James Bond 007 (1983 video game)
| James Bond 007 | |
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Cover art
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| Developer(s) | Parker Brothers |
| Publisher(s) | Parker Brothers |
| Programmer(s) | Joe Gaucher |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Sega SG-1000 |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
James Bond 007 is a 1983 side-scrolling video game developed and published by Parker Brothers for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, ColecoVision and distributed in Japan by Tsukuda Original for the Sega SG-1000.
The player controls the titular character of James Bond 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, helicopters, missiles, and mini-submarines.
The game's four levels are loosely based on missions from various James Bond films:
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, 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.
Computer Games gave the Atari computer 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."
AllGame's Brett Alan Weiss, who gave the ColecoVision version two stars out of five, 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.
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