With James Bond's next installment, Sky Fall, hitting theaters on October 23, 2012, a movie tie-in would seem like a no-brainer. Even though Bond games have been mixed, it's hard to keep a a good licensed-to-kill-or-be-killed agent down. So instead, game publisher Activision has opted to tap into "classic Bond" for the upcoming 007 Legends.
The game will put Bond back in action in an adventure that spans five classic films. 007 Legends is currently scheduled for an October 16 release, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Games developers are as tight-lipped as a super villain on what five movies will be featured in the game. At this week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), however, attendees got a closed-door look at one of the missions.
This "for our eyes only" peek showed that one of the five films being recreated as an interactive adventure will be 1979's Moonraker. The Roger Moore film seems like an odd choice, given that it was probably the biggest departure from the book version and not quickly thought of as a hardcore Bond favorite. As a game, however, it seems to work.
As with the film, Hugo Drax has a sinister plan to annihilate the world's population and replace it with his idealized super-humans. Like past Bond games, much of the emphasis will be on the action, so Bond does more running and gunning than trying to bed the various "Bond girls." However, 007 Legends mixes things up, allowing players to utilize various gizmos and gadgets to avoid the direct approach and to handle things in a more "Bond-esque" method. In other words, players can use a dart gun to silently remove threats, sneak in shadows, and try to avoid attention.
Those looking for intense Bond action will still have plenty of those moments. The first-person interface also promises plenty of shooter action.
While 007 Legends will incorporate five films into a single story from a range of Bond eras, it will be interesting to see how the game is tied together. The development team said that each film will occur as stand-alone levels in the game, but they will be part of an overall Bond story. Given Bond's lengthy run, it could be a challenge. That said, the E3 demo eased some of those concerns.
Visually, the game is impressive and carries over the look of Moonraker, so we can only expect that this will be true of the other mission sequences as well. Given that James Bond has changed as much as Doctor Who (at least in terms of actors), the developers chose an interesting option of making 007 Legends feature the likeness of Daniel Craig throughout. Besides the actor, the developers also updated the Bond universe to include modern gadgets, such as a cell phone that players use to interact with elements of the game. This was done to keep the game consistent with the current Bond films.
The development team said that they've worked closely with Ion Productions (the team behind the films) to deliver a true Bond experience. They also said that gamers can expect key Bond friends (and likely foes) from the franchise to also appear in the game. That said, it wasn't clear which version we'll see. We're certainly interested in how Felix, M and Q might look, but with Ion Productions on board, we're not terribly worried.
And while the game is about five "classic" Bond adventures, it will also include a sixth mission -- which will be available as a download to coincide with the release of Sky Fall. Activision wouldn't offer more information, beyond suggesting that even an MI-6 agent probably couldn't get all of the secrets out of them.
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