the ingredients of a great james bond game

THE INGREDIENTS OF A GREAT JAMES

BOND GAME

WRITTEN BY OWEN WILLIAMS

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The ingredients of a great James Bond gameInterface

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ames ond dran his first artini in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale novel in

while the first mo ie emerged nine ears later Dr. No starring ean

onner as the ritish secret agent with a licence to ill s all in glamoro s locations nreachable b a de ressed ost war

ritish o lation t rned the alread amo s literar creation into a c lt ral henomenon that end res to this da

ideo games were in on that action rom their earliest ears roadl s ea ing there are three eras o ond games omar had the bit and bit decade towards the end o oger oore s inc mbenc on screen and all o imoth alton s had the ierce

rosnan ears and cti ision had aniel raig t there are a ew odd e ce tions li e te t

ad ent res an tari title and the mo ldbrea ing GoldenEye hat e ochal shooter notwithstanding arg abl the most s ccess l games are the ones that ha e creati el sha en

the ondian ingredients t what are the elements essential to a ond game? ow a attention

VOICES & LIKENESSESenerall ond games tr to be cinematic with

s ch fi t res as the mo ies amo s g n barrel intro ont orman s ond theme the e otic locations and when b dget and tech allow actors who starred in the original films he is al shorthand o a man in a t holding a istol was in the earl ears an eas wa to

s etch ond as a low tech s rite s A View to a Kill e en had r dimentar s nthesised

s eech bellowing name s ond ames ond and res mabl this one ammit o e ailed ond

nce the technolog mat red ond games started to resent li enesses b t with so ndali e oices aron ascoe stood in or di ench s in o r games or e am le while rosnan s ond was at ario s oints oiced b e in a liss dam lac wood and a well a lfield he onl e ce tion to the ersatz r le was ohn leese who showed as gadget man in The

World Is Not Enough and 007 Racinghe game changer was Everything or Nothing,

an original stor rom resenting itsel as an a thentic new mo ie e erience and casting the oices and li enesses o ench leese

illem a oe eidi l m hannon lizabeth and cr ciall ierce rosnan himsel he game was de elo ed with a lfield oicing ond as he had on the re io s Nightfire ntil a late decision was made at e e watering e ense to bring in rosnan or two o r ho r oice sessions and a head scan

t was the right thing to do commerciall writer er ormance director and then

SHAKEN BUT NOT STIRRED

Independent, unauthorised / ZX Spectrum

1982 1983 19851985 1986

A VIEW TO A KILL (ACTION GAME)

Domark / Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX,

Oric, ZX Spectrum

JAMES BOND 007Parker Brothers / Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari

8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, SG-1000

JAMES BOND 007: A VIEW TO A KILL

(TEXT ADVENTURE)

Mindscape, Angelsoft / Apple II, Macintosh,

MS-DOS

JAMES BOND 007: GOLDFINGER

Mindscape, Angelsoft / Apple II, Macintosh,

MS-DOS

j Setpiece action in Activision’s original story, Blood Stone.

“A decision was made to bring in Brosnan for two four-hour voice sessions”

J

Shooting, driving, tuxedos… just what goes into a decent 007 experience?


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or 007 Legends title se ence t adds to a mo ie li e e erience b t whether it reall matters in terms o act al game la is a moot

oint egardless o whose ace was on the bo ilson sa s on the t ewriter side was alwa s

writing onner an wa

SHOOTINGhe growth o ideo gaming in the mid eighties

sadl coincided with arg abl a low eriod or ond mo ies the last da s o oger oore

ollowed b the not artic larl o lar imoth alton films ter Licence to Kill there

was an n recedented si ear hiat s between films and b ond was rett morib nd as an nd then GoldenEye ha ened n film it was a gamble a isibl chea ma e or brea film that ha il was a hit t it was ossibl the tie in game that reall rela nched the ranchise or an entire generation

are s GoldenEye 007 racticall la nched the on consoles and or man loc ed in the idea that a first erson shooter was the onl wa to a roach a ond game art o GoldenEye s charm was its h mo r stemming rom the small team o ritish rogrammers

who d grown with ond mo ies on tele ision and were racticall lashing the game together with ta e nable to se real firearm brand names the in amo sl seless lobb g n was named a ter de elo er en obb beca se it was lo d and inacc rate

here was no aradigm or what games wo ld be in de elo er a id oa told

ota in er thing was coded rom scratch artic larl ma ing a game on a

e ec ti e ann ilson tells s b t m not s re ierce reall had m ch atience or it t was more than him st coming in and reading lines he s a great actor and e tremel

ro essional t he co ld ha e cr shed it and or whate er reason it s onl fine not great

lled o the casting co o getting ean onner or its From Russia With Love

tie in two ears later t ielded similarl at res lts altho gh onner loo s cheer eno gh in the ma ing o ootage dibl more engaged was aniel raig who la ed ond three times or cti ision incl ding oddl in a rema e o GoldenEye altho gh not or 007 Legends in which im atson ste ed into the booth to oice ond and ric oldfinger

he games e en bro ght in filmma ers behind the scenes li e GoldenEye screenwriter

r ce eirstein and rod ction designer en dam nd Nightfire, Everything or Nothing, and

Blood Stone went all o t or la ish original theme songs res ecti el er ormed b sthero a and oss tone ilm com oser a id rnold

ro ided a new ersion o the Goldfinger theme

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

Domark / Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, Atari 8-bit,

BBC Micro, C64, MSX, ZX Spectrum

1987 1988 19901989 1990

LICENCE TO KILLDomark, Quixel / Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST,

BBC Micro, C64, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum

LIVE AND LET DIEDomark, Elite / Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC,

C64, ZX Spectrum

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

Domark, The Kremlin / Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad

CPC, C64, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum

OPERATION STEALTH (AKA

JAMES BOND 007: THE STEALTH AFFAIR)

Delphine / Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS

j Chances to drive the famous Aston Martin are rare in the games, but 007 Racing made it happen.

j Stepping back into third-person for a full view of Brosnan in Everything or Nothing.

“He could have crushed it, but for whatever reason, it’s only fine, not great”

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ar er rothers side scrolling shooter James Bond 007 co ld st abo t be described as a dri ing game since o control a s eciall modified ehicle that co ld i o s int be the ot s s rit rom The Spy Who Loved Me

hro gh the rest o the eighties the A View to a Kill and Licence To Kill games both ro ided dri ing sections inters ersed with on oot sections the latter more s ccess ll with n helico ter and lane se ences and some oil tan er smashing in the final le el omar rather snea il retrofitted a ond licence onto an nrelated boat racing shooter called Aquablast and renamed it Live and Let Die with that film s centre iece ba o chase in mind The Spy Who Loved Me meanwhile was a to down dri ing shooting renz er m ch ins ired b the coin o hit Spy Hunter gain that one t o in a ot s here wasn t m ch ston artin

action in those da sri ing became more scarce ost GoldenEye

Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, Everything or Nothing, From Russia With Love, Bloodstone, and 007 Legends all ga e o ehicles to careen aro nd in as a alate cleanser incl ding a tan in

com letel new iece o hardware li e the iterall the engine was b ilt b sitting

down with gra hics te tboo s and fig ring o t e er ste o the wa

intendo was also an in ence with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Mario 64 ins iring the idea o m lti le ob ecti es within le els he game became m ch more o en as a res lt o s st dio sl learning what intendo was game director

artin ollis remembered in intendo s nease at the game s iolence was o set b the rogramming team adding a o e roll call o all

the characters at the end li e cast credits in a film t nderlined that this was artifice ollis e lained he se ence told eo le that this was not real illing

ic ed the ond licence or the ne t film s Tomorrow Never Dies b t the a erage third erson ad ent re disa ointed st abo t an one ho ing or a GoldenEye ollow the time o The World Is Not Enough in it was clear that the tie in game had to be an

hat trend contin ed into the ne t generation with s and bo originals Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, and Rogue Agent and cti ision s Quantum of Solace, GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, and 007 Legends nl Everything or Nothing, From Russia With Love, and Bloodstone b c ed the trend ste ing bac to third erson to ca italise on the oice and li eness resences o res ecti el rosnan onner and raig here wasn t m ch oint shelling o t or a star and then not ha ing them a ear on screen a ter all

DRIVINGar chases and ehic lar ma hem are a big art o the ond mo ies et in the games

dri ing o ten ta es a bac seat to shooting ome games did ha e la ers occasionall

h rtling aro nd in e ensi e cars howe er in act the first o ciall licensed ond game

JAMES BOND 007: THE DUELDomark, The Kremlin / Sega Mega Drive/

Genesis, Master System, Game Gear

1993 1997 19991998 2000

JAMES BOND 007intendo, affire /

Game Boy

GOLDENEYE 007Nintendo, Rare / N64

TOMORROW NEVER DIES

EA, Black Ops / PSone

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

EA, Black Ops (PSone), Eurocom (N64) /

PSone, N64

j The unmistakable face of Pierce Brosnan in GoldenEye 007. But not his voice…

j onnery ies a etpack round the Houses of Parliament in From Russia With Love. Not quite sure we remem er that in the film


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le els based on indi id al cars and mo ies 007 Racing o ted to connect each se ence with an original stor

a o rite le el in ol ed dri ing the ston artin aro nd a wareho se b remote

control thro gh fi ed sec rit camera iews a ies recalls o Tomorrow Never Dies ’ similar

se ence hat was something d ne er seen be ore in a dri ing game

ESPIONAGEor a ranchise abo t a s there s little in

the wa o es ionage in the ond games to date hooting has largel ta en recedence o er ad ent re elements b t there ha e been a ew e ce tions to that r le he first e er

ond game an nlicensed arod was a te t ad ent re Shaken But Not Stirred, selreleased in b bedroom rogrammer

ichard he herd was a arn abo t sto ing the e il r eath rom n ing ondon sing te t in ts and in its final stage re lacing the ad ent re ormat with a maze section

brace o o ciall licensed games rom ngelso t were more res ect l to the

ranchise he com an released A View to a Kill in ollowed b Goldfinger in both written b res ected a thor a mond enson who d enned a ond com anion boo and wo ld go on to write se eral original ond no els in the s oth games ollow their so rces reasonabl closel and cram a lot into their short cam aigns A View to a Kill ta es in

iberia ondon aris and an rancisco and while the zzles are largel abo t wires and microchi s o at least get to fight race ones sing the command li a a

here was a rod cer me and two rogrammers and that was it enson tells s ince there were no gra hics all te t we

didn t need artists or so nd technicians or the h ge teams that later games re ired

the case o AUF and those latter three ga e o the ston artin altho gh it s a ig to handle he dri ing sections in the

games were handled se aratel rom the rest o the rogramming b anada sing the bones o the Need for Speed engine altho gh none o the ond dri ing sections reach the standard o Need for Speed or Burnout

Only 007 Racing released or the one in attem ted the seemingl ob io s idea

o basing an entire game aro nd ond s iconic cars t together or b the small team at

techn the game sed the st dio s own game engine hea il modified rom its re io s o ting Le Mans 24 Hours i en the h ge di erences in the game st le it was a massi e o erha l recalls lead rogrammer eter

a ies b t some core com onents li e the h sics engine renderer and b ild tools were

retained t was he remembers an immense co or techn to be handling the licence or and a great e c se to rewatch the films

altho gh rather than sim l ro iding se arate

007 RACINGEA, Eutechnyx / PSone

2000 2001 20032002 2004

007: NIGHTFIREEA, Eurocom /

GameCube, PS2, Xbox, PC, GBA, MacOS

007: AGENT UNDER FIRE

EA / PS2, GameCube, Xbox

007: EVERYTHING OR NOTHING

EA / GBA, GameCube, PS2, Xbox

GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT

EA / GameCube, PS2, Xbox, DS

j Bond faces evil milkman Necros in The Living Daylights.

j The Stealth Affair was only a Bond game in the US. ‘Don’t move, Mr Glames’ doesn’t have quite the same ring.

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and the intro screens b t was otherwise a standalone stor throwing in illains li e aws

aron amedi and dd ob The Duel shows how a m ndane Rolling Thunder clone can be ele ated to feel ondian b sim l adding e otic loo ing locales and s rites in bow ties and bowler hats

MULTIPLAYERs well as dragging the genre onto

consoles GoldenEye s second gaming re ol tion was its legendar m lti la er mode mmediatel s ggested b the s o r

controller orts the s lit screen battling was essentiall an a tertho ght a wish list item or the are team that came to li e sim l beca se there was time to la aro nd with it intendo wasn t e en aware the mode e isted ntil it was

resented to them airl late in the dahat o r riends co ld sit aro nd one

tele ision and shoot each other t rned o t to be GoldenEye s i ce de r sistance he alit o the single la er cam aign was ob io s b t m lti la er death matches h gel increased the game s li es an ma ing it a sta le o arties and all night sessions or ears

hile none ha e matched that first sh o geni s almost e er s bse ent ond

he middle section o omar s action game ersion o A View to a Kill was also zzle based s indl ond m st cli clo aro nd an rancisco s b rning it all finding items he

can se to esca e the tric being that rooms with items o need disa ear as the fire s reads meaning there s a cr cial element o timing too he best and to date the last ad ent re was el hine s Operation Stealth a

n bit ad ent re in the ein o cas rts irre erent oint and clic ing t was onl o ciall licensed in the tho gh where it was released as James Bond 007: The Stealth Affair

he rest o the world got ohn lames as their secret agent and r h as his antagonist

ON-FOOT ACTIONn the eighties and earl nineties st dios li e cean were in amo s or grabbing film licences

and t rning them into lat orm games his ha ened to ond s r risingl rarel the third section o omar s A View to a Kill and the entiret o The Living Daylights tho gh were all abo t r nning and m ing he ormer saw

ond in a mine attem ting to de se illain a orin s bomb he game was im ossible to

com lete witho t a o e to atch it The Living Daylights meanwhile benefited

rom the decision to design a n game and then retrofit the ond elements onto it came

with the idea o a man wal ing along shooting in ront o a scrolling bac gro nd designer ichard a lor told at the time

t was then a matter o t ing the bac gro nd and characters rom the film to the game he res lt was a scrolling shooter with the design wrin le that in order to shoot o had to sto r nning and ll a target this lent itsel to the game s later remi as a lightg n game

omar s final ond game The Duel ret rned to side on r nning and m ing eleased or

ega consoles it sed alton on the co er

007: FROM RUSSIA WITH

LOVEEA / GameCube, PS2, Xbox, PSP

2005 2008 20102010 2012

GOLDENEYE 007: RELOADED

Activision, Eurocom / DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360

007: QUANTUM OF SOLACE

Activision, Treyarch / PC, DS, PS2, PS3,

Wii, Xbox 360

007: BLOOD STONE

Activision, Bizarre Creations / PC, DS,

PS3, Xbox 360

007 LEGENDSActivision, Eurocom /

PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360

j Roger Moore-era villain Jaws returns in The Duel.

j Rogue Agent was about the villains. The GoldenEye name was a brand cash-in that didn’t fool anyone.

“The rest of the world got ‘John Glames’ as their secret agent and ‘Dr Why’ as his antagonist”


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oint that s bse ent games co ld ne er re licate ond as shooter became indelible sh tting o other a en es that might ha e been e all or e en more creati el satis ing he games ha e alwa s loo ed to the films or e am le and ne er to an leming s original no els e en when enson was writing te t ad ent res n elltale ames then head honcho e in r ner re ealed that

ond was a dream or the st dio m a giant ames ond an he told cial bo

agazine and m alwa s r strated b games that ma e him a mass m rderer e s a s ers and that s a di erent s illset there s not m ch illing in the boo s more intrig e

mo rs ersisted o a game in elltale s ad ent re ormat ntil at least b t nothing came o them ilson meanwhile sa s he itched an to ears ago where the di erent lands were the di erent films

m not s re the e en hel s an bod ilson sa s t s not going to ma e it a big hit ids don t recognise ean onner hat s

grand a s thing d lo e a GTA st le ond game where the mission is one thing and it s branching o and o ha e all the classic illains t thin the most im ortant thing or

another ond game is a great st dio ma ing ithere was ne er a ond game or the or

the bo ne n entire console generation has gone ondless t a ter that long silence the st dio c rrentl swinging or s ence is nteracti e o Hitman ame nno nced at the

end o nder the laceholder title Project 007 it romises the o ort nit to earn o r

stat s in the er first ond origin stort s tr e that once in a while the stars do

align in o r ind str boss a an bra said reating an original ond game is a mon mental nderta ing and o r assionate team is e cited to cra t the most ambitio s game in the histor o o r st dioames ond will ret rn

game contains a m lti la er mode whether first erson third erson or in the case o 007 Racing on wheels hat GoldenEye e erience sim l became an indelible art o

ond gaming o can t hel b t incl de the o r la er s lit screen la ghs ino erano

associate rod cer o the final ond game to date 007 Legends here s nothing ite li e being able to throw a hand l o chi s in someone s ace while the re tr ing to shoot at o ll ne er orget la ing the original GoldenEye with m riends onsole shooters were still nheard o at the time and there weren t man games that too ad antage o the s o r controller orts here were definitel m lti le arg ments on whether being dd ob who was short and o ten below the e eline o other la ers was cheating or not e finall settled on the r le that onl m riend s eight ear old brother co ld be him

THE FUTUREs the th film No Time To Die finall arri es

in cinemas it s arring to note that it s been nine ears since the last ond game was released

007 Legends mar ing ond s th anni ersar with le els re resenting e er ond era with

raig s li eness dro ed into all o them elt somewhat aledictor and its dismal critical rece tion and sales seemed to indicate that

ond games were no longer a going concernhe GoldenEye was a blessing and a

c rse or the series a zeitgeist c lt ral high j The Hitman studio’s teaser logo for the as-yet-untitled Pro ect . o pro ected release date yet.

j Boat-racing game Aquablast had the Bond licence slapped onto it and became Live and Let Die.

“The most important thing for another Bond game is a great studio making it”

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the ingredients of a great james bond game

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