There are few things a movie studio likes more than celebrating a cinematic anniversary with a ridiculously lavish (and scrumptiously profitable) box set. Hence, Wednesday's announcement that MGM and Fox are to release a gigantic Bond 50 collection, featuring all 22 'official' James Bond movies on Blu-ray discs, as well as more than 130 hours of bonus features. There will, of course, be no celebratory box set for the tie-in games, though. This isn't just because a whole cavalcade of developers and publishers have been involved in tie-ins and conversions since the side-scrolling shooter James Bond 007 first arrived on the Atari 2600 back in 1983 (watch this – if only for the theme tune rendition at the start); no, it's also because most of the games have been terrible. Yes, yes, we all know that Goldeneye on the N64 was amazing – a huge, towering landmark for the whole concept of first-person shooters on home consoles. We also know that EA did a fair job with some of its attempts at later movies: The World is Not Enough on N64 was okay;
Everything or Nothing was ... a game. And Eurocom's recent re-imagining of Goldeneye actually worked rather well. But what of the many Bond movies that haven't yet been plucked for game treatment? What would work in the modern era? Here are five possibilities. Feel free to argue, or make your own suggestions in the comments section. You can even make a case for the Bond movies outside of the Eon Productions series – that's if you really want to see a game based around the 1967 version of Casino Royale... ThunderballIt's incredible, really, that one of the most financially successful Bond movies has never made it into interactive form – especially as it has jet packs, an Aston Martin DB5, a glamorous setting (the Bahamas), a glamorous yet tough love interest (Domino) and a villain with an inexplicable eye patch (Largo). The movie would be awesome as an Uncharted-style action adventure with plenty of hand-to-hand combat, fast vehicles and memorable characters; plus, the underwater shoot-out sequence would be interesting in a team deathmatch multiplayer mode.
Possible developer: It has to be Naughty Dog. On Her Majesty's Secret ServiceIt's not just about that skiing sequence in the Swiss Alps. The sixth Bond movie also has a gang of brainwashed women known as the angels of death, a great baddie sidekick in the unlikely shape of veteran German actress Ilse Steppat and ultimate supervillain Blofeld as portrayed by Telly Savalas! The plot, involving Blofeld's threat to unleash biogical warfare on the planet, is timely too.Possible developer: With its eccentric casting, interesting locations and "angel of death" gang, we could just go all-out and give it to Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. Live and Let DieOkay this is a slight cheat as a game based on Roger Moore's first Bond movie was actually released on the Commodore 64 in 1988 – although it was just a boat racing sim cynically re-branded as a 007 title, so doesn't count. A modern day tie-in could make the most of the thrilling bayou boat chase, the voodoo sacrifice sequence and the cool train fight with Tee Hee at the end.
And Paul McCartney's title track would be amazing, naturally. Possible developer: With its spooky black magic overtones, maybe F.E.A.R and Condemned developer, Monolith Productions? MoonrakerNot a great film, we all know that. However, the space station shootout is always going to work in a game, plus there's Jaws, the ultimate boss character. On the way, we get the chase though Venice and the fight in the cable car on Rio de Janeiro's Sugarloaf mountain. And in a game we can cut out all the really awful jokes and the bit at the end where Jaws turns good. Possible developer: Nonsensical plot? Someone call Infinity Ward! Casino RoyaleDaniel Craig's blistering opener didn't get its own video game adaptation, mostly due to its timing between EA giving up the Bond rights and Activision taking them over. A new adaptation could address that, bringing the latest in procedural animation to that whole parkour chase and lots of cool physics to the sinking building finale. In between we'd get Aston Martin chases, airport showdowns and, who knows, maybe Kinect-compatible motion detecting seduction scenes between Bond and Vesper.
Oh okay, that probably wouldn't happen in a real game, would it?Possible developer: The movie is gritty, tough and sexy, so maybe Rockstar Studios could do the trick."Moonraker" is the 11th installment in the most successful film series in history. It is also, of course, in the grand Bond tradition. The basic form of the James Bond thrillers has been firmly established since the beginning; they're as predictable in style as the kabuki theater. The first shot of Bond must show him in a bizarre predicament that brings him within inches of his life. Surviving it, he must immediately be seen by a sexy girl. Then … let's see. He's called in by 'M,' flirts briefly with Miss Moneypenny, is assigned to a case that takes him to exotic foreign locations, crosses tracks with another sex symbol who turns out to be working for a rival intelligence agency, is attacked by the villain's goons, is confronted by the villain himself (in the villain's incredibly elaborate hideaway), and learns of the villain's plan to achieve world mastery.
(The villain's obligatory explanation of his plan for global domination led to the definition of The Talking Killer in my Little Movie Glossary.) The closing sequence of every Bond picture is a set piece, using incredibly expensive special effects to create a vast global control center which is then destroyed. The last shot, of course, again shows Bond with a sexy girl (preferably the rival intelligence agent). Take this formula, plug in the specifics, and you have the new Bond movie. In this case, it's called "Moonraker," and it's so jammed with faraway places and science fiction special effects that Bond has to move at a trot just to make it into all the scenes. This Bond arrives in the midst of the post-"Star Wars" sci-fi boom, and was right on time. The press releases promised there had never before been a set as large as the one built to contain "Moonraker"'s city in outer space. The space station, inspired (as they all are) by Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," is a masterpiece of art direction.
One moment among many: When the station's artificial gravity is shut off, it appears to us that 50 or 100 men are floating in free-fall in the command area. It's hard enough to make one man appear to be floating, but "Moonraker" doesn't spare the cash. It also doesn't break new ground. The villain this time is named Drax, instead of, say, "Goldfinger." Bond's girl is named Holly Goodhead instead of, say, Pussy Galore. The locations this time are London, Los Angeles, Venice, Rio and Earth orbit instead of, say, Switzerland, Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Russia and Fort Knox. But the dialogue is exactly the same: Bond likes to "keep abreast of things," he's got a "leg up on the situation," he's got the same subtle leer and the same lascivious eyebrows he had before women's lib. Not since Tarzan has a movie character changed so little between movies and actors. Bond is played by Roger Moore again. Moore had grown into the role by this time, but Moore was, alas, simply not Connery. He lacked the gift of combining the comic with the sexy;
he didn't have Connery's sophisticated smile with just a hint of a drool. To which I suppose we should say, so what? The stars of this movie are Ken Adam, the art director, and Derek Meddings, in charge of special effects. In addition to the gigantic space station, they provide lots of little touches, like 007's gondola in Venice, which turns into a speedboat and then miraculously grows wheels. "Moonraker" is a movie by gadgeteers, for gadgeteers, about gadgeteers. Our age may be losing its faith in technology, but James Bond sure hasn't. Netflix's "A Series of Unfortunate Events" an Unfunny Parody of Sadness A review of Netflix's new series, Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events," which premieres January 13. Who do you read? Good Roger, or Bad Roger? This message came to me from a reader named Peter Svensland. He and a fr... Predictions for the 89th Academy Awards Our resident awards expert predicts who will go home with an Oscar on Sunday night.