''James Bond 007'' is horizontally scrolling shooter published in 1983 by

Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known by Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. Among its products we ...

for the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...

Atari 5200 The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 520 ...

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

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 W ...

, and

ColecoVision ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision. The console offered a closer exp ...

. It was distributed in Japan by Tsukuda Original for the

SG-1000 The is a home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was Sega's first entry into the home video game hardware business. Developed in response to a downturn in arcades starting in 1982, the SG-1000 was created on the advice of Hayao Nak ...

. It was the first video game based on James Bond to be given a worldwide release.

Gameplay

The player controls

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 hav ...

across four levels. The player is given a multi-purpose vehicle that acts as an automobile, a plane, and a submarine. The vehicle can fire shots and flare bombs, and travels from left to right as the player progresses through each level. The player can shoot or avoid enemies and obstacles that appear throughout the game, including boats,

frogmen A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...

, helicopters, missiles, and mini-submarines. The game's four levels are loosely based on missions from James Bond films: #'' Diamonds are Forever'' (1971): The player rescues Tiffany Case from an oil rig. #'' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977): The player destroys an underwater laboratory. #'' Moonraker'' (1979): The player destroys satellites. #'' For Your Eyes Only'' (1981): The player retrieves radio equipment from a sunken boat.

Development

Initially, Charlie Heath worked on a demo version of the game that was based on the final scene in ''Moonraker'', which failed to impress Parker Brothers. Heath left Parker Brothers in late 1982, and no copies of his version exist. In 1983, a new version of the game, titled ''James Bond 007 As Seen in Octopussy'', was in development by Western Technologies, with a scheduled release later that summer. The game was to be based on the 1983 Bond film, ''

Octopussy ''Octopussy'' is a 1983 spy film and the thirteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions. It is the sixth to star Roger Moore as the MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by John Glen and the screenplay was written by ...

'', and would have included a train sequence from the film. Western Technologies failed to complete the game, and Parker Brothers subsequently hired On Time Software to create an entirely new game.

Reception

''Computer Games'' gave the

version an "A" rating and noted the "simple" graphics and sound, and the lack of a high-score display, but praised the diversity of the game's missions and weapons, writing that they make the game "an exceptionally challenging shoot-em-up. It's also interesting to have a definite purpose at the end of each mission, instead of simply shooting everything that moves." In a retrospective review,

AllGame RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publ ...

's Brett Alan Weiss gave the ColecoVision version two stars out of five. He wrote that the game "has so many flaws that it is easily the worst cartridge in the Parker Brothers library of ColecoVision titles." Weiss criticized the game's sound effects, its difficult controls and gameplay, its short length, and most of its graphics, but wrote that it gradually and briefly becomes enjoyable once the controls have been mastered.

References

External links

''James Bond 007''
for the Atari 8-bit family at Atari Mania

for the Atari 2600 at Atari Mania * {{James Bond video games 1983 video games Atari 2600 games Atari 5200 games Atari 8-bit family games ColecoVision games Commodore 64 games Horizontally scrolling shooters SG-1000 games James Bond video games Parker Brothers video games Moonraker (film) For Your Eyes Only (film) The Spy Who Loved Me (film) Cold War video games Video games developed in the United States

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References

External links