James Bond (games)

James Bond

The official game logo of James Bond (007)
Genres First-person shooter
Third-person shooter
Role-playing game
Publishers Parker Brothers
Mindscape
Domark
Nintendo
Electronic Arts
Activision

The James Bond video game franchise is a series of shooter games and other genres (including role-playing and adventure games) developed and published by a variety of companies. The games center around Ian Fleming's British secret service agent, James Bond.

Contents

Video games


1983–1996

Though the first official Bond game was released in 1983, 1981 saw the release of Sega's 005, which was a clear knockoff of the Bond series. Naturally, the name was altered in order for Sega to avoid paying the licensing fees for 007.

Since 1983, there have been numerous video games based on the official films, Ian Fleming's novels, and even original scripts created by the developer or publisher of the game.

The video games were somewhat prosperous in the 1980s and early 1990s, featuring a mixture of styles including side-scrolling action and text adventure.

1997–2003

The popularity of the James Bond video game series didn't really take off, however, until 1997's GoldenEye 007 by Rare for the Nintendo 64. GoldenEye 007 was a first-person shooter that expanded on the film and added a multiplayer component to the game. The game received very positive reviews[1] and sold over eight million copies.[2] Subsequently, virtually every Bond video game has attempted to copy GoldenEye 007's accomplishment and features with varying degrees of success.

The next Bond game, 1999's Tomorrow Never Dies, based on the film released two years prior, was the first released by Electronic Arts. Developed by Black Ops, unlike GoldenEye 007, it was a third-person shooter. Despite the game's success, the next title, 2000's The World Is Not Enough, returned to first-person. However, publisher Electronic Arts, which owned the rights to publish video games based on the Bond franchise, chose different developers for different systems - Eurocom for the Nintendo 64 and Black Ops for the PlayStation, with drastically different results, and the N64 version getting better reviews. Both versions were critical and commercial succeses, albeit not in the same level of GoldenEye 007, and EA encouraged developers to create future Bond games unrelated to any of the films.

In 2001, EA released Agent Under Fire for Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube, featuring an original storyline and lacking the likeness of then-Bond Pierce Brosnan. The game took risks by adding the new elements of "rail" shooting and driving segments to a first-person shooter. The game has sold nearly 5 million copies since its release, making it the second most successful game in the franchise while only receiving mixed reviews.

In 2002, James Bond 007: Nightfire was released. It was developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox consoles, with a PC port by Gearbox Software and a Mac one by Aspyr. The computer versions are substantially different from the console versions, featuring different missions, a modified story line, and online play. In 2003 the game also had a Game Boy Advance version by JV Games.

2004-2007

In 2004, EA released Everything or Nothing, developed by EA Redwood, for the PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. Unlike the two previous installments, Everything or Nothing is a third-person shooter with driving missions, and stars the voices and likenesse of Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, Willem Dafoe and John Cleese among others. It was written by GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies screenwriter Bruce Feirstein, with a plot connected to the Roger Moore Bond film A View to a Kill. It was released to mostly positive reviews.

Later that year, GoldenEye: Rogue Agent was released on the same platforms. A first-person shooter loosely connected to the Bond franchise, it stars a former MI6 spy known as "GoldenEye", who works for Auric Goldfinger against Dr. Julius No. The game was panned for its misleading title and poor story.

2005 saw the release of From Russia With Love, based on the film of the same name. It starred Sean Connery once again as James Bond, and the other characters had the same likeness of the original cast. The game is a third-person shooter in the same style as Everything or Nothing, with expansions in the story and certain details changed (such as trading SPECTRE for OCTOPUS, due to legal problems).

Electronic Arts announced in 2006 a game based on then-upcoming Casino Royale,[3][4] but ended up being cancelled, because it would not be ready by the film's release in November. This fact, which would lead MGM to lose millions in licensing fees, along with EA's commitment to move away from movie franchise games and focus more on internal IPs, led the company to abandon the Bond franchise in May 2006.[5]

2008–present

Shortly after Electronic Arts abandoned the license, in May 2006, Activision acquired non-exclusive rights to develop and publish James Bond games, which were to become exclusive in 2007.[6] Activision's first game was a tie-in to Quantum of Solace. The game, which also included elements from Casino Royale, was released on 31 October 2008.

At E3 2010, Nintendo officially revealed GoldenEye 007, a Wii-exclusive remake of the critically acclaimed 1997 game. Developed by Eurocom, using their Dead Space: Extraction game engine, the game updated the story of the movie, with a script by Bruce Feirstein and the current Bond actor Daniel Craig as 007.[7] A month later, a leaked media release suggested that Activision had hired Bizarre Creations to work on James Bond 007: Blood Stone, an original Bond experience written by Bruce Feirstein.[8] Both games were released on November 2010.

Upcoming Projects

In December 2010, a video (later backed up by Activision) and some screenshots from a new Bond game have been leaked, developing by Raven Software at that time. It was thought that it would be released in 2011, but Activision denied any link to that game and instead they ported the new GoldenEye 007 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. That game was just a remastered version of the 2010 video game on the Wii console, other than that, it's not considered as a new Bond title. However, in 2012, nearly 50th Anniversary of The Cinematic James Bond Franchise, it was promised that the fans will receive lots of surprises, as well as there's a new film coming in October, titled SkyFall. It's not known that Activision would adapt it into video game, because there's no sign of Activsion working on a new Bond video game.

Cancelled games

Main article: Cancelled James Bond 007 video games

Other games

Role-playing games

A role-playing game, James Bond 007, Role-Playing in Her Majesty's Secret Service was released in 1983, by Victory Games, a branch of Avalon Hill.

Fanmade remakes

GoldenEye: Source is a total conversion mod in development using the Source engine developed by Valve Corporation for the computer game, Half-Life 2. GoldenEye: Source is based on the award winning Nintendo 64 video game, GoldenEye 007. A 5th beta release is schedule for release on December 25, 2010.

Actors portraying James Bond in the video games

The actors listed below have provided the likeness of Bond in the 007 video game series. However, they have not all provided voice work. The people who have voice the character filling the vocals of the official actors were Adam Blackwood and Maxwell Caulfield. Jason Carter also voiced 007 but in a non-Bond game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.The classic games only provided the real actors' footage on the cover for whatever era the franchise was in, such as Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton. The first voiceover performance has begun from Tomorrow Never Dies video game, by Adam Blackwood.

Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan, the 5th official actor to portray Bond in the film series, lent his likeness extensively, appearing in GoldenEye 007, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, 007 Racing and NightFire. However, he did not voice the character until Everything or Nothing. A canceled video game called [[Canceled James Bond 007 Video Games#Phoenix Rising|Phoenix Rising]] was going to feature Pierce Brosnan as James Bond 007 with both his voice talent and likeness. However, it was replaced with From Russia With Love video game where Sean Connery starred as Bond. In that time, Brosnan stepped down from the role.

Andrew Bicknell

Andrew Bicknell portrayed James Bond in likeness only for Agent Under Fire, in which the character was voiced by Adam Blackwood who voiced Bond in three video games. During that time, Brosnan had not renewed his contract as 007, disallowing the use of his physical appearance and voice. Bicknell's likeness was to be featured again in NightFire, as early development footage showed, but was replaced when Brosnan's contract was renewed.

Sean Connery

The first official actor in the film series, Sean Connery stepped in to portray Bond once again in the video game adaption of From Russia with Love. The game featured both Connery's voice talent and likeness, as well as an updated plot penned by acclaimed Bond writer Bruce Feirstein, who wrote three Bond films and four video games.

Daniel Craig

Since assuming the role of 007 in 2005, Daniel Craig has portrayed the character in voice and likeness in three video games, beginning with Quantum of Solace: The Game in 2008, which combined the events of the films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. He reprised the role in two games released simultaneously in 2010: GoldenEye 007, the remake of the original blockbuster, and poorly criticized Blood Stone but it ended up with Craig, earning a BAFTA nomination for his best role performance in Blood Stone. However, in 2009, Craig also played in a canceled game based on Ian Fleming's short story Risico with some events from the Fleming's novels unseen in the film franchise has been added to the storyline. It was developing by Raven Software with Bizzare Creations adding the driving elements. There is a rumour that Daniel Craig would return as Bond in a Splinter Cell styled 007 video game, developing by Raven Software. It's unknown that it will be the return of Risico or a sequel to Blood Stone. Their has been suggestions that Skyfall in 2012 would be adapted into a video game which would star Daniel Craig as James Bond as he voiced the character in the previous three Bond titles.

References

  1. ^ "GoldenEye 007 Reviews". gamerankings.com. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/197462.asp. Retrieved 2006-01-29. 
  2. ^ "Microsoft Acquires Video Game Powerhouse Rare Ltd". Microsoft. 2002-09-24. http://www.rareware.com/company/press-microsoft1.html. Retrieved 2006-05-13. 
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ Fritz, Ben (2006-05-03). "Bond, Superman games on the move". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117942524?categoryid=18&cs=1. Retrieved 2006-05-18. 
  6. ^ "Activision Acquires Bond Video Game License". http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/41980. Retrieved 2006-05-03. 
  7. ^ Earwaker, Kiran (2010-10-08). "GoldenEye 007 - Hands On Preview". TVG Media Ltd.. http://www.totalvideogames.com/GoldenEye-007/preview-15701.html. Retrieved 2010-11-10. 
  8. ^ "James Bond 007: Blood Stone – revealed?". GamePron. 2010-07-15. http://www.gamepron.com/news/2010/07/15/james-bond-007-blood-stone-revealed/. Retrieved 2010-07-15. 

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