Posted September 26, 2023 While I was posting about playing Star Trek games, I've managed to play all James Bond games (with a few lost flash/LCD/mobile games I couldn't play). Rather than doing roughly 7 games on a weekly basis, I'm going to separate them out differently, although still in date order. Board games and non-main games will be in bigger batches while the main games will have a bit more time to focus. The first two updates will be just board games - there was a lot of early James Bond board games. --- James Bond 007: Secret Agent Game Original Release: 1964 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game Old board games are either hard to come by, or expensive. Many are missing pieces or have other damaged. Trying to play these out-of-print games with the original physical copies is pretty much an impossible task. Thankfully, a game called Tabletop Simulator has tools that can help recreate board games, so by finding as much imagery of the components, along with pictures or scans of the rules, I can re-create these old games to play – as well as letting others play it. This Milton Bradley game seems to be the first James Bond board game, coming out in 1964. My experience with licensed games from this era is that most are roll and move games, but this one has no dice at all. It is still, however, heavily dependant on luck, although there is some strategy involved. Each player has three cards, depicting one of the 11 locations in the game (or a “Spy Anywhere” game). Your goal is to move to the centre of that location (to the yellow spot) and play the card to score points. You can move between 1-3 spaces. However, for every space you move, the clock hand seen on the board moves that number of hours. If you score after your move, you score an amount equal to what the clock hand is pointing to. This means it’s not as simple as going to the locations on your cards, you want to time it just right to get the most points. In the middle of the game, you can bonus your points by having multiple agents in the same area, if you time this right, you can store a ton of points in one go. It’s nice to see a licensed board game try its own thing, it’s a decent idea for a board game and is quite fun. --- The James Bond 007: Secret Service Game Original Release: 1965 Developer: Jumbo Publisher: F.X. Schmid, Jouets Éducatifs Universels, Jumbo, Spear’s Games Platform: Board Game This board game went though a few different designs, for my recreation I went with the Spear’s version – the game itself is exactly the same, it’s mainly the board graphics that are different between each version. In Secret Service Game, you are all competing to capture the briefcase at the centre of the board. Each layer of the board has different movement rules. In the outer layer, you play airport card to move between airports. In the “car” layer, you can move one space at a time, or two if you get in a car. The “shore” layer is similar, but has boats that help you get to the island – you can also play a helicopter card to move between these points. To get across the water, you can use a boat or play a swimming card. You’ll also need to have the relevant “gate” card to access the island. Once you’re there, you’ll need to play a card that allows you to pick up the briefcase, then make your way back to your starting spot with the same rules. However, other players can capture the briefcase from you if they land on your spot and play the correct card. Whoever gets back to their base with the briefcase is the “real” James Bond. It’s simple and a bit silly, but fun and beats all the “roll & move” games. --- James Bond 007 Tic-Tac-Toe Original Release: 1965 (Possibly) Developer: Marvin Glass Publisher: Marvin Glass Platform: Board Game There’s not a lot to say about this game – it’s Tic-Tac-Toe (or Noughts & Crosses), but one person plays as 0 and the other plays as 7. The main significant thing is the rather nice metal casing the game is made in, with rotating parts to swap between blank, 0 and 7. --- James Bond 007: Thunderball Game Original Release: 1965 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game A roll and move James Bond board game was inevitable, but this one has some nice ideas – although clearly inspired by Cluedo. In this game, you are travelling to 6 different areas to try and identify nuclear bombs – one of them is the real one and the others are fake. Movement is done by dice, you roll two and pick which one you want for your movement and which one to move the spectre agent (who will injure anyone he lands on), although the latter only moves in one direction. Once you reach an island (which requires an exact roll), you secretly look at the bomb and the triangle token, this will give you a colour and a letter. You then need to return to the centre island an pick a new number island to head towards. Once you’ve looked at all six bombs, you use the code on your sheet to identify which colour is the real bomb, and then head to it to win (if you figure it out early, you still need to have looked at all bombs and filled in the sheet to win). Instead of heading to an area, you can also choose to go “on the prowl”. You can’t visit any islands, but can move around the board looking for other agents. If you land on one, you will get to look at one of their answers. It’s quite simple, but has some nice ideas. --- James Bond 007: Card Game Original Release: 1965 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game James Bond’s skill at casino and bluffing games is well known from the books and films, so a bluffing game makes a lot of sense for a James Bond game. In this bluffing game, each player is dealt three cards – these are numbered 1-7 with a “007” wild card. Two cards are face up with the middle one face down. The object of the game is to get “winning combinations” – which are three of the same number or a straight. When you have – or want to claim you have – a winning combination, you let it be known. People can bet against you if they don’t think you do. If they call your bluff, you have to give them chips, but if they call you out and you have a winning combination, you get chips off them. It’s simple, but a nice little filler game. --- 007 Original Release: 1965 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game This James Bond board game is an abstract strategy board game where you are trying to capture your opponent’s tiles. It’s best placed as a 2v2 game, although the rules do cover 1v1 and 1v2 versions. Red team plays against black team. The game starts by taking turns to place tiles in a 4×4 grid. These tiles are numbered 1-5 (worth that many points) or have a 007 logo (worth 10 points). More of one colour may appear on the board than another, but the game assuses us that this is “fair”. Once these have all been placed, the main part of the game appears. Each player picks (face down) one of their B-O-N-D tiles that matches the row they want to use. Once all players have picked, they’re placed on the relevant position. Any crossroads signifies tiles that can be “captured”. Any tiles goes to the side of the opposite colour. Capturing seven tiles ends the game, with the team that has most points being the winner. This is an interesting little game, but doesn’t really have much to do with James Bond other than the logo on a few tiles and “BOND” being four letters. --- 007: Underwater Battle from Thunderball Original Release: 1965 Developer: Tri-ang Publisher: Tri-ang Platform: Board Game This board game is exactly what the title describes: it lets you play out the Underwater Battle from Thunderball. The game came with pre-painted miniatures, so my Tabletop Simulator version uses some simple royalty free models to represent them,: they’re not accurate, but they get the job done. Each side has a boss (Bond or Largo) and a squad of frogmen. Bond and Largo can move six spaces, while the rest can only move four. There’s also a SPECRE submarine, which Largo has to escort to Miami or Bond has to capture and take to the US Warships. After you move, you then roll the dice and you can use this to move sharks. Fighting is quite simple: each larger red square is a “fighting zone”, if opponents are in one you tally up the “fighting score” for each side: 1 for each basic Frogman, 2 for Bond/Largo. The SPECTRE sub reduces the rider’s score by one. If it’s your turn, you can also use sharks to add to your score. The losing side is killed. It’s a very simple system that removes luck from the equation. It’s a simple game that is almost pure strategy – with the slight exception of dice to help with the unpredictable nature of sharks. The physical figures also look good, so it’s a nice spectacle as well. --- The James Bond Box Original Release: 1965 Developer: Waterman’s Publisher: Waterman’s Platform: Board Game In this game, everyone takes turns trying to open a briefcase by moving the letters of “James Bond” over numbers and uncovering all the items. On your turn, you roll the two dice and move numbers that perfectly add up to the total shown on the dice. You keep doing this until you move all the numbers or you can’t use the total of the dice, where you record your score based on the numbers you still have showing. The person with the lowest score (or any that open the box) win the game. This game is more commonly known as “Shut the Box” and has many different versions. The box art for this one is quite nice, though. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 26, 2023 They weren't exactly very creative when naming these early board games were they? Looks like you're gonna be breaking out the Tabletop Simulator quite a bit here 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 26, 2023 I was trying to work out why all the images looked so....off. Took me quite a few to realise they were all CGI. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted September 29, 2023 James Bond 007: His Beautiful Women Original Release: 1965 Developer: Hanayama Publisher: Hanayama Platform: Board Game This is a very rare Japanese board game from Hanayama. I initially managed to recreate the game based on some cached information on Bing (which didn’t have the cards), but then Toys of Bond sent me nice photographs of their copy so I could recreate it more faithfully. In this game, one person plays as a judge and has to give clues as to which of the women on the board is a spy. They do this by playing cards showing hair colour, clothing style, clothing colour, body size and accessory. After each card is played, the other players take turns placing their token on which girl they think is the one the judge is aiming for. However, you only have six tokens across four rounds, so you need to be careful not to use them all up. It’s a simple game, but not very exciting. The link to James Bond is quite weak and the game could have any theme. --- Secret Agent 007: The Game of International Spies Original Release: 1966 Developer: EPA Publisher: EPA Platform: Board Game This is an unlicensed James Bond game from Greece, and is a very simplistic game. There are 16 embassies and your job is to steal the “black box” from as many as possible. An “envelope” is revealed that matches an embassy and the first player that gets there takes it. You take turns rolling the dice and moving that many spaces. That’s all there is from the game, it’s a basic luck-based roll & move game. The game design is also a knock-off of the board game “Spy Ring” by Waddington’s, although the rules of this version are much, much more basic. --- James Bond 007: Goldfinger Game Original Release: 1966 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game This Goldfinger game is loosely based on the Vault fight from the film. It’s an abstract strategy game: Bond’s me are trying to capture Goldfinger, while Goldfinger is trying to escape. You take turns moving your men around. They can be moved in a straight line as far as you want until they hit an obstruction (another figure). If you have two of your men surrounding one of your opponent’s piece, you will remove them from the game. Goldfinger is safe when standing on his exclusive centre square – Bond needs to completely surround him on all four sides to capture him there, although standard rules apply everywhere else. While the number of pieces seems unfair (Bond has a lot more), the game is balanced as Goldfinger just needs a clean run to the edge of the board to escape and win. This game is a version of an ancient game called “Tafl”, which is sometimes referred to as just “Viking Game”. --- James Bond 007 Message from M Game Original Release: 1966 Developer: Milton Bradley Publisher: Milton Bradley Platform: Board Game A lot of the charm of this game is in the physical component, it has a lot of neat 3D parts, a decoder and a fancy device which spins your movement number and has a soldier pop up if you’re unlucky. The Tabletop Simulator version is quite flat, with dice mimicking the effects of the main device. In Message from M, you are trying to be the first agent to capture one of the four villains, who each have their separate sections: Largo, Goldfinger, Dr. No and Rosa Klebb. To do this, you have to consult the Letter from M Device. You stat off with a hand of 5 cards, these depict one of the villains or Bond. You play one of these and you’ll be working on that villain’s section (if you play a Bond card, you can choose). You then consult the Message from M device, which will give you a movement number and a bonus (either equipment or a Message from M card). After this, you pull the trigger to see if the SMERSH soldier appears – if he pops up, you lose your turn. If you get past the soldier, you first move the villain forwards or backwards – you want to get them to the last spot, but also want to block your opponents. You then move your piece forwards towards the villain, the aim to trap them in the last spot of their section. You can then push your luck to try again – although if the SMERSH soldier pops up now, you’ll be forced to move backwards. When moving the villain, if you can land exactly on an opponent, you can send them back to the start of the section – although equipment can be used to block this. The Message from M cards look like nonsense, so you’ll need to use the plastic decoder to find the message – each card actually has two messages (although the rules don’t specify how you choose which one to use). These can help you move, make you miss turns, get you equipment and other random effects. With the actual components, I can see this being a silly but fun game that will entertain kids. --- Licence to Kill (Golden Wonder Crisps) Original Release: 1967 Developer: Golden Wonder Crisps Publisher: Golden Wonder Crisps Platform: Board Game A card game from the crisp manufacturer Golden Wonder. In “Licence to Kill” you are trying to capture four Bond villains, but nobody else knows who you are after. You start off with four cards, each turn you draw one and then discard one (you can draw from the top of the discard pile if a card you want is there). You keep doing this until someone has the four villains matching their objective card. There is also a “OHMS” card which lets you swap for a discarded card as soon as it is discarded. It’s a fairly simple card game, but a decent filler. --- James Bond 007: You Only Live Twice (Tri-Ang) Original Release: 1967 Developer: Tri-Ang Publisher: Tri-Ang Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007: Si Vive Solo Due Volte This Italian board game is be a roll and move game (well, spin an move) loosely based on You Only Live Twice, with players moving across numbered squares and lots of routes off to the side. This takes a snake-and-ladders style game and just makes it much, much worse. For starters, it’s really long: over 360 squares if don’t hit any diversions or get made to move backwards. You spin the spinner in the middle (it’s important to note that this has a 0, so essentially miss a turn) and move that number of spaces. If you land on an arrow, you need to start moving along the “cul-de-sac”, you have to move all the way along to the end and back before you can start along the main path again. If you land on one of the numbered squares, you’ll need to go back to the instructions to see what happens. Most of these are “lose three turns”, although there’s even a “lose four turns” and a fair amout are “return to start”, even ones later on. A very small number are positive, but even then it’s just a measly move forward two spaces (and some of these put you on a cul-de-sac). There is some flavour text that works through the events of the film. If anyone can ever be bothered playing long enough to make it to the end of the main track, you move onto a small final section. Here you use a spinner with different numbers and there are no obstacles. You do need to roll an exact number at the end to win. Even for a roll and move game, this is particularly terrible. It’s long, tedious and just makes you skip turns or start again a lot. You also have zero input on the game, it’s just do what you’re told. --- James Bond 007: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Italian Board Game) Original Release: 1967 Developer: Unknown Publisher: Unknown Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007: Al Servizio Segreto Di An Italian board game from an unknown publisher. I manged to find information about it on Toys of Bond, who provided me of high detailed imagery of the board, components and Italian rules. Using Google Translate as a base, I translated the rules and they seem incomplete, and the full components don’t seem to be in the game. The first stage of the game is simple: One player is Bond, one player is Blofeld. You roll one dice and move that many spaces. Some spaces will make you miss a turn, others will let you roll again – although these aren’t marked on the board, you have to keep looking at a chart in the rules. When this is over, the game then says that you start playing a game of checkers on the bottom. Quite how this relates to the first half the game, I have no idea. The idea behind it makes sense in: the original movement is the actions of both Bond and Blofeld in the film, while the checkers is the final battle as Bong brings allies (the rules mention this much). My interpretation is this: when one player reaches the end of the track, the game of checkers starts. This player then gets to upgrade on of their pieces into a king (representing the main character). They take turns playing checkers as normal, with the second player also moving their character pawn. Once they reach the end, they can upgrade one of their checkers into a king, but only on the row closest to them (representing them joining the battle late). The artwork on the board has a great style and the whole thing certainly has a unique look, but really it’s just a roll and move game that leads to a (potentially) slightly different game of checkers. --- Moonraker Card Game Original Release: 1979 Developer: Heraclio Fournie Publisher: Heraclio Fournie Platform: Board Game This Spanish card game contains the cards 1-8 in four colours. Each one has an image and information about the Moonraker film. The game itself is a variant of Uno: one card is revealed and you have to match the colour or number, with the aim of getting rid of all your cards. The cards numbered “5” are wild cards which can be placed on any card and the person that placed it choosing what colour it represents. --- The next update will have the first James Bond video games - one unlicensed, one official. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 2, 2023 Shaken but Not Stirred Original Release: 1982 Developer: Richard Shepherd Software Publisher: Richard Shepherd Software Platform: ZX Spectrum Also Known As: Super Spy Shaken but Not Stirred is an unofficial adventure game for the ZX Spectrum. It was quickly rebranded as “Super Spy” (possibly to avoid a lawsuit), however the game itself was not altered, just the cover. A jet carrying mysterious cargo has gone missing when the secret service get a ransom note from Dr. Death demanding payment or else he’ll flatten London. James Bond is sent to stop him, picking a few weapons for getting through the game. The game is split into four distinct parts, each having completely different gameplay. The first part of the game is a text adventure. You have to search the world for clues. You type in a location you want to go to, encounter a random event and try to get clues that form an anagram. These letters may be out of alignment – for example, you may receive an F, but because the letters are five steps ahead, it actually means an A. You have to use this to work out the location of Dr. Death’s secret base. Some of these encounters are fights, which I could not get to work as none of my prompts were accepted. I found someone else having similar problems, but their situation doesn’t work, so I just died on those parts. Luckily, the solution is the same, so you can combine your knowledge from previous attempts. Once you reach the secret island, it continues with the text-based interface, but you have to navigate a maze. You move in directions and occasionally fight. Luckily, the prompts worked for these fights, but it’s a very simple system where any weapon will kill in one hit (you so really need to have picked the weapons with more ammo). The layout of the map is consistent, however the “connections” between areas are random, so even if you know where you want to head, you can reach dead ends. Once you locate the secret base, you then play a very different kind of made. This is a 3D style made where you navigate using the arrow keys to turn and move forward. This part is incredibly frustrating, and it seemed like button presses didn’t work a lot, and some turns didn’t match up with the doors (for example, there can be a door to your right, but when you turn right there isn’t one in front of you). To make matters worse, PAWS (a renamed Jaws) randomly pops up to kill you, with no way to evade. The final “chapter” of this game is incredibly disappointing: it’s the board game Mastermind. Enter four numbers and you’ll see if any are correct, and if any are in the right place. You need to work out the secret code to beat the game. Shaken but Not Stirred has some interesting ideas, and having different gameplay for different chapters does make sense for a Bond game. Unfortunately, this game is just annoying, partly due to things not working, others due to the complete randomness. Still, for the first James Bond video game (even unofficial), it’s not an atrocious first attempt. --- Moonraker (Atari) Original Release: Cancelled in 1982 Developer: Charlie Heath Publisher: Parker Bros Platform: Atari 2600 Not played: No leaked prototypes Not much is known about this game, only that it was an early prototype for a Bond game. A stage based on the final mission was created by Charlie Heath, which he described as “You’re in space orbiting earth in the space shuttle, chasing bio-terrorist pods to shoot them down before they break up in the atmosphere, while your shuttle and the pod are being buffeted about by reentry. You see something that looks a bit like a spinning earth bobbing about at the bottom of the screen.” Parker Bros turned down this game as they wanted something with Bond running around with gadgets, something more like Pitfall. A game based on Octopussy was put in development instead, until that game had its own problems. --- James Bond 007 – As Seen in Octopussy Original Release: Cancelled in 1983 Developer: Western Technologies Publisher: Parker Bros Platform: Atari VCS Not played: No leaked prototypes This was going to be the first official James Bond video game, and a demo was playable at some game shows, such as the Electronic Fun Expo. It was a side scrolling shooter set on a train, where you fought goons while racing on top of the train. The game got a couple of adverts, but no footage exists. The developer, Western Technologies, never the finished the game and the publisher, Parker Bros got another company, On Time Software, to develop a different James Bond video game. --- James Bond 007 (Atari) Original Release: 1983 Developer: Parker Brothers, Tsukuda Original (SG-1000) Publisher: Parker Brothers Platform: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, SG-1000 Version played: Atari 2600 After a few failed attempts to get a developer to make a James Bond game for the Atari, Parker Brothers ended up developing it themselves. The end result was a vehicle game clearly inspired by Moon Patrol. It’s a side scrolling shooter and you have two forms of attack: a gun that shoots into the air, and a bomb that arcs downwards. They both share the same button, so you alternate between the two, meaning you’ll fire a lot of useless shots (especially when you’re driving along the ground. The missions are loosely based on four films: Diamonds are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only. The missions do have objectives: find a hidden oil rig, destroy an underwater base, destroy satellites and find a hidden shipwreck. The hidden objects are found by shooting diamonds in the sky, and throughout it, you need to destroy enemies and dodge obstacles with a very awkward jump. While the gameplay could be used for pretty much any franchise, the objectives are actually based on scenes from the respective films. While the game looks and plays like complete madness, the manual explains the objectives and all the random stuff happening surprisingly well. It doesn’t make the game good, but it at least shows effort into tying it into James Bond. Other Versions Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64 The Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64 versions of the game are identical to the Atari 2600 version I played. Even though they had additional buttons, the fire button still alternated between the two different shot types. SG-1000, ColecoVision The SG-1000 and ColecoVision had a slightly different version, with the SG-1000 version developed by Tsukuda Original. The level layouts and objectives were the same, but the graphics are different. On top of that, you can choose which kind of shot you want to make. --- James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty’s Secret Service Original Release: 1983 Developer: Victory Games Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game A full RPG like this is a very daunting thing to play, plus requires a ton of work from more than just one person, so I’ve only skimmed and read up about this. The game covers how James Bond (and other agents) are the ones with the advantage, not the Games Master – the Games Master can not cheat like other RPGs, but also can’t help too much at pointing out where the players need to go. While the RPG and books are clearly based on the films, it features unique character designs plus replaces SPECTRE with TAROT (presumably due to rights issues). The system is based on a percentile system, with bonuses for getting a higher score than 100, with specific rules for stunts and chases – this RPG is all about spectacle than simulation. This RPG is also geared to low player counts, with rues that support just the GM and one other player. --- James Bond 007 Agent Game Original Release: 1984 Developer: Risto J. Hieta Publisher: Voitto Pohjola Ky Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007 Agenttipeli, James Bond 007 Agentspel. This is a board game released in Sweden and Finland by Voitto Pohjola Ky, I have translated the rules and event cards into English for my recreaton. This is a roll and move game where you’re all competing to identify which of the six crime families have stolen nuclear warheads. At the start of the game, three cards from one of the families is removed at random (leaving one card behind). All but these three cards are then shuffled with the event cards. The three hidden cards are from the family that have stolen the weapons, and the other players have to figure out what family that is. Players will do this by moving between cities. The first player to enter a city will remove the token on it and draw a card, showing it if it an event card or placing it face down in front of them if it is a crime family card. If one player collects three from the same family, they have to reveal them, but get a cash reward for it. Money can also be used to move around quicker: you can charter flights between some cities or hop on a ferry. You can even buy a helicopter or car to permanently improve your movement. You gain money from gambling at casino cities: you pay $100 and roll the dice. If you get a 1, you lost it, roll anything else and you’ll get that number multiplied by 100. Some event cards will give (or take) money away. You can also pay $300 to another player to look at one of their cards, helping you eliminate suspects. The investigation part of this makes it a bit more than a simple roll and move game, and being able to spend money to negate the rolls is also a good thing, but it’s still a fairly dull game overall. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 3, 2023 7 hours ago, bob said: Do Goldeneye! That's like the one game he doesn't need to detail! Also, we're still more then a decade away from that yet. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 3, 2023 8 hours ago, bob said: Do Goldeneye! Don't worry, I'll get to the Tiger Electronics game "GoldenEye". Or did you mean Rogue Agent? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 3, 2023 I'm only at this gig for that one s̶o̶n̶g̶ game. If you don't play it soon, I'm going to start throwing bottles of piss. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 3, 2023 3 hours ago, Cube said: Don't worry, I'll get to the Tiger Electronics game "GoldenEye". Or did you mean Rogue Agent? Nah, clearly he means the Wii game... or maybe the PS3/360 version? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 4, 2023 A View to a Kill: The Computer Game Original Release: 1985 Developer: Softstone Ltd. Publisher: Domark Platform: Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, Oric, ZX Spectrum Version played: Commodore 64 Domark – a company that later rebranded as EIDOS – got the James Bond license and made quite a few games for classic home computers. The first one was A View to a Kill, based on the film. The game comprised of five sections, although only three were gameplay segments. The first is the opening, showing a gunbarrel and some great music. The first main level is in Paris, where you have to drive around trying to find the landing spot of MayDay, who is currently parachuting. The level is a maze, with the screen split into two: the top view is a first person perspective and completely useless (enemies don’t appear on it), the lower is a top down view where you’ll be focused on. There’s no consistency to the map, it feels completely random. Enemies show up and you’ll need to shoot them. If you drive too close to the wall, you can get stuck and be unable to turn. The beepy rendition of the film’s theme is quite funky, though. Next up is city hall, a point and click adventure that is astonishingly clunky to control. You press fire to enter item selection mode, scroll until you have what you want (or nothing), press fire again to enter item selection mode, scroll to select your action then press fire again to do it. On the action selection, you can select “Return” to go back to standard controls of walking around. It’s extremely fiddly. This portion of the game is aimlessly wondering around, searching everything, trying to find coloured keys and using them on coloured doors. It’s tedious. The building is also on fire, so you have a limited time before it consumed Bond (or an item you need). The third section has you exploring a cave and combines the previous point and click elements with platforming. If you are stationary, you enter item selection, if you’re running, you’ll jump. So the horrible controls have gotten worse. The level is a massive maze and you need to find items to get around. There’s no fall damage, so getting down is easy, but if you don’t find the winch at the right time, you’ll be stuck. The ultimate objective is to enter a code into a bomb to disarm it. To do this, you’ll need to hunt down all the numbers, which are physical items you need to pick up, then use them in the correct order so you diffuse the bomb. You then get treated the final cutscene where Bond is in the shower with Bond and Stacey in the shower, with Bond breaking the camera with a champagne cork. Just like Shaken but Not Stirred, different gameplay types for different scenes does make a lot of sense. Once again, though, these sections are just not nice to play. And while the two pieces of music are great, you get tired of them long before the game is finished. Other Versions Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC version is a toned down version of the game, but with the same gameplay and level design. In the cave level, there’s no scrolling, so the map is cut into squares. Oddly, the missions are played in the opposite order to the Commodore 64 version. MSX The MSX version starts in the cave level and once again has screens instead of scrolling. This version lacks the Paris chase segment of the game. ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum version is similar to the C64 version, but with simpler graphics. The final door of the City Hall level is broken, you you need to use a poke command to fix it. There is a nice artwork at the end of this level, although the other two levels don’t have one. Oric The Oric version completely lacks the cave level. The City Hall level is entirely in a 2D perspective and the Paris chase only has the top down view. This is the most basic version of the game. --- James Bond 007: A View to a Kill Original Release: 1985 Developer: Angelsoft Publisher: Mindscape Platform: MS-DOS Developed by Angelsoft, this is a text adventure based on A View to a Kill. One thing I noticed about this text adventure is how good the writing itself is, so it’s no surprise that one of the writers and developers, Raymond Benson, went on to write James Bond novels. The game is very good at understanding commands, allowing you to do some things that don’t progress the game. A lot of the puzzles involve examining objects and interacting with what you find, although one at the start has no mention of a watch you have to look at, you just need to remember that Bond checked out a watch in the film – it’s odd because nothing else in the game lacks this knowledge. The game is extremely difficult. Not only do you need to figure out exactly what you need to do, but some events seem to happen at certain times, so if you took to many steps earlier on, you’ll completely fail. This is pretty typical for text adventure games, though, with lots of note-taking, trial and error and repeating. The quality of the writing, including all the failed attempts, make this a good text adventure. --- James Bond 007: Goldfinger Original Release: 1985 Developer: Angelsoft Publisher: Mindscape Platform: MS-DOS There’s not really a lot to say about this text adventure that isn’t a repeat of A View to a Kill. This is another difficult but well written text adventure game. This one does follow the film a bit closer than A View to a Kill did. --- 007 Car Chase Original Release: 1985 Developer: Nicholas Coplin Publisher: Coplin Software Platform: Commodore 64 007 Car Chase is an unofficial game for the Commodore 64 made by Nicholas Coplin, who made a few Commodore 64 games written in BASIC, including a bootleg version of Frogger. This is a very basic driving game. You have a few weapons, and blowing up other cars get you points. You need to dodge other cars, make the occasional turn and get to the correct side of the road whenever the bridge appears. The game is incredibly slow, often running at 1-2 seconds per frame. If the game ran smoothly, it would be a fairly basic but enjoyable arcade driving game with an Atari feel to it, but for a game this simple running so badly on the Commodore 64, which was capable of a lot more, makes this rather abysmal. --- 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 6, 2023 007 James Bond: Goldfinger (Victory Games) Original Release: 1985 Developer: G. Christopher King Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game Alongside the big RPG and it’s many additions, Victory Games also made a series of simpler board games, each loosely based on an event from one of the films. This one portrays the car chase from Goldfinger. In this game, the Bond player must find Tilly and escape, while the enemy player must delay or destroy Bond’s car. The enemy player has five cards: Tilly, three traps and a blank card. These are placed on buildings face-down for Bond to search. Turns for Bond and the enemy are similar: You roll the dice for movement (the amount of spaces you move is determined by a chart) and then take actions as you move. These include tricks to move past other cars, quick turns, ramming, shooting and more. To see if you’re successful you roll the dice – you want a low number. At the start of the game, Bond must add four to all of his action rolls (making it more difficult) until he spends the full actions of one turn to eject the guard in the passenger seat. While it’s Bond vs 4 enemy cars, Bond has a few more tricks up his sleeve and a lot more health. You’ll also need to sometimes risk performing a trick or turn action instead of taking the long way round, the result of the dice can change the game a lot. While it’s very luck based, it’s not a bad little game. --- 007 James Bond: You Only Live Twice (Victory Games) Original Release: 1985 Developer: G. Christopher King Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game The next game in the Victory Games board game line-up, this time based on the gyrocopter fight in You Only Live Twice. The mechanics for this are very similar to Goldfinger, but with lots of small differences. You now must make your full movement (you can’t stop) and it’s an all out dogfight – Bond’s mission is simply to destroy all enemies. The main form of attack is with a machine gun, but everyone has limited ammo. The enemies have plenty to kill Bond, but as they aren’t as skilled, they’re more likely to miss. Bond doesn’t have enough ammo to shoot all the enemies down, but he can attempt to bash into the enemies to force them to crash, destroying them in one go (enemies can also attempt this, but need to roll a 2-3 to hit Bond, and then Bond can dodge with a roll of 2-8). It seems quite well balanced, although if the enemy gets really lucky, they can take Bond out in one turn. Once the movement rules come into play, they’re more spread out and it’s anyone’s game. --- 007 James Bond: Live and Let Die (Victory Games) Original Release: 1985 Developer: G. Christopher King Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game Based on the boat scene from Live and Let Die, this Victory Games board game follows on the mechanics from their Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice games for a thrilling boat chase. In this one, Bond’s only objective is to escape – the big difference is that he doesn’t have a weapon, and his only attack is to push enemy boats to make them lose a turn. He can make use of his skills to make jumps and quick turns easier than his opponents. This game also has action cards. Most of them allow you to take all the standard actions without suffering a penalty, while others let you add roads to cut the river, bring a blockade or distract an enemy (or Bond) using the sheriff and some are specific to a team – the enemy can play a special shot card which slows Bond down, while Bond has one card that can heal his boat – the right player getting one of these cards can make a huge difference. --- 007 James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun (Victory Games) Original Release: 1985 Developer: G. Christopher King Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game This Victory Games James Bond board game is a departure from the previous three – this one is a solo game with completely different mechanics. This one challenges the player to make it through the maze from The Man with the Golden Gun, finding the Solex Agitator along the way. There are four “boards” that make up the map, but you only start with one. The lighter blue spaces are rooms, while the darker spaces are walls. Rooms get filled with green cards. As you move through each room, you flip over a green card which will have something that startles Bond, you roll both dice, if you roll higher than the number, Bond will automatically shoot his gun. If you roll the same or lower, you can choose if you want to shoot. After you or the dice have decided if you’re shooting or not, you then draw a blue card for the space. Some will just waste your limited bullets if you fire, while others (like mannequins) will shot you if you don’t shoot first, you have a limited number of hits you can take. In the second half of the cards are Nick Knack, Scaramanga and the Solex Agitator. Nick Knack will likely die if you decide to shoot, but if you risk not shooting, there’s a chance to roll to convince him to stand down (he will give you extra bullets). Scaramanga is a 50/50 chance of getting killed, which really shows just how much of this game is luck-based. There are also some “maze” cards that force Bond to move in a certain direction, but these can block the rest of the map and make it impossible to continue. The game doesn’t list this as a way to lose the game, but also doesn’t explain what to do in this situation. It’s an interesting game as it does get the feeling of wandering through a confusing maze in a daze across, but it’s an entirely luck dependant solo game – even the choices you can make are just picking at random – which isn’t a lot of fun. --- James Bond 007 Assault! Game Original Release: 1986 Developer: G. Christopher King Publisher: Victory Games Platform: Board Game This Victory Games board game works as both as a standalone game and also as an addition to their RPG in order to facilitate large scale battles into the game. It’s a wargame that uses elements of the combat mechanics from the RPG, but simplified so that each fight doesn’t take far too long. The rulebook explains that it’s an attempt to introduce wargaming to RPG players and also introduce RPGs to wargamers. The version I used (created by someone else in Tabletop Simulator) makes use of a redesigned map which is the same layout, just nicer to look at. Like a lot of wargames, each soldier is represented by a tile with a bunch of numbers on it. The game is based on the final fight in You Only Live Twice. One thing that seems a bit different to this than other wargames. There are six phases in a turn: each side has a movement, command and firing phase, however, the order of this is randomised, which fits to the spontaneous nature of James Bond but can make it much more difficult to strategize. Combat makes use of the D100 system with an importance on range. I don’t have much experience with wargames, so I can’t really say how it compares, but there’s a bit too much micromanaging for me. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 9, 2023 The Living Daylights: The Computer Game Original Release: 1987 Developer: Sculptured Software, Walking Circles Software De Re Software, Exasoft Publisher: Domark Platform: Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, MSX, Atari, BBC Micro, Arcade (possibly) Version played: Commodore 64 The second Domark game for James Bond, this time based on The Living Daylights. This one has a single consistent gameplay style throughout the whole game. It’s a run-and-gun shooter, but with a control method that is an interesting idea but doesn’t quite work. Shooting works a lot like a lightgun game – place your cursor over the enemy and fire to kill them. However, the game doesn’t scroll automatically, you have to move Bond yourself. To do this, you move the cursor to the right side of the screen and carry on holding right. You can also jump by pressing up while still moving right – something that took me a few levels to figure out, as Bond just kept falling over obstacles every now and then. If the cursor was fast and more precise, this might work, but as you’re moving, enemies can pop up on the left side, meaning that it takes a while to move the cursor over to them. After you finish a level, you can choose a special weapon for the next level. The weapons changes the strength of your shot, but don’t alter any graphics, so Bond’s “Bazooka” kills enemies in one shot, but Bond is still holding a pistol. One option at the end of the first level is an Infrared Sight. If you don’t choose this, all the enemies will be shadows, and this is the only level with civilians – shoot them and you’ll lose points. If the Bazooka is available, definitely choose that for other levels. While the first few levels are incredibly grey, there’s a bit of colour late on. The graphics make use of the Commodore 64 quite well, with some nice locations. You’ll encounter a few different enemies. Most are at the “back”, but a few will stand in your way and throw bombs at you (the first of these throws explosive milk bottles). The game also has some nice music to go with it. The Living Daylights is a decent game, hampered by the awkward controls. It doesn’t really do anything special, but it also isn’t horrible in any way. Other Versions Amstrad CPC This version has simpler and flatter looking graphics, although some of the stages are much more colourful in this area, especially the first stage, which is just grey in the C64 version. Amstrad PCW This is similar to the Amstrad CPC version, except that it runs in monochrome. Atari 8-Bit Systems This version has simpler graphics, but tried to create the depth of the full version, instead of simplifying the layout like the Amstrad version. This makes this version look cluttered and messy. ZX Spectrum The graphics for this version are simple, but they have been properly adapted to suit the system. BBC Micro The graphics for this version are simple, but they have been properly adapted to suit the system. One issue the game has is that the obstacles don’t always load properly, so Bond will often trip over nothing. Amiga, Atari ST and Arcade It’s quite difficult to find information in these versions, and my conclusion is that it seems they were never released. A developer Richard Naylor was working on the arcade version for Arcadia Systems, which was essentially an arcade cabinet using an Amiga. --- Live and Let Die: The Computer Game Original Release: 1988 Developer: Keypunch, Elite Publisher: Domark Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum Version played: Commodore Amiga Also Known As: Aquablast This game was in development before there were any plans to make a Live and Let Die game. Publishers Domark saw Aquablast under development. Aquablast was a speedboat action game and, because there’s a speedboat sequence in Live and Let Die, decided to help publish it as a Bond game – although only in the UK, it was still released as Aquablast in the USA. Live and Let Die has you operating a speedboat equipped with a gun and missiles. The gun is simple enough to use, but the missiles can only be fired if you go fast enough first then fire when slowing down. These need to be saved for certain targets, but you can collect more (as well as fuel) from crates dropped by helicopters. As you play, you’ll weave through enemies and dodge obstacles, and there’s a decent amount of both, including narrow areas with walls, planes dropping torpedoes and slides you have to use to dodge rocks. The game consists of four missions. The first is a training mission with infinite fuel and missiles. Here you have to destroy red targets with your gun and black targets with your missiles. Then there are North Pole and Sahara levels, where you can practice using limited missiles and fuel. The levels have a different look but all feel exactly the game. The final mission is New Orleans, once you hit a certain number of points, you need to destroy Mr. Big’s base by firing a missile from mid-air (you do this by hitting a log). The gameplay is fun but, due to the game never changing, wears off very quickly. This is fine for a quick blast but it’s also obvious that this was never designed to be a Bond game. If Domark had waited another year, they could have used a much better speedboart combat game called Cobra Triangle. Other Version Atari ST The Atari ST version is identical to the Amiga version. Commodore 64 This version is the nicest looking 8-bit version, the 8-bit versions do run a bit slower compared to the main versions. Amstrad CPC This one has more cluttered backgrounds that doesn’t look quite as nice as the Commodore 64 version. ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum struggles to run this game, even with the graphics toned down a lot. --- 007: Licence to Kill Original Release: 1989 Developer: Quixel Publisher: Domark Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX, BBC Micro Version played: Commodore Amiga Coming from developers Quixel, Licence to Kill is a vertical scrolling shooter depicting events from Licence to Kill. The game is comprised of 5 very short, but difficult, missions, with some fun gameplay. While the style of the game remained the same throughout, the gameplay itself varies through each level. The first mission has you chasing a jeep in a helicopter. If you fly fast, the helicopter will get lower, allowing you to attack the jeep. The objective is to get to the end of the level, but destroying the jeep will help with the start of the second level. Next up is an on foot section, which is the longest level of the game (around 3-4 minutes). If you hold the fire button, you can adjust your aim to shoot diagonal or sideways. There’s no automatic scrolling in this one, so you can kill enemies at your own pace. Next you take to the skies as you dangle from a helicopter, there’s no enemies here, you just need to stay on top of the plane long enough for Bond to lock on to it. In the water, Bond has no weapons, but can punch divers carrying harpoons to attack other enemies. You can also dive underwater to dodge enemy fire. You need to latch on to the water plane to get back in the sky. In the final mission, you start off in a plane before jumping onto a truck. You then have to destroy all the other trucks to stop Sanchez and defeat the game. The game is good fun, but once you figure out what to do in each level, it’s incredibly short – around 12 minutes if you don’t rush. Other versions MS-DOS This version has the nicest graphics, but I found it to be buggy, with sprites flickering out of existence and some hits not detected, which is why I ended up playing the Amiga version. Atari ST This version is identical to the Amiga version Commodore 64 Heading to the 8 bit versions, the C64 version attempts to keep the detailed backgrounds, making it hard to see what is happening on screen due to how busy it is. Amstrad CPC While the graphics are toned down from the Commodore 64, the simpler style makes it look nicer. ZX Spectrum Things get even more basic, this version has a lot of outlines instead of coloured sprites. MSX The MSX version is similar to the ZX Spectrum, but the colours are more muted. BBC Micro This version is again based on the ZX Spectrum version, but the game only displays two colours at a time, including the menu. NES (Cancelled) A version of this game was in development for the NES by Tengen. While the final level hadn’t been made, Domark considered the game finished, but decided to not publish the game as it was too long after the other versions Sega Master System (Possibly) A few places online state that a Master System version of this released in South Kora in 1996, but I can’t find any concrete details or imagery. --- James Bond 007 The Game (Descartes) Original Release: 1989 Developer: I. Loffre, F. G. Ricard Publisher: Descartes Editeur Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007 Le Jeu A French board game from Descartes Editeur, featuring artwork of Timothy Dalton. I should point out that, due to limited sources, I’m not sure entirely how accurate my Tabletop Simulator version is, but the main mechanics are from a description of the game so that part is at least correct. The goal of the game is to defeat all the villains of on the board – the player who has defeated the most when the last villain is defeated wins. Players will take turns trying to complete action cards by using their skills of gunfight, brawling and seduction/charm. You roll a dice and add the level of the matching skill, trying to score 8 or higher to collect a card. These cards can either be gadgets, which let you improve a dice roll, or an information card, which lets you fight a villain. The villain fights work in a similar way, except you don’t know up front what skill will be in use. You can also choose to attack another player. If you win, they lose a skill level and you get to steal 0-3 cards (determined by dice roll). Unless there are some in depth rules I’m not aware of, this game is just a long, drawn out slog. The mechanics are very simple and it’s just rolling a dice to see if you win. --- James Bond 007: A New Adventure Original Release: 1989 Developer: Falomir Juegos Publisher: Falomir Juegos Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007: La Nueva Aventura This is a Spanish board game from Falomir Juegos. In this, you have to make it through six missions, disarming or avoiding traps set by other players. Each side of the board has three missions. At the start of the game, you’ll take turns placing your trap tiles. Three of these are just explosions while a fourth has 50 points on it (but is still an exploding trap). You’ll take turns rolling a dice and moving up to that many spaces. You can move in any direction, but you must stick to that direction for your entire move. Players can’t share spaces, but can move past them if you have enough movement left. If you move onto a trap, you’ll roll a dice. If you get a 1, you have disarmed it and will discard it (if it’s 50 points, the person the trap belongs to gives you 50 points). If you fail, the trap’s owner will roll and if they get a 5 pr 6, the trap explodes. If it’s a 50 points card, you will have to give the owner 50 points. If it’s an explosion, you’ll lose one of your six life cards. Traps can also go off if players are in line with them – you spin the compass and if it matches the direction, it will explode. The first player that makes it past mission 3 will get points from all other players based on what mission they’re currently on, then the board is flipped and you to the entire game again. This is an incredibly tedious and drawn out board game. Getting to mission three is annoying enough, and that’s just the half way point. There’s nothing fun about the game, it’s all just dice rolls. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2023 The Spy Who Loved Me Original Release: 1990 Developer: The Kremlin Publisher: Domark Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum Version played: Atari ST The Spy Who Loved Me is a vehicle-based combat game, with a few extra parts to mix things up. The levels vary as the game progresses. For this one, I ended up playing the Atari ST version over the Amiga version, as the emulator I used for the Amiga didn’t like it. The first two levels have similar gameplay. You drive upwards, dodging enemies, shooting them and collecting Q coins. There are civilians hanging out on the road, and you’ll lose points for hitting them – but squishing them is so satisfying and the best part of the game that I did it anyway. The first level transitions from a car to a boat (the gameplay doesn’t change) and finishes once you stop at the end. The second is a looping track – you need to collect enough Q coins to purchase a submarine upgrade to finish the level. The big flaw with these levels are that, even though you can go fast, it’s much more beneficial to go slow – enemies eliminate your easily if you travel by speed, and going slower helps avoid obstacles and collect coins. The third level turns the game into an extremely tough vertical scrolling shooter. Power ups float down from the top of the screen and you’ll need some upgrades to stand a chance against the level’s boss. Next is a short lightgun-style level. The screen doesn’t move, just shoot people until you make it through the enemies. Next up is a codebreaker, like the Mastermind board game. This level is also a form of copy protection – you need to enter coordinates from the game’s manual to proceed. The final level is a Jetski level, it plays similar to the first two, but more focus on shooting than dodging obstacles. The final part is another lightgun-style section, shoot some enemies, and then jaws to beat the game. The vehicles section might have been fun if enemies weren’t bullet sponges and dealt so much damage, while the others sections are just tedious. This is Domark’s last James Bond film tie-in, so they went out on a low note. Other Versions Commodore Amiga This is identical to the Atari ST version. MS-DOS This version definitely released, but I can’t find the ROM or even any screenshots online. Not only did this version sell poorly, but was so bad that it had many returns. The copies were recycled into blank floppy discs. Commodore 64 On top of simpler graphics, this version only has the four vehicle levels. The shooting and codebreaker parts have been removed. These parts have also been removed form all the other 8-bit versions. Amstrad CPC This version is more zoomed in and the civilians you’re supposed to dodge have been removed – taking away the best part of the game. ZX Spectrum This one is also missing civilians, with very basic graphics. --- James Bond 007: The Stealth Affair Original Release: 1990 Developer: Delphine Software Publisher: Interplay Platform: Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS Version played: MS-DOS AKA: Operation Stealth This game first came out in the UK, where is was not a James Bond game. Here it was “Operation Stealth”, a point and click adventure starring a 007 rip-off John Glames. When Interplay released the game in the US, they applied for a James Bond license, renaming the main character and adding a bit of text explaining that Bond is “on loan” to the CIA. This is a point and click adventure – but what I call the “bad kind”. A good point and click adventure, to me, is one where no matter where you are in the game, you have access to the required locations that have what you need to proceed. A bad one has objects you can miss and be stuck much later (after having saved your game), and the worst will make needed objects simply difficult to see. The Stealth Affair sets its tone fairly early on. You arrive with an airport with a briefcase and a passport, and a guard asks for your passport. If you show your passport…game over. Visitors from America make for great hostages and you get captured. You need to find out what country is liked and then create a fake passport. There’s a newspaper stand in the area, you have no coins but luckily if you examine the coin return you’ll find one. Then you can buy a paper and reveal the country (it’s randomised from a small selection). You then have to use your briefcase and “operate” the briefcase to open it, use a calculator to get to a hidden compartment and then create your passport. The next section is mostly about getting coins to buy a flower as a sign for your rendezvous. You go to a bank, swap coins, get the flower sit down, follow instructions and you’ll eventually get captured. This section is really just a lot of back and forth as the puzzles change from obscure to not really having any puzzles at all. You end up getting captured by the villain’s henchmen who, in typical Bond fashion, tie you up and trap you into a cave, blowing the entrance, instead of just shooting him. One thing to note is that Bond never has access to a gun in this game, although he does punch two people throughout it. This cave section highlights another one of the game’s problems: the “USE” and “OPERATE” commands. In the cave you find a pickaxe and breeze coming through the wall, but if you use the pickaxe on the wall, it does nothing. You need to stand in the perfect spot and “OPERATE” the pickaxe a few times. This leads to the first action sequence: here you dive through water with limited air. The controls are atrocious, and Bond sticks to rocks extremely easily. Action scenes in adventure games are a nice idea, but they really need to be enjoyable. After this you need to investigate a hotel room, although make sure you go out of your way and talk to a crazy person on the beach selling the next big thing. You’ll need that later on. Investigating the hotel, where you’ll end up getting captured again. This is where the game sneaks in the first time you have to do an action in the middle of a cutscene. All the shortcut buttons for the different actions skip dialogue, so you have to use the right click menu, but during most of the cutscene, right click does nothing. You have to right click at the right point and operate the object you used earlier. You then get thrown into the sea and have to escape, this is a moment where you have to perform the actions immediately or you’ll die – there’s no room to think or misclick on anything. Bond then infiltrates the enemy base as part of a magic show, then sneaks off in a disappearing act. Time for another action sequence. We have a top down maze. Guards move around, but can’t go through the revolving doors, which Bond can move. They are incredibly tedious and the guard’s patterns are random. You need to find a key and then the exit. After completing this, you have to do another. Operation Stealth had four mazes in total, but two were removed for the Bond version, although one is too many. Then you get to investigate the boss’s office, one of the best parts of the game. Here you have everything you need to investigate, you need to find a hidden safe and use your codebreaker to help you find the code. You feel like a spy in this moment. You then get ambushed and have to play a dreadful jetski minigame until M and Q pop up in a submarine to tell you that the villain, Dr. Why, has threatened to nuke multiple cities if the government don’t give them more plutonium than they have access to. Bond swims to Why’s secret underwater base and gets captured again, he manages to break free and gets a disguise (before going through some more terrible mazes, this time filled with giant killer rats and you can only see a small area around Bond). Before entering the final room, you’ll need to create a distraction then enter the final room, with the final confrontation with Dr. Why where you have to perform the right actions at the perfect time. The day is saved, buy Dr. Why has escaped, taking the captured Bond girl with him. In this final confrontation, you only have to do two things. But unless you’re reading a guide, you’ll likely never be able to figure it out. One of the items is an inflatable raft. In the final secret base, there’s what looks like just a panel for a machine, but when you hover over it, it says its a garbage disposal, the raft is hidden there. While this is annoying and difficult to spot, it’s at least something you might encounter and split off. The other item you need is impossibly obscure. It can be found during the swimming section before the final base. If you swim the wrong direction, you’ll come across a screen with a few pieces of seaweed. You can play the game without ever seeing this screen, and you have no reason to fully explore before going on. You may examine one bit of seaweed and it will just state that it’s seaweed. If you examine the correct one, it will mention something stuck in it. However, even then the object you need doesn’t have anything when you hover over it, so you need to keep clicking around that spot for the right pixel to activate picking up the most vital object in the game: an elastic band. Once you finish, Bond has a big reward ceremony where the leader of the country declares a national holiday in celebration of the super secret spy. The Stealth Affair has some nice moments, but frustrating gameplay. The dialogue is great in some parts, but other parts haven’t been altered from when the game was parodying Bond. The graphics and sound are very nice, along with the animation, so the presentation is pretty good all round. Other Versions Atari ST The Atari ST version is identical to the MS-DOS version Amiga The regular Amiga version is the same, however the most common cracked version has an extra feature: if you have the Amiga memory expansion, the game will put the dialogue thought the system’s robotic speech synthesis. The downside to this is that if you skip any dialogue, the game will crash. --- James Bond 007 Action Pack Original Release: 1990 Developer: Amstrad Publisher: Amstrad Platform: ZX Spectrum +2 This is quite a fascinating pack. 5 years after Amstrad bought Sinclair, they were trying to rebrand the ZX Spectrum as a budget games console. One key part of this was this bundle: a new version of the ZX Spectrum, the +2 combined with the Magnum Light Phaser and three James Bond games. The pack contains a letter from M detailing your mission (codenamed “Mission Zero”, which is The Living Daylights from Domark), a James Bond passport and two tapes: one with the two training games, and second disc domes with a game called “Mission Zero” one one side. The other side, however, is your first port of call and needs another device: a regular cassette player. Here you will find Q’s mission briefings for the three games, performed by Desmond Llewelyn, which provides the backstory for the game, creating a new story for The Living Daylights game. Lord Bromley’s Estate This game has Bond playing a round of clay pigeon shooting on Lord Bromley’s estate – although Q calls it “Lord Broccoli’s Estate”, named after the owners of the Bond franchise, they changed their mind on the name at some point. but ended up changing their mind. Q mentions that Bond isn’t just there for games, but that there are strange happenings nearby. This is a basic lightgun shooter, but feels very accurate and is fun. After a few rounds, a SPECTRE helicopter will appear that you need to shoot 10 times to win. The letter from M that comes with the pack instructs you to get some weapons training. Q’s Armoury In this game, Q introduces you to a special gun: a pistol sized weapon that is in fact three guns in one, coded to your DNA. One nice touch is that the audio briefing indicates that the lightgun that came with the game is this special gun. On top of being a regular pistol, it has a rapid fire mode and finally can fire miniature explosive shells to act like a bazooka. One of my complaints about The Living Daylights game was that changing weapons doesn’t change the look of the gun (the original manual even states that they are different weapons), and it seems like the developers of this also noticed that detail, using this retcon to explain that detail, which I thought was an interesting way of doing things. This is a shooting range in three stages, using the different modes of the special gun. It’s very short and I oddly found that the closer targets were much more difficult to hit than the ones at the back. Once you’ve finished, you’re ready for Mission Zero. Mission Zero The final part of the Q’s audio briefing lets us know that the organisation SPIDER is behind everything. The organisation was called SPECTRE in the text of the first training game, but there were strange legal issues surrounding the use of the name at the time this came out. This pretty much re-writes The Living Daylights, and turns it into a film of Bond stopping the SPIDER/SPECTRE organisation. The game itself is 1987 The Living Daylights game, adapted to a lightgun. The biggest difference is how Bond moves – now you hold down the spacebar to go forward and don’t have to worry about trips, which is a massive improvement. However, hit detection with the lightgun is quite poor. This is quite an interesting pack, more so for the things surrounding the games rather than the games themselves. --- James Bond 007: The Agent Game Original Release: 1990 Developer: ASS Altenburger Spielkarten Publisher: ASS Altenburger Spielkarten Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007: Das Agentenspiel A German roll and move James Bond game. In this, your goal is to collect a certain number of “microfilms” before heading to the centre island to win the game. At the start of the game, everyone gets 10 microfilms of their matching colour – you will need to both fight other players and work together to collect the discs you need. You roll a dice and move that number of spaces. There are three types of “transport” spaces which let you move further, but can be enhanced with Transport cards. If you land on another player, you both decide if you want to fight or not. This is done with “encounter cards”. Each player has two encounter cards: Friendly and Hostile. Both player secretly pick one. If both pick “Friendly”, then both players can choose a microfilm form the supply on the board. If one picks “Friendly” and one picks “Hostile” then the hostile player will take a microfilm from the friendly player. If they both pick “Hostile”, they will proceed to fight by playing up to two equipment cards (these have a battle value). The one with the highest total value of cards wins, taking microfilms from their opponent. There are some interesting ideas, but ultimately the game is still almost entirely luck-based. If someone gets a secret goal that requires a lot of their colour, they’re at a massive advantage. Random events will also help or ruin someone’s progress to the goal. Because of this, it’s a fairly poor game, and one that can end up dragging massively if people aren’t getting what they need to progress. --- James Bond 007: The Quartet for Agents Original Release: 1990 Developer: ASS Altenburger Spielkarten Publisher: ASS Altenburger Spielkarten Platform: Board Game Original Name: James Bond 007: Das Quartett für Agenten This card game is a version of the German game “Quartets”, which is very similar to “Go Fish”, where you’re asking other players for cards to complete sets of four. In Quartets, the deck consists of 32 cards and you ask for specific cards instead of numbers. In typical versions of Quartets, the cards have a number and a letter for easy identification, so you’d ask for 1B or 3D. In this James Bond version, the number is shown by a the highlighted icon on the top left while the film determines the set, which makes it more of a pain to ask for cards, especially as it only covers 8 Bond films and not all of them. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 11, 2023 The Stealth Affair definitely sounds like a Delphine Software game. Massively ambitious, but the execution just doesn't match up to the vision. Shame really. Also wow, there are a lot more micro computer Bond games than I thought there would be! Would've figured the license to be too expensive for developers/publishers of the 80s, but I guess I was wrong! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2023 On 11/10/2023 at 1:55 PM, Dcubed said: Also wow, there are a lot more micro computer Bond games than I thought there would be! Would've figured the license to be too expensive for developers/publishers of the 80s, but I guess I was wrong! With how controlling the company is over things like games now, it's also surprising that they were fine with slapping the Bond name onto anything, even games not designed to be Bond games. But we're done with the microcomputers and onto Nintendo consoles. James Bond Jr. (NES) Original Release: 1991 Developer: Eurocom Publisher: THQ Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System Based on the cartoon show about James Bond’s Nephew, this is the second ever game developed by Eurocom, who have made a bunch of Bond games over the years. The NES version of James Bond Jr. is completely different to the SNES version. With licensed platformers on the NES, you can create a list of annoying things that will frustrate anyone: bullet sponges enemies, maze-like levels with no maps, having to backtrack, enemy attacks knocking you back, annoying springs, having to platform between screen loads, enemies that trap you in endless damage loops and getting softlocked due to limited ammo. James Bond Jr on the NES manages to tick all of those boxes. The game consists of four levels, each involving you tracking down objectives and then finding the level exit. The first level has you exploring sewers to disarm missiles. At the start, you drop down a large hole and come across your first enemy: a giant shooting multiple rounds that requires 30-40 hits to kill. Your pistol uses up ammo very quickly, although it will slowly recharge up to 30 rounds (collecting ammo packs will fill it to 99). When you find a missile, you have to complete a sliding puzzle piece challenge to get colours into the right order. Near the start of the level, there’s something that looks like electric that hurts you if you land on in – this is actually water that you can swim though if you get a scuba mask. The second level has you searching for safes. In the section in the image, I got trapped in the corner by these annoying dogs that are difficult to hit. Once you find a safe, you have to work out the combination in the worst codebreaking minigame I’ve encountered. This isn’t mastermind-style. You put numbers in four slots and see if any are right. You have nine attempts, so if any of them are the final number you have to try, you have to start again (and the combination resets). On top of this, some of the safes are traps that blow up in your face. The third level thankfully ditches minigames and you just have to blow up strange “reactor” objects in rooms. You can find a jetpack in this level which runs out of “ammo” very quickly – and there are some sections you can’t navigate without it, meaning you have to restart. There are lots of moving platforms and annoying jumps – I forgot to mention that jumping feels very unresponsive. After James Bond Jr. defeats the secret base, he escapes by helicopter but is than shot down, conveniently landing right next to SCUM’s secret base. Here you have to rescue scientists by killing the monsters guarding them. You can find a potion which will turn James Bond Jr. into a monster, letting him jump higher – use it up in the wrong place and you’re stuck. The NES version of James Bond Jr. is very typical of licenced platformers on the NES. Everything seems to be made to frustrate the player, and enemies take so many hits that even defeating them isn’t fun. --- James Bond Jr. (SNES) Original Release: 1992 Developer: Grey Matter Publisher: THQ Platform: Super Nintendo Entertainment System Another game based on the James Bond Jr. cartoon, this one developed by Grey Matter. While sometimes different games of the same name shares some elements, such as level themes or rough story, this one is completely different to the James Bond Jr. NES game. The SNES version is a mixture of a platformer and a scrolling shooter. One interesting thing is this didn’t even start out as a James Bond Jr. game, it was originally a SNES remake of Grey Matter’s NES Captain Planet and the Planeteers game, but due to company changes an license issues, they ended up re-tooling the work they had done into a new licensed game. You start off in a temple level, hunting for the villain Dr. Derange, you barely have time to figure out the controls before you reach the first vehicle segment – and I’m not exaggerating about the time, it really is less than 20 seconds. You might expect a short but simple minigame, but it’s surprisingly long. If you played it perfectly, it will take 5 minutes, which doesn’t sound long, but you will die. A lot. There’s a ton of projectiles flying around and one hit kills you. You can get a shield that will protect you from a few hits, however that doesn’t protect you from the environment, with some very narrow sections to navigate, slightly bumping any pixel will kill you. Your helicopter moves extremely fast, and the sprites are so large that you don’t have any time to react to anything. Instead, this section is a long trial and error as you get a bit further each time, having to memorise the entire route to react before things appear on screen. You have two weapons: a shot that fires completely forward. Back to the main gameplay, you now have three acts of a temple level, punching natives and SCUM soldiers. Exploring the level you can find dart guns and explosive drinks cans to use as grenades. along with other powerup, such as springy shoes to jump higher. The gameplay itself is pretty solid, and the graphical style is quite nice. There are hidden areas to explore but the route to the end is fairly simple. One problem is, once again, the size of the sprites. James Bond Jr is kept firmly in the middle of the screen throughout the levels, which means the gaps for jumps reach the edge of the screen, often with enemies hanging on the edge, not visible until you’re mid-jump, yet also so close to the edge that if you don’t use your dart gun before jumping, you’ll take damage. Once you defeat the boss, it’s onto the next stage. All three stages follow the same structure: a vehicle section followed by three short platforming levels. This one is a speedboat section as you head to Venice, and this part is a lot of fun, dodging gondolas, shooting enemies and making jumps, collecting a power up that makes you jump even further. At this point I was thinking that, after the rough start, fun vehicles with some decent platforming would make the rest of this an alright game. And then you get the inevitable sewer level, notorious for always being terrible levels. This one is no exception, with confusing layouts, really annoying bats and lots of awkward jumps to make. While the developers avoided the same problem with getting stuck in levels as the NES game by having the shoe power-ups be permanent, they end up making the same mistake here. In this level are ice power ups, these are limited in number. These are used to freeze pools of toxic waste, allowing you to cross over. Use too many against enemies (or use them on the wrong pools) and you’ll have to restart. There’s also some really annoying door traps. They’re just a grey line and if you walk over them, they repeatedly slam James Bond Jr, draining his health. Get through there and you reach the next area, this vehicle section is a plane which functions exactly the same as the helicopter in the first stage. It’s not quite as frustrating as the first one, so at least it’s over quicker. You’re then on the final level. Which, naturally, is a slippery ice level, because everyone loves those. Thankfully, part way though you get some rocket boots, letting you fly around the level (this flying was probably originally designed for Captain Planet), along with being able to find a ring that fires lasers that help immensely with the final boss. James Bond Jr. is an average platformer, but hampered by visibility and a few awful vehicle levels. It looks quite nice, with some good animation throughout, but for the most part is a fairly forgetful game. -- 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 13, 2023 Wait, why is James Bond's nephew also called James Bond? What weirdo sibling decided to name their kid after his uncle? It's not just me, is it? That's weird, right? 1 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 14, 2023 Is it sad that I can tell exactly how both James Bond Jr games play purely from the screenshots? God bless the Euro Platformer. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 16, 2023 On 13/10/2023 at 9:54 PM, Glen-i said: Wait, why is James Bond's nephew also called James Bond? What weirdo sibling decided to name their kid after his uncle? It's not just me, is it? That's weird, right? It's definitely weird. On 14/10/2023 at 6:56 AM, Dcubed said: Is it sad that I can tell exactly how both James Bond Jr games play purely from the screenshots? God bless the Euro Platformer. Don't worry, there's more. James Bond 007: The Duel (Mega Drive) Original Release: 1992 Developer: The Kremlin Publisher: Domark Platform: Mega Drive Developed by an internal Domark development team The Kremlin, The Duel is Domark’s not just final James Bond game, but also their first one not based on a specific Bond film. Instead, this is a new adventure starring Timothy Dalton’s Bond (although I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never heard of this game, the box just uses a photo from a Licence to Kill poster). That said, the “story” is just a bit of blurb in the manual: Professor Gravemar is planning on launching a satellite from his secret island base, which will let him take over the world. Expecting James Bond to try and stop him, he fills the island with his goons and creates a cloning device to bring some of his villains back to life. He also spreads hostages across the island to distract Bond. The hostages are all the same women, so perhaps the hostages are also clones – such a concept is far too much of the simplicity of this game’s plot, which is completely absent from the game itself. Starting off on a boat, The Duel looks very nice, making good use of the Mega Drive’s capabilities, with detailed sprites that are zoomed out enough to not hamper gameplay. The music is also great (including a great rendition of the Bond theme), having a distinct Mega Drive feel but also fitting James Bond. You go you through levels, running, jumping and shooting. I did think the jumping felt a bit stiff and overall the game has a bit of a janky feel to it. It’s not as simple as getting to the end, though, you need to hunt for the hostages. These are hidden extremely well and most of your time will be tediously backtracking back and forth searching for them. The game loves to make use of covering entrances with foreground objects, and also hides enemies in the same way. Once you find the hostages, you can set off a bomb (which is hidden somewhere near the end of the level) then rush to the exit. After the initial boat level, you have to explore a jungle and do the same thing. Due to platforms on different levels, you’ll find yourself missing enemies more. Your ammo is limited. While enemies drop more, that’s the only way to get more ammo. If you run out, there’s nothing you can do, as Bond has no melee attacks in this game, which is strange, especially for a game with limited ammo. You can shoot diagonally, but you need to shoot and hold down fire to change the angle of the shot. Next up is the secret volcano base. There are lots of needlessly large pits and lifts and you’ll spend quite a bit of time waiting for platforms, sometimes having to wait for them a second time as you have to time them with the movement of fireballs. More hostages to find and a bomb to set off. Next up is navigating the hanger bay for the professor’s oddly shaped shuttle, which features lots of empty areas with nothing going on. The end of this level has a short boss you need to get rid off before activating the bomb and escaping. After this, you reach level five: which is a boss fight against Jaws in a strange machine. Once you beat him, you’re done. This is an incredibly short game padded out by hiding some of the paths to the hostages, making you walk and down each level – which aren’t particularly colossal either. The gameplay is fine, but feels a bit clunky. The graphics and music are the only particularly good parts of the game. --- James Bond 007: The Duel (Master System) Original Release: 1992 Developer: The Kremlin Publisher: Domark Platform: Master System, Game Gear The 8-bit version of The Duel has the same level themes as the Mega Drive version, however, the level layout and structure of the game is completely different. Also gone is the requirement of saving hostages as well as setting off bombs in the levels. As you’re not travelling backwards and forwards throughout the levels, each level now has three stages to work though. The there are hidden paths that lead to Q crates and hostages that improve your score, and it’s fun to explore the little areas. There are a few oddities with enemies in the boat and jungle stages. The first level has deadly fish that leap out of the water and are a pain to hit, but you can just hang back and fire until you get them (you have unlimited ammo). The jungle level features snakes, which seems logical, but they fire projectiles at you. Most other enemies are goons which have no idea what to do if you crouch, making it east to dispose of them, with robotic turrets and the like in later missions. The levels are quite fun, and Bond’s jumping feels smoother in this version. From a gameplay and level perspective, I enjoyed this much more than the Mega Drive version of the game. The graphics are obviously not as good, but are really great for the Master System. The sound really lets the game down – you have the option of choosing sound effects OR music. I made the mistake of going with the music. It’s fine for the first minute, but then the same beepy repetitive tune if all you hear for the entire game, I ended up muting it. After you defeat the third hanger level, you have one more level: as there are no bosses you get a timed final level. The time you get depends on the amount of hostages you save and Q cases you find. I had to (though a bit of trial an error) fund the perfect route to beat the game. Despite the sound issues, this is a fun little game and and it’s surprising that it’s a better game than the main version. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2023 James Bond Jr (Systema LCD) Original Release: 1992 Developer: Systema Publisher: Systema Platform: Electronic Handheld Not played: Extremely Rare An LCD game based on James Bond Jr. This game is vehicle-based where you shoot enemies and avoid obstacles. --- James Bond Jr (Systema Wrist LCD) Original Release: 1992 Developer: Systema Publisher: Systema Platform: Electronic Wrist Game Not played: Extremely Rare Other than a very basic listing on Worthpoint with a few pictures, I can’t find any information on this at all. This is a wrist-based LCD game, from the photo, it looks different from the handheld Systema LCD game, as you can just make out a figure, so it’s more likely about running and shooting. --- James Bond Jr: The Game Original Release: 1993 Developer: Crown & Andrews Publisher: Crown & Andrews Platform: Board Game A board game tie-in for the James Bond Jr cartoon. This is a very basic roll and move game with some poorly written rules. While the game claims that it supports up to six players, it’s really just a two player games, where the additional players just form teams to decide what to do. There are two teams: “James Bond Jr and friends” and “S.C.U.M”. Bond’s team needs to get to the centre area where the nuclear missile is, while SCUM need to prevent this by knocking all the other team out at once. You take turns picking which character on your team, rolling the dice and moving that many spaces. If you land on a disc, you can pick it up. These enhance your stats in three categories: strength, intelligence and skill. The good guys start with zero stats and will need these discs to be able to fight, while the bad guys have set stats but can only old one disc at a time. If you land on an opponent (which requires an exact roll), a fight occurs. All three stats are compared, and the one that wins in the most stats wins and send the loser back to their base. If they manage to beat them in all three, the loser will have to roll as 6 before they can leave the base. One huge problem with this is that it’s almost impossible for SCUM to win. Their only chance is to win in all three categories to “lock” an opponent in the base, other way James’ team will just move them out on their next turn, but as the game progresses and the good guys get better stats, SCUM can’t win in all categories, so they can no longer win. The rules are also full of spelling errors and grammar mistakes. --- James Bond Jr (Tiger LCD) Original Release: 1993 Developer: Tiger Publisher: Tiger Platform: Electronic Handheld Not played: Extremely Rare This basic electronic handheld LCD game is a basic side scrolling action game. You run to the right, punching enemies. The objective of the game is to collect Q briefcases. --- GoldenEye 007 (SNES) Original Release: Pitched in 1994 Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo Platform: SNES (Badly photoshopped mock image) When Nintendo got the license to make a video game based on GoldenEye, their first thought was a 2D platformer. Due to Nintendo being impressed with Donkey Kong Country, they asked Rare to start development on a 2D platformer GoldenEye, using the same pre-rendered methods Rare specialised in Donkey Kong Country – and Rare would have access to the sets for photographs. A developer at Rare, Martin Hollis, pushed Nintendo into letting them make a 3D lightgun game instead for the “Ultra 64”, which evolved into the first person shooter we know and love for the Nintendo 64. --- GoldenEye 007 (Tiger LCD) Original Release: 1995 Developer: Tiger Publisher: Tiger Platform: Electronic Handheld A basic LCD game based on GoldenEye. You shoot and kick your way through enemies, the most annoying of which is a woman (Xenia possibly) jumping on Bond’s back, requiring you to kick and wiggle back and forth to hopefully knock her away. You also have the grenade pen to use once, killing all enemies on screen. You’ll probably just find yourself mashing buttons to progress, it’s never clear what you’re doing in these games. There’s also a tank stage. These games work better when they’re very simple, this game is just a mess. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 18, 2023 My father in law's nephew has the same name as him. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 20, 2023 James Bond 007 (CCG) Original Release: 1995 Developer: Bryan Winter Publisher: Heartbreaker Platform: Board Game In 1995, Hartbreaker launched a collectible card game based on James Bond, with a focus on GoldenEye. It received a starter pack and some boosters, but other than the initial cards, no further cards were added to the game – although one dedicated fan has made some of his own expansions. There are two kinds of cards in this CCG: Action cards are cards that enable you to build you agency and complete missions, while Plot cards are placed into your plot area for the other players to complete. Unlike a lot of collectible card games, this game supports more than two players. The are quite a few rules for decks: you must be a multiple of 10, have at least 60. 2 out of every 10 cards must be Bond cards, 3 must be plot cards and there must be a certain value of points your plot cards are worth. You then shuffle your deck and are ready to play. Plot cards are played facing the other player. These represent missions, villains, henchmen, locations and obstacles. These can be placed separately, although obstacles can be attached to other ones to make them more difficulty. You can also make even more difficult missions by linking plot cards based on the same film together. The action cards help you build your agency. The Bond cards are your main ones, as these are required to go on missions. Personalities are friendly people that can aid Bond, and Q gadgets can boost his stats. Intrigue cards can either help you or hinder your opponents. It’s an interesting CCG, you want to try and get a cohesion in your plot cards, but a variety in your action cards to tackle different scenarios. Henchmen can also attack opposing agencies and potentially force them to discard cards, so there is direct conflict, but most of it is trying to complete missions placed by the other players. --- The Reel to Reel Picture Show James Bond 007 Movie Trivia Game Original Release: 1995 Developer: Daisy Reel Productions Publisher: Daisy Reel Productions Platform: Board Game This is a very basic trivia game. Take turns picking a category, answer a question and mark off a point if you get it correct. First one to finish their sheet wins. Some cards have a follow-up question. You can gamble the point from the first question to score a second in the same turn. --- The Ultimate James Bond: An Interactive Dossier Original Release: 1996 Developer: Micro Interactive Publisher: EIDOS Platform: PC A reference CD with information on all the James Bond films from Dr. No to GoldenEye. It was produced with EIDOS, who previously published a bunch of James Bond games for home computers under their original name “Domark”. The main focus on this in on the “missions”, which has a lot of information about “all 17” films: clips, cast information, behind the scenes photos, release information, reviews and more. One of my favourite parts was the “locations”, which plays out the locations of each film on a stylish map. The other segments were an encyclopaedia featuring varying amounts of information, it was split into categories: Women, Allies, Villains, Q-branch and Vehicles. The other major part was a trivia quiz. You had a set amount of “lives” and need to earn points to reach the next “level” featuring difficult questions. There’s a lot of question variety and it gives you a bit of extra information when it reveals the answer – a nice trivia game. -- Before I Kill You, Mr Bond… Original Release: 1996 Developer: James Ernest Publisher: Cheapass Games Platform: Board Game This is an unlicensed James Bond-inspired card game from Cheapass Games. In this, each player is taking on the role of a supervillain, trying to capture spies in their evil lairs. Each turn you draw a card and can improve your lair, and then play a spy card to attack an opponent’s (or your own lair). You can play a spy from your hand, or one from an opponent’s hand (the backs of the spy are different) and risk not knowing the value of the spy. If the spy is a higher value than the lair, the lair is discarded. You don’t score any points for this, you just mess up your opponent. If the spy is lower value than the lair, then the owner of the lair has two options: kill or taunt. If you kill a spy, you score points equal to the value of the spy. You can taunt by playing a “Doubler” card, saying “Before I Kill You, [Name]” and reading out the card. The card has a letter in the corner and if another player plays the second card with this letter, the Spy escapes and you lose your lair (and all the points), but if you’re successful, you double the points of the spy. You can play additional Doubler card, however, you run the risk of losing all the points with each additional one. It’s a fun, silly game, but also quite flawed. The only incentive to attack opponents is to potentially stop them from getting points, which makes it too risky to play unknown cards from other players. Danjaq got wind of this game and ordered Cheapass Games to remove any reference to “Bond” and was relaunched as James Ernest’s Totally Renamed Spy Game before being revised as “Before I Kill You, Mister Spy…”. The newest version fixes some of the issues, such as being able to play lair cards face down or stealing lair cards from your opponents, giving you an incentive to attack. --- GoldenEye 007 (Virtual Boy) Original Release: Cancelled in 1996 Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Virtual Boy Not Played: No leaked prototypes The Virtual Boy is a strange system released by Nintendo – it was a portable system with goggles that you have to look into (awkwardly using a table or lying on the floor, there’s no strap), allowing for spectroscopic 3D effects. However, the system could only display red and black graphics. The Virtual Boy GoldenEye game was going to be a vehicle game, a brochure (which is the source of the only screenshot) describes it as “If you thought rush-hour traffic was a nightmare, wait ’til you get behind the wheel of 007’s car. Avoid obstacles and blow the other cars away. Buckle up for safety because, in this game, you never know what’s gonna happen.” When the Virtual Boy was a complete failure, Nintendo cancelled all games in development for the console, and focused on Rare for making GoldenEye. -- 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 20, 2023 4 hours ago, Cube said: Original Release: Cancelled in 1996 Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Virtual Boy Not Played: No leaked prototypes The Virtual Boy is a strange system released by Nintendo – it was a portable system with goggles that you have to look into (awkwardly using a table or lying on the floor, there’s no strap), allowing for spectroscopic 3D effects. However, the system could only display red and black graphics. The Virtual Boy GoldenEye game was going to be a vehicle game, a brochure (which is the source of the only screenshot) describes it as “If you thought rush-hour traffic was a nightmare, wait ’til you get behind the wheel of 007’s car. Avoid obstacles and blow the other cars away. Buckle up for safety because, in this game, you never know what’s gonna happen.” When the Virtual Boy was a complete failure, Nintendo cancelled all games in development for the console, and focused on Rare for making GoldenEye. -- That’s putting it very mildly! That thing is a neck fracture waiting to happen! Undoubtedly the most uncomfortable gaming thing I’ve ever used (and yes, I’m including the Tony Hawk Ride board there!). Surprisingly accurate Bond got off lightly. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2023 GoldenEye 007 Original Release: 1997 Developer: Rare Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Nintendo 64 The classic, popular game. I will be looking at a few different versions of GoldenEye, including playing it in an emulator specifically made for GoldenEye, so to be able to compare I opted for a close-to authentic experience, playing in the original resolution with the original controls, not taking advantage of some of the special options that I didn’t experience originally with the game. GoldenEye took the world by storm, being one of the most famous Nintendo 64 games, particularly for its multiplayer, which was added at the last minute. Four people can kill each other in custom built arenas (some unique, others adapted from main levels) with different weapon selections and character choices. A lot of my time was spent with the singleplayer campaign. I had very vivid memories of the Dam level. I got the N64 and the game for Christmas when I was 10 years old. I read all of the briefings and instructions and set about playing the game. I instantly loved it, even though I died a lot. I did encounter a frustration which most other players didn’t, which meant I spent all day on the one level. The briefing said to use bungee rope to jump off the dam. This wasn’t in the inventory like other gadgets (like the covert modem), so I figured you had to find it. I scoured the level many times. Eventually, I gave up and just ran off the dam to kill Bond, which triggered a successful mission. Next up is Facility, which felt colossal to me. There was so much to explore, including lots of side rooms, not to mention the joy of trying to headshot the guard in the toilet only to shoot his hat off, with him not reacting. Getting from the first area to the second area felt like a puzzle, even though it was just using a console to open a door. Because I was playing on easy, I kept bumping into Dr Doak on some attempts, but not others – he seemed to be in different places. I had no idea what his purpose was until much later. GoldenEye is all about solving objectives and then reaching the end of the level. I love the idea of extra difficulty being done via extra objectives, but I personally dislike that this is also tied to stronger and deadlier enemies. After a few more great levels, giving us some unique locations, we get to the level I replayed the most as a kid: Frigate. The idea of a having access to a full ship was great, and it felt like there were lots of ways to approach this one. The Phantom gun was also ultra cool. Here you have to reuse hostages, but luckily you have time to react, even with the N64 controls. Playing GoldenEye when it came out felt great. Playing it using one of the default control schemes now feels extremely awkward. Dual analogue controls feel great for FPS games, but this used a stick and C-buttons. Even then, a setup close to now isn’t possible. turning left and right is linked to the the same section as moving forwards and backwards. GoldenEye did have something very close to modern day shooters – however, you needed to play using two controllers. Each level manages to create a unique feel, either through level design or objectives – even when returning to Surface and Bunker. Another highlight was Archives, which looked great. Loads of people complain about protecting Natalya, but the main trouble was finding her when she ran away or accidentally shooting her yourself. Incidentally, Natalya is absolutely deadly in the Jungle episode, taking out enemies relentlessly with her super powerful magnum. The train level is another favourite level. Even though it’s a straight line, there’s just a charm about it. Not even my complete inability to aim properly with the laser watch at the end dampens my fun of the level. On that note, the weapons are very satisfying to use (apart from the KLOBB). They have great sounds and all have a unique feel to it. I loved the RCP-120, especially when you could duel wield them. You could only duel wield if you killed an enemy that was doing so, but it felt so satisfying using two guns at once. After a great climax in the sky, I was very happy with GoldenEye. However, there were two bonus levels. Over the next few years, I finally completed Secret Agent and got access to the Moonraker level (my favourite non-GoldenEye Bond film when I was younger, mainly because of space). I never managed 00 Agent as a child, though, so the final level (plus the customisable difficulty mode), was stuff I only read about in N64 Magazine. Of course, there was still the multiplayer to play, and some cheats to try and unlock. Finish levels on certain difficulties in certain times and you’ll unlock cheats. The game was clever in that most players would likely unlock some simple ones – such as DK mode – by playing normally, while things like invincibility and all guns were very difficult. Eventually, cheats to unlock the cheats were found and I was able to mess around with them. I think the level and objective based structure of GoldenEye still holds up, and I wish more modern games would utilise it. Aspects of Goldeneye have definitely aged badly, such as the controls, but the game oozes charm that helps to counter it. With a few small tweaks, even those aspects can be fixed for a very enjoyable game. One last thing I do need to mention: Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope’s soundtrack for this game is phenomenal, with a ton of great tracks. While the graphics may have aged, GoldenEye still sounds amazing. Where to buy GoldenEye 007 GoldenEye is currently the only James Bond video game currently available officially. An emulated version original N64 version is available for rent on Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Switch Online Plus subscription, while an Xbox Series port is about as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription, or you can buy a digital version of Rare Replay, which includes a copy of the Xbox Series version of GoldenEye as an additional download. Other versions These will all have their own articles GoldenEye 007 (XBLA) GoldenEye 007 (GEPD 1964 Emulator) GoldenEye 007 (Xbox Series) --- 007: The Game of James Bond Original Release: 1997 Developer: Editrice Giochi Publisher: Editrice Giochi Platform: Board Game Original Name: 007: Il Gioco di James Bond This is an Italian James Bond game from Editrice Giochi. The cards have no words of the game and I was able to find a detailed description of the game to write the rules form. In this game, you have a limited “time” to defeat villains. Each turn, you roll each dice which have the numbers “1, 2, 3, 0, 0, 7” on them. For every 0 rolled, the time ticks down. If you manage to roll 007, you get a bonus (although out of the three options, one is far better than the other two). Then, based on the white numbers “1, 2, 3” on the dice you roll, you can move that number of spaces. You can collect tokens (training, charm and intuition) or go on a quest to tackle a mission card. A mission card has a list of icons on it. You will need to discard matching icons to collect the card, but if you don’t, you pay what you can and the next player can finish it for themselves. Each mission card has a strength that then can be used against the main villain in the middle. Once your mission cards total the number on the villain, you can claim it for yourself. The first player to collect three villain cards wins. However, if the time track reaches zero, the villain escapes – if three manage to escape, everyone loses the game. There’s some interesting mechanics here, and you have a lot of choices to make regarding when to go for mission cards – you don’t want to be too quick and end up helping another player, but you don’t want to be too slow and let the villain escape. 1 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted October 23, 2023 (edited) Goldeneye is a game that really needs to be played with a real, original/NSO N64 controller. Nothing else feels remotely natural. And really, it needs to be on the 1.2 Solitaire setting (AKA "Turok Controls"), with c-buttons to move and analog stick to aim. Even to this day, hand me an N64 controller with this game and I would happily be able to play with zero issues. Feels totally natural. The only real sin with the controls as far as I'm concerned is that 1.2 Solitaire should've been the default... shockingly, this is something they didn't fix with Perfect Dark; as its 1.1 default controls are the same as Goldeneye's, and once again, you have to change it to 1.2 to get the correct "Turok Controls" setup. Worse still, Banjo Tooie's FPS sections only offer 1.1, with no option to change them to 1.2! Which is a tremendous shame, because BT's FPS levels and multiplayer mode are actually a ton of fun otherwise (It's basically more Goldeneye with new weapons & stages!). Also... inverted y-axis is correct and always was correct! Edited October 23, 2023 by Dcubed 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
