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They expect you to die! The history of James Bond video games, from the good to the bad to the downright ugly
Interactive takes on MI6’s globetrotting spy have been around almost as long as the films, but that doesn’t mean all of them were a success. Here’s 007’s chequered past of hits, flops and oddities
TL;DR
- The first official James Bond video game, "James Bond 007," was released in 1984 and was an unsatisfying mashup of existing arcade games.
- "A View to a Kill: The Computer Game" (1985) was ambitious but hampered by technical issues, almost bankrupting its publisher.
- "Live and Let Die" (1988) was praised as the best Bond game to date, with "Licence to Kill" (1989) improving further.
- "Q’s Armoury" (1989) and "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1990) were hastily compiled lightgun and overhead vehicle games, respectively.
- "007 James Bond: The Stealth Affair" (1990) featured inconsistencies, while NES and SNES platform games were based on "James Bond Jr."
- "James Bond 007: The Duel" (1993) was Domark's final Bond game, featuring an original storyline and characters reminiscent of Jaws and Oddjob.
- Rare's "GoldenEye 007" (1997) set the standard for Bond games, praised for its accuracy, graphics, audio, and multiplayer mode.
- Later games like "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1999), "007 Racing" (2000), "Agent Under Fire" (2001), and "Nightfire" (2002) varied in quality and relation to the films.
- "From Russia With Love" (2005) featured Sean Connery and retained the spirit of the original movie despite legal name changes and plot divergences.
- Activision's era included "Quantum of Solace" (2008) and a remake of "GoldenEye 007" (2010), with "007 Legends" (2012) attempting to showcase movie moments.
- After a 14-year gap, IO Interactive's "007 First Light" (2026) aims to reinvigorate the franchise with stealth and set pieces.