Sad history of Bond games (Page 1 of 2)

I know video game movie tie ins have been done to death, and with a few exceptions (GoldenEye and a few Lord of the Rings games) they royally suck! But given to the RIGHT company and given the time needed to properly build a game version of the story and if needed a multiplayer addition, it COULD be done to great acclaim again.

But ultimately I think if they want any 007 game, movie based or not, to be any where good as what GE 64 was or stand out on it's own, Eon will probably have to create a game division and do it themselves. Because regardless of who gets it and what they did movie or stand alone, it will be mirrored after what their best game is.

But what you are saying about being constrained by a franchise is why Rareware turned down making Tomorrow Never Dies in favor of making Perfect Dark, after the success of GE.

Last edited by GoldenEye85 (5th Dec 2014 03:43)

Hopefully soon another game will come out that is good. Personally I think it tends to work in the favor of whom ever is producing the games, if the games story is original rather than tie into the current movie (Everything or Nothing is still one of my favorite games even ten years later and Bloodstone is fun as well).

Also many other licensed games had dry spells that were just as bad as the James Bond series (Star Wars had a few not so great games here and there for every decent game that came out).   From my humble perspective, it is just a matter of finding the right studio and striking a good balance between the gunplay and espionage activities in the game.

I think one of the best series to look at would be the Batman Arkham games (Asylum, City, Origins, and upcoming Knight). Those games are proof that a big franchise can be properly adapted to the medium of video games. The best thing is to avoid making a James Bond game as a movie tie-in, and instead make it its own story with well developed mechanics. Imagine a Bond game done in the style of the Metal Gear series!

Not a Bond gamer myself, this may be of interest. Den of Geek article on the Octopussy videogame that never was. James Bond should have made his videogame debut with an Octopussy tie-in, but then it mysteriously disappeared...

Octopussy: the James Bond videogame that never was
http://www.denofgeek.com/games/octopuss … -never-was

There was another Octopussy game made for the ZX Spectrum. It's unnofficial and as far as I remember it came out years after the film and wasn't even in English. It was more like an adventure games similar to Clock Tower where you had to find items to progress. The Atari game looks cool, too.

No movie tie in, BUT it could be an a good way of getting younger fans into BOND.

My son (who is 9) would become a fan of Bond, if there was a good xbox game - he's heard of Bloodstone, through a YouTuber who is a fan of Minecraft.

Most of my son's buying decisions are based on recommendations. This will then make him a fan of the franchise.

They should be looking ahead... and not just rely on adults buying these games.

I think a Bond game would be great but I don't think the gaming industry now is mature enough.  So much money gets spent on high production values while the actual gameplay of the games suffers.

I've tried Quantum of Solace, the re-adaption of Goldeneye 007 that came out a few years ago and 007 Legends.

They're not spy games where you investigate cases and such.  They're war games where you shoot people.  If a big name company isn't capable of making an authentic Bond game, they shouldn't do it at all.

The problem is that the name alone sells it. Feels like developers put just enough in to make a profit.

A shame, as the potential is enormous. Mercenaries type game? They could do that. Or the new cinematic Tomb Raider. Or Just Cause. Or GTA style. It's wide open.

I agree with everyone who mentioned the Batman Arkham games as inspiration. The Developer of those games, Rocksteady Studios, will release their last iteration for that series in June. So lets hope they've picked up the Bond franchise behind the scenes with an announcement to make at this years E3. I think if a big studio will take up the challenge, these guys are the most likely. Especially since they've now included the Bat Mobile in the final game, so they've learned vehicle mechanics etc.

Other than that, I think Ubisoft could easily make a great 3rd or First person Bond game, but they may feel it would deduct from their own IP's such as Splinter Cell and Far Cry.

If EA pick up the license again, Bioware could make an incredible, Alpha Protocol type, RPG Bond game. Also, a DICE Bond game would be incredible, especially with the vehicle sections and a more contained multiplayer. However, these companies have their hands full with EA sports, Mass Effect and the Battlefield series, so there's slim chance of any of this.

Finally, Bond is an assassin. The makers of the Hitman games, IO Interactive, could make a compilation Bond game, featuring open world missions from a variety of Bond films. There's huge potential there, imagine infiltration/ Assassination missions such as Dr No's secret base, the Vulcano rocket base from 'You Only Live Twice' etc.

Short article on what these guys could do next, with a nice summary of what they would bring to the Bond franchise.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/44996 … knight.htm

I don't think you could really do a sandbox, GTA style, James Bond game. If it's one city, you won't have the travelling across the world feel that usually comes with a Bond movie.

I just had a thought the other day.  Wouldn't it be rad if there was a open world Bond video game based on every mission from every movie? You could do the missions in any order or as many as you want simultaneously a la Fallout or GTA.   Traveling to all the Bond locations from the films around the world by plane train or automobile would be fun.  It would also be great if you could choice between skins of all six Bond actors for your playable character.