Activision’s and Eurocom’s latest Bond game looks like a real winner fans should take to for a fine dose of cinematic action and plenty of optional multiplayer thrills. I’m intrigued by how all these missions will tie together and how well Daniel Craig’s Bond does as a replacement for Connery, Moore, Lanzenby and Brosnan. Of course, Eurocom has already done a superb job with their GoldenEye reboot on the Wii, PS3 and 360, so it’s hard to see them mucking up this one. If I get a review copy, I’ll let you know what’s what…
Four games into the license and Activision has done this long-running franchise right by shaking and stirring things up with solid results. Eurocom’s new Bond game could very well be the best one to date this console cycle thanks to its story-based structure that puts today’s 007 (Daniel Craig) through his paces in re-imagined missions from five of the best Bond films (plus a DLC mission based on the upcoming SKYFALL). The dev team is clearly at the top of their game here, so expect all the action, gadgets and mayhem of a James Bod adventure, but a lot more interactive, as you’re not sitting on the couch rooting for James to not get bumped off by Goldfinger below or any of the other villains classic to current coming your way October 16 for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Now, someone tell me Eurocom has a PS Vita dev kit humming away somewhere in their offices, as I’d really LOVE to see what they can do with Mr. Bond on that HD handheld…
With voice actors for previous films on board lending their talents (Daniel Craigis Bond, so don’t expect any cameos from other folks who’ve played Sir James this time out), this just might be the best Bond game to date. Yeah, yeah, you die-hard N64 fanatics can’t give up that GoldenEye fetish (and it absolutely was a great game for its time), but it’s a new generation of systems and Eurocom has established themselves as the go to studio for the franchise. I say buy 007 Legends and play it with pride, as the developer has taken cues from Rare’s work and expanded greatly upon it to all our benefit.
So, I’m thirteen films into my 19-flick James Bond 007 marathon (and again, thanks, Encore, but no thanks for running the SAP versions and not the original theatrical formatted flicks, grrrrr) and I’m a bit more disappointed with the middle run of the series than I thought I would be. Nostalgia value aside, seeing all of these films one after another is like getting stabbed to death by an army of ants with really tiny knives. For me, once you get past On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (and realize how good it is), most of the films after it (mostly the Roger Moore era ones) haven’t stood up so well. Sure, Diamonds Are Forever is amusing (to a fault), Live And Let Die makes for a great 9albeit controversial) intro to the Roger Moore era and The Spy Who Loved Me at least tries hard to be ten years younger than it really is. A few of the other Moore films have interesting performances and plot points, but clearly, the series was devolving into campy, self-referential humor at the expense of whatever sensible elements remained.
Yes, I know the four Pierce Brosnan films (which I haven’t seen in a few years, but will get to this week) have great key moments that helped usher in today’s more serious Bond films, so I’m looking forward to seeing them at least once more. That said, the 70’s to 80’s Bond films range from adequate to flat out dumb to trying too hard to be serious before degenerating to the usual plot point of Bind dropping his pants and bedding anything he can before getting conked on the head and delivered to the bad guy’s hideout or some other location where he’ll escape before popping up to surprise the potential world dominating fool and set into motion his usually sightly to highly comical (explosion, falling, impalement, etc.) demise.
I’m really interested in 007 Legends because Eurocom has been doing a pretty stellar job with their last few Bond games and this trailer shows off a nice level inspired by my favorite Bond film. I do wish that all the music in the trailer was taken from the original film, as the main theme was and is one of the best in the series and still works double duty as an intro and action scene piece. Amusingly enough, Encore is running 19 Bond films this month, so I’ve been watching one per night (in order, of course) for a bit of reminiscing and for a future article. Yup, some of them haven’t held up well at all in terms of a few prickly points I’ll discuss later (and a big fat BOO to Encore for not showing these in their original theatrical formats!), but for the most part, I’m still entertained by what I’m seeing. As for the game, I’m just itching to play it just to see how well Eurocom translated and condensed each film they chose down to what’s looking like a nearly non-stop thrill ride of a game…
Nice. This is a pretty cool promotion for the upcoming Eurocom-developed multi-platform game 007 Legends that allows anyone to sign up, submit a photo of themselves along with a description of their evil world dominating ways for a chance to get into the final version of the game. Of course the big catch here is it’s a popularity contest with the community voting on the best Bond baddie. I’d prefer the developers choose in order to make sure this is taken 100% seriously, but I guess I should trust that there are some reliable Bond fans out there who can come up with a few great villains for Bond to go up against. OK, I know you’re itching to dress up like Dr. Evil and snap some pictures for your chance in the spotlight (before Bond busts a cap in your cap, chap) – go to it, already!
Eurocom just rocks. The veteran developer did a bang up job with both GoldenEye 007 reboots on the Wii and later the PS3 and Xbox 360. Sorry N64 fanboys, but both of these newer (and more polished) games outstrip Rare’s classic (sorry, Rare!) by miles in terms of presentation and accessibility. Additionally, if the team can make the story and gameplay flow as well as or even better than the stunning Dead Space Extraction (still one of the best M-rated Wii games ever and even more superior on the PS3 with the Move controls), they’ll have folks who like a decent narrative hooked in from the time they press Start.
Also, other than Skyfall, the other five Bond films being used to derive material from are currently unknown (well to me at least, but I like being surprised), but I’m gathering we’ll see bits of the BEST Bonds and not the worst. As for the other modes, the fun MI6 Ops Missions from Goldeneye Reloaded are coming back (structured to the new game, of course) and yes, Virginia, there will me multiplayer modes included. This leads me to believe that the game will be a FPS, but I’ll wait and see what the screens and movies reveal before I over-speculate here. Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that The game’s always on the ball PR ace keeps me up to date with the latest news on this, as I’m thrilled to see what’s coming with this new Bond game…
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