Abstract
Literary and cinematic incarnations of James Bond are usually about 007 himself as the main attraction for the audience. The adaptation and addition of the ‘video game’ to the Bond canon now invites us to play his simulated avatar. However, Bond video games are a mixed affair, taking some years from the pixelated arcade title ‘James Bond 007’ (1983), to the critically acclaimed ‘GoldenEye 007’ (1997) for the series to mature. This chapter explores the gamification of Bond—the spy’s interaction with, influence on and expansion into this virtual medium. It discusses GoldenEye’s enduring legacy within the subgenre of the first-person shooter whilst investigating how Bond titles have pioneered technologies, photorealistic computer graphics and multi-player functionality, allowing player embodiment of Bond himself and his nemeses, such as Jaws or Blofeld.
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Notes
- 1.
A game ‘“mechanic”, something that connects players’ actions with the purpose of the game and its main challenges ’ (Sicart 2008).
- 2.
GoldenEye 007 (1997) was the original game of this title. Later games including GoldenEye : Rogue Agent (2004) were developed as spin-offs, and GoldenEye 007 (2010) is a remake of the 1997 game.
- 3.
The term ‘on-rails’ refers to a game, typically a first-person shooter, in which the player moves through space on a predefined trajectory. On-rails games contrast with open world games, in which a player may freely explore environments and levels.
- 4.
Rare initially planned to include a feature called ‘All Bonds’ in the multiplayer, where a gamer could choose between the likenesses of Connery, Moore , Dalton and Brosnan. However, allegedly because of copyright issues, this feature was removed before release.
- 5.
The Dalton era films in particular mirrored the late 1980s increase in graphic violence in action movies.
- 6.
A ‘boss’ is a computer game enemy who is often known as a ‘master’. These enemies usually have a level of A I. Individual boss battles can be prolonged, and are often the climactic end of levels or the game itself (Thompson 2006).
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Stephens, F. (2018). James Bond: The Game. In: Strong, J. (eds) James Bond Uncovered. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76123-7_14
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