The world is waiting. Counter the crisis.
- NA release: 17th December 2002
- EU release: 21st March 2003
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Red Storm Entertainment
- Publisher: UbiSoft
- NGC Magazine: 25%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Code


The Sum of All Fears is based on the forgettable Jack Ryan film starring Ben Affleck. One interesting thing about the game is the box art. For most versions and regions, the movie box art was just slapped on (despite Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman not appearing in the game at all). Only the GameCube version in North America had different box art, where it was given the “Tom Clancy” franchise branding. I just though it was mildly interesting, making it the best thing about this game.

The Sum of All Fears is a tactical shooting game in the same vein as Rainbow Six, but with one huge difference: the tactics side of it has been completely removed. The planning is already done for you with nothing you can do to change it, as well as that of the other squads you are paired with. Your weapons layout and team is also pre-determined. If you played Rainbow Six as standard first person shooter, it wouldn’t be very good, and that’s what this would be if it didn’t have other problems.

Movement in the game is horrendous. Try to strafe slightly and you’ll start moving through treacle. It’s like the controls were specifically designed for casual PC players that are unable to press W and A at the same time to move diagonally. Everything else is awkwardly placed and aiming feels sluggish and awful – you have to rely on auto aim.
The AI is also a huge issue. You can actually shoot opponents and they’ll still be unaware of you, and often look the wrong way when they hear you entering a room. Your squad aren’t any better, often getting stuck on walls or objects (which you can often tell by them spinning in the indicator on the bottom left of the HUD) or sometimes blocking doors so the only way to proceed is to kill them. This can be especially frustrating on missions where your full squad has to be at the extraction point, so you have to rush back to find where they’re stuck.

The all-round presentation is also horrendous. I’m fairly certain that this could run on a Nintendo 64, and that’s talking from a pure technical standpoint, many N64 games are visually nicer. Everything is immensely low detailed, all the sounds are compressed and your guns sound weak as a result – not helped by being unable to see them on-screen. Even the alert boxes manage to be terrible, possibly designed for PC resolutions and not adjusted when ported to console, so they take up 60% of the screen.

I don’t think the graphics matter too much, though. 90% of the game is spent looking at the small box where the map is and following the white line, occasionally peeking up to spray fire when you see a red dot. You can deviate from this line if needed, but there’s never any reason to. There’s no reason to play this game at all, really.

Worst
It’s supposed to be a stealth game, but the bad guys won’t notice your team until you walk up behind them and shoot them in the arse, at which point they’ll turn around very slowly, like broken cardboard cut-outs at a firing range. You’ll sometimes need to execute some of your own mates, too, when they get too eager and start crowding around a locked door, preventing you from opening it. The others won’t mind you wasting the odd one or two. They’ve all been lobotomised anyhow.
Martin Kitts, NGC Magazine #76
Remake or remaster?
Throw the levels as a mission pack for a Rainbow Six remaster and they’d actually work.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get The Sum of All Fears.
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec