One of the longest enduring adventure characters James Bond has been entertaining Dad and lad (and President Kennedy) for generations. Essentially a live action pulp character who kills with a wry grin, drinks heavily, drives gorgeous cars tricked out with sharpened jacks that spray from the tailpipe and occasionally kisses pretty ladies, it has taken a surprisingly long time to adapt this dashing secret agent for home video game systems.
This is a look at some recent attempts.
GoldenEye
(Nintendo 64)-
Though the Bond franchise had been adapted for the home console and PC format since 1983’s Parker Brothers game, none of the releases really struck it rich (aside from the amazing 1989’s 007: Licence to Kill by Domark). It wasn’t until Rare’s GoldenEye first person shooter that non-Bond fans suddenly noticed that the character could star in some great video games.
Closely following the story of the film, this game combines first person shooter aspects with simple puzzle games and gadgets like the laser wristwatch. The real treat here is the multi-player. Everything from machine guns to rocket launchers to wall mines can be used to kill your roommate and whoever else happened by. In college, this was one of the most loved games and considered by many to be the reason to buy the N64 in the first place. The game captures the charm and action appeal of the films while utilizing the strengths of the N64’s graphics engine to the utmost.
A grand first outing.
Agent Under Fire
After acquiring the Bond franchise, EA Games decided to give the go-ahead for its first game without a film to base it on. They also decided to not base their Bond on Pierce Brosnan and instead our hero ends up as a kind of George Lazenby model… which frankly I prefer.
Not as strong a game as GoldenEye, Agent Under Fire offers gamers a totally unique storyline, new gadgets (including a jet pack and a rappelling mobile phone), and excellent driving sequences.
At the time, this game was viewed as a kind of disappointment, but in retrospect it’s a clear success and indicator of things to come. The only real failing that I can stand by with this game is that the bullets look more like candy being shot by Shriners than deadly gunfire from secret agents. The conclusion, an intense chase sequence through underwater tunnels, is really well done and should be included in a Bond film one day.
Nightfire
The follow-up to Agent Under Fire is far and away a great success. Nightfire incorporates Brosnan’s likeness (but strangely not his voice), includes a musical opening sequence and features an underwater ‘driving’ sequence straight out of The Spy Who Loved Me.
The story is your typical Bond fare… a mad super villain has an over the top evil plot and Bond has a short time in which to stop him before everyone dies. Gameplay and locations are varied and includes a missile platform in space which Bond must disarm.
Arguably one of the most enjoyable Bond games, it’s also the last one to feature the first person shooter format (unless you count GoldenEye: Rogue Agent).
Everything or Nothing
Finally, we get to the big leagues, Everything or Nothing. Written by Bruce Feirstein who worked on the films GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough, this is the first James Bond video game that feels like a movie and in fact has been referred to as the 2004 Bond film by fans.
Willem DeFoe provides the voice for the ex-KGB heavy Max Zorin who has stolen nanotechnology capable of eating metal. Forging an army of tanks coated in platinum (which acts like a kind of bug spray for the metal eating nanites), he leads a coup in Russia in his attempt to take over the world.
Again, the locales are all over the world, including a driving mission in New Orleans and an elaborate shoot out in a vast ruined temple. Utilizing the likeness and voice of Brosnan, this game introduced the concept of ‘Bond time’ which allows for the player to achieve absurdly impossible feats after realizing key context items in a particular situation. Again, the game also includes loads of gadgets including the Q-Spider which players can maneuver via a handheld remote control.
Easily the best Bond game to date, Everything or Nothing raised the bar for adventure games while delivering the video game experience that James Bond fans deserved from the beginning.
From Russia With Love
A follow-up to the grand ‘Everything or Nothing’ features the return of the best and most dashing Bond of them all, Sean Connery.
Adapting the best Bond film to date, From Russia With Love has it all and is the only Bond retro game experiment this far (fans already provided a wish list to EA Games after the game was released for further film-to-game adaptations).
The game detours from the game here and there (developing a Spectre-like evil organization named Octopus), but fans of the classic film will not be disappointed to find that a painstaking attention to detail has been paid to this game. From Connery’s hat toss to the hand to hand combat maneuvers that made Connery’s Bond such a brawler in comparison to his less deadly successors.
Much like Everything or Nothing, gadgets are the forte in this game, but they are detailed to fit into the 1960’s chic that the Bond films were known for. This goes for everything from the belt repelling device to the portable helicopter-robot and even the vintage cars… which I wept over as I demolished them in Istanbul.
Connery’s noticeably older brogue is a bit of a distraction here, but it really is a mind-blowing experience to maneuver the ‘real’ James Bond through a game for the first time. Not only does it sound and look like Connery, the CGI character even moves like him, right down to his skidding on the leather soles of his shoes.
One of the most difficult and challenging of the Bond video game series, From Russia With Love belongs in your videogame library.
EA Games has recently sold the Bond video game license to Activision, who are currently developing a game to coincide with Bond 22, leaving many gamers rapt with anticipation over what will be done with the pixilated secret agent.
I suppose until then, we’ll have to cool our heels and our tempers with an ice cold martini.
On Amazon:
James Bond 007 Agent Under Fire
James Bond 007 Nightfire
James Bond 007 Everything or Nothing
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
