One thinks of movie-licensed video games as the cheap exploitation of popular franchises, often a smattering of garbage cans in the back alley to make decent money thanks only to their names. As long as people continue to buy these games, companies will continue to make them. There have been a few exceptions, however. Among them is Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, which is undoubtedly one of the most important games ever created.
Goldeneye was inspired by, and based upon, the blockbuster debut of Pierce Brosnan in his first 007 feature film. However, many aspects of its development were quite unconventional, even downright rocky. What started as a rail-based shooter became a stellar FPS experience, with many elements and spaces that served no direct purpose to the gameplay. (http://www.zoonami.com/briefing/2004-09-02.php) Instead, these areas seem to strengthen the immersion of the game, making them more lifelike with random components rather than a straightforward tube. With such nonlinear map design, perhaps it is no great surprise that Goldeneye is also praised so highly for its multiplayer.
Ironically, the Goldeneye namesake came to be exploited by future development studios, as new Bond games continued to be churned out. From the grainy graphics of Tomorrow Never Dies, to the lavish production values of Everything or Nothing, not a single Bond game has grazed the level of greatness set by the N64 classic. One bold attempt centered on a “racing” style was met with lackluster results – and it seems Activision is still keen on making the idea work, by the way.
While few games have lived up to the lofty bar set by Goldeneye, one must consider the change in image Bond has experienced throughout the years. Sean Connery was the man everybody wanted to be, Roger Moore had to be funny, Timothy Dalton had to be human and easy to relate to… but just where does that leave poor Bond now? Daniel Craig’s incarnation of the British agent as a cold killer is distinctive to say the least, but how well do modern audiences sympathize with him? At times, he seems to be quite a bad dude, who is accepted only because he’s fighting on “our” side. For a film, this is an intriguing perspective for the once heroic character to take. Yet when it comes to gaming, just how compelling can this new Bond be?
It is entirely possibly that audiences just don’t care about Bond the way they used to. To be fair, the actor’s portrayal can only impact the games but so much. Daniel Craig has been featured in 2008’s Quantum of Solace, which incorporated elements from both of his Bond films. The reception was fairly lukewarm however, as a very conventional design approach resulted in a mostly monotonous gameplay experience. In addition, Craig has taken over Brosnan’s role as Bond in Goldeneye with the upcoming Goldeneye 007 Wii iteration and stars in Bloodstone 007; so he has a few more chances to show his mug around to Bond fans.
Given the repeated failures since Goldeneye, I can understand why the superstitious crowd might be inclined to label Bond as a cursed man in the world of gaming. Personally, I’m not big on such voodoo nonsense – and as anyone who has seen Live and Let Die can tell you, neither is Bond. The fact of the matter is that Bond has received a reception comparable to that of most famous film characters, perhaps even slightly better than average. We should look to the future with an open mind.
