They count on you to die! The historical past of James Bond video video games, from the nice to the dangerous to the downright ugly | Games

James Bond 007 (1984)

Bond lastly arrived in an official online game capability in 1984, courtesy of Parker Brothers. The recreation grouped a number of 007 adventures (Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only) collectively. Yet regardless of together with parts from every film, it was primarily the identical recreation all through: an unsatisfying and tough mashup of the arcade video games Moon Patrol and Scramble, with the participant controlling Bond’s amphibious Lotus from The Spy Who Loved Me. Obscure pub trivia reality: as a result of dispute between Bond producers Eon and screenwriter Kevin McClory, the Diamonds Are Forever phase changed Blofeld with a villain named Seraffino.

A View to a Kill: The Computer Game (1985)

The 14th James Bond film, and Roger Moore’s final within the function, turned the supply for British writer Domark’s bold first collaboration with the spy sequence. A View To a Kill options three various ranges – a Paris automotive chase, a metropolis corridor hearth and a Silicon Valley mine – that replicate essential scenes from the movie. Despite replicating the well-known opening sequence and music – dum di-di dum dum! – the sport was hampered by technical points and nearly bankrupted its writer.

Live and Let Die (1988)

Originally often called Aquablast, this recreation’s similarity to the speedboat sections of Roger Moore’s Bond debut led Domark to buy it from rival writer Elite Systems. Consequently it bears nearly zero resemblance to the film past its river-based situation, but it surely was adequate to be praised as the most effective Bond recreation so far (sure – low bar, we all know). Licence to Kill from 1989 improved issues additional, presenting a number of situations from the movie, together with Bond’s death-defying seize of the drug lord’s aircraft.

Q’s Armoury (1989)

With the Sinclair Spectrum getting into its twilight years, house owners Amstrad launched the James Bond 007 Action Pack, bundling the pc with an inexpensive lightgun, the Magnum Light Phaser. Two Bond lightgun video games had been unexpectedly compiled, with little connection to the flicks, whereas Domark’s The Living Daylights was repackaged as Mission Zero.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1990)

With no new film, the following yr noticed one other archive Bond film adaptation seem. After some generic overhead automobile ranges (drawing on the Sega arcade recreation Spy Hunter, itself closely influenced by James Bond), the sport culminated in a shootout inside villain Stromberg’s base. With 16-bit computer systems now established, builders might embrace reasonable cutscenes, making certain better relevance to the supply materials. For instance, full The Spy Who Loved Me on the Commodore Amiga or Atari ST, and also you’re “rewarded” with, er, a picture of Bond in mattress with Russian spy Anya Amasova.

007 James Bond: The Stealth Affair (1990)

Delphine’s point-and-click homage to Bond was given an official licence within the US, resulting in the agent’s puzzling shift from MI6 to the CIA, amongst different inconsistencies. A yr later, THQ revealed NES and SNES platform video games primarily based on the James Bond Jr cartoons, through which you play Bond’s nephew. Just what would Ian Fleming have manufactured from all of it?

James Bond 007: The Duel (1993)

With the movie sequence languishing in improvement hell, Domark launched this platform recreation for the Sega consoles. Boasting an authentic storyline, it was the ultimate Domark Bond recreation, and the ultimate look of Timothy Dalton because the spy, 4 years put up Licence to Kill. The Duel retains a foot within the motion pictures with characters harking back to henchmen Jaws and Oddjob.

GoldenEye 007 (1997)

With due respect to all that got here earlier than it, Rare’s GoldenEye set the usual for James Bond video video games. No one cared that it was two years after the triumphant debut of Pierce Brosnan because the ruthless MI6 agent; this was the Bond recreation we’d all been ready for. Accurate to the plot of the movie – the truth is, it vastly helped in the event you’d seen it – plus extremely detailed and immersive when it comes to graphics and audio, GoldenEye turned a killer promoting level for the Nintendo 64. Its multiplayer mode helped usher in a newfound appreciation for the first-person shooter style on consoles.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1999)

With Electronic Arts inking a take care of MGM, work on a recreation primarily based on Brosnan’s second Bond film had already begun when GoldenEye appeared, prompting its builders to craft a special, third-person expertise, albeit one that also carefully follows the film’s plot. It’s a reliable motion recreation that, sadly, trailed an excellent one. The World Is Not Enough adopted in 2000 from the identical group, shifting the motion to first particular person.

007 Racing (2000)

The likelihood to drive traditional automobiles such because the Aston Martin DB5 and Lotus Esprit had loads of potential, however sadly, just like the movie sequence itself, Bond video games had been starting to frame on the mediocre. As with 2004’s GoldenEye Rogue Agent, 007 Racing is assessed as a non-canon spinoff.

James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire (2001) and James Bond 007: Nightfire (2002)

When Electronic Arts cancelled the PlayStation 2 and PC variations of The World Is Not Enough – reportedly resulting from time constraints – it solid forward with a brand new sequence unrelated to the flicks previous or current. While parts from the movies remained, most notably Bond’s BMW Z8, Agent Under Fire centered on a strained cloning plot, blended with frequent Bond tropes resembling devices and secret lairs. Having skipped Agent Under Fire, Brosnan’s likeness appeared in its followup, Nightfire, albeit voiced by Maxwell Caulfield.

From Russia With Love (2005)

As the film sequence took one other break, Bond video games went again to the Nineteen Sixties. Key to the sport’s improvement was securing Sean Connery himself for the function of Bond. However, names had been once more modified to keep away from any authorized difficulties arising from the continuing Eon/McClory dispute, such because the felony organisation Spectre changing into Octopus. Necessary gaming tropes compelled Bond to wield all method of weaponry along with his Walther PPK, and whereas From Russia With Love diverges from the film’s plot – notably the conclusion and Red Grant’s dying – it positively retains the spirit of the unique.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

With the licence (to kill) now with Activision, it produced a recreation primarily based on the newest film, with flashback scenes set within the earlier movie, Casino Royale. Think Bond, with a Gears of War-style cowl system and Halo well being regeneration, solely not so good as both of these video games, and also you’re just about there.

GoldenEye 007 (2010)

Released alongside third-person shooter Blood Stone, Activision tried to evoke the spirit of the Rare traditional with this muddled replace of the 1995 film. Daniel Craig changed Brosnan, and the date was shifted to between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, lengthy after the top of the chilly warfare. Despite the idiosyncrasies, it stands at the moment because the best-rated Bond of the Activision period.

007 Legends (2012)

It was a good suggestion in concept, akin to Star Wars’s Battlefront sequence: current a set of well-known situations from every Bond actor’s hottest film, thrusting the participant straight into the motion. But the outcome felt like a bland Call of Duty reskin set over a sequence of unconnected ranges, and developer Eurocom closed its doorways a number of months later, with Activision asserting it was stepping away from the franchise quickly after. It can be 14 years earlier than we’d lastly get one other Bond recreation …

007 First Light (2026)

… but it surely was well worth the wait! Presenting a brand new spin on the acquainted character, IO Interactive’s First Light has reinvigorated the franchise, mixing tense stealth with heart-pounding set items, erasing the reminiscence of its often-rather-dodgy predecessors, and giving Bond followers hope for the long run.