Next week, Daniel Craig’s fifth, and supposedly final, big screen appearance as James Bond comes to theaters in “No Time to Die.”
But when you include all his video game appearances, Craig actually has played the role four additional times, with a fifth in which his likeness was used but the developers hired a soundalike instead to provide the voice.
Much like the Craig-era Bond movies, the Craig-era Bond games have been a mixed bag.
Unlike the films “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall,” none of the Craig Bond games has been excellent, but there has been some fun to be had with them.
Previously: ‘Fortnite’ blacklisted from Apple App Store | Play Life, Live Games
More: Star Wars is returning to the Old Republic in remake of beloved 2003 RPG
My favorite recent Bond game was 2010’s “Blood Stone” for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. They featured an original story written by frequent Bond film writer Bruce Feirstein that has Bond tracking down a kidnapped researcher for the Ministry of Defense and stopping the terrorists who plan to use his research.
The game did a good job of adapting Craig’s more physical take on the character to the video game controller. The hand-to-hand combat in the game looked brutal at times and game’s driving and boating levels were a lot of fun.
Releasing on the same day as “Blood Stone” was actually another fun Bond game, the remake of 1997’s Nintendo 64 classic “Goldeneye 007.” The original “Goldeneye 007” was one of my most played games in the dorms at Ball State University.
While the film “Goldeneye” starred Pierce Brosnan in his first film as James Bond, and the N64 game used his likeness, the 2010 remake of the game reinterpreted the story to fit with Daniel Craig’s version of the character. Despite it updating a lot of the mechanics from the original, including improving the controls that are archaic compared to modern shooters, I still think I preferred the original.
“007 Legends” was another interesting Bond game (this is the one that used Craig’s likeness but another actor’s voice) that had a great concept but failed to live up to it. The game starts with Bond on his awesome train mission from the beginning of “Skyfall,” where he’s fighting with someone on the roof of the moving train when he’s accidentally shot by his partner and falls off the train into the river below.
While in the water, Bond has flashbacks to some of his previous missions. The game then adapts the stories of “Goldfinger,” “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” “Moonraker,” “Licence to Kill” and “Die Another Day,” but again adapts each of them to fit more with Craig’s interpretation of the Bond character. Unfortunately, instead of being the love letter to the Bond franchise it probably initially set out to be, it ended up as a generic shooter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slAhuh21ii8?feature=oembed
At this point, that’s the last Bond game we got. But he is returning to video games. IO Interactive, the game studio behind the Hitman franchise, announced in November of last year that it was working on an upcoming original Bond game going by the working title Project 007.
The game is supposed to be IO Interactive’s own take on the Bond character and won’t use the likeness of any of the previous actors. The recent Hitman trilogy of games were amazing, giving you the freedom to complete missions the way you wanted. IO Interactive is the ideal company to bring James Bond back to gamers, and I can’t wait to see what it comes up with.
Dusty Ricketts can be reached at dricketts@nwfdailynews.com. He is currently playing “Aliens: Fireteam Elite.” You can find him through his PlayStation Network ID: DustRAG316.
Be the first to comment