Twenty-five years after the release of GOLDENEYE 007 for Nintendo 64 across the United Kingdom and Europe, the legacy of this great video game based on the 1995 film that launched the Pierce Brosnan era in the James Bond series was made the central subject of a book. THE GOLDEN GAMES OF BOND: A TOTAL SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF THE GOLDENEYE LEGACY makes a profound analysis at the development, reception and release of each "GoldenEye" game, from the revolutionary N64 title to Activision's reimagining with Daniel Craig in 2010 (ported in HD a year later). GOLDENEYE: SOURCE and a couple of freeware mods based on the original's engine were also thoroughly covered.
Written by Nicolás Suszczyk, THE GOLDEN GAMES OF BOND includes interviews with GOLDENEYE 007's additional graphic designer Adrian Smith, GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT screenwriter Danny Bilson, GOLDENEYE: SOURCE co-creator Curtis Higgins, video game historian Steve L. Kent and ZOOM Platform CEO Jordan Freeman. The book is available on the Amazon store in both Paperback and eBook formats, with the print edition featuring extra images in colour not available in the digital version.
Read two exclusive excerpts below:
Few games –Bond games, at least– allow the player to discover new things with each new session and the chance to beat their record through different kinds of challenges. And, to mention more satisfying aspects missing in today’s interactive adventures, GoldenEye 007 offers a sort of “face-to-face” experience when you meet other characters from the film throughout the adventure: encountering people like Zukovsky, Trevelyan or Natalya isn’t part of a mere cinematic and you actually feel that you can “behave” with them in a way or another to the risk of failing your mission: leave Zukovsky in Statue as he talks, and he’ll remind you that “he’s risking his life” by doing so and that you could be “civil enough to listen to him”; destroy the computer where Natalya has to work to dismantle the GoldenEye satellite in Control and she’ll leave, reprimanding you for “fooling around”. This kind of immersive interaction made you feel responsible for your doings, and other situations prompted you to think as Bond would do or to watch the film to know how to get out of a tricky situation. Another beautiful thing is the throwbacks to old 007 adventures with characters like Oddjob and Jaws, weapons like the Golden Gun or the Moonraker Laser and the sniper rifle that takes after the Walther WA2000 used by Timothy Dalton in The Living Daylights. There are little things knowledgeable Bond fans recognized while playing the game that prompted newcomers to watch old films to find out more. In a few words, GoldenEye 007 is a success in many forms: as a video game, as a Bond product, and as a testimony for a generation. The never-ending popularity of GoldenEye 007 is equivalent to Neil Armstrong’s moon landing: it is Ian Fleming’s secret agent planting its flag on the world of interactive entertainment.
“There were tricky things. Obviously, you couldn’t shoot James Bond as the bad guy. And you couldn’t fight him or anything because he had to win,” recalls Bilson on the development of the first spin-off video game set in the James Bond world. An early sample of the script, dated February 22, 2004, and under the GoldenEye 2 working title, dealt with the player’s initiation into Auric Goldfinger’s shrine. (...) Given the fact that Pierce Brosnan’s continuity in the role of Bond was uncertain and that 007 only appeared for a short time, Ian Fleming’s spy was giving a generic appearance resembling the look of Brosnan with the voice talent of Jason Carter. Senior producer Chris Plummer noted that it was important to establish that the rogue agent was trained by James Bond: “You are MI6 material, but like Alec Trevelyan in the original GoldenEye, you quickly focus your talents on more sinister endeavours.
Visit the book's official site here.
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