James Bond 007: From Russia With Love

Ian Fleming should have worked in advertising. By creating James Bond, he sold the world the idea of espionage as non-stop international adventuring – epic shootouts and fist fights peppered by astonishing car, boat, plane and ski chases, all washed down with Martini-drinking, tuxedo-wearing, casino-frequenting and the sexiest gadgets the mind can fathom.

With that kind of arsenal, it's little wonder the world's most beautiful women would line up to get into bed with you.

But if you've ever caught the job adverts in the national papers (yes, they do openly advertise for would-be spies), you'll note the description says nothing about a Walther PPK pistol, a laser watch and a rocket-firing Aston Martin as company perks. The reality of working for MI6 typically mostly involves office-based tasks which, when you've bought into Fleming's world, can only come across as disappointingly mundane.

The same as From Russia With Love, then.

Inspired by the highly regarded 1963 film but brought up to date with the odd plot twist, new characters and contemporary gadgets, the game starts off with the high production values that typify EA's recent Bond console titles. Once the impressive opening sequence is over and the first of many cut-scenes – which would have you wondering whether a cheap impersonator was used to voice Sir Sean Connery's part had you not see his name in the credits – has faded to black, it's time to step into 007's brogues. Which is when you'll think there musht be shome mishtake, shurely.

Movement controls enable you to dive forward, crouch behind objects, and hug walls, as well as run around, of course, but their execution within the game world often feels awkward and clumsy (and in the case of wall hug, in particular, highly unreliable). Here, Bond moves more like Connery in his sixties rather than the one from the '60s – hardly reflective of the qualities we've come to associate with the most robust member of Her Majesty's Secret Service.

At least the combat element is a little more reassuring, with a mostly satisfying melee option and shooting duties reasonably responsive despite a sometimes temperamental targeting system. Having said that, Bond Focus – a manual aiming option for precision firing such as shooting weapons out of enemies' hands – works well and is one of the few additions able to counter the game's disappointing aspects.

Some of the latter include linear levels (which at least makes progression predictable, not least because areas of interest are usually highlighted by a purple dot marker), environments which offer little in terms of interactivity, poor structuring (for instance, two sniper levels follow each other, rather than being dispersed amidst the rest to maintain variety), half-hearted find-key-open-door puzzle elements, and an unbalanced difficulty level which isn't helped by checkpoints that are often placed too far apart.

Add to this list a camera system that would see From Russia With Love film director Terence Young turn in his grave, given its frequent inability to correctly frame the action in confined spaces, and enemies that not only follow the same pre-determined path regardless of how differently you play the same level but also fail to display any intelligence whatsoever.

You could argue they are at least true Bond villain minions, and indeed it's the 007 theme and some of the subsequent set-pieces that help make the experience bearable. Strapping on a jetpack and taking on a helicopter while using Big Ben as cover, providing sniper cover while a colleague raids a building on the other side of the street, and generally tracking a criminal mastermind across the world before the eventual final showdown in the obligatory underground base offer moments of enjoyment, despite the many flaws mentioned above.

Pleasingly, you have the opportunity to play some of these in the Challenge mode, which isolates the more memorable sequences from the main Story mode and gives them a quick minigame makeover. Combined with the wi-fi multiplayer deathmatch option, it can prove reasonably distracting. It's hardly enough though to save From Russia With Love from staggering mediocrity.

Which, you don't need us to tell you, is the very opposite of how Fleming envisaged his fictional hero.