Color version took a different route and offered a top-down view in the style of classic action games with elements of tactical progression.

Playing as agent 007, the player moves through missions inspired by the film's plot – from oil rigs through snowy scenery to underground complexes – and must combine stealthy approaches with open firefights. Bond has access to his signature arsenal of gadgets, which the player gradually unlocks and uses to solve environmental puzzles as well as eliminate enemies. The game tries to preserve the film's atmosphere through sequences reminiscent of the movie's action scenes, albeit in the limited graphical form of an 8-bit handheld.

The title fits into the wave of licensed movie games that literally flooded Nintendo handhelds at the end of the nineties and the turn of the millennium. Like many other Bond games of the time, this version also tries to combine action with moments of quiet infiltration, so the player must constantly weigh whether to launch into a firefight or stay in the shadows and let the mission conclude without unnecessary alarm. For Bond fans, it offers an alternative take on a story the major consoles told differently, and for collectors it's an interesting record of how differently developers of the time handled the same film license across various platforms.

Why play it: For a different, top-down take on the Bond adventure, offering a different perspective on the story than the console versions.