Cube
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Posts posted by Cube
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Strongest Habu Shogi
- JP release: 23rd June 1996
- NA release: N/A
- PAL release: N/A
- Developer: Seta
- Publisher: Seta
- Original Name: Saikyō Habu Shōgi
I knew when planning to experience all Nintendo 64 game that there would be some I would barely be able to play. In particular, Japanese-exclusive games. I don’t speak Japanese and, while some games have translation guides or even fully fledged fan translations you can patch into the game, there can still be some with difficulties.
Strongest Habu Shogi is an adaptation of the board game and features Yoshiharu Habu, the best Shogi player at the time. Shogi is a Japanese variant of chess, heavily modified and more complex. Some major differences are how captured pieces can be brought back onto the board, and pieces can be promoted to become stronger, with different movement rules.
One tool which is surprisingly handy for menus is Google lens, just point it at your TV and is will make rough translations. It’s not always perfect, but good enough for getting to the right modes and settings.
The biggest difficulty I had with Strongest Habu Shogi was identifying the pieces. They’re all the same shape with the name written in Japanese. Even using a picture of what each piece means and does, I found it very difficult to identify them, due to different fonts. To make matters worse, Strongest Habu Shogi doesn’t have any aids to show potential moves you can make, so I found it very difficult to play this version. I did try to practice using an online version of Shogi (with English pieces), but I was still utterly awful at that.
For people who understand Japanese and Shogi, this game did offer quite a lot of features. You can play against computers or another player, play a version where you only get 10 seconds per turn, play “reverse shogi” or play though the main campaign where you have to beat 18 other opponents of increasing difficulty. The AI is specifically tailored so that the same moves you make will result in the same responses, so there is a guide available that just lists moves that will make you win, although that’s not really beating the game.
It also has a bunch of teaching tools. One explains the rules (in Japanese) and there’s also a puzzle mode where you have to win matches based on the setup of a few pieces. There’s also a mode that lets you watch famous Shogi matches play out.
In Japan, Strongest Habu Shogi did not sell very well. It was one of three launch titles on the N64, but only 1% of N64 owners picked it up then. There are more shogi games on the N64 and the game is featured in Nintendo’s own Clubhouse Games series, with the Switch version featuring English letters to identify pieces as well as guides to show possible moves.
QuoteThe objective is the same – trap your opponent’s king – but the method is a little odd. Still, 20 million people can’t be wrong.
- Alson Harper, Super Play #43
Remake or Remaster?
It’s a Shogi game, and there are other options out there that fulfil the same thing.
Official Ways to get the game
There’s official way to get the game, but for Shogi, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics (Switch) does a good job.
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I'm a heathen they pronounces "nez" and "snez".
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Pilotwings 64
- JP release: 23rd June 1996
- NA release: 29th September 1996
- PAL release: 1st March 1997
- Developer: Nintendo, Paradigm
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 89%
Part of what made me want to play through all the Nintendo 64 games was growing up with Future Publishing’s N64 magazine. I only had a small number of games myself, but read about so many more. Pilotwings is one I remember getting mentioned a lot in the magazine throughout the years, and it always sounded fascinating. The image of a cannon and Mount Rushmore (with Mario’s face) was one I distinctly remember seeing a lot.
Pilotwings is an arcade-style flight sim game, although still requires a lot of skill to perfect, especially landings. There are three main vehicles, each of which have a series of challenges to complete, which then unlock additional modes.
The glider is first up and is definitely the weakest of the three main types. I can appreciate how it must have felt brand new, using a standard controller to control a game like this instead of a flight stick, not to mention the 3D worlds, which have lots of nice little details.
The challenges start out simple, and get more complex and difficult. There’s a nice variety such as quickly going through a string of rings, finding more widespread rings and finding certain objects to take photos of. You’re scored based on your speed and accuracy, and it all hangs on your landing, which is difficult but does feel like you’re in control.
The Rocket Belt (aka a jet pack) is immensely fun to fly. You have a strong thrust and a weaker thrust and will need to get across the map quickly, burst balloons, fly through a cave and land on platforms. Trying to avoid hitting the ground is difficult, even though the game tries to help by having a bar show up when you’re close to the ground.
I think the weakest aspect of Pilotwings was the camera, which was a challenge in early 3D games. This one is a bit strange as it pans the camera away from you rather than around your character, and reverts back when you stop pressing the c-button. Despite this, the jet pack is just extremely enjoyable.
The gyrocopyer is the third main one, and is equipped with rockets to blast targets with. This is much faster than the previous vehicles, so tend to use the whole islands, which are all really nicely designed with lots of little things to look at. I especially love “Little States”, a mini mainland USA with lots of details representing a few important locations. It would be lovely to see updated versions of these islands.
With the gyrocopter, you’ll have some ring challenges that feel like intense races and you get to battle a giant mech as it terrorises a city. The gyrocopter is a lot of fun, and is probably the easiest to land, although being accurate for a best score is still difficult.
As you complete the challenges, you’ll unlock bonus games. The first of which is a complete blast: human cannonball. You get three attempts at each target, with your best score out of the three being counted. This means that you have a few attempts to adjust your aim and power to account for the wind speed.
While it stars off simple, like the rest of Pilotwings, it gets really difficult, with some targets you can only see on the radar as they’re behind a mountain or below the cannon. It doesn’t stop the mode being enjoyable, though.
The second extra mode is skydiving. It starts with a rather wonky formation challenge above the clouds, but feels amazing when you get past and get full control of skydiving on the island. I wasn’t very good at the actual scoring, but the skydiving itself is really fun.
The last one I couldn’t get the hang of. They’re a kind of bouncing boot, but the controls just feel strange and I kept bouncing in directions I didn’t want to go and just fell over a lot.
My favourite mode of the game is locked behind getting a silver medal on all of these challenges, although you can temporarily try it out by finding hidden stars in the jetpack mode.
The Birdman mode is a free flight mode. You don’t have to worry about fuel and staying in the air is easy. There’s no challenges to complete, it’s all about enjoying the sights. It’s just nice and relaxing. The main mistake is how many people playing the game may never actually get to try it due to the game’s difficulty and needing so much to unlock it (I have to admit, I ended up using cheats).
Pilotwings 64 is a very interesting game and I really think it deserves another go. It did get a game on 3DS, but that just used Wuhu Island from Wii Sports Resort, which already had a plane more. I’d love a sequel that brought us the islands from this game in more detail, some new ones, plus all these modes and some new stuff. I’d also love just being able to choose free flight for any of the vehicles – having the challenges dotted across the maps would also be a great touch. A new Pilotwings could be a ton of fun.
QuoteIt may not look exciting, but – damn it – it plays like a dream.
- Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #1
Remake or Remaster?
A remake that’s also a sequel would be perfect for Pilotwings. Have the islands and activities from this with lots of new stuff.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no way to buy a new copy of Pilotwings 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.
Re-releases
2022: Nintendo Switch Online (subscription only)
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21 minutes ago, Glen-i said:You just know if a remaster happened, they'd fix the glitches. That would suck. Gimme my broken, parallel universe-ridden mess anyday.
That is a good point - probably one benefit of fans doing it is how customisable it can be. Official products like to be one set way. Didn't they use the patched version (added rubble, fixed the glitches) for 3D All Stars?
Glitches like that really shouldn't be fixed. It's not harming anyone's experience.
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5 minutes ago, Ashley said:I hate to admin an admin but we do have a retro forum...
I'm happy to move it. I wasn't 100% sure which board to put it in as it's specifically a Nintendo retro console.
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After doing a few franchise playthroughs (Sonic, Star Trek and James Bond), I decided to pick something that would be a bit more varied by focusing on a console. I picked the N64 as I remember loving it, and I read about so many games in N64 Magazine that I never got to play. The number of games (419, including some prototypes) also makes it a reasonable endevour.
For playing the games, I'll be using different ways to play. I'll mainly be emulating (using different emulators, as some work better in particular ones), plus using some ports/remasters. The ports/remasters are on a case-by-case basis and the game as a whole needs to have the same vibes as the N64 version, as sometimes the N64 versions had different level designs (and features) to other versions that remasters are based on. That said, some of those do kindly include the N64 mode as well. Some ports will be fan made and I will be allowing some graphical and QoL enhancements (mainly widescreen, textures that keep the right vibe and camera control). There was one game where I felt I went a bit too far on the graphical department, but a bit too late for that (it wasn't a big N64-specific one anyway).
In the case of sports games, I'll be mainly getting a feel for them by playing a few matches rather than going insane while playing an entire season of each one. I also won't be shy in using cheats, mainly extra lives (they were pointless in most games of this era and losing them just wasted time as you walk back to where you were) and for games of genres I completely suck at - such as 1-on-1 fighters (I had no idea the N64 had so many).
Some games only came out in Japan. I don't read or speak Japanese and I'm dreadful at understanding Japanese. For some games, there are fan-made translations that I will be using, for others, I'm relying on Google Lens (which, while some results are a big mangles, has been fairly successful and I get the gist of what things mean) .
My reasoning for all of this is that this is for fun, not a serious challenge.
For ordering the games, I've gone by the first release in any region, it seemed like the most logical way to do things. I've also inserted a few prototypes of games into the mix for checking out unfinished (or in a few cases, completely finished but unreleased) games.
I'm already a fair amount of time into playing the games, up to number 150 on my list (an obscure game called Ocarina of Time).
Out of the three Japanese launch titles, It would be rude to not start with:
Super Mario 64
- JP release: 23rd June 1996
- NA release: 29th September 1996
- PAL release: 1st March 1997
- Developer: Nintendo
- Publisher: Nintendo
- N64 Magazine Score: 96%
Starting off with a bang, one of the Nintendo 64’s launch titles just happens to be a revolutionary game that’s one of the best games on the system. It didn’t just show the world how platform games could work in 3D, but it set the standard for movement in 3D as well. Despite its legendary status, Nintendo have never given us the port that this game deserves. Super Mario 64 doesn’t need a full remake, just a little bit of sprucing, widescreen and an updated camera.
Luckily, fans of the game have done this themselves by fully recreating the game’s engine on PC, with lots of options to set it up the way you want. There are some much more graphically impressive options than what I chose, but I wanted it to look similar to the original game, with just crisper textures and some of the 2D objects replaced with 3D ones.
The movement of Mario still feels amazing all these years later. His move set is brilliant with all of his moves (minus the special hats) available from the get-go, it’s just a case of learning it and figuring out the best way to move. Most people will start off doing taller jumps by doing the backflip, but then transition to the quick turn jump to get up to the tall platforms. Even now, it’s an absolute joy to control.
The camera from the original game is the main part of the game that now feels clunky. It was pretty amazing when the game came out, but it’s one aspect of games that has improved over time. Luckily, the version I played lets you turn on a more modern analogue camera, which (along with widescreen) is really all Super Mario 64 needs to feel modern.
The levels are small, but it’s a style that really suits the game. They’re packed full of secrets, with six stars to find in each one (plus an extra star for collecting 100 coins). Once you collect a star, you’re thrown out of the level, which does mean you have to re-do parts of levels multiple times, but there are sometimes changes to the level depending on which star you collect. There is a mod that lets you remain in levels, but I feel like this alters the game too much, and is itself fiddly as you need to work out when you need to manually leave the level.
Each level has a very distinct feel to it and I enjoyed every level in the game, except for two of the water levels. While some have generic themes (lava, water and ice), the levels are still built in unique ways, and even matching themes (like the two snow levels) don’t feel like a reuse due to the level design.
Other than a couple of stars that include the wing, metal and invisible caps, you can also complete levels before moving on, or just do a couple of stars and try somewhere else. You only need 70 out of 120 stars to complete the game (far fewer if you choose to do glitches), but it’s enjoyable collecting them all.
To unlock different sections of the castle (and access more levels), you need to complete Bowser’s levels. There are three in total (the last one being to save Peach) and these are much more linear platform challenges, which creates a nice change of pace. At the end of these you have to face off against Bowser, grabbing his tail and spinning him to throw him into bombs, and I’m still absolutely dreadful at aiming my throws.
The final section of the game has some outstanding levels.
Wet-Dry World is the third water level of the game, but this one stands out much more due to the mechanic of raising and lowering the water levels. There are different ways to move upwards depending on the water level, and you’ll need to make use of these to collect all the stars.
Tiny-Huge Island has you using pipes to swap between a giant Mario and a mini Mario. You get to see cute tiny goombas or have to fight ones that are much larger than Mario. It’s not Mario’s size that actually changes, but the level itself. It’s an absolutely adorable level full of joy.
Tick Tock Clock is actually a lot smaller than I remember, but is focused on well timed jumps. The unique aspect of this level is that the level entrance is itself a clockface, and where the minute hand points alters the speed of the objects in the level, or even stops them completely. I have quite strong memories of trying to figure out what was happening when this happened as a kid.
The final main level, Rainbow Ride, is more linear than most levels, with different segments connected via magic carpets. You’ll need to jump off the carpets to avoid obstacles, but if you take too long, the carpets will vanish. This level requires you to have learnt how to master Mario’s moveset.
Super Mario 64 is still an absolute joy to play, especially so with an updated camera. I think a full remake would alter the game too much, as the level design and movement is integral to its identity. It just needs a bit of sprucing up, and I really hope we get an official version that does this at some point.
This was an amazing start for the Nintendo 64. Not only was this game integral to the development of 3D games as a whole, but the gameplay and levels still hold up today. Games keep trying to be bigger and better, but smaller and varies levels are also a great approach.
QuoteThe best game ever?” Possibly, but then it’s so far ahead of anything that comparisons seem meaningless.
- Zy Nicholson, N64 Magazine #1
Remake or Remaster?
As the fan-made PC version shows, Super Mario 64 still holds up really well and just needs some basic improvements. A remastered Super Mario 64 would be perfect.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no way to buy a new copy of Super Mario 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.
Re-releases
1997: Super Mario 64 Rumple Pak Version (Japan Only)
2003: iQue (China Only)
2006: Wii Virtual Console
2015: Wii U Virtual Console
2020: Super Mario 3D All Stars (Switch, temporary release)
2021: Nintendo Switch Online (subscription only)
Other versions
2004: Super Mario 64 DS. This version featured altered levels, more stars and extra playable characters. The extra content was well received, but forcing previous stars to certain characters was frustrating. The controls also don’t work very well on the DS. The touch screen minigames were a brand-new addition and were well liked.
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Tears of the Kingdom is the only 2023 game I've played this year, so I've use Christmas money for a few more. After multiple factors, I settled on these two:
I've also ordered a Steam Deck so me and my girlfriend can get back into both gaming at the same time.
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Global leaderboards I hate, but I do enjoy leaderboard type things for random stats and stuff they only compare with your friends. Although even then, I prefer it without rankings - just the game telling you when you're close or have beaten your friend.
Although I did find it funny when I did something in Forza Horizon 5 and it made a happy noise and a message saying that I am better than 0% of people.
One of my favourite versions are in Burnout Parade. When you're online, it has a little leaderboard for various things you can do. However, these are just stuff that happens in that particular online session, so it encourages some firefly competition
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A massive amount of use for my Switch this year
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3 hours ago, Dcubed said:Yeah, that's straight up piracy. It's getting nuked by Nintendo in 3...2...1...
Same thing will also happen with the Adventure of Link PC port as well.
Now that people have figured out the "safe" way to do it (have the software just include the new engine, the person using has to provide a rom - like Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past), it's strange to see ones that don't do it. I suppose that part of it might be something the people who made this can't quite do.
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Someone has made a PC port of Link's Awakening DX. Oddly, it's the complete game (no providing your own rom) that they've added to itch.io so I don't expect it to be live for long.
However, it's a very impressive port with an interesting way to play 2D games like this: the game now scrolls smoothly across the entire map and you can even zoom out far enough to see the entire map, and you can see all the NPCs, enemies and objects moving around. Of course, it's not really a good way to play seeing such a massive amount (the second screenshot is the default, the third is seeing the game render at 1x scale, so one pixel is a pixel on your screen), but setting it to an appropriate zoom level it's a pretty awesome experience.
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It's now been over a year since we got home from hospital after Ollie's second surgery. While he's not due another checkup for a few more months, he's doing great.
He's just starting to walk and is absolutely non-stop, and his imagination is already coming through strong.
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2 hours ago, Dcubed said:I’ll have to double check on my original N64 cart when I get home, but I believe that JFG only had a letterbox widescreen mode originally (as opposed to the anamorphic widescreen mode used in Goldeneye, PD and Banjo Tooie); meaning that this is being emulated correctly on Switch NSO.
The way it originally worked would be a letter box within a 4:3 screen, while the NSO does that but also automatically stretches it sideways so the 4:3 picture is stretched to a 16:9 picture.
They should either keep it at 4:3 with the letter box, or stretch it both ways to fill the screen - just stretching it sideways distorts the image.
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James Bond Bingo
- Original Release: 2021
- Developer: Laurence King
- Publisher: Laurence King
- Platform: Board Game
This is just a regular Bingo, except that the numbers are replaced with James Bond characters and locations.
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James Bond 007 Cluedo
- Original Release: 2021
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
This is a variant of the popular game Cluedo (known as Clue in the USA). It has a few differences: there are player figures and villain figures, which means you won’t be moving your opponents away from their destination. The game also has SPECTRE cards, which can give you a bonus or slow you down.
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SPECTRE: The Board Game
- Original Release: 2022
- Developer: Javier Angeriz-Caburrasi
- Publisher: Modiphius
- Platform: Board Game
In this worker placement board game, you get to be one of Bond’s villains, trying to be the one to take over the world. It was made by Modiphius, who published a brilliant Thunderbirds game, so it has a lot of promise.
By far the biggest issue with SPECTRE occurs before you start playing: the rule book. It’s really badly written, with the elements of the game explained in a non-linear manner, some rules only being told in examples and some that are not clear. There’s a fairly hefty errata to further clarify some stuff, fix mistakes and sort out mistranslations. Because of the complexity of the game, you can play the game many times and still not be sure you’re doing things right.
Each round, a mission appears that you and the other villains can choose to contribute towards it. The villain that does the most gets a reward, but if the requirements aren’t met, all players get punished. To do this, you use your villain, henchman and goons to gather resources and bonuses from either the map or your own personal board, which has abilities and locations specific to your villain.
The two dice are used to simulate what James Bond is doing – he can disrupt everyone’s work in one location or it’s possible for someone to get him to target one particular villain to cause them a huge hassle.
The main thing SPECTRE has going for it is theme, with the game mechanics being based on the concept of being a Bond villain rather than designing a game and throwing the theme on it. Unfortunately, the game it a but too convoluted, especially with the poor rules.
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Top Trumps: 007 Vehicles & Gadgets Limited Edition
- Original Release: 2022
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
Top Trumps is a series of many different games. It contains cards that have stats. Players take turns picking stats and compares against their opponent’s card. The highest value wins.
This pack focuses on vehicles and gadgets, particularly those from Q Branch.
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GoldenEye 007 (Xbox Series)
- Port Release: 2023
- Port Developer: Code Mystics
- Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
- Platform: Xbox Series
In 2023, a deal was finally worked for for re-releasing GoldenEye on the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One/Series. While the occasion of releasing GoldenEye again should have been met with some effort and enthusiasm, what was got was….just acceptable.
On the Swich, it was released via their Nintendo Switch Online Plus subscription service, with the original ROM with some very minor differences – the unused textures for Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton have been removed (incidentally, the orginal game ROM also contained unused Mickey Mouse graffiti textures that weren’t removed). Controls are a bit of a pain to set up, due to needing to use a mixture of both the in-game control settings and the Switch’s remapping. It does support online (with split-screen) via the service’s multiplayer emulation.
On the Xbox Series, the game is still running in an emulator, but with various enhancements. It supports up to 4K resolution, but the biggest change is with the controls. The game has full support for the Xbox controllers, with dual analogue as default. Reload and crouching now have dedicated buttons and you can have buttons for moving up and down through your weapon selection. It is lacking a handy way to rotate through gadgets like the unreleased XBLA version, though. I found the controls to work really well.
One minor change that did grab my attention was on Train, where you have to use the watch laser. Usually when I play, Bond keeps crouching and standing up in an annoying way, but that section was improved here.
Unfortunately, that’s just it for improvements. The HUD and text hasn’t been given higher resolution textures, so the blurriness sticks out immensely when the game is running in a higher resolution. I also noticed a number of graphical glitches, such as cracks in the level on Surface and the “tree walls” having strange transparency. The menus (including the watch pause menu) don’t support widescreen, either.
For buying GoldenEye on Xbox Series, it’s a bit strange. If you go to the Xbox website, it will brag on about how this is included in Xbox Game Pass, you can’t buy the game on it’s own. However, if you have a digital copy of Rare Replay (which is a wonderful package and often on sale for £5), you can also download GoldenEye.
If you want a quick blast on GoldenEye and want an easy way to play it on Xbox, then this version is adequate. It’s just a shame as the game deserves so much more – and even more frustrating because a lot of the work for improving the game was already done by Rare for the cancelled XBLA version. Over 25 years of licensing issues finally solved and all we get is a low effort port.
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Cypher 007
- Port Release: 2023
- Port Developer: Tipping Point
- Publisher: Tipping Point
- Platform: Apple Arcade
- Not played: Locked behind a subscription exclusive to expensive devices.
This is a game locked behind the Apple Arcade system. The game takes place entirely in 007’s mind, so it all “it’s a dream” in a Bond game. Like 007 Legends.
As I am unable to play it, and it will probably be deleted before I can do so.
13 hours ago, Dcubed said:Is that it then? Is this the end of the road? Or will you also be covering the Switch/Xbox re-release of Goldeneye as well? (Though there isn’t all that much to note, since both are just emulations of the original N64 game; the Switch version being untouched and the Xbox one having some control tweaks to better suit the Xbox controller).
If this is the end, then what’s next? Will you be tackling another movie/TV license? Or will it be a video game series? If it’s the latter, might I recommend Castlevania? Plenty of tiger electronics versions for you to sink your teeth into there
If it’s the former, how about Indiana Jones?
Just this one last update - a bit of a downer that it ends on a subscription-locked game on a device I'll never own.
I'm already a good amount through my next one, which is every game on the Nintendo 64. Some games I'm not giving much time (just a few rounds of most sports games, for example) but ones with an actual story mode I'm trying to complete (although using save states/cheats because I want to have fun doing it). Might do a daily(ish) game post in the Nintendo forum for that one. I wanted to experience lots of games I remember reading about in N64 Magazine, and I even found all the issues online to include quotes from their reviews.
This is mainly emulated versions (using various different emulators as some are better for certain games), and some remastered versions (with my own personal judgement of them having the right "feel" and not being too different).
I do have plenty of ideas to keep me busy, including GameCube, Zelda, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Thunderbirds and Thomas the Tank Engine (although for some I may drop the board game aspect due to the difficulty of finding information - although for Zelda, other people have already made Tabletop Simulator versions of all of them, including translations for the Japanese ones).
I haven't thought about trying franchises I haven't played before like Castlevania (although I will be playing a couple on the 64, I know they're quite different), but it's an interesting idea.
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James Bond: World of Espionage
- Original Release: 2015
- Developer: Glu
- Publisher: Glu
- Platform: Android/iOS
James Bond: World of Espionage is an example a lot of terrible aspects of moden mobile games combined with absolutely zero gameplay.
This is an “energy-based” game. You gain a certain amount of energy each day (although there’s a maximum so you can’t build up too much) and spend it on completing challenges such as driving and fighting enemies.
You don’t get to do or see these actions, you just click a button and get rewarded. You can use these rewards (or your own money) to buy items to let you click on more buttons as you take part in an endless grind.
There’s no grind here. It’s just navigating a menu as it constantly begs you for money. The game was shut down after 18 months due to a lack of people that stuck with the game, and it’s impossible to play due to reliance on a server.
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Trivial Pursuit: 007 Edition
- Original Release: 2015
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
This is a series of cards containing trivia questions. It can be played on its own, but for a proper game you need to use a regular copy of Trivial Pursuit.
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Monopoly: 007 (2017)
- Original Release: 2017
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
Like the 2006 Collector’s Edition, this is another James Bond edition of Monopoly. This one was released to celebrate the film SPECTRE.
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Goldfinger 64
- Original Release: 2017
- Developer: SubDrag + Others
- Publisher: Self-Published
- Platform: Nintendo 64
This if a fan made mod for GoldenEye on N64 that completely transforms it into a Goldfinger game. It has the same number of missions, including the two “bonus” levels, retelling the story of Goldfiger as an N64 game. It needs to be patched into a copy of GoldenEye to run, but can be played on an emulator or the original console.
In terms of recreating settings form the film, this game does a great job, with lots of great looking levels in glorious N64 graphics. But, while this is impressive, it’s also the biggest weakness.
These levels are absolutely massive, and for GoldenEye gameplay, it really doesn’t suit these level sizes. The game feels extremely drawn out due to how spread out everything is, and you can spend ages trying to find the right way to go.
It’s a shame, as the objectives themselves are well thought out, but the aimless roaming around really does spoil them. One of my favourite levels was the Fort Knox vault, and that was in one room. The Crab Key bonus level (based on Dr No) also feels a lot more like a more compact and refined level.
One big highlight is the music – the GoldenEye style tracks sound great and capture the style of Goldfinger really well at the same time.
Goldfinger 64 is a great accomplishment with a lot of impressive aspects, but the level design itself lets down the playing experience.
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Legendary: A James Bond Deck Building Game
- Original Release: 2019
- Developer: Ben Cichoski, Devin Low, Daniel Mandel
- Publisher: Upper Deck Entertainment
- Platform: Board Game
Legendary is a semi co-op deckbuilding board game, originally about Marvel superheroes but has now expanded into other franchises. The “Legendary” games all play in a similar way: you build up your deck by buying cards, draw a new villain card each turn and try to defeat them to gain points. The person with the most points wins, but the villain can defeat you all so nobody wins. That said, most people tend to play these games fully co-op, and the rules now state that you choose before the game starts.
At the start of the game you pick a mastermind, a scheme and some villain cards that will determine your difficulty. As you draw from the villain deck, cards will trigger events on the mastermind and schemes. You need to build up your attack value enough to attack the mastermind multiple times, while also keeping the villains appearing at bay. The game is very difficult – especially if you’re competing with points – but also a lot of fun.
My main confusion about the James Bond version is that the license seems more suited to the Legendary spin-off game, Legendary Encounters. That one has event in a more linear fashion (rather than random) and are more objective-based.
The core game of Legendary James Bond includes stuff from Goldfinger, The Man with the Golden Gun, GoldenEye and Casino Royale, but more films are available in expansion packs.
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GoldenEye 007 (1964GEPD)
- Emulator Release: 2020
- Developer: Graslu
- Publisher: Graslu
- Platform: PC Emulator
1964GEPD is a version of the 1964 emulator which has been configured specifically for two games: GoldenEye and Perfect Dark, aiming to make the best experience of playing the original N64 games on a PC, running in HD, but not modifying the game itself. The emulator has been configured to the best settings to run the game faithfully.
One major addition is the “mouse injector”, which allows you to use a full keyboard and mouse setup with the game. This also lets you have specific crouch and reload buttons. Unfortunately, there is currently no additional controller support and I oddly couldn’t get Steam controller support to work with this, so I had to use the method of mapping one Xbox controller to two N64 controller to use the game’s own dual analogue mode. Hopefully improved controller injection can be added in the future.
In terms of graphics, you can install texture packs if you wish. By default, however, this emulator has better fonts and icons, which means that the HUD itself isn’t a blurry mess.
If you want to play the original N64 game on a PC, then this is by far the best way to go about, although the leaked XBLA game is another great choice if you want the updated graphics. That said, by emulating the original, you can try out a mod or two.
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Top Trumps: 007 Every Assignment Limited Edition
- Original Release: 2020
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
Top Trumps is a series of many different games. It contains cards that have stats. Players take turns picking stats and compares against their opponent’s card. The highest value wins.
This pack focuses on the James Bond franchise as a whole and was re-released in 2022.
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Top Trumps Quiz With A Twist: 007
- Original Release: 2020
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
This Top Trumps game is completely different from the rest: instead of the usual type of cards, each one features five James Bond questions.
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Monopoly: 007 (2020)
- Original Release: 2017
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
Like the 2006 Collector’s Edition, this is another James Bond edition of Monopoly. This one was released to celebrate the film No Time to Die.
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007 Legends
- Original Release: 2012
- Developer: Eurocom
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U
- Version played: Wii U
For the 50th Anniversary of James Bond films, Activision decided to make a game to celebrate Bond’s history. 007 Legends takes us through six stories, one from each Bond actor. This sounds like an amazing premise, yet the came was panned by critics when it came out. Is it really that bad? I decided to play this one on a Wii U, for reasons that I’ll get in later.
The game starts during Daniel Craig’s Skyfall, as Bond fights the assassin at the start of the film and Eve is ordered to take a shot, hitting Bond. As he falls down, he starts having flashbacks. This Bond is a reboot, so hadn’t experienced the previous films, but I’m fine with creative licensing to frame it in this way.
Bond wake’s up in an apartment to find a body coated in gold – we’re in Sean Connery’s Goldfinger, a good choice for a game like this. However, there’s also a modern mobile phone, which is the first troubling sign.
Unfortunately, these are Daniel Craig retellings of these films, similar to the previous GoldenEye, with modern settings. This does change what films are suitable for Daniel Craig’s Bond due to different styles, although Goldfinger causing a financial crisis does seem like something that can be adapted. To make matter’s worse, they couldn’t even get Daniel Craig to provide the voice, and the soundalike sounds quite bored.
The gameplay, for the most part, is the exact same stiff combat from GoldenEye. Most of the weapons are the same, too. For the Wii U, the game forces you to use the Game Pad, but all it offers is a useless inventory screen (the guns don’t even have unique icons) and an optional way to control the hacking minigames.
As Bond heads to Goldfinger’s headquarters, Tanner is orders him to find evidence of Goldfinger smuggling gold and to “remain undercover”. In a first person cut-scene Bond sets off a massive EMP from his phone, causing massive explosions, before he jumps onto a truck and rolls into an airfield, ready for you to shoot your way through legions of his men.
After blasting your way through enough of the facility, Bond asks Pussy Galore for help, who is very quick to side with him. You get to investigate Goldfinger’s office for clues, solving a few simple puzzles, such as scanning for fingerprints to work out combinations (although the last one is the “strongest”, and I think it should be the other way round). These are easily the best parts of the game, but it would have been even nicer if they were based on the aesthetic of the original film.
After making it out of Goldfinger’s building, but gets captured but convinces him to keep him alive during the crotch laser scene. As Goldfinger attacks Fort Knox, Felix Leiter ambushes and frees Bond. While the Daniel Craig era was the first to have a consistent actor for Felix, this game goes back to the old tradition of recasting the character, although this is a very different version to the one Craig’s Bond has previously met.
After fighting your way inside Fort Knox, you have to don night vision goggles. You can’t take them on or off when you want, and you can clearly see that the lights are on, so it makes no sense. You can’t even see enemies easier, it’s just a grainy sepia filter. All I can think of is that this is an attempt to make it look like an “old film”, but why do that with the modern setting? The section wearing the mask goes on for ages, and it doesn’t even change how enemies act.
You fight though the vault, have a quick time event fight with Oddjob and stop the bomb. Apart from the initial looks, the levels are just really dull in layout, and quite often the game will have enemies infinitely respawn. There are also many times where the game tells you to hurry, and it’s up to you to guess if it actually means it. Sometimes you’ll fail for not being quick enough, other times it leads to death and you’re actually supposed to take your time. At the end of this mission, you do get a first person cutscene of the end where Goldfinger attempts to kill Bond but gets sucked out of a window, but it then fades to black as the plane is crashing with Bond and Pussy Galore still on board.
For George Lazenby, there’s no choice, so it’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It starts off as Bond gets attacked while skiing. At first is feels pretty good, but you’ll then get a message saying that you’ve lost “Theresa”, who the game never properly introduced to. This section is utterly horrible as any mistake means failing the mission. You have to take out a few helicopters and guards along the way, but the main difficulty is dodging everything. Bond eventually falls over and wakes up to find Theresa captured, Bond calls someone for help and says that it’s strange for a spy and criminal to work together – while Goldfinger had a full plot, the rest of these tend to presume you’ve seen the films recently.
The updated version of Blofeld’s lair looks really nice but doesn’t help with the actual gameplay. It starts off with a turret section before you make your way into his base. Going into the secret part, you don’t get to see any details as Bond puts on his sepia filter again. After going though the “madman” architecture of a few circular bedrooms connected to each other, you rescue Theresa and the other guy takes her away. You chase Blofeld and have a quick time event fight in a cable car. One thing to note about the quick time event fights is that Bond continues fighting after you “win” – the final part of is something you never have control over.
The final cutscene has Bond and Theresa driving after getting married, getting shot at and Bond having a very unemotional response as Theresa is dead. Considering they only had two lines between them in the game, it’s odd that they kept it in.
Saving Roger Moore until later, it’s Timothy Dalton’s turn next. A revenge plot against a drug lord is a good fit for Craig’s Bond, so Licence to Kill is a good choice. It opens with Felix having been shot (and his wife dead) and Felix asks Bond to help one of his undercover agents investigating Sanchez, so Bond fights through a temple before finding his secret base.
This seems like a good place to talk about the stealth mechanics. They’re based on the same “once alerted, enemies always know where you are” terrible stealth on GoldenEye, but with two changes. First, if guards get shot while cameras can see them, it will cause an alert, which is a good change as you can take cameras out. The other change just destroys the stealth mechanics completely: bodies stay and if another guard ever sees it, everyone is alerted to your exact location. There’s no investigation or time for you to take out the guard spotting the body, and there’s also no way to move bodies. So stealth is just something you can attempt, but it will never last long.
Going through the base, you also have some forced stealth sections. These are thankfully short as they’re horrible, and I’m pretty sure that one of the scientists here could see through one particular wall.
After investigating Sanchez’s office, meeting up wit Pam and setting up some explosions, it’s time to escape. There was a section in the helicopter hanger that I thought was broken, but it turned out that you needed to kill all the guards in a section you can’t walk to, and there was one hiding behind some crates with a leg visible.
We actually get a car scene! In this section, you casually drive for a bit as enemies shoot rockets near your 4×4. Once you slowly catch up with Sanchez, the game takes over – although you do get to do some slow motion shots as a couple of shows now take out any vehicle. It’s time for another quick time event boss fight with Sanchez as the cool stuff is once again not something you have any input on. Bond sets off an explosion as he walks away from it so you can’t see it.
Next up is Peirce Brosnan’s turn. They already did a full game of GoldenEye, so it was one of the other picks. Die Another Day was the only one to not get a video game adaptation so I think that’s why they chose it, but I really think that Tomorrow Never Dies would have worked really well with Daniel Craig (especially if you link Carver to the mysterious organisation from the previous films).
You get a brief section meeting Jinx in the ice palace and taking some photos, I was imaging how great this level would look in a firefight with the ice being damaged, but for now we investigate the big dome nearby and break into the office of Gustav Graves. In this version, we only know he’s a businessman and his rant turning into helping North Korea is odd as we have no idea if this Bond even knows the character’s real history (incidentally, Miranda Frost has been written out).
After a really annoying chase where there are loads of guards, snipers and lasers from space, we end up in the ice palace where it turns out ice in invincible. With the environmental destruction of Quantum of Solace, this level would be amazing, but the levels in 007 legends are just a static background.
We do get the car chase on the ice, though. The handling starts off pretty as you’re sliding everywhere bad before Tanner orders Bond to turn on his traction tyres, then later telling Bond to turn on his threat detection and then missiles, which reminds me of Metroid: Other M in a bad way. To fight Zao, you have to wait for your missiles to lock on before firing, then Bond takes him out in a cutscene. You then have to race to get on a plane as cargo crate home in on you and, again, the game takes over before you reach the ramp.
I really was expecting the handholds to get taken off the “fighting” sections at some points. You push up/down on the sticks to perform a high or low punch with that ends, and the enemies all block in awkward ways to make it very obvious where you need to hit, yet the game never removes the prompts telling you exactly what to press. After this, Bond takes out Graves (you don’t even get a QTE to do the final action) and you hurry off the plane.
For Roger Moore, they can certainly pick a more down to Earth film that Daniel Craig would suit, so obviously they went with Moonraker. Here you fight through a few corridors, investigate a toxin, then have a detour through some more corridors to turn off some sentry guns to investigate Drax’s office. You then have an annoying stealth section and then have to kill off a few waves of enemies before Jaws turns up for a QTE event. You defeat him, but Drax captures you before you escape, making it onto a shuttle.
On the space station, you have a string of forced stealth sections which, like the License to Kill ones, are just really annoying. Then you have to stop pods from being launched by looking for big numbers and putting the codes into a keypad. Bond gets captured, but turns off the artificial gravity.
Now, while it would be better with Roger Moore, this is more like it: a zero gravity laser fight. Moving around is quite good, although the floating objects are completely static. The moonraker laser also just looks like a regular gun. You get a slight detour into space to shoot a few turrets before you deal with the arms loading the pods loaded with toxins, in a scene that’s far less impressive copy of Nightfire’s ending.
After planting a bomb in some glass, a cutscene takes over as Bond throws Drax out of an airlock and it fades to black as the space station starts exploding.
If you play this game on PC, 360 or PS3, then the credits will roll. The end of the game was free DLC that came out after the game initially released. While people who added the DLC to their account at the right time can download it, there’s no way to get it – I couldn’t even find a pirated way to get it. The Wii U version came out later, so the end of the game is actually on the disc.
The game abruptly cuts back to before the start of Skyfall – you go straight form the Moonraker base exploding to this – as two unknown people are dead and Bond has to chase the assassin – a man called Patrice. You chase him over some rooftops, but you can’t actually hurt him. After a while, you’ll get onto a motorbike for a vehicle chase.
Remember the awful skiing section I talked about? The motorcycle chase is a worse version of that, with random cars trying to swerve into you. It’s completely on rails, so you’re just swerving form side to side. Eventually, Eve blocks his path and you follow him onto a train with the last QTE fight of the game. We see Bond get shot and then waking up on a shore. What he’s been through never gets brought up as this game isn’t really about Bond himself, or what he’s been through, just “this is like X film”.
The strange skyscraper with all the internal glass walls is the next mission. Bond stops Patrice from assassinating someone and it’s time for a really dull boss fight as Patrice is a bullet sponge. You hide behind cover, pop out, shoot him and duck back down. Half way though he’ll run upstairs and you’ll repeat it again. He’ll set off a smoke grenade and you’ll investigate. The game takes over as Bond ends up throwing Patrice off the building. He calls M, who apologises for ordering the shot, and Bond is fine with it. With the assassin killed, the job is done.
Yup, that’s all we get of Skyfall. The film’s villain doesn’t make an appearance at all, and the film’s climax would actually suit a game of this style.
007 Legends is just a really poor cash in that likely stated with a good idea, but just has dull gameplay and tedious level design. It also loses out on nostalgia by having a modern day setting instead of the retro settings, with all the cool gadgets replaced with a product placement mobile phone. The films chosen aren’t even picked well for Daniel Craig, and there’s no actual narrative linking them together in any way meaningful. With a game of this quality, it’s no surprise that there was no proper James Bond video game for a while.
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Top Trumps: Bond in Motion Special Edition
- Original Release: 2012
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
Top Trumps is a series of many different games. It contains cards that have stats. Players take turns picking stats and compares against their opponent’s card. The highest value wins.
This pack was an exclusive to the Bond in Motion exhibition and focuses on vehicles.
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Monopoly 007 50th Anniversary Edition (2012)
- Original Release: 2012
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
Like the 2006 Collector’s Edition, this is another James Bond edition of Monopoly.
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Top Trumps: 007 Bond Girls
- Original Release: 2013
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
Top Trumps is a series of many different games. It contains cards that have stats. Players take turns picking stats and compares against their opponent’s card. The highest value wins.
This pack is focused on Bond Girls.
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Young Bond (Browser)
- Original Release: 2014
- Developer: Youniverse
- Publisher: Puffin Books
- Platform: Browser
- Not played: Website offline, requires a login.
Young Bond is a collection of four minigames promoting the novel Shoot to Kill. It consists of four minigames, however as the website required an account, the games have not been archived.
The first minigame requires you to remember instructions on how to hotwire a car and repeat them, the second has you navigating a maze in an ambulance, the third you pilot a zeppelin while avoiding obstacles and the final one is an endless car chase where you have to avoid the villains for as long as possible.
As you complete these challenges, you unlocked downloadable posters for the Young Bond books.
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GoldenEye 007 (2010)
- Original Release: 2010
- Developer: Eurocom
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: Wii, Xbox 360, PS3
- Version played: Wii
With a big gap between Bond films, it was Activision’s time to cash in on the “GoldenEye” name. While this is based on the story of GoldenEye, it’s not a remake of the Nintendo 64 classic, but rather a game based on an imaginary Bond film where the story of GoldenEye was adapted as Daniel Craig’s third Bond film. It originally came out on the Wii before a remastered version on 360 and PS3. While those versions look better, it’s the same game and I picked the Wii version because of the ease of getting screenshots and not needing to drag consoles out of storage due to a lack of backwards compatibility.
After a brief tutorial at MI6, Bond and 006 (who looks so young, it must be his first day on the job) are sent to investigate weapons trading at a dam. The first area of this heavily based on the N64 game, but that single area is the only similarity in terms of level design. 006 steals a truck and you have to shoot from the passenger seat before shooting your way through the rest of the level. The gameplay is heavily based on Call of Duty, but in GoldenEye, aiming and turning just feels stiff and awkward, it’s a massive step down form Quantum of Solace.
We get a opening credits that actually uses the original GoldenEye song, but instead of Tina Tuner, we get a bad cover of it. I would have much preferred something different to suit Craig’s era more. The placement of the song is also odd, in the middle of the opening instead of its normal place.
The facility serves as a tutorial for the stealth mechanics. You can hack objects to cause distractions and take enemies down with stealth attacks. However, stealth isn’t really important for any mission after this and it doesn’t work well anyway. I’ve had enemies say “I think I heard something” after shooting them with a silenced pistol, somehow unaware of the bullet wounds, while on the other side of things, if you hack turrets remotely, enemies will instantly shoot towards Bond’s location – when enemies are “alert” they simple know where Bond is, line of sight is irrelevant.
After 006 gets shot, Bond blows up the facility immediately. If they hadn’t been caught, the deal they would have stopped would have still happened due to how long it takes for the place to slowly blow up in a chain reaction. There’s a colossal base outside the facility you have to fight through as things explore before reaching to a plane and escaping. The game teases you with a motorbike before control is taken away from you and you just aim.
Bond’s investigation leads him to Zukovsky’s nightclub, where the gangster talks about Bond giving him a scar in the past. He reveals what information he gave to Ourumov before being assassinated by Xenia, who runs away claiming that Bond shot him. You have to fight your way out, but the setting and atmosphere make this the most best level in the game.
Heading to an arms fair in Dubai, Bond tries to stop Ourumov and Xenia from stealing an EMP hardened helicopter. You chase them through a frigate before placing a tracker on the helicopter. This game has a big theme of really dark corridors.
Heading to Siberia, the most notable part of surface is a really cool shot as the GoldenEye satellite hits. The snow in this level happens to form “corridors” for you to fight through as the Russian army takes out the guards of the facility. Bond kills as many people as he can on both sides as he makes his way into the bunker.
Even right after playing this…I really can’t remember much about this level other than Natalya running away and it just being really dark. I thought I heard 006 setting explosives and was wondering if we would get an early reveal of Janus, as it’s not really going to be a surprise to anyone in this version, but it instead ends with Bond and Natalya getting arrested.
This one follows the film a bit closer here, with Ourumov killing the defence minister and pins it on Bond, although the way he does it – shooting then running away crying “he shot the defence minister” – made me laugh, especially as the same thing happened in the nightclub level. This level was when I realised why I found the level design to be really off: it just feels like random rooms and corridors attached to each other, it doesn’t feel like any real building. Anyway, it’s time for the tank level.
It’s…fine. This might work better if there were other vehicle segments, but with aspects like the lock-on, this feels oddly like an arcade style game, like we’ve just stepped into a tank level from Star Fox. While you do have full control of the tank, it just feels very on-rails. After chasing Ourumov, he makes it to his train, parked in the middle of a construction yard.
The construction yard section is decent, with a few ways you can get through it, but he train itself is just a couple of carriages and not its own level. You end up meeting with Xenia and Ourumov (Janus hasn’t been revealed yet, so he’s not part of this bit), with Xenia killing Ourumov and setting the train on fire. Bond has to shoot a panel on the floor with a gun. I can understand trying to change the plot, but all the character of this moment has simply been removed. Natalya doesn’t even use her skills to discover where to head next – she just overheard Ourumov talking about a meeting with Janus at statue park.
The first area of this level looks great, with plenty of statues of different sizes, but it slowly turns into a generic looking compound with some underground corridors joining different parts of it together. Here 006 reveals himself as Janus. His motivation in this game has been altered a lot: it’s no longer about revenge, it’s about “bankers and their bonuses”. Because the government is now corrupt and treat people poorly, he’s become a terrorist that plans on launching an EMP attack on London, killing thousands of innocent people in the process. He traps bond in a helicopter set to explode, but a quick time event lets him escape.
Oh, and Natalya was told to sit in the car, but instead gets captured. Luckily Bond spotted a computer with a map to where 007 will control the GoldenEye satellite from: a solar energy station in Africa.
After crashing in the Jungle, this is a level where you think you can be stealthy, but taking over the turrets simply turns stealth off (you can’t get past them if you don’t hack them). If stealth did work properly, then this would be a really good level, as there are sections where it semes like you can set off turrets as a distraction while taking a different route. It ends with a quicktime event fight against Xenia.
Heading towards the solar facility, it looks fancy, but doesn’t make a lot of sense as the system isn’t designed to send signals to precise locations in space. You fight through an entire army before getting captured – luckily the final few guards were the only ones that were told to not kill Bond.
In the tower, it’s revealed that they need Natalya to arm the satellite or something (Boris is nowhere to be seen), but Bond sets off an explosion elsewhere in the facility and the satellite will fire just fine, and Natalya is the only one that knows how to stop it. I’m not really sure why 006 brought her here. After you protect her for a bit, it’s time for the final encounter.
There are three stages to the final fight, the first is a quick time event. The main part of the fight turns 006 into a bullet sponge enemy with ridiculously bad AI as 006 spends half his time hiding behind a cover while you stand behind him, repeatedly shooting him in the back. After a few hundred bullets, he flees for the final quick time event fight ending with a slow mo “quick” draw.
This version of GoldenEye isn’t a bad game, it just isn’t a good one. It’s a pitifully average shooter, but its flaws are just highlighted more by Activision cashing in on the love for the N64 game.
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GoldenEye 007 (DS)
- Original Release: 2010
- Developer: n-Space
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: DS
While the console games of Blood Stone and GoldenEye had different developers, n-Space were given the task of porting both games to the DS, both releasing on the same day. While Blood Stone on DS was a surprisingly good attempt at recreating a full experience on the DS, GoldenEye settles for fully accepting that it’s a simpler game.
I didn’t get on with this version of the game at all, and I felt nauseous all the way though. I’m not sure what exactly caused it, but the movement of the game is extremely stiff (even just walking) and the field of view feels extremely claustrophobic. Couples with the DS’s control issues for shooting games like this (especially for left handed gamers), it wasn’t a nice experience at all. You can use the buttons to aim in this, but it’s very slow.
The dam starts off with explosions going off straight away and you soon encounter one of the major annoyances of the game: the hand holding. It takes away control to give you long-drawn out tutorials on even the most basic stuff.
The facility level slowly explains the stealth mechanics bit by bit, including major parts such as using a landline phone to ring another phone in the same room to cause a distraction. Towards the end, 006 and Ourumov have a Naked Gun style gunfight behind some bulletproof glass before Ourumov gets the upper hand. Bond sets off explosives and runs the facility, constantly falling off the conveyer belt due to the poor controls.
The runway and nightclub levels are skipped in this version, so it’s straight to an incredibly short level of chasing Ourumov and Xenie through the frigate. It does try to pad this out by locking you in a room until you kill a wave of enemies, but it’s still only a couple of minutes. The cutscenes have multiple styles, either in game graphics with voices, voices over static art or cutscenes showing you what you need to do with just text.
At the start of surface, you do get a nice cutscene of the GoldenEye satellite firing (you never get to see what it looks like in the Wii version), but this level feels extremely drawn out with nothing notable. The end does make a big deal about sneaking past some people, but you just walk forward slightly.
The bunker is about walking back and forth collecting keycards, which brings us to the touch screen mingames. When using a keycard, you have to swipe the card and then very quickly input a code that appears. There’s also a hacking minigame where you wait for changing numbers to stop and just tap them. The just seem to exist for the sake of existing.
At the end, Bond rally wants to get into a room that’s blocked by three doors. The first is opened by placing three mines and detonating them one at a time. For the second, you have to shoot a bunch of panels that look like they were placed randomly. For the third, you go up to it and tap action. The game gives you a hint making a deal of Bond’s arms being on the top screen but the game knows how lame the solution it so just tells you the answer within a few seconds: close the DS and open it again. They must have known how much people hated it in Phantom Hourglass, but still added it.
I don’t have much to say about the archive level, so it’s on to the tank level and…it’s pretty good. It fits the game much better than the console version and the game’s stiff controls naturally feel like a tank anyway, so this is very much the highlight of this game. You take out the front of the train and get the cutscene, escaping by hacking a computer (it’s not like Natalya is a computer programmer or anything like that).
The memorial park level ditches the “statue” style completely and just looks like a generic military compound. The end of this level was the hardest part for me: a serious of quick time events of swiping the screen, one part requiring a perfect circle (which is the reason why I’ve never beaten The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks).
Heading to a jungle, you have to fight Xenia in a helicopter by activating missiles and defeating waves of enemies – the game is still explaining everything you need to do. The second part is a section where you can actually be stealthy.
At the solar plant, it’s time for the forced stealth mission – get spotted and you fail the mission. You also have to slowly crawl past mines as you place charges. After you get captured, you have to fight waves of enemies until the game tells you to press a button.
You then chase 006 through corridors, stopping at points to shoot him until he carries on. He’ll end up at a balcony for your final shot.
Because of how awkward this game feels, gimmicks that just feel silly and a lack of ambition or trying to do anything actually unique, this is by far the worst Bond game on DS.
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GoldenEye Source
- Original Release: 2010
- Developer: GE Source Team
- Publisher: Self-Published
- Platform: PC
Officially released in 2010, GoldenEye source is a remake of the GoldenEye multiplayer using the source engine (best known for Half-Life 2). It brings us updates of some classic GoldenEye maps, mixed with some new ones. I’m not a fan of online multiplayer, but this does offer some bot options for me to give it a quick blast.
The new maps can vary quite a lot. Archive is a faithful recreation of the full N64 level, with just a few additional routes. As the game supports a lot more players, it certainly helps al lot. Dam, on the other hand, is essentially a completely new layout designed for multiplayer, stitching different elements of the original for a less linear map.
The game play homage to the original game in some areas, like weapon reloads, while doing its own thing in others. One big different movement, due to jumping and much quicker crouching, creating complexly new movement strategies. While the movement is nice, it does feel like you’re playing Half-Life 2 with a GoldenEye skin rather than an update of the original.
There are a good selection of maps in the game – including one based on Casino Royale – and some of the original maps are available in their “classic” forms with graphics straight out of the N64. Some maps also add some really nice detail, Facility being a highlight, without altering the map that much.
If you want to have a bit of fun with friends in levels based on GoldenEye, then this is a lot of fun and is east to set up and play, but if you’re looking for a faithful recreation, then this one isn’t it. That’s entirely down to design choices and the developers have done a great job with the levels themselves.
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007: Licence to Drive
- Original Release: 2011
- Developer: Gamelion
- Publisher: Glu Mobile
- Platform: Java Mobile
By 2011, the smartphone ere of mobile phones was in full swing, so it’s surprising that a Java-only licensed James Bond games was made at the time, developed by Gamelion with the name “License to Drive”.
While the name is obviously supposed to be based on the phrase “Licence to Kill”, it really doesn’t work well, it just sounds like a driving lesson app. That said, a driving lesson app would probably be a more entertaining game than this.
This is a vertical scrolling driving game where you’ll be shooting enemies as you head to the end of a level. You’ll drive a few different vehicles, but other than the size, they’re all the same. You can fire weapons forwards and drop gadgets behind you. There are powerups on the track to give you different weapons, although these are usually more difficult to use than the standard weapons. In some levels, your weapons will be constantly changing as you accidentally collect power ups while battling enemies.
One power up is a lock-on anti-air missile. This is the only way to attack helicopters. However, the lock-on doesn’t even work, and your missiles waggle from side to side as they move up the screen, so will often miss and it’s down to pure luck. Combined with the annoyances of losing this item if you drive over another, fighting helicopters are extremely frustrating.
The healthbar makes no sense to me, parts change colours at different times. I did have to go out of my way to kill Bond to see if it was actually working, and other than resetting your score, there’s no actual punishment for dying, especially as you definitely wouldn’t want to play again to get a high score, the game is just mind-numbingly dull.
Most of the levels consist of two types: get to the end of a level or kill a certain amount of enemies and then get to the end of a level. When you have to take out enemies, sections of the level will repeat until you kill enough – although the levels feel randomly generated so you might not notice. The penultimate mission is the only one that’s different, you have to defend a truck containing a bomb. This is magnitudes more difficult than any other mission in the game.
There is a story to this game: Bond is investigating crime, someone that fishes for crabs is a secret weapons dealer that “never left Vietnam”, so to stop him you drive though multiple locations causing chaos (and killing lots of local police) and having to beat the CIA to him (because for some reason they won’t work with MI6 for international issues) so that he can’t start a war between India and Pakistan and sell weapons to both. The dialogue is extremely poor and uninteresting.
Licence to Drive is a terrible game, the controls are wonky, the gameplay is both dull and tedious and I don’t think I can come up with anything positive about this one.
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Top Trumps 007: The Best of Bond (Java)
- Original Release: 2011
- Developer: Connect2Media
- Publisher: Connect2Media
- Platform: Java Mobile
This is a mobile version of the Top Trumps 007 game. However, the game is a demo that requires an unlock, which is no longer available, so I was only able to briefly test it out – that said, it’s just Top Trumps.
You can’t just browse through the cards or order them, which means you have no idea what numbers are good for each category, making the game feel even more random than before.
There’s also a party mode where you have to win rounds to spell out “Top Trumps”, in this you get given random cards, so it’s even more luck-based.
The cards themselves look quite nice, so at least I can say one positive thing about it.
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James Bond 007: Blood Stone
- Original Release: 2010
- Developer: Bizarre Creations
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
- Version played: PC
Developed by Bizarre Creations, known for games like Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars (they also made one of my childhood favourite games, Wiz ‘n’ Liz), this is a brand new third person adventure starring Daniel Craig. Strangely, this was released on the same day as the Daniel Craig reimagining of GoldenEye on the Wii, which overshadowed Blood Stone due to its association with the Nintendo 64 classic.
Starting off on a boat trying to prevent a terrorist attack in Athens, you get a short mission that serves as an effective way of showing you how the game controls. Using cover is a necessity as you’ll die a lot, however, melee is also important as Bond can dispatch foes with one attack – with lots of great animations that use the environment to make it very assisting. Mixing melee and shooting is very easy and flows great. The combat really nails Bond’s style.
As the terrorist leader flees, you get the first of many vehicle sequences, all of which are set-piece heavy but very enjoyable, even if you fail a lot (restarting is very quick). They control extremely well and, while linear, are a great spectacle.
After this, you chase him on land and get to use more of the combat features, including a “focus aim”. Each time you melee and enemy, you gain a “focus aim” (up to a maximum of 3), which lets you automatically line a precise shot for an instant kill when you pull the trigger. It’s very satisfying to use, and really helps with the flow of the combat. I never got tired of punching a few nearby enemies then dispatching a few far away enemies in a matter of seconds.
A car chase ensues as you have to stop a car carrying a bomb. As this is based on the Daniel Craig films, Bond’s car has no weapons, but the sections are enjoyable enough (thanks to the developer’s driving game pedigree) that they aren’t needed. This intro sequence is its own little story, but serves as a great introduction to the game.
We get a very nice opening titles, performed by Joss Stone (the Bond girl of this game) before moving onto the main story.
A scientist has gone missing, and MI6 received an anonymous tip to his whereabouts at a dig site in Istanbul. Bond poses as a history museum professor but the goons there try to dispose of him, so you get another fun level through some catacombs as you try to find this scientist, with some great set pieces along the way (if you like Uncharted-style set pieces, you’ll enjoy this game).
Bond’s phone is his only gadget in this, working in a similar way to Batman’s Detective Mode in the Arkham games, showing enemy positions. It can also be uses to hack cameras and doors, as well as scan optional pieces of intel for extra background information.
The bad guys get a hold of the researcher’s password and flees with a briefcase containing his data on some nasty viruses, so Bond needs to pursue. His fancy new Aston Martin is too far away, but luckily there just happens to be a classic one just sitting there to take. You’ll have to dodge a lot of traffic in this intense chase, before the car ends up getting totalled.
Continuing the chase on foot, the briefcase gets passed on, but Bond manages to stop the messenger, finding out the man behind it, a Russian named Stefan Pomerov.
With Bond being assigned an assistant called Nicole Hunter, he sneaks into Pomerov’s casino in Monaco. Stealth is completely optional, and you have a bit of time when you get spotted to take them out before they call for backup. Your objective is Pomerov’s safe, and you discover that Pomerov wants to use the virus information to create new variants and then sell the vaccines.
Following him to his facility in Siberia, Bond poses as Nicole’s bodyguard to investigate this facility, which has a few nice moments of being able to walk around without worrying about combat. Bond discovers a factory already making these viruses and sabotages it before fleeing. It’s a very enjoyable level with more cool moments.
Pomerov flees in a train, so it’s time for another car chase as you dodge flaming debris before continuing the chase on a partly frozen river, it’s a lengthy chase, but still a ton of fun all the way though. You catch up with him, but he’s already boarded a cargo place.
Luckily, there’s also a giant cargo hovercraft, which Nicole takes control of while Bond deals with the guards still on board. To help catch up to the plane, Bond needs to head into the cargo hold and eject the cargo, use a turret to defend against missiles and to damage the plane’s engines, jump onto the plane’s wing as you catch up, get inside then fight your way to the front, taking out Pomarov.
This all happens with no loading screens, it’s all fluid form start to finish and is visually impressive as a result. Even 13 years later, my jaw dropped a few times in this segment.
Everything seems to have tied up nicely, but Bond thinks something is up: nobody Bond has met makes sense as the anonymous caller, and he thinks the people behind it wanted MI6 to stop Pomarov. He gets in touch with a Chinese agent who wants to meet Bond in an aquarium in Bangkok, but ends up getting assassinated as he claims a man called Ruk is behind everything.
A chase follows as Bong tries to get the assassin to pass on information on the whereabouts of Ruk, but would rather die. He does end up getting away in a vehicle for Bond to pursue.
That vehicle being a colossal haul truck (moving much faster than one would realistically move to make it entertaining), causing a ton of collateral damage. It’s another very impressive chase sequence, with more wow moments.
After crashing it off a bridge, Bond passes out and wakes up hours later, finding out that he’s wanted by the police, not just for the damage his chase caused, but he’s also been framed for murdering a Chinese agent. MI6 says that a sleazy contact of his is nearby, so Bond finds out the location of Ruk and heads over, but as Ruk was waned about him coming, gets the drop on Bond and captures him for information.
Bond is taken to Rak’s camp in Burma, where he gets called away before he can torture Bond. Bond escapes and fights trough the camp, having to deal with a few APCs and chasing Ruk in a plane before crash landing – unfortunately, there’s no flying mission, which leads us to the last main level of the game.
Crash landing near a dam that Rak’s group is taking over, Bond has to fight his way through to survive, taking out helicopters with cranes along the way. There’s a lot of combat, but the level is very well suited for good use of melee and the focus aim ability, so I enjoyed the whole things. Rak taunts Bon the entire time and it ends with a boss fight against him in a helicopter. Rak begs Bond to save him and he’ll reveal who is behind it – but Bond has already figured it out.
The final mission is a car chase as you stop the villain from escaping – however it turns out that they’re still just another part of a puzzle, as a drone takes them out. The true villain will have to be discovered in the game’s sequel…which was never made.
This is a hugely enjoyable game with fun combat and great driving sections, filled with movie-like set pieces. The ending is a bit of a downer, although people have retroactively linked it to SPECTRE as it (unintentionally) fits with that film really well. The poor sales of Blood Stone led to the end of Bizarre Creations, which is a shame as I think that this was a great game.
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James Bond 007: Blood Stone (DS)
- Original Release: 2010
- Developer: n-Space
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: DS
While the home console releases of Blood Stone and GoldenEye were split between platform, the DS got ports of both games on the same day, and both developed by n-Space (who previously made the DS port of Rogue Agent).
Like the home console version, Blood Stone on DS is a third person shooter with cover based mechanics and vehicle sections.
The cutscenes in the DS version are adorable. Instead of using recordings or screenshots from the main game, the cutscenes are recreated using the in-game graphics, and I absolutely love them. They’re also fully voice acted, even with lines not in the original. That said, there are a couple of moments where Daniel Craig talks so fast that you can’t understand him.
The boat level introduces you to the controls, starting with the aiming as Bond parachutes onto the boat. Unfortunately, there are no options to use the buttons to aim, the touch screen is the only option, which is a nightmare for left handed people like me that don’t get on with southpaw setups. Getting into cover uses the action button on the touch screen, so I found myself using cover without actually using the “cover” option.
The boat chase has unfortunately been turned into a turret section, as the boat moves on its own and you just aim and shoot. The level on land has also been reduced, with a single shootout and then the first driving section replaced with Bond using a rocket launcher to destroy a truck full of explosives, although the acropolis looks like a model (Shh!).
After the simplified intro (using the Bond theme rather than the song made for the game, which gets relegated to the credits), it skips past the catacombs to Bond finding the missing scientist. You never hear the password the tortured scientist whispers in the main version, but here he shouts out “it’s my phone number”, and you feel really sorry for the guy as it highlights that he’s just doing a regular job.
The chase scene introduces objects you can hit to take out groups of nearby guards, and the game informs you one is nearby with a golden 007 – a lot like Bond Moments in previous games.
Here we get the first car section. Bond is using his new car rather than randomly finding a classic Aston. The controls are a bit odd (but at least uses buttons) and the car never feels like its turning, but rather just sliding around. Without the action set pieces, you really miss the cars having weapons in this version.
After dodging trains in a subway, You follow the guy escaping with the information a bit more on foot until a boss battle where he becomes a bullet sponge and you need to shoot him a lot.
Sneaking into the casino, we now have the first stealth section. You can take guards out instantly by using the fire button up close. Bond automatically melees when close to enemies, although if an enemy is aware of Bond, you get a really annoying quick time event needed to finish them off. If you get spotted, enemies will call for backup, but luckily it means just a few more guards turning up. Interestingly, the silencer is more realistic than other games, as nearby enemies will still hear it if you use it.
In this version, Bond actually speaks to Pomarov face to face (although I have no idea why Bond needed to sneak in when he was invites) and you get to play a simplified form of poker with him. Luckily, Pomarov is a terrible poker player with extremely obvious tells. Still, it’s a very nice addition, one missing from any of the Casino Royale segments of Quantum of Solace.
After this, you have to make your way to Pomarov’s safe to find the information you need, with more optional stealth and a “Bond moment” using a crane. Then you need to get into the safe which is another touch screen addition. Unfortunately, this is not friendly to colourblind people, so I had a nightmare with it.
Heading to Pomarov’s site in Serbia, you fight through his facility to find out what he’s up to. The level design of all the levels in this game are completely different to the main version, made much simpler and straightforward to suit the DS. You make your way through the roof and fight a helicopter, which then takes out his factory instead of Bond sabotaging it.
The train chase is probably the most impressive vehicle section in the DS version, with debris and broken cars to avoid, and a helicopter shooting at you along the way. You fight trough the docks and make it onto Pomarov’s plane before he leaves. The stakes of this level are raised as the plane is on a collision cause to the coast to release the virus there, so you have a bullet sponge fight with Pomarov before Bond swerves out of the way and crashes the plane elsewhere.
Now we get a section exclusive to the DS version. Bond investigates the initial call that led MI6 to the scientist, but instead of it going straight to a Chinese agent, he needs to do some actual investigation. You need to sneak past the guards (you can’t even knock them out) and use CCTV to analyse people in a meeting. A chase breaks out and in some parts of the game like this, I found it much easier to run past all the enemies. After killing loads of his bodyguards, Bond discovers tat they’re on the same side and their boss arranges a meeting in an aquarium in Bangkok. Story-wise, I like this little added bit as the jump straight to Bangkok was a bit jarring.
The aquarium is a much more traditional design than in the main game, but you get to explore it a bit more and it’s really nice on the DS. You have to figure out where Ping is based on some clues by taking photos of secret markings on the glass. I looked at the map showing where the clues are and saw there were none in the shark tunnel, but Ping wasn’t there.
After taking photos you have a surprisingly difficult tile jigsaw puzzle to reveal: a shark. He gets killed by a sniper two feet away and you get to chase Ruk himself, with Ruk escaping in a dump truck (much smaller than the colossal one in the main game) and Bond giving chase via car.
Ruk flees to a small dock and you fight through his goons to continue the chase via boat, another turret section. You pump Ruk with enough bullets but he still escapes back onto land before he knocks Bond out and takes him to be tortured in Bolivia.
Bond escapes with another annoying “safe cracking” minigame, with this level also encouraging stealth, but making it optional. You’ll sneak through flooded ditches and hide behind trees to avoid guards and trucks. The outdoor environment looks really good on the DS. Bond escapes in an aircraft before being shot down, fighting his way to Ruk’s aircraft for the final confrontation with him. This fight is really annoying as the pilot keeps knocking Bond backwards and it ends with a quick time event.
The last mission has an on-foot section as you fight through the final villain’s massive house before they escape in a car, resulting in the final car chase and the final speech at the end being different to the main version – although it still has the same cliffhanger.
Blood Stone on DS is a fascinating conversion. The gameplay itself isn’t very good (especially if you don’t get on with the control setup), but there’s something oddly charming about the whole bundle and how it was adapted to the graphics of the DS.
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The original controls were bad enough when it game out and feel even worse now. There's a much better version with the game on Xbox.
It's a shame Rare's games are going on NSO, they deserve a proper release with enchantments.
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James Bond: Top Agent
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Javaground
- Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
- Platform: Java Mobile/iOS
Trying something different, this Java mobile game is a turn-based strategy loosely retelling the stories of a few classic Bond films. Not doing a generic action game is an interesting idea, and there seems to be some good aspects of Top Agent.
The graphics are very nice, with lovely pixel backgrounds and good animation. As you progress, you unlock more items and weapons to customise your character, as well as being able to upgrade your stats as you level up.
Each match is a 1 on 1 battle, you choose your items and then select your five actions for your match, then you get to watch them unfold in the order you took place. This means you can’t react to what the enemy is doing, and even though the game tells you to look for patterns in enemy actions, there is none.
Which is where the game falls apart: there’s no strategy. Winning or losing is just luck. Enemies can be focused on guns one time, then in the rematch, be all about punching and parrying. It’s a shame as there are some nice ideas, but the game is just fundamentally broken from a gameplay perspectice.
The Java version got a couple more films via DLC (including Die Another Day), and the game was later ported to iOS with redrawn graphics, but with the exact same issues.
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The Shadow War
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Six to Start
- Publisher: Puffin Books
- Platform: Browser
- Not played: Website offline, requires a login.
This was an augmented reality game aimed at kids to promote the Young Bond series of books. Players had to solve 7 missions in order to get through the game.
Most of this was done by finding clues in fake websites that were part of the game, you had to navigate the game’s internet to find hidden routes and ways that can be used to access or interact with other websites. Other parts needed you to do your own research or use things from the books themselves.
It’s an interesting idea, but as everything was saved to an account, there’s no way to play it, even using archive tools like Wayback machine.
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GoldenEye 007 (XBLA)
- Original Release: Cancelled in 2008
- Developer: Rare
- Publisher: Microsoft
- Platform: Xbox 360
In 2007, Rare were working on a remastered version of GoldenEye: it was going to be the same game, with new graphics, and updated control scheme and online multiplayer. There are lots of rumours about why this got cancelled, but nothing concrete. The game was almost finished when it was shut down and a version of release was leaked in 2021 – although based on screenshots form developers, this isn’t the latest build of the game. Some elements were unfinished – such as some missing skyboxes – but some of these issues have been patched by fans.
One feature of this remaster is the option to swap between old and new graphics – like the Secret of Monkey Island and Halo remasters. The “old” graphics aren’t quite finished so don’t look quite as good as they did on the N64 – things like reflections are missing. Still. it’s a nice feature to look back and forth. The opening dam level is specifically striking – it’s much more snowy, with extra mountains and trees in the background. The level geometry has no to been altered, so the levels are still familair.
The controls have also been properly updated for the Xbox 360, featuring dual analogue controls that feel great. Reload and changing weapons are now their own buttons, and crouching is much easier. Another addition is being able to swap between gadgets without going to the pause screen (which now features an Omega-style watch).
While some levels are essentially updated versions that look more detailed, other levels have more significant changes. Surface moves the wall of carboard trees backwards and replaces it with a fence, making it feel much more natural. There’s even a gap in the trees at the start so you can see the radar dish. With the draw distance, you can see across the whole map – although Surface 2 you can’t see as much as it’s much darker.
The Frigate levels also has some significant changes. Some textures that look like doors in the level have now been removed – so new players won’t be trying to open doors that don’t exist. You do occasionally come across some textures that haven’t been replaced, which stand out – it would be great to see a fully finished version of this game.
Statue changes the looks of quite a few objects, and is also much, much darker (too dark, in my opinion). This level does have added paths and string lights to help guide your path through the levels. The Streets level is also another let down, as it looks somehow flatter and greyer than the original level.
Jungle looks more open with the same tactic of moving the “wall of cardboard trees” backwards, however you just have an invisible wall instead. The roof of the trees is much busier and it gives the style of a jungle much better – expert for the bright purple untextured objects dotted about.
One of the biggest changes in style, however, is cradle. The original was a sea of fog with no backgrounds, whereas here you have the actual giant radar dish and surrounding mountains. Its’s still made in a way that keeps the N64 aesthetic to it, and really makes the level stand out.
Multiplayer has also had similar improvements, and even includes a couple of additional maps, such as Dam and Frigate. Some of the classic maps have had visual changes, with a few now featuring open roofs with foliage and sky visible.
This unfinished port is a great version of the classic GoldenEye, and it’s a massive shame that we never got a finished version.
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Monopoly: Ultimate James Bond Collector’s Edition (2008)
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
Like the 2006 Collector’s Edition, this is another James Bond edition of Monopoly.
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Top Trumps: 007 The Best of Bond
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Winning Moves
- Publisher: Winning Moves
- Platform: Board Game
Top Trumps is a series of many different games. It contains cards that have stats. Players take turns picking stats and compares against their opponent’s card. The highest value wins.
This one focuses on the James Bond franchise in general.
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Blood Fever: Sea Urchin Sprint
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Puffin Books
- Publisher: Puffin Books
- Platform: Browser
This flash game was made to celebrate the release of the second book in the Young Bond series. It depicts a scene from the book where James has to crawl past sea urchins in order to reach Casa Polipe.
You rotate using the left and right arrows and move forward with the up arrow. The urchins sway back and forth, so you have to time your movements right to get past. The maze is very short, but you do have a (generous) time limit to content with. Once you reach the shore, you win.
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Monopoly: 007 Collector’s Edition (2006)
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Hasbro
- Publisher: Hasbro
- Platform: Board Game
A James Bond themed version of Monopoly. These versions of Monopoly don’t do anything with the actual theme, it’s just the basic game with different pictures and player pieces. If you’ve played one licences Monopoly, you’ve played them all (other a small amount of special ones).
Monopoly is a terrible roll-and-move trading game. The mechanics were originally designed with a runaway winner in mind to demonstrate how bad landlords are, only for the game to be stolen by someone else and mass produced. The game is also often made worse by people incorporating “house rules”, such as putting fine/tax money under “free parking” – something that just makes the game drag even longer.
Almost everything you do is determined by rolling two dice. For the first few turns round the board, there is property you can either buy or send to auction (a rule most people forget) and the it’s the case of trying not to land on ren, although as it’s all dice based, there’s to tactics for doing so, other than not paying to leave jail early (it’s actually beneficial to stay in jail).
There’s also a lot of negotiating and trading properties with other players to try and create sets. In order to buy houses and hotels.
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Avenue of Death
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: TAMBA Internet
- Publisher: Ian Fleming Publications
- Platform: Browser
This flash game was made to promote the release of the Young Bond novel Hurricane Gold, the fourth book in the series. It depicts a few scenes from the book as Bond has to make it though the Avenue of Death, getting past traps and Mayan gods.
The game is mostly a simple platformer, jump past obstacles and collect coins and matches for bonus points. The of the levels are just about getting to the other side of the screen, while a few are slightly different.
One has you leaping over a serpent god, you have to time the angle of the jump and charge up your jump power. One has you swimming in the dark to find a hidden fuse and the final one requires you to light a match and use it to light a fuse.
It’s very short but enjoyable enough for a quick Flash game.
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007 Spy Cards
- Original Release: 2007
- Developer: G E Fabbri
- Publisher: G E Fabbri
- Platform: Board Game
This is a sequel to 007 Spy Files, also coming with a series of Magazines. It’s another Top Trumps style game, but with a few differences.
This version uses all cards rather than separating them out by category. Gadget card are now bonus abilities and you can only have two in your deck. Interestingly, there’s no “James Bond” card in the game. Instead, each actor has cards in their names, both a main one and multiple “costumes”.
This one only supports two players, but you now have a hand of cards to choose from rather than being stuck to a list. One player picks a card and category, and their opponent may choose any card from their hand to combat it.
The first set of 275 cards was called “Commander”, which suggests they were planning on making more, but these never came about.
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007: Quantum of Solace
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Treyarch, Beenox (PC, Wii Port)
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii
- Version played: PC
With the Bond license now going to Activision, they gave Treyarch the task of creating a new film tie-in alongside making Call of Duty: World at War. Naturally, this involved using the Call of Duty game engine, focusing on shooting with very little in the way of gadgets – that said, Daniel Craig’s Bond was less about gadgets anyway.
Starting out at the end of Casino Royale, with Bond trying to kidnap Mr. White and you get thrown straight into the action. It’s a first person shooter that feels a lot like Call of Duty 4, but also has a cover system that turns into a third person perspective. It’s a surprisingly intuitive system, and the core shooting mechanics are enjoyable.
In this level, you have to get around the gardens to find another way into Mr. White’s house, gathering intel and then having to escape as a bomb sets the building on fire – this game has some good set pieces.
After kidnapping Mr. White, the car chase that follows is unfortunately not a mission – it’s all shooting in this game. However, instead of using the opening credits from the film, the game has its own really good opening using that car chase – and it has a much better song than the film, too.
When questioning Mr. White, M’s bodyguard betrays MI6 and you need to chase him through some ancient sewers and then above rooftops. If you didn’t figure it out yourself in the first level, this introduces the melee mechanic – run up to them, hit and then perform a quick time event to knock them out. This involves moving over a reticule and hitting the fire button, so it’s not as annoying as the random button kind. The boss fights, unfortunately, just use this mechanic.
Tracking down Mr. White to the very impressive looking Bregenz Opera House. This is a fantastic level that has a wonderful atmosphere throughout due to the opera music accompanying the soundtrack. This level encourages you to be stealthy, making headshots, knocking out enemies and disabling cameras. There’s no game over for failing – but you will have to deal with armoured guards if you get spotted.
In one section, you have to climb across part of the moving stage as you get a camera view from the point of the snipers, it looks very snazzy and these parts are stylish, even if they’re simple. After spying in on the meeting (finding out about a man called Greene and a British advisor called Haines), you have to do a bit of sniping (which is very satisfying) before escaping. This is a great level.
From the best level to the worst – the game skips forward to a sinkhole, with Bond already teamed up with Camille (who has previously not been mentioned). It’s a very drab looking level, shooting enemies and helicopters then an extended stationary turret section. At the end of the level, Camille explains that she wants revenge on a general, and asks Bond why he’s invested, this brings us to the main part of the game. You see, this isn’t just a Quantum of Solace game – in fact, the Quantum of Solace parts make up less than a third of the game.
This is mainly a Casino Royale game in disguise, the flashback starts off with the opening scene of Casino Royale with two levels of Bond chasing a bombmaker. The first level has the bomber being protected by waves of henchmen to fight through, but is still a lot of fun, while the second is a parkour chase through the construction site, which works surprisingly well for a game like this.
After disposing of the bomber (off screen), Bond discovers a contact in Miami and tracks him down to the science centre. If you turn around here, you’ll see a massive billboard for some gum – this game has plenty of product placement (mainly Sony Ericsson phones and VAIO laptops). You have to take out some snipers before sneaking around the building.
Once you get in, you have to make your way down from the roof before a large fight in the main hall, destroying the exhibits inside, including a replica of Da Vinci’s flying machine.
Bond discovers a bomb threat intended for Miami Airport, and when he gets there finds out that it has been taken over by hostiles. This is another fun mission where you can be stealthy, or just go in all guns blazing if you prefer. There are plenty of objects that you can shoot to kill, blind or stun enemies, all highlighted with a slight glimmer.
A train level – it’s always oddly satisfying to fight on a train. In this mission, a drug deal is happening as you need to take the dealer out, creating a great set piece with you jumping between trains – it’s not quite Uncharted 2’s train level, but that game wasn’t out yet. This is another really fun level.
Unfortunately, you don’t get to play poker at Casino Royale (even a few rounds and an optional mini game would have been nice), so it skips forward to mid-game where Le Chiffre gets taken by Obanno. Bond chases them through the hotels – including through the stunning looking spa.
Another nice thing about this game is the damage to the environment – chunks fall off pillars and other objects break apart, some cover can also get destroyed. Some objects can be shot to take out enemies – a bit like “Bond moments” in previous games, but they feel more natural.
Next up is the shortest level in the game, but one that was a very nice inclusion and I would have liked to have seen some more non-combat moments. Bond gets poisoned and has to make his way to the car while dealing with the effects of it.
After being rescued, we get told that Bond wins the game, but Vesper is kidnapped, and Bond also gets kidnapped on route to rescue her.
As Bond frees himself, he heads to a barge and has to to a bit of sniping to protest Vesper, which is kind of annoying. After this, you assault the barge, setting off huge explosions along the way. I died a lot, but checkpoints are frequent and it’s quick to back in the action, so I didn’t mind much at all. The resolution with Le Chiffre pretty much happens off screen.
In Venice – which still looks really nice – Bond has to tail Vesper as she heads to a meeting. There’s a few nice quiet parts of this level, which are mixed with plenty of action in between. You have to make your way up a house as it sinks before finding a trapped Vesper and using a nail gun to fight off the final enemy of this section. After Vesper dies, it’s time to head back to Quantum of Solace.
We get a very brief rundown of the rest of the film before we start the final level – yes, there’s only one more level after the Casino Royale “flashback”. Fighting your way through the eco hotel, you end up saving Camille before a final confrontation with Greene and rushing out of the building before it collapses.
The game ends with Bond outside of the room containing Mr White and Haines, saying that he’s going in, to kill Mr. White and capture Haines for information. This was the original ending for the film, before they removed it (the deleted scene wasn’t even included on the DVDs).
I was really surprised by the Quantum of Solace game. It’s a lot of fun and the core gameplay is essentially the best era of Call of Duty, with third person cover that works really well. It would have been really nice to have some non-shooting parts, such as driving and poker segments. I also would have preferred a more linear story structure – having Casino Royale as a flashback when it’s so much of the game is just strange. Especially when, with the films, the end of Casino Royale flows straight into the start of Quantum of Solace (personally, I think the film works best as an “extended” version of Casino Royale).
Other Versions
Xbox 360 and PS3
The 360 and PS3 versions are the same as the PC version, just with slightly different graphics.
Wii
While most games from this game lumped the Wii and PS2 with the same alternate game, the Wii version of Quantum of Solace is actually the exact same game as the main version. The graphics have been toned down a lot, but the levels and graphics are exact the same – the only difference to the levels is one section on the opera house stage where the stage doesn’t move. The Wii version also has pointer controls, but doesn’t offer a Classic Controller as an alternative. Another thing that surprised me is that this came out before the Wii version of Call of Duty 4.
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007: Quantum of Solace (PS2)
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Eurocom
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: PS2
For the PS2 version of Quantum of Solace, Eurocom return to the Bond franchise. This one is entirely a third person shooter, but is not an extension on Everything or Nothing, with no lock-on at all. While the ability to shoot anywhere is nice, aiming feels extremely inaccurate in this game. The game, apart from a few areas, has different level design than the “next gen” versions.
Starting in the same garden as the HD game, this mission has been transformed from instant action into a long, drawn out tutorial. It goes through the basic movement, the hacking minigame (which is the same as the main version, but a lot more difficult), stealth and shooting. The game doesn’t feature anything that needs such a long tutorial, and even here you can feel how wonky and broken the cover mechanics are – the game boasts that shots are more accurate form cover, but it’s much better to walk away from cover to shoot.
The Mitchell chase is very much a chase – spend more than 5 seconds to figure out the way to go (due to the blurry dark textures) and you’ll fail the mission. It is a bit obvious when you take your time in the main game, but this is far too much in the other directions and makes this level feel like a trial and error game. You do get a boss fight at the end, which is nice, but you still have the quick time event after – and this is one of the worst examples of QTEs – a random button will pop up and you have to press it almost instantly or else you’ll fail.
After this, we do get a new level as Bond investigates a general. This is the first section where stealth is required, but the stealth mechanics are awful, so it’s a case of keep trying until you get lucky. It would have been nice to have this level in the main game, as it’s the start of Camille’s journey, which was missing form that game.
The opera house has more forced stealth, somehow even worse than the previous level as here you fail the instant someone sees you (in the previous level you had a chance before they set of an alarm). The atmosphere is completely gone, and the level itself feels tiny and static.
The sinkhole level is actually ok – probably better than the main version. This also touches on the whole water plotline that was missing from the main game. It’s still not a good level, this version is just passable.
With that, it’s time to jump back to Casino Royale again.
The bomb chase sequence is less riveting, and I found that it was better to just ignore enemies and run past in order to not fail the mission. The chasing really doesn’t come across as well without the “spectacle” the other systems were capable of.
Miami science centre skips the sniping section (which is good, the aiming is extremely stiff in this version), with Bond trying the front entrance before moving around the side. The final fight requires you to shoot the boss a lot and then complete a QTE, fail and he recovers his health. It’s a very frustrating end.
There’s no Miami airport or train missions in this version, so it’s straight on to Casino Royale, trying to save Le Chiffre.
This level is surprisingly similar to the main version, with a similar layout (but with the end cut off). It makes it more obvious how toned down the graphics are, even compared to the Wii version of the game – it shows how impressive the Wii port really is. When the level layout is so similar, it just highlights how this is lacking in the fun.
Skipping straight to the barge, this level is a slog. You have to shoot through some corridors, then take a detour to turn some pipes. Then you have to solve a puzzle involving dials before shooing your way through more rooms. The level has a boss that is invincible, no matter how much you shoot him in the head. You have to shoot random pipes instead.
Now onto the final mission. What about the Venice, the level that contains the main pivotal moment in these two films? Replaced with a line of dialogue “so that’s where the girl died”. We’re off to the eco hotel instead. Lots of shooting combined with the hardest part with the game: a hacking sequence. It took me a few dozen attempts to finally get past it. After that is a boss where you have to shoot Greene’s goons and them him – with his main henchmen, I wasn’t sure if you had to shoot him a lot or if he was invincible except for environmental stuff – turns out you just shoot him a lot.
We haven’t dealt with the general yet. Instead of escaping like last time, we have to race to the roof to stop the General. Once you reach him (going slowly, because you’ll die from random explosions if you try going fast), you have a slow motion scene where you have to shoot him, except the animation on the general is so bad that he looks like a stop motion puppet – you can see each frame of his animation as his feet glide across the floor. (Have a look for yourself)
Other than containing one important mission (and then skipping even more important ones), this a much worse version of Quantum of Solace, not nice to play and nowhere near as good as the other Bond games from this generation – even Rogue Agent is more fun to play.
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007: Quantum of Solace (DS)
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Vicarious Visions
- Publisher: Activision
- Platform: Nintendo DS
Unlike the previous DS Bond game, Rogue Agent, this doesn’t attempt to replicate the console version of the game, instead it does its own thing. A bit like the Game Boy Bond game, this is also clearly inspired by the handheld’s Zelda game, utilising a similar control method to Phantom Hourglass with the game being controlled by the stylus.
While the opening starts in the same place as the other games, you don’t get to play it, instead you’re whisked off to a tutorial at MI6. This is necessary because the controls, unlike Phantom Hourglass, are not intuitive. The DS is held sideways (either way to cater to left handed people) and moving works by holding down on the screen, crouching by tapping under Bond. Shooting is done by holding down a button (any button works) and tapping – but as you tap, the camera moves around. The zoomed in view also means that you can’t shoot far, while enemies hit you from off-screen.
Get close to an enemy and hold down a button will enter melee mode (if they haven’t seen you, you’ll take them out automatically). This is a fiddly punch-out style system where you swipe left/right up for jabs, hold on a side of the screen to block and do a circle to perform a throw. It’s extremely awkward and the detection of moves isn’t very good. Due to not much ammo, you’ll be doing this a lot. The chase mission is walking around rooftops and shooting/punching guards.
Moving onto the opera house and it’s not closed off like the other games, there’s an actual opera happening and you have to locate a wine bar to take a ticket off an enemy. You’ll collect objects like weapons, ammo, keys and health pickups, but you need to managing your inventory. You have limited space and each ammo clip uses up a space. Reloading is also a faff – you have to go to your menu and drag it to your gun as Bond will never reload on his own. Once you upgrade your quick slots, you can tap on there. Once you find Greene, the flashback to Casino Royale will start.
Skipping the start of Casino Royale and going to the science centre, the main thing you need to do are clear: be stealthy (when needed), kill enemies, collect keys and proceed to the next door. In the forced stealth sections, getting spotted will instantly fail you, and this will often happen from enemies off-screen.
Heading to the airport and you have to walk around activating servers to unlock doors. As you search levels, you’ll also find poker chips and playing cards for the game’s upgrade systems. Chips can be spend on upgrades to your strength and weapon use, while cards are moved in your inventory to create a “hand” of cards. Each cards boosts a stat, but forming poker hands will give you even more bonuses. It’s a really interesting system, but unfortunately doesn’t mean much in this game.
The train level also returned and I somehow managed to get lost. Part way through the level, the map changes from an up/down to a left/right layout. You reach a door that needs a key so I went back and forth, one of the guards commented that I had found the key. Turned out the door that triggered the dialogue about needing the key is a dead end, you have to go back to the start of the level.
The Casino Royale has you looking for keys to proceed until you need to reach the high roller’s room – which is something you needed to do in the Game Boy Bond game. You don’t partake in any gambling, though, instead you assault the innocent staff member with the pass to the room, before punching Obanno a lot (the bosses in the game have Body armour, so you can’t shoot them).
On the barge, you have to hunt around for a way to unlock Vesper’s cell. You start with no items, so there’s lots more annoying punching to do until you track down your guns (even more punching if you’ve ran out ammo). I thought that there was going to be a puzzle at the start of this level as you’re stuck in a cell, but you just walk to the door twice and a guard will let you out.
You do get the Venice level in this, but it’s more of what game before, you’ll reach a locked door and walk around killing enemies until one drops the key you need. The end of the level is comical, with Vesper being held in a cartoon-style cage suspended above the water.
Turns out that the flashback in this version was Bond daydreaming while spying at the opera house, as now he needs to escape. This level is slightly different, as you can’t attack enemies. If you stand next to a civilian, the guards won’t pay any attention to you, so you have to walk between civilians to get out.
As the main important person M wants to investigate is Haines, but recommends that you should speak to Felix, who is chilling in Bolivia. Felix doesn’t offer anything other than to Haines’ house in London. A group called the “Delta Force Squad” is out to get Bond for….reasons (Bond is still working for MI6). After Bond tells Felix “I owe you” for nothing, you fight your way out.
The final mission is an infiltration and assault on Haines’ estate, the event teased at the end of the other versions of the game. You have to set bombs off before sneaking to an lift and then have a final boss against Mr. White, who keeps setting off a bomb on Haines so you have to constantly go back and disarm it. Mr. White escapes and you take Haines into custody.
The DS version of Quantum of Solace would have been novel when it came out, but is just a pain to play. Both the shooting and punching mechanics are annoying, and the interesting RPG and upgrade systems buried in the game can’t save it. The most interesting thing is the very different ending, with the climax of Quantum of Solace simply missing.
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Quantum of Solace (Java)
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Javaground
- Publisher: Sony Pictures Television International
- Platform: Java Mobile
Following on from their Casino Royale game, Javaground developed another Java game, this time based on Quantum of Solace.
While you would expect similar gameplay or some kind of improvement, this game goes backwards in almost every way. The one improvement is that the game has some very basic cutscenes and follows the story of the film a little bit more.
The gameplay is now much more basic, melee combat is fairly useless with no finishers, larger enemies can’t even be punched. Half the time, shooting is hitting the shoot button as the enemy slowly rises above cover – one saving grace is you have infinite ammo, but reloading is slow, so you’ll end up emptying your clip after every enemy.
Stealth is also much more basic, if you jump off the platform, the enemy forgets about you and you can’t takedown from behind, only from doors.
This Java game is slow, tedious and, despite being short, manages to drag. The platforming controls also feel frustrating, especially running and jumping, which doesn’t work half of the time.
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Quantum of Solace (Java Basic)
- Original Release: 2008
- Developer: Javaground
- Publisher: Sony Pictures Television International
- Platform: Java Mobile
This is a much more basic version of the Quantum of Solace Java game. I can’t find any documentation as to why this exists, and Casino Royale didn’t have a version like this (from what I can find). While it follows the same rough structure and mechanics as the other version, it’s a completely different game.
The game is much more basic, there’s no cover mechanics, stealth or hiding in doors, just simple run and gun gameplay. The levels are all the same dull grey, with the rooftop design of the first level the only one looking slightly different.
The crazy thing is…this version is more enjoyable than the main one. While it’s still not a good game, the frustrating parts of the other version are no more, and this version is a good brainless distraction.
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18 minutes ago, Dcubed said:Surprised at how positive you were on the EA era of Bond, didn't think you'd enjoy them so much. And yes, Nightfire on GBA is an utter technical miracle! SO impressive!
They're all pretty solid games, just not the best of the best. I do think it helps playing them without spending £50 on them. I think I would have been a bit disappointed when I was younger and I only had one new game every few months, but they're all enjoyable.
I actually liked a couple of Activision's games, too (one I was really surprised I enjoyed so much, as you'll find out soon - don't worry, it's not 007 Legends).
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Casino Royale (Java)
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Javaground
- Publisher: Sony Pictures Digital
- Platform: Java Mobile
A 2D platforming/shooting game for Java Mobile phones, this loosely follows the story as you go through 14 short levels based on events in the film.
For a Java game, the controls are surprisingly smooth, with Bond jumping, rolling and running across platforms, using special “Bond Moves” to cross large gaps and climbing up and along pipes. Moving around works really well, even with the limited controls.
Combat is also simple, but effective. The same button activates shooting or – if you’re close to an enemy – punching. I focused a lot on punching and after a few hits, you can perform a quick time event for an instant takedown. You’ll find a few different kinds of guns, including a sniper rifle that can be used to activate buttons. You can also use “Bond move” in some places to kill a group of enemies using the environment, or sneak up behind them for an instant kill.
A few levels are stealth-based, but the game is very lenient and gives you a 10 second window between a guard spotting you and failing the level – kill them and the timer is cancelled. I was able to run through the stealth levels, quickly punching my way through enemies.
If you complete a level without dying, you can also upgrade your skills to be better at shooting, brawling, defence and stealth – although I focused on brawling and defence.
This is a short but sweet platform game. While it’s easy, it’s also a lot of fun. This is definitely one of the better Java mobile games that I’ve played.
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Casino Royale Strategy Game
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: Big Spaceship
- Publisher: Sony Pictures
- Platform: Browser
- Not played: Servers down
This flash game – made to promote Casino Royale – was a multiplayer turn-based strategy game where the objective was to capture a briefcase and return it to the base before the opposing team.
Your team was made up of five classes named after playing cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Joker. These had different weapons and abilities – the Queen was able to revive downed members, while the Joker can make himself invisible but can’t move, only attacking if an enemy comes close.
Each turn, you have 45 seconds to spend your action points moving, attacking or using special abilities. The game is square-based, with your vision and movement based on a set amount of squares. If you don’t use all your action points within the timer, you lose the remaining ones and the next player takes their turn.
Due to the online nature of this game, there is no way to play it now.
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Casino Royale: 180 Seconds
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Sony Pictures
- Publisher: Sony Pictures
- Platform: Browser
To market the release of Casino Royale, the official website released a series of Flash games. This one started off as “120 Seconds” before having the timer increased to “180 Seconds”. In this, you have to race to the Casino Royale in order to be seated at the Poker table in time.
You use the arrow keys to steer, trying to avoid enemies, which leave oil slicks in front of you. It’s a very simple game, and even though you can finish in less than 2 minutes, it still manages to drag.
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Casino Royale: Line of Sight
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Sony Pictures
- Publisher: Sony Pictures
- Platform: Browser
The second of four Casino Royale flash games from the official website of the film. This one is incredibly basic, where Bond must avoid guards for as long as possible.
You move around with the mouse, while the guards bounce around the edges of the screen. If you hit a guard or the edge of the game, it’s game over and you’re given a high score. There’s nothing else to this game.
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Casino Royale: M’s Assessment
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Sony Pictures
- Publisher: Sony Pictures
- Platform: Browser
This isn’t really a game, I’m only including it because it’s a part of the four Casino Royale website flash games.
This is a simple personality quiz. Answer the questions and M will tell you which MI6 division you are suitable for.
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Casino Royale: Card Shark
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Sony Pictures
- Publisher: Sony Pictures
- Platform: Browser
The final flash game from the Casino Royale website. This one involves shooting cards. You have one minute and 200 bullets to fire, trying to hit as many cards as you can.
Some cards will move behind others, allowing you to hit multiple in one shot. There’s surprisingly few card types in the game, so you’ll see lots of repeats. You’ll likely be playing by repeatedly clicking the mouse to get a decent score.
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Casino Royale (EA)
- Original Release: Cancelled in 2006
- Developer: Electronic Arts
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Platform: Xbox 360/PS3 then Xbox/PS2
Before From Russia Was Love was finished, Electronic Arts started working on a Casino Royale game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. They got early access to the cast and sets so they could start development before filming had even begun.
The game was planned to be a 3rd person shooter similar to Everything or Nothing. Early in 2006, development was only 15% complete and EA shifted to making the game for Xbox and PlayStation 2 to try and get it ready for release.
Despite expanding the James Bond contract prior to this, MGM were unhappy that the game would not be ready alongside the film and ended up cancelling the game and signing a deal with Activision instead.
MI6 HQ managed to obtain a few early renders of the final level.
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James Bond Trivia (Java)
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: 8-Bit Games
- Publisher: Sony Pictures Digital
- Platform: Java Mobile
A simple trivia mobile game about the James Bond franchise. It includes films up to Die Another Day, however there are a lot more questions about the earlier Bond films. There are also quite a few questions about other media inspired by Bond – TV shows, films and music.
Every five questions, you can earn extra points in a target shooting minigame, using a bullet for every question you get right. When you get a total of five wrong, you are given a score, although you can continue answering questions form the same point as the 100 questions are asked in order.
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SilverFin (Java)
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Morpheme
- Publisher: PlayerOne
- Platform: Java Mobile
SilverFin is a Young Bond novel - one of a series of young adult books about James Bond's time at Eton College. The Java game is a stealth/puzzle game that plays across 15 levels and three settings: Eton College, a Scottish castle and a secret laboratory.
The game is in an isometric view with simple mechanics, mainly resolving around pushing blocks into holes or out of the way. Guards move around in set patterns and if you’re spotted, will raise the alert level (but won’t chase you): get spotted three times and you fail the level. Although most failures will be a result of making a mistake with the blocks, which, due to the view, can be easy to misalign, although you do get used to it.
The game starts very simple and easy but ramps up towards the end, with some thoughtful and challenging levels. I ended up enjoying it a lot, especially in the laboratory section which mixes things up with a few new mechanics, including another enemy type.
SilverFin is a great Java Mobile game, and is a great example of a game that works really well on the platform. It’s a shame they never made more games for the other books, but sadly these games died out for more online-focused mobile games.
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From Russia With Love
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: EA Redwood Shores
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Platform: GameCube, PS2, Xbox
- Version Played: GameCube
After Everything or Nothing, EA still wanted to make James Bond games, but Pierce Brosnan was no longer James Bond, and the next Bond hadn’t been chosen. They decided on two things: one was a “Bond” game where you don’t play as James Bond (which ended up being the terrible Rogue Agent), the other: look into the past. They opted for From Russia With Love and even brought back Sean Connery to record new lines (although his Scottish accent is stronger than it used to be).
The game doesn’t officially support widescreen, but I managed to find an Action Replay code that creates a proper widescreen, as well as improved framerate.
Starting off with a brand new introduction, we get an unelated mini adventure as Bond protects the Prime Minister’s daughter from being kidnapped, fighting enemies from a criminal organisation around the Houses of Parliament, starting form the terrace (for me, it’s nice to see a place I’ve been to in a game – reminds me of the worst chips I’ve ever had, sat on the terrace).
The aiming is similar to Everything or Nothing, however now there’s an extra button which activates the precision aiming, something that I think works extremely well. It zooms in and a few important points are highlighted – such as grenades. I found it very easy to pull off headshots due to this mechanic. The aiming still has some issues, though – you still can’t aim freely and targeting objects (like explosive barrels) is still a big pain.
As the villains flee with the Prime Minster’s daughter in a helicopter, Bond stops a jetpack pilot and takes it for himself. The jetpack is loosely based on the Bell Rocket Belt seen in Thunderball (which was a real, functioning jetpack), and this one is equipped with a machine gun and rockets. The controls for it are extremely fluid and it’s a joy to use as you blast enemies around Clock Tower and save the Prime Minster’s daughter.
You then get treated to a fantastic opening titles, with some really cool effects mixed with footage from the film (plus new live action footage of the new characters) and elements of the original opening titles. The names used are of the actors the likenesses are based on, rather than the voice actors (who all do a great job) We then get to where the film opened: you play as Bond sneaking (well, mostly fighting) through a hedge maze to infiltrate a mansion, until Red Grant kills him.
As with the film, it was a fake Bond, with a very smooth transition of Grant throwing the fake Bond mask to the real Bond’s hat landing on the coatrack in Moneypenny’s office. You get to walk around MI6 and talk to Moneypenny, M and Q – this is exactly what I wanted from the “MI6 Interlude” sections in Everything or Nothing.
From Russia With Love does a great job at capturing the style of the film and the period that it is set in, with a wonderful style throughout the entire film. The presentation of the game is outstanding from start to finish, and even though the models and textures don’t look the best for the GameCube, the damage done to the environment more than make up for it to make the levels feal more real.
During the briefing, M explains that Russian defector Tatiana wants to help MI6 obtain a Lektor (a soviet encoding device), but specifically asking for James Bond. It’s deemed that it’s a trap but still worth the risk, so Bond heads to Station T in Istanbul. On the drive there, Red Grant blows up a Russian car, resulting in a horde of cars attacking Bond.
The driving mechanics are good, but unfortunately you can’t use the shoulder buttons to accelerate or break. The map is a similar “small open world” type map. After a bit of driving, you’ll have to get past a tank by sneaking around to a turret on foot – again, it’s nice to transition between driving and on foot sections.
As you get to Station T, it gets attacked. You’ll need to rescue hostages and diffuse bombs. Here you’ll get to test out one of the new gadgets: the miniature Q copter, which you can use to fly though vents and detonate to activate switches. Bond also has a rappel belt and laser watch, making their appearances slightly earlier than the films. At the end of the level, a helicopter enters the building for a brutal boss fight.
After another car sequence where you have to obtain a disguise, you need to reach a secret underground tunnel to spy on the Russians, this involves a dreadful turret section as you get driven around in a boat, having to blast open doors.
Once you spy on the Russians, you discover an attack on a Gypsy camp and that the Lektor has been moved to a secure vault, so your ally, Kerim, heads off to warn your friend while you make your way into the building to steal blueprints to the vault. You’ll encounter some large armoured guys with gatling guns, and you’ll need to shoot off the straps holding their armour to kill them.
As you escape, you’ll discover a jetpack, the opening wasn’t the only appearance of it. You blast your way out of the building, although there are a few spots you can land on to find secrets. These secrets let you update Bond’s weapons and gadgets, giving you an incentive to explore the levels.
After you escape, you help defend the Gypsy camp. Red Grant saves Bond and you then defend Kerim with a sniper rifle. Grant’s desire to kill Bond is expanded in this game as something he’s really looking forward to, and is his main motivation.
After the KGB agent retreats, Krenim really wants to go after him, so it’s time for more sniping, although this level is much more fun to the really nice setup as Krenim makes his way though some buildings.
Now it’s finally time to meet up with Tatiana and grab the Lektor form the Russian consulate. She doesn’t have a standard health bar, but a “threat” meter that goes up when enemies are targeting her, so escorting her isn’t too bad. You’ll have to make your way through gas to activate buttons to progress, as well as a go through some very long vents with the Q copter.
As you flee, it’s a race to the train station to board the Orient Express as you leave. As you take control of the car…you have to randomly drive around and blow up 30 Russian vehicles before proceeding. It’s a really strange an unnecessary mission, simply having to deal with enemies as you rush to the train station would be enough.
Now it’s time for the pivotal train section…which unfortunately is the weakest part of the game. Bond and Grant fight in a cutscene before Grant flees with the Lektor (and his new sidekick), telling his goons to sort Bond out. I’m not sure why they built up Grant’s desire to kill Bond in the right way only to have him run away like a coward.
You fight through a train station (where the escort of Tatiana does become annoying as she sits out in the open for no reason) and then have to fight a retro sci-fi Octopus train – due to rights issues with the SPECTRE name, they got renamed, but Octopus just sounds a bit too silly for this game, surely something like GHOST or PHANTOM would be better?
You finally get to fight Red Grant, and you just shoot him a lot across a train track. After shooting him with around 100 bullets (including targeting specific points on his body), he collapses and gets ran over by a train. However, his assistant has escaped, taking the Lektor with her.
Following the new villain, Adara, to an Octopus factory, you once again don a jetpack as you blast through the first bit, before having to do the rest on food. This is a really nice villain lair, with secret underground portions and a boss fight against some kind of space rover-like machine. It’s a very enjoyable mission.
Once you set some explosives and flee, Bond escapes trough a tunnel in a vehicle in a really fun car section, shooting your way through obstacles. After this, you regroup with Tatiana.
Another fun car mission mixed with on foot sections. You have to find a key to the docks and then make your way back, fighting helicopters that blow up portions of the road.
Once you make it to a boat, you need to flee the country and make it to the border. This is unfortunately a very long and dull turret section that feels like it never ends. After this, you get a cutscene recreating the end of the film as Klebb attacks Bond and Tatiana, before it abruptly jumps to the next scene.
While the film has ended now, the game has an additional tacked on action scene. Story-wise, it comes from nowhere: it just cuts to Bond parachuting and M explaining that Octopus are launching a nuclear missile towards, demanding £100 million to cancel it. It’s completely unrelated to anything else, which is fine for the cold opening, but feel really out of place.
That said, the mission is a fun one as you make your way through the secret Octopus base and sabotage their missile. You get a short jetpack section and you have to take out Adara, who is firing missiles form a jet on the ground, at the end of the mission she flies the jet into the hanger door, attempting to take Bond out with her, but missing.
As you escape the building, Bond gets attacked by a large machine equipped with gatling guns and lasers, controlled by Red Grant. Turns out he didn’t die earlier. You blow it up and Red Grant still survives the explosion, getting shot by Bond in a cutscene.
While the From Russia With Love has flaws, it’s a very enjoyable game. This smooths out the problems Everything or Nothing has and is a lot of fun to play. The missions also flow a lot better, with missions having multiple parts to them before you go back to the menu, including proper endings each time.
While I have the handheld port to look at still, From Russia With Love ended up being the last James Bond game from Electronic Arts, which is a shame as they seemed to be figuring out their style of Bond games.
Other Versions
PS2 & Xbox
The PS2 and Xbox versions are similar to the GameCube version, with slightly different graphics.
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SilverFin: Learn to Drive
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: Puffin Books
- Publisher: Puffin Books
- Platform: Browser
Young Bond is a series of Young Adult books about Bond during his teenage years at Eton collage. To promote the books, the series had a few online and Java games, starting with this one, which is about a scene from the book where Bond’s uncle, Max, teaches him how to drive.
The game was simple, do three laps around James’ uncle’s estate within the time limit. You can switch to high gear to faster. It’s also a lot more difficult than it looks. The car will bounce backwards whenever it hits a fence, wall or other objects, with a few very tight sections of road. The faster you go, the more you will bounce back.
For a very short flash game, it’s quite good fun.
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007 (Warp Spawn Games)
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: Lloyd Krassner
- Publisher: Warp Spawn Games
- Platform: Board Game
This is an unlicensed free print-and-play game developed by Lloyd Krassner, based on James Bond. It’s a set of rules followed by a list of cards – I used this and screencaps from the films to create this Tabletop Simulator version of it.
You take turns moving a pawn across a series of 10 cards. You have two action points per turn, which can be to move and/or activate a card. Allies, Action and Gadget cards are place in your “ready area” and can be used to defeat Enemy Agents and Traps, which are then place in your “Danger Pile”, you can then use these Danger cards to defeat villains and complete plots – these cards go into your Mission Pile – the person with the most cards in their mission pile when the cards run out wins the game.
There are also “Woman” cards. These can be used to defeat dangers, but instead of being discarded, they get placed in the “Seduction Pile”. The player with the most women in their seduction pile wins a “minor victory”.
The game is quite simple as you get going and flows very nicely. You need to be aware of other cards near you to avoid helping your opponents too much, and there’s some nice manipulation of the cards using powers.
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Guns & Gadgets 007
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: Cartamundi
- Publisher: Cartamundi
- Platform: Board Game
This is a pack of playing cards that contains a stats for playing a version of Top Trumps. It has imagery from all the films up to Die Another Day.
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Heroes & Villains 007
- Original Release: 2005
- Developer: Cartamundi
- Publisher: Cartamundi
- Platform: Board Game
This is a pack of playing cards that contains a stats for playing a version of Top Trumps. It has imagery from all the films up to Die Another Day.
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From Russia With Love (PSP)
- Original Release: 2006
- Developer: Rebellion
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Platform: PSP
The handheld version of From Russia With Love went to the PSP instead of the DS – and was the only Bond game to do so. It’s essentially a highly compromised version of the home console game, so I’ll be going through the things that are different in this version – the graphics are an obvious point, with Sean Connery’s dead, unblinking eyes staring at you whenever he faces the camera.
The game opens and you get the exact same level layout as the home console version, it’s initially very impressive how it captures the lighting and style of the home console version. However, Bond’s movement is incredibly stiff (partly due to only having one analogue stick), and he often gets stuck on objects. Bond’s targeting is much more accurate though, which was useful as I had no idea how to activate the Bond focus mode at this point.
The jetpack is back and also feels very clunky. It does the job somewhat, but is nowhere near the fun as the main version, and turning is not nice at all – it isn’t a problem in this mission, but is later on. Strangely, you can blast away the clock faces around Big Ben.
Another thing about the level is that sections are broken up, with loading scenes in between them. It’s not too bad here, but the game feels a lot more disjointed.
Reaching the start of the film, I was impressed with regards to the flow of the game between missions: choose to save then the next mission starts, a big improvement over the many more button presses due to returning to the menu of the home console games.
As the sections of the hedge maze is small, the camera issues start to become evident. I eventually worked out that Circle and Square rotate the camera, but it still likes to get stuck on things and is very slow to move, especially when enemies are behind you. I found myself just constantly tapping the lock on button to help with moving the camera. Another thing is that vaulting is also removed, although I can’t see any reason why.
After the section at MI6, it’s now onto the Gypsy camp. The four missions in Istanbul have been reduced to a few clips of cutscenes (partly because the vehicle sections have been removed completely). The cutscenes are from the home console version, to remind you about how toned down the graphics are. Incidentally, I got the most enjoyment from the game by crouching because the animation for it is so bad.
In this level you’ll encounter more frustrations: the gas mask is something Bond puts on straight away, with the short timespans it lasts depleting from that point. It’s also very difficult to see the gas itself.
You’ll reach the sniper sections and the aiming is horrendous, just completely stiff and not easy to adjust. The one saving grace in these levels is that the enemies spend most of the time ignoring Krenim and instead just sit down and take wile pot shots at Bond instead.
In terms of weapons, some of them just appear in your inventory at the start of levels. You can also upgrade them – a little bar in the weapon icon shows your progress to the next unlock and when it’s full, you can do one upgrade.
In the Russian consulate, I actually figured out how to use Bond focus – it’s the same button as turning the camera left. This was useful for long distance targets, but headshots don’t seem as deadly and due to how slow it is, you’re better off mindlessly blasting people up close (which is most of the game).
The train level is mostly the same, although in one part it just throw multiple waves of enemies at you for padding. The armour piercing rifle is in your inventory early, which makes dealing with the train a lot easier.
After dealing with Red Grant, we get one of my favourite levels from the main version, but this one is no fun at all. The outside section is removed completely and the level feels so disjointed due to skipping large chunks. The level again tries to compensate for its length by throwing a few waves of enemies at you for no reason.
After you finish this, the rest of the film portions become a cutscene, missing some fun vehicle missions but also avoiding the awful boat level. It does feel a bit strange that the main parts removed are sections based on the actual film.
In terms of matching the home console version, the Octopus base is one of the best conversions. The route through the mission is partially streamlined (which is an improvement), but the whole level is there. One issue is that the camera and aiming is your main enemy in the central room, with enemies appearing from all sides. You sabotage the nuke and defeat both villains in the same way.
While this version is lacking multiple levels (including all the bonus levels), it does have something new: challenge missions. These are simple objectives (kill enemies as quickly as possible, survive for x time, finish a section quickly) that take place in parts of the levels.
From Russia With Love shows how the PSP can somewhat replicate a home console experience, but at the same time, this game is incredibly compromised that its also an example of why it shouldn’t be done.
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Mortal Kombat 4 - All N64 Games
in General Gaming Discussion
Posted
Wave Race 64
It took a few months for the Nintendo 64 for a new game, and when it game it met with glowing reviews. I do remember playing this slightly as a kid, and distinctly remember having a lot of trouble with it due to being awful at it. However, it was only short goes as it was a friend’s copy of the game.
Wave Race 64 is a jet ski racing game. Not only do you have to complete the circuits, but you have to pass buy buoys on the correct side. Miss one and you’ll lose some power, miss five and you’ll fail that race.
Just a quick note about widescreen screenshots: some emulators can try to expand the view of games to work in widescreen, but a lot of games have issues with this. A few games have unofficial widescreen patches and some have action replay codes to make it run in widescreen. A very small amount of N64 games have widescreen support built in. For Wave Race, extending the view worked a charm, and the game looks great.
It’s difficult to get across the look of Wave Race in screenshots – the ocean and how it moves is the main impressive part of the game. The ocean moves in a realistic way and it still stands out as water in games is still not easy to do today – to the point that it’s really games that are entirely focused on water that have proper wave simulation (games like Sea of Thieves). The water is also not just for looks – it affects the movement of your jet ski and you’ll have to work out how to race using them to your advantage.
The levels in Wave Race also manage to feel distinctive, which is not an easy task for water based games. While I’ve just praised the waves a lot, one stand out level is Drake Lake – which doesn’t have waves. The level starts off foggy but clears up as you progress, with the lake having a silvery reflective surface. There’s something really beautiful about this level, even today.
Another very memorable one is Southern Lake. In this level, the tide is going out. Each lap, the obstacles will be different due to the level of the water. A big pier blocks the way on the first lap, but you can zoom through its supports on later laps. Unfortunately, the game only has 8 courses (plus a bonus training course)
There are three main difficulties in Wave Race, however the difficulty doesn’t just alter the enemy racers. Instead, the locations of the buoys are different, making navigating the levels much more difficult. You need to truly master the waves to succeed at the game and your reward is reverse mode, where you race across the tracks backwards, which makes the levels feel a lot different.
Outside of the main championship mode, Wave Race offers time trial and a stunt mode. You can set your own high stores in the stunt mode as you have to make it to the next checkpoint while hitting rings and performing tricks. The other main move is a 2 player race.
Wave Race 64 doesn’t contain a lot of stuff, but there’s so much detail in what it does do that it makes up for it. It’s a really fun game that rewards skill and offers a significant challenge. Wave Race got a sequel on the GameCube, but there’s nothing out now that’s quite the same.
Remake or Remaster?
Wave Race: Blue Storm has been accused of being too much like a remake, so a new game would be a better option.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no way to buy a new copy of Wave Race 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.
Re-releases
1997: Wave Race 64 Rumble Pak version (Japan only)
2007: Wii Virtual Console (this replaced the Kawasaki banners with Wii and DS logos)
2016: Wii U Version Console (this had the original graphics)
2022: Nintendo Switch Online (subscription only)