James Bond

Note: this page is devoted to the James Bond franchise. For more information about the James Bond character, visit the James Bond character page.

Overview

The James Bond game franchise is a series of video games starring the skilled & famed British MI6 agent James Bond - who uses the codename 007.

The official James Bond series began in 1953 with the novel Casino Royale by British novelist Ian Fleming. The first official James Bond film distributed by MGM, Dr. No, released almost a decade later in 1962 and spawned a long-running film series spanning 26 official films to date.

The James Bond franchise is one of the most identifiable brand names in the world, and is currently the 5th highest-grossing film franchise. This success has led to several licensed games based on the character - most James Bond games are adaptations of the films, whereas others provide original stories.

History

Beginnings (1983 - 1997)

The first official game released in the James Bond video game series was back in 1983, a side-scroller simply named "James Bond 007." Since 1983, a number of James Bond titles have appeared on multiple consoles, many critically and financially successful. The franchise had what many consider it's greatest success in 1997, with the release of GoldenEye 007, a first-person shooter for the Nintendo 64. Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, it was based on the movie of the same name. The game loosely followed the film's plot, and it is best remembered for its breakthrough four-player multiplayer modes.

EA Games (1999 - 2005)

After EA Games took over the franchise in 1999, future games in the series would be held to the high standard of GoldenEye 007. Even with a few critical successes, such as '007: Nightfire' and '007: Everything or Nothing', the latter using voices and likenesses from the film franchise, none of them had the lasting effect on gamers the way GoldenEye 007 did. In November 2004, EA released GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, which attempted to bring GoldenEye 007's success to the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. Using the GoldenEye title to fuel gamer's interest, the actual story is in no way tied to that of the original movie or game, but it employed a customizable multiplayer mode incorporating online play. The game failed critically and in the marketplace. Due to poor sales, the planned Rogue Agent franchise was canned. The last James Bond release from EA was 2005's 'From Russia With Love', which included the voice and likeness of Sean Connery.

Activision (2006 - 2014)

Activision was the next publisher to acquire the 007 franchise. The first game in franchise that they released, 007: Quantum of Solace, was developed by Treyarch and utilized the the Call of Duty 4 engine. 007: Quantum of Solace included the likeness and voice of Daniel Craig, the third Bond actor to provide both for a 007 game, after Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery. Activision released 007: Quantum of Solace in 2008 for multiple platforms to coincide with the release of the film.

This was followed by GoldenEye 007, a remake of the Rareware game starring Daniel Craig and rewritten to take place in modern times. Originally released just for the Wii, it was ported to the PS3/360 one year later with new controls and high-resolution textures. Released for the PC/PS3/360 at the same time as the Wii GoldenEye was Blood Stone, a game with an original plot designed by Bizarre Creations. It would be the final game released by Bizarre.

The most recent 007 game released by Activision has been 007 Legends, a grab bag of famous scenes from throughout the franchise updated to modern times and again starring Daniel Craig.

2023

On September 29, Tilting Point (from the developers of Space Marshals) released a top down James Bond game on the mobile called Cypher 007.

Future

Currently, IO Interactive are working on a James Bond game unrelated to the film series.