''A View to a Kill'' are two separate video games released in 1985 and based on the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

A View to a Kill ''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film and the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and is the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted ...

''. The first, an

action game An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...

titled ''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game'', was developed and published by

Domark Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...

. It was available for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, MSX, and

Oric Oric was the name used by UK-based Tangerine Computer Systems for a series of 6502-based home computers sold in the 1980s, primarily in Europe. With the success of the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research, Tangerine's backers suggested a hom ...

. The second game, ''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill'', is a

text-based In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

, and

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

. It was developed by Angelsoft, and published by Mindscape.

''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game''

created an action game split into three separate sections, inspired by scenes from the film. The game starts with the famous movie intro sequence of the moving gunsight and Bond shooting towards the camera. The MSX version omitted the first two sections. In the first section set in Paris, James Bond commandeers a taxi to follow

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

who has parachuted from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

. Roadblocks and police cars are out to stop Bond, who can shoot his pistol at them to get them out of the way. The display is in three sections - an overhead map of Paris, a small 3D view from the car's point of view, and a scanner showing May Day's height. James must arrive at the right location to catch her as she lands. In the second section, James must help Stacey Sutton escape from

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomi ...

, which is on fire. Each room is displayed from a side-on perspective. James must collect useful objects to get through the floors of the building, such as keys to open doors and buckets of water to stop the progress of the fire. In the third and final section, James must collect the code numbers to stop the detonation of Zorin's bomb. Bond runs around the mine, avoiding rockfalls and long drops. Among the objects he can pick up are a grapnel gun (to fire ropes upward which he can climb to safety) and a plank of wood to bridge gaps. May Day is also somewhere in the mine. A password system lets the user play the second or third levels on their own without completing the first.

Music

The music for the

version was written by Antony (Tony) Crowther, and consists of two covers. One is the "

James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions#James Bond series, Eon Productions Bond film since ''Dr. No (film), Dr. No'', released in 1962. Composed by Monty Norman ...

" by

Monty Norman Monty Norman (''né'' Noserovitch; 4 April 1928 – 11 July 2022) was a British composer, musician and singer. A contributor to West End musicals in the 1950s and 1960s, he is best known for composing the "James Bond Theme", first heard in th ...

. The second is the

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

for the film.

''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill''

Mindscape published the

text adventure game '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

by Angelsoft Inc for

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

and

computers with the full title ''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill''. Future Bond novelist

Raymond Benson Raymond Benson (born September 6, 1955) is an American author best known for being the author of the James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973. In primary scho ...

worked on the development of the game. It spawned a follow-up game, '' James Bond 007: Goldfinger''.

Reception

''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' gave the ZX Spectrum version four stars out of five. ''

Commodore User ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vic ...

'' called the Commodore 64 version, "Certainly one of the better 'game of the film' implementations around." ''

Your Commodore ''Your Commodore'' was a magazine for Commodore International, Commodore computers, including the Commodore 64, Amiga, and the Commodore Personal computer, PC range. It was published in the UK from October 1984 until late 1989 when the name was s ...

'' gave the Commodore 64 version two stars out of five and criticized some of the gameplay concepts, writing, "Sometimes programmers can go overboard with special effects at the expense of what could otherwise be a superb game. A View to a Kill is one such example." ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazine ...

'', which gave the Commodore 64 version a 36 percent rating, criticized the game's graphics, its music, and its three separate gameplay modes, writing that focusing on a single gameplay style might have been better. ''Zzap!64''s overall conclusion of the game was, "A powerful idea that seems to have missed its point." ''Zzap!64'' reviewed the Commodore 64 version again in 1992, giving it a 19 percent rating and writing that "the problem was a licence with such potential being turned into such a diabolical arcade adventure."

''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill''

''QuestBusters'', which wrote a positive review, praised the game's "well-written" text and "well-paced story", but criticized its first level for being "a skullsmasher that's near impossible without information obtained only in the film. ..Maybe the designers figured people wouldn't play this game unless they'd seen the movie." ''QuestBusters'' criticized the game's slow loading times and response times as its "major drawback", but ultimately concluded, "Bond fans will not be disappointed."

References

External links

''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game''
at MobyGames {{DEFAULTSORT:View to Kill, A 1985 video games Action video games 1980s interactive fiction Interactive fiction based on works Apple II games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Domark games DOS games Classic Mac OS games MSX games Oric games ZX Spectrum games James Bond video games

Video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Video games based on films Mindscape games Video games developed in the United Kingdom

''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game''

Music

''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill''

Reception

''A View to a Kill: The Computer Game''

''James Bond 007: A View to a Kill''

See also

References

External links