Tomorrow Never Dies

Mission: You’re Bond. James Bond. And as in the 1997 movie, you must thwart a megalomaniacal media baron from starting WWIII. (For reasons known only to British Intelligence, 007 games are released way after the flicks on which they’re based.) Risk factor: The bad guy has more hired thugs than Puff Daddy, but hey, you’ve got a license to kill, so Q equips you with cuff-link lasers, infrared goggles, and a rocket launcher as you run, drive, and ski though exotic locales. What—no seduction mode? Assessment: There are decent cinematic sequences (including the film’s sexadelic opening trailer), but the real villains here are lame graphics and unresponsive controls that make for game play so frustrating, you may wonder if tomorrow really matters.