So I had an idea (rare, I know).
Watching Casino Royale for the first time since I saw it in theatres and it got me thinking about the next Bond game. Now I may not be much of a gamer but there are two types of games I will never miss out on:
Mario Games
and James Bond Games.
However the last few installments in the series have… well… sucked. In fact with the exception of one (that had such an absurd title I’m not quite sure what the fucking thing was called) all of them since GoldenEye have been downright awful.
With this new game being produced by a new company – Activision if I’m not mistaken, who have, in the past, created some of my favourite games of all time (though not recently) – I’m hoping that things will improve. So here’s what I’d like to see.
Option 1: A return to GoldenEye: that is to say – it’s good. But not only good, it also follows the movie plot-line (for the most part) but also expands the story a little bit, adding extra scenes we never saw so that you can’t predict exactly how things are going to work. BONUS POINTS if the game actually offers ADDED story to the film – perhaps giving back/front story, or giving an alternate perspective on a scene we saw from the film.
Option 2: This is what we’ll call “ideal, if (and that’s a big fuckin’ if) they pull it off” situation: a return to the more classic “adventure game” style of gameplay mixed with the classic First-Person Shooter of GoldenEye.
You see Casino Royale really got me thinking about what we’re missing in ALL the Bond games, and that’s the whole Secret Agent aspect. Alright, sure you get to shoot people, blow stuff up, and use neat little gadgets, but there’s more to James Bond than that. Okay, not really, in fact the only thing other than that is sexin’ up sexy ladies with accents…
What I mean is it would be fun to have more sections with Bond being secret agenty – be it doing cool stuff on the computer, putting on disguises, sneaking around, seducing women, you know all the other stuff from the movies apart from the shooting and explosions.
The problem is many of these games have tried this in the past and have failed miserably – probably because they’re developed by/for kids who just want to get to to the shooting. In fact their number one flaw is they don’t feel like a Bond film at all. In fact if anything they feel like a sequel to “Never Say Never Again” only with less Basinger and more old/fat/bald Connery. Sure there’s shooting, some gadgets, and some pretty ladies, but that doesn’t mean it’s any more fun than masturbation with a cattle-prod.
But it is possible to do it right. Look at Metal Gear Solid, a game known for delivering a healthy dose of action, stealth, and story. However I think the better example is something like Mission: Impossible a long forgotten N64 game. If you were to take elements from that, add in some more cool spy-like objectives (like finding a cell phone, taking the SIM, running a trace on the SIM, hacking into someone’s bank account with info from that SIM, OR SOMETHING like that), and of course add in some bitchin’ action scenes, you could have an absolutely fantastic Bond game that actually felt like a mini-Bond movie, rather than just an excuse to have a Pierce Brosnan sound alike run around like a moron. Again, this is why Metal Gear Solid is a very good comparison, as is something like Resident Evil 4 (one of the few games I’ve played that was as entertaining, if not more, than a film).
Again, the problem is in the execution. I think if Activision worked closely with the creative team behind the film (including the writers) and expanded the game from more than just a shooter, and more into an interactive version of the film (again, bonus points if it is an expanded story from the film) the game could be really, really bitchin!
Having said that, I’ll still buy it either way. Despite it’s stupid name…
James Bond Will Return.
