Designed by David Bishop and Chris Palmer for Tigress Marketing Ltd.
Commodore 64:
Programming by Grant Harrison
Graphics by Grant Harrison, Nichola Blades and Robert Ritson
Music arranged by Antony Crowther
Speech synthesis by B. Jones
Sinclair ZX Spectrum:
Programming by Tony Knight, Daryl Bowers, Gary Burfield-Wallis, Grant Harrison, Garry Knight and Argentino Trombin (with thanks to Sadie)
Graphics by Nichola Blades and Robert Ritson
Music arranged by Antony Crowther
Speech synthesis by David Aubrey Jones
Amstrad CPC version by the Software Technicians.
Tangerine Oric-1/Atmos version by Severn Software.
MSX version's credits are unknown.
All versions published by Domark in 1985.
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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS
Many years ago, I did a comparison of James Bond 007 by Parker Brothers, where I was pondering on whether I would ever bother to write about any of the Bond games by Domark, because they're most of them more or less unplayable. Well, because of an equally unlikely event happening, that I'm taking part in two James Bond theme song concerts here in my home town (the concerts are tomorrow and the day after), I decided to prepare a comparison of the first Domark Bond game to go with the other thing hand in hand. Let's just hope this proves at least as a learning experience - I'm not expecting any enjoyment out of it. Thus, a new month theme starts here at FRGCB: April of Abominations.
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HISTORY, DESCRIPTION & REVIEW
A View To A Kill marks the first occasion of any software house attempting to cash in on the most recent Bond movie with a tie-in game. Considering this was 1985, and the biggest competitors Domark were facing on the movie tie-in market were Ocean Software with Rambo and Activision with Ghostbusters. Domark obtained the licence to produce the first straight Bond movie tie-in game early in 1985, but the production scaled up and stalled, so it wasn't finished and released until a month after the movie was released, but according to Domark's co-founder Dominic Wheatley in his interview in Retro Gamer magazine 96 in 2011, the game still turned out quite successful, whatever he meant by that. Of course, with the franchise being as established and well-regarded as Bond-movies were, and still remain, the market was there.
The elements that made Bond-movies what they were back then, are basically car chases, suspenseful stealth espionage kinds of segments, Q's gadgets and fleeting romances. What Domark's team of game developers managed to squeeze into their game version of A View To A Kill is one car driving maze segment in the streets of Paris, a long puzzle/adventure sequence in a burning San Francisco City Hall, and an equally long and frustrating platforming section in the Silicon Valley mines. Each of the three playable segments, along with the intro and outro sequences where available, are loaded sequentially into your selected computer's memory, so there's a lot of loading and waiting involved in the game, and you need to complete each segment to get a code for the next. Each segment can be accessed without the codes, but they will be practically impossible to beat without them.
So, what Domark did was actually make a prototype of later movie tie-in games by Ocean, featuring properly sequences multi-load systems, but made it so difficult that it would take years of mapping and practicing to get anywhere in the game. To be honest, I have only ever completed the Paris segment in A View To A Kill, and I still wish that I hadn't bothered. It's not a good game, although it was a fair attempt at creating something over the top for the time being. Definitely Domark's weakest Bond-game, but you have to start somewhere.
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LOADING
Part of the intrigue in A View To A Kill is its tape loading procedure, and part of why it became a nostalgia trip game for me (see the video here) was its wrong play order in the Amstrad version. What I never understood is how anyone ever considered A View To A Kill being good enough to be included on compilation tapes and hog up space from at least two or three other games that could have easily taken its place, and it doesn't really help the logic to have dropped the intro and outro segments from some of the compilations. Anyway, here are the shortest available tape loading times for each full version (not counting the chopped down compilation versions):
COMMODORE 64: 13 minutes 8 seconds
ZX SPECTRUM: 22 minutes 48 seconds
AMSTRAD CPC: 14 minutes 49 seconds
MSX: 6 minutes 25 seconds
ORIC: 9 minutes 15 seconds
Already, we have an interesting thing to observe. The MSX and ORIC versions do not have nearly as much of data to load, simply because they are missing a proper intro and outro, but more importantly, the Paris segment has also been left out entirely. Apparently, the Paris chase was worked on for the ORIC version, and a prototype of it exists on some magazine coverdisk, but we won't be getting into that in this comparison.
Another thing worth mentioning is, that apart from the AMSTRAD and MSX versions, all the game's segments are loaded in separately after resetting your computer. The AMSTRAD and MSX versions require you to load in the main loader program before you can load the wanted game sequence. However, with the AMSTRAD version having almost exactly 8 minutes less of loading time compared to the SPECTRUM version doesn't really make much of a difference, when the AMSTRAD version is missing the ending sequence, but it does suggest that the SPECTRUM version is still the slowest version of the lot, even at its quickest. The MSX version doesn't mess around, as it only has just shy of 6 and a half minutes worth of data to be loaded.
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| Loading screens. Top row, left to right: Amstrad CPC, Tangerine Oric-1/Atmos, Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Bottom left: MSX. Bottom right: Commodore 64. |
As for the loading screens, the C64 doesn't have such a thing, apart from the usual turbo loader rainbow lines. The MSX version only has a black screen with white text saying "LOADING..." until the segment loader kicks in with the same screen as you see in the intro. The AMSTRAD version only shows a loading screen after the intro has loaded, with possibly the finest representation of the gunbarrel screen of all the versions, and the ORIC version follows as a close second. The SPECTRUM loader is used for all segments, and is one of the ugliest loading screens I have ever seen, not only thanks to the red and black monochrome style, but also the zombie-like pixelation of Roger Moore's face.
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PLAYABILITY
So, before we even got to Playability, the first section that should even matter in the final results, we see that the MSX and ORIC versions are missing one of the three levels, in addition to the non-playable segments. So, while out of the usual three levels, two require a password in order for you to have a plausible chance at passing them, the MSX and ORIC versions only have one level with a password. Still, none of the versions actually require passwords to play all three (or two) levels, so you certainly have access to all the game has to offer - at least, all that is required to figure out, how unplayable they all are. In games such as this, it is, by large, better the less you have content. But let us imagine all three segments being somehow important to the whole picture, and do the comparison on that basis.
The game is entirely joystick-operated, although some versions have optional keyboard controls. In the first section, Paris Chase, Bond drives a blue Renault taxi around Paris, bumping off from the city's buildings and waterways, and chasing after the hang-gliding May Day, and shoots other cars who get too much in your way. Your commandeering Renault has slow acceleration and deceleration, and turns in 45- and 90-degree turns by pulling the joystick left and right, but you are also able to make handbrake turns by pushing the fire button and pulling down. Just pushing the fire button should make the car fire a few bullets. However, the segment can be easily completed without shooting anyone, so the fire button is almost of no value here.
The latter two sections have two slider-based action and item menus, which you access by pushing the fire button, and in a similar manner, activate the menu items. It's needlessly tricky, but it pauses the game timer while finding your required menu items, so it doesn't really matter that much - though too much of your personal time will be wasted in this sort of thing, when you could be doing something much more creative. Otherwise the two latter sections are different enough from each other: the first of them, the City Hall escape, is a semi-isometric/pseudo-3D adventure, somewhat similarly presented as Ultimate's C64 adventure games starring Sir Arthur Pendragon, so you walk around using all the directions on your joystick. The final level, the Silicon Valley Mine complex, is more of an omni-directionally scrolling platformer with ropes and elevators and such, so you run around left and right, jump, and climb up and down.
All three versions of the Paris Chase segment play very similarly to each other, only the AMSTRAD version features a new element of having some cars parked on the road sides here and there. Also, if you shoot a moving car in the AMSTRAD version, it doesn't blow up like it does in the other two versions, but rather just stops for a while, during which you can pass through the car unharmed. In the SPECTRUM version, you have a higher chance of getting your Renault (now a red one) stuck inside buildings and other structures due to collision detection bugs. The C64 version has the highest top speed for the Renault, which makes it also the most difficult to control, but if you manage to keep a low speed, you'll do fine. Regardless of the version you're playing, though, the Paris segment is tedious, boring and too long.
In my opinion, and I would say very likely even the game developers' collective opinion, the San Francisco City Hall escape segment is where the real game begins, which is probably why they dropped Paris from the MSX and ORIC versions, but I'm only guessing here. The way this scene happens in the movie is, Max Zorin and May Day lead Mr. Bond and Ms. Sutton into the city hall elevator, stop it between floors and light the roof of the elevator on fire with a Molotov cocktail. Bond and Sutton escape the elevator and make their way down through the roof of the city hall, but in the game, Bond needs to find his way down through a series of locked doors and stairways by using keycards and shooting the locks open, and other such methods. Since it's not actually an action sequence as such, you have nothing to do with the fire spreading at the other end of the building, unless you run out of time, and you have no real control of the gun you acquire soon after getting a move on. It's just walking around, and scrolling through the menus and activating different menu items. To be honest, I'm not sure they could have done a better job trying to follow the movie's sequence truthfully, but still, it's not an entirely successful representation of the scene.
While there is no clear indication of which version was the original platform that the game was developed for, it's safe to assume it's either the COMMODORE 64 or ZX SPECTRUM, thanks to the development team being fully acknowledged for both versions. In both cases, although the team was slightly different, they made the City Hall segment into a pseudo-3D adventure game, but only the C64 version takes the somewhat diagonal point of view into consideration when moving Bond to the front and back of the room. The AMSTRAD and MSX versions show a different view of the rooms, which is similar to the graphics in Sierra's early adventure games and, perhaps more conveniently, Domark's next movie tie-in game, Friday the 13th; of course, moving around in this view is completely straight and simple. The ORIC version has only a fleeting whiff of a 3D aspect shown by the ceiling, but all the movement is very much linear 2D. Then again, it doesn't really need to be any more complex than that, since it works just as well.
All five versions have some minor design differences between the city hall's structure and item placements, but nothing particularly drastic. The same puzzles are basically included in all versions, just in a slightly different order.
The only thing that doesn't work too well is the action/item menu, which is a very cumbersome system even at its best. In the C64, SPECTRUM and ORIC versions, it works smoothly enough, although the C64 version doesn't have any visual indications upon which menu you are currently, until you move your joystick left and right. In the AMSTRAD version, the menus have no scrolling effect, like the previous two versions have, but otherwise, they work just as well. The MSX menus are similarly unanimated as the AMSTRAD ones, but they have a response time of almost 2 seconds to change the menu item to the next after you have given it a command with your joystick.
Since the final level, the Silicon Valley Mine segment uses the same adventuring menu system as the previous level, the same observations apply here. The map of the mine complex is largely the same throughout all five versions, although the ORIC and MSX versions' maps feel slightly different. Also, similarly to ORIC and MSX, the AMSTRAD version feels almost like a completely different experience because all three of them use a flip-screen method instead of omni-directional scrolling, so it's a bit more difficult to not only keep track of where you are, but also to see what's coming ahead in the next screen.
However, compared to the C64 and SPECTRUM versions' somewhat sluggish feel, the three other versions are relatively fast to play, although the ORIC version is somewhere in the middle of all five. The ORIC version also suffers from an annoying problem regarding jumping and catching onto ropes, which makes it impossible to get anywhere in the game unless you know the exact distance and timing of your jumps and grabs.
Well, in the end, if you want a full James Bond type experience from Domark's version of A View To A Kill, the MSX and ORIC versions are out, the latter in particular can be considered a waste of time. The AMSTRAD version has its own charm with its wildly different City Hall and Mine segments from the C64 and SPECTRUM versions, and even more particularly, the wrong order of levels. Based on the style of the game's design, I would hazard a guess that the SPECTRUM version was the original platform, and it shows in the City Hall segment in particular, though the C64 version beats it in the Mines segment. Overall, everything is a bit of a mess, but so it is on all platforms. Somehow, though, the AMSTRAD version feels the most comfortable to play on the whole.
1. AMSTRAD CPC
2. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM / COMMODORE 64
3. MSX
4. TANGERINE ORIC
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GRAPHICS
A View To A Kill is the first James Bond game to feature a rendition of the iconic gunbarrel intro from all official James Bond movies, and this tradition would last throughout most Bond-games henceforth. Another pointer towards the SPECTRUM version being the original development platform would be the quality of design in the latter half of the intro sequence, but then, the C64 version has the only complete gunbarrel animation.
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| Screenshots from the ZX Spectrum (top) and Commodore 64 (bottom) intro sequences. |
Whereas the C64 version does the whole thing from the beginning, with the smaller white spotlights and all, and Bond walking from the right side of the screen and turning towards the camera before shooting, the first thing we see in the SPECTRUM version is the bit where Bond has already shot his gun at the camera, and the blood begins to flow from top to bottom. The C64 intro continues with a cheap animation of the Domark logo's six parts coming together in the middle, and regular white PETSCII text scrolling upwards behind the glimmering, intrusive Domark logo. The SPECTRUM intro only features the Domark logo for a couple of seconds before the screen is opened to a large game title logo and a slightly more impressive credits sequence with various kinds of text entrance animations.
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| Screenshots from the Amstrad CPC (left), MSX (middle right) and Oric (far right) title screens. |
From the three others, the AMSTRAD version has the most elaborate intro sequence, and even there, I hesitate to call it an actual sequence, since it only contains a reasonably good title screen with a small scrolling text box with invisible borders, and another screen with only text on it. But it does at least act as the main hub, from where you must load the other parts of the game, so there is that. The MSX version's title sequence features less text, and the title screen itself doesn't even feature the title of the game - just an approximated 007 logo. The ORIC version has no graphical title screen, since the tape contains only two segments, and the loading screen was probably considered enough.
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| Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of the Paris segment. |
This might seem like an odd choice of screenshots, considering the mission briefing isn't really a part of the game, but there is a reason for it. First of all, some versions don't even have a full mission briefing screen, so having one in the C64 version is somewhat of a bonus (also featuring sound options), and secondly, the font here is something to consider. It's not exactly important, but an interesting detail nonetheless. I also appreciate the nicely colour-coded sections of the mission briefing screen, making it look a little more thought-out that it could have been.
The actual in-game graphics in the Paris segment are comparatively woeful, if you compare them to other major games of its time. But then, the screen is split in multiple parts. The bottom half of the screen shows a top-down view of the city map, with Bond's commandeering blue Renault in the middle of it all, and it scrolls in all eight directions. The graphics there are mostly multi-colour low-res, built out of clearly (and lazily) defined blocks; however, the cars and May Day's hang glider are all monochrome hi-res sprites.
The top half of the screen features a first-person view from inside Bond's Renault, which skips along one square of road at a time, featuring an animated wheel, a speed indicator and a digital clock, but the first-person view doesn't show any traffic - probably all for the better. On the left side of the first-person view, we have a tracking device, showing May Day's altitude and her nearness as a red beeping light. On the right side, we have the Renault's damage indicator. All of this is surrounded by a dark blue bordering, probably because Bond's Renault is blue.
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| Screenshots from the ZX Spectrum version of the Paris segment. |
As far as movement and animation goes, the Paris graphics are pretty similar to the C64 version, but the colouring is a bit extreme. With bright red and yellow being the primary colours in the two action screens, it is a bit rough on the eyes compared to the darker blue backgrounds. The screen is organized a little bit differently, with the damage indicator now sharing the bottom half with the top-down map, which itself is viewed slightly closer to the ground than what you see on the C64, but not by much. Of course, this means that the top half gives a little bit more room to the first-person view, even taken into account the narrower screen size. All the necessary elements are in, though, so it works well enough - only the colours are a bit awkward.
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| Screenshots from the Amstrad CPC version of the Paris segment. |
The in-game graphics of the Paris section in the AMSTRAD version are surprisingly different. They took out the cockpit entirely, replacing it with a speed indicator, which shows up as yellow when going forwards, and red when reversing. The damage indicator is also missing the car graphics, but you do get a Domark logo underneath. Also, the radar device is only there to indicate May Day's vicinity, and the altitude is shown underneath of it, and the timer is also shown separately.
All this leaves considerably less room for the two action screens, which is all the same, since you still get enough of information to be able to play this section easily enough. That said, the first-person screen has much more colours in it than in either of the other two versions, while still having a pleasingly sedate set of base colours. Also, the top-down screen has better-looking multi-colour cars in it. All in all, the graphics here work very much to their advantage.
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| Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of the City Hall segment. |
For the in-game graphics, the game developers decided to use black, turqoise and light brown as the three primary colours. Black is sort of utilised as the incidental colour for all the text, textures and borders; turqoise as the background colour surrounding everything else on the screen; and light brown for the floor and the timer background. The action screen is surrounded by a dark blue frame, and Bond himself looks a little bit Lego'ish, but is wearing black and white garments. This doesn't exactly go together with the movie sequence, where Bond is wearing a dark brown leather jacket, a light blue shirt and black trousers, but I suppose they were putting this game together before seeing the actual movie segment, so they went with some preliminary information. The City Hall map is shown under the main action screen, and from there, you can see how the fire is spreading, in addition to your location and the visited rooms. The two item-based menus are at the top right corner of the screen.
Probably a good thing to point out is, that each one of the rooms features one back wall element - alternatively a piece of furniture, and one visible pickable item at best. Some items can only be found by searching the room, and the item then shows up in the top one of the two item-based menus. There are also two indicators worth keeping an eye at: Bond's energy level in the black box, and room temperature at the right end of the screen, which goes up the closer you get to the flames.
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| Screenshots from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum version of the City Hall segment. |
One thing worth pointing out is, that Bond walks completely straight up and down here, compared to the C64's diagonals. While it makes little difference in gameplay, it looks visually a bit wrong. Then again, Bond's walking animation looks a bit more natural here than on the C64, so it's a bit give and take.
Screenshots from the Amstrad CPC version of the City Hall segment.
Compared to the previous two versions, the AMSTRAD segment showcases an exercise in minimalism. The title and controls screens are basically the same as in the other two sections, so no need to look at them. In the actual game, the view of the room is from a different perspective to make it more natural to just walk in the four cardinal directions. All of the background is black, apart from the oddly placed Domark logo at the top of the screen; all the rooms use the same colours apart from the coloured doors and some windows and such; and most of the things outside of the action screen are nowhere to be found. The only surprisingly colourful thing in the action screen is Bond himself, wearing a brown t-shirt, green sneakers and not much else.
You do get a very basic map representation of the City Hall in the lower left corner of the screen, and the info display in the lower right corner shows us the current score and room number, unless you're digging into your menus, which then replace the other infos. So, there is no temperature meter here, no Bond health level indicator and no timer. And it still works well enough. It's not that pretty, I have to say, but it works.
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| Screenshots from the MSX version of the City Hall segment. |
The MSX City Hall uses the same perspective and design of practically everything as the AMSTRAD version, only here, the room number and score indicators are places in the two top corners of the screen. As a new visual element, there is an ornamental 007 sign next to the City Hall map, which changes colour upon changing rooms. The map and the 007 sign are switched to the menus, when you decide to utilise them. The only thing that feels like a significant downgrade in the visuals compared to the AMSTRAD version is the Bond sprite, which is now completely monochrome and features no distinguishing characteristics.
For a change, the ORIC version takes its visual arrangement mostly from the C64 and SPECTRUM versions, but the main action screen looks completely unique. There is no real attempt to make the rooms feel visually three-dimensional in any effective manner, and the Bond-silhuette can only walk left and right. Although you cannot see it in these screenshots, walking past any visual element in the room causes severe colour clash, making parts of the background element eaten completely by the main colour of the room.
Screenshots from the Tangerine Oric-1/Atmos version of the City Hall segment.
The background colours used for different sections of the screen are, once again, no less than garish and hurtful to your eyes, and Bond's energy is shown as a boring purple energy bar instead of a Bond-graphic. There's not much to say about the ORIC version that wouldn't make it look worse than it appears here, really.
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| Screenshots from the Commodore 64 version of the Silicon Valley segment. |
So, you run and jump around in the massive mine system in your turqoise overalls, even though Bond's outfit in the movie is a greyish blue jacket with Zorin's logo in the back, and the same black trousers as he wore in the City Hall scene. The mine graphics in the C64 version are a crude combination of two shades of brown, yellow and black, and even though you see some sort of water-like driplets dropping from the ceiling every now and then, they're also brown and yellow. All the items you find in the mines are brown and yellow, too, so the only other colours in the level are shown in the info panel: a blue timer, red menus and a purple geiger indicator. At least, the level scrolls in all eight directions, but with the animations being crude, it's uninspiring to say the least. It doesn't help, either, that the action screen is less than half of the screen's size.
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| Screenshots from the ZX Spectrum version of the Silicon Valley segment. |
Well, the SPECTRUM visuals are hardly any more commendable. The action screen sticks very firmly to magenta and black, and the scrolling is a bit sluggish, but at least the animations are just a little bit better than on the C64. The top half of the screen is similar enough to the C64 version, and I suppose the one redeeming factor here is the dark blue background colouring, which, when compared to the grey background in the C64 version of the level, makes the SPECTRUM version feel more uniform in its design.
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| Screenshots from the Amstrad CPC version of the Silicon Valley segment. |
The AMSTRAD version of the mines section uses a flip-screen method, so most of the time, you will have no idea where you will be stepping into at the next flip of the screen. On the plus side, the action screen is much larger here than in any of the other versions. The animation still isn't particularly good, but Bond's movement is quick, which helps. The mines have more brown than any C64 game I have ever seen, but thankfully, there are other colours scattered around the mines. A white elevator, random green vines, yellow blocky structures, cyan objects and so forth. The falling things are more clearly not water here, but rather red hot boulders. Bond's outfit here is blue trousers and an orange overcoat, with some random cyan bits around it, so it's even further off from the source material than the C64 outfit, but at least it's not monochrome.
Screenshots from the MSX version of the Silicon Valley segment.
Another flip-screener here, the MSX version follows the same visual logic from the other level: it's basically the same ideas used in the AMSTRAD version, but with a bit more colour spread all over the place, and Bond is still a featureless monochrome person. Better than expected, but with this game, that isn't saying much.
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| Screenshots from the Tangerine Oric-1/Atmos version of the Silicon Valley segment. |
Again, the ORIC version follows the previous level's style, but the info panel uses much more garish colours than either C64 or SPECTRUM version does. The mine graphics themselves are mostly red and black, with some yellow items, green ropes, blue water droplets (!!) and purple spikes here and there. Here, Bond's animations are really lacking in content, since you cannot even jump properly and latch onto ropes like you're supposed to, because there is no rope-climbing animation. Also, Bond's cyan silhuette is still as unrecognizable as Roger Moore as his black silhuette from the previous level.
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| Ending segment. Top row: Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Bottom row: Commodore 64. |
Now, all things considered, there is no way we can put the MSX and ORIC versions anywhere but the bottom, but it's clear that the MSX version fares better by a country mile. The C64 and SPECTRUM versions are the only ones with an animated gunbarrel intro, and the C64 version did that better, but the in-game graphics for both are less than optimal. I would say the City Hall graphics work best in the SPECTRUM version. As a complete package, though, the AMSTRAD version feels graphically the most logical and consistent, even if the order is wrong, and easily the least displeasing concerning
the colours. In balance, though, it's impossible to pick a winner, because the necessary elements just don't meet.
1. AMSTRAD CPC / COMMODORE 64 / SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
2. MSX
3. TANGERINE ORIC
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SOUNDS
For a Bond game, the most important sonic aspect is to have at least the original classic James Bond Theme by Monty Norman featured, and hopefully the theme song from the movie in question as well. The C64 version features both theme tunes twice: "James Bond Theme" in the intro sequence and City Hall, and Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" in the Paris segment and the Silicon Valley mines segment. Too bad neither of them are particularly well arranged - James Bond Theme doesn't have any percussive instruments programmed into it, and A View To A Kill is too fast and has no gravitas whatsoever.
Worse still, in the Paris segment, you get a radar beeping going on constantly, which overrides the bass line channel from the theme song. The only other sound effect while playing is shooting your gun in the Paris segment - the other two levels only feature music, and the end sequence is completely silent. The biggest effort regarding sound effects was put into two sampled sound effects in the intro sequence: a gunshot and someone saying "My name is Bond... James Bond" before the credits sequence kicks off.
The SPECTRUM version's intro only features a voice sample of "My name is Bond... James Bond", but it sounds more like Sean Connery than Roger Moore. Still, the quality is better than on the C64. The first time you hear music is a beeper rendition of "James Bond Theme" in the title screen of the Paris segment, and the song is completely made of quick staccato notes, which is barely better than having all legato notes. When playing the level, though, there is no music - just the relentless beeping of the radar, and the occasional "zap" of your gun and a "tsRRRRt" when a car explodes. The City Hall segment features no music at all, even in the title screen, and the sound effects are your usual Spectrum beeper ticks and blips, which are at least used effectively here. Finally, the mine segment's title screen presents a similar staccato beeper version of "A View To A Kill" as you heard the other tune in level 1, and of course, the in-game sounds are more ticks and pips and such, but effective enough.
Unexpectedly, the AMSTRAD version begins with probably the best rendition of "A View To A Kill" in the main loader program. What I mean by "probably" is, that it sounds almost exactly like the C64 version, but has a little bit more body to its tones. A similar treatment has been given to "James Bond Theme", which is featured in the Mines and Paris segments' title screens. None of the levels have in-game music, and the sound effects are scarce - only the Paris segment features the usual radar beeping and shooting noises.
It's supposedly all downhill from here, as the MSX version proves to have no Duran Duran rendition in it, and the James Bond Theme is played twice: in the main loader program, as well as in the Mines segment's title screen. The James Bond Theme is recognizable enough, and works just about as well as the other renditions of it, but the swing part of the tune doesn't swing at all. Also, as far as I'm aware, there are no sound effects, either.
Since the ORIC version has no main loader program, you would expect for it to have only a single occurrence of the usual James Bond Theme, but no - it is featured twice, and both times during play! Also, the rendition is actually a bit better than the MSX rendition, as it actually swings a bit more notably. Of course, you get no sound effects, since you have music to fill the space.
So, the bottom two are still as clear as before, and the AMSTRAD version did its job well enough concerning music. Too bad the lack of sound effects for two out of three levels makes it a bit too sonically barren to play. The SPECTRUM version wins quite easily in terms of sound effects, but the combination of music and some sound effects in the C64 version makes that one the winner here.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
3. AMSTRAD CPC
4. TANGERINE ORIC
5. MSX
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OVERALL + VIDEO
You all probably knew what you were getting into, when you clicked this article open. It's not pretty, and the Overall results are hardly surprising, although there is an odd balance between the three major platforms here.
1. COMMODORE 64: Playability 3, Graphics 3, Sounds 5 = TOTAL 11
2. AMSTRAD CPC: Playability 4, Graphics 3, Sounds 3 = TOTAL 10
2. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM: Playability 3, Graphics 3, Sounds 4 = TOTAL 10
3. MSX: Playability 2, Graphics 2, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 5
4. TANGERINE ORIC: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 4
Based on the Playability score alone, the AMSTRAD version would be the one to choose, but for the most complete Bond experience, you have to choose the C64 version. If it were possible to make the optimal version of A View To A Kill out of all these versions, I would pick animations from the C64 version, AMSTRAD's music and gameplay, SPECTRUM's sound effects and graphics and MSX's loading times. But if reading isn't your thing, here's a video accompaniment again, prepared by yours truly.
But as luck would have it, that's not all, folks.
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THE INTERACTIVE FICTION GAME & AFTERWORDS
A View To A Kill - the Angelsoft Interactive Fiction game is considered brutally hard, with death lurking behind every step and it really gives no real clues as to what you should be doing at any given moment to make progress. Before resorting to look at a walkthrough of the game, which really shows how closely the game follows the movie, I was only able to locate the deceased 003, shoot a Russian officer and find a strange ring on an ice slab.
Although AVTAK - the IF game is considered just as much of an abomination of what Interactive Fiction games are supposed to be, as Domark's AVTAK is, it managed to raise enough of interest for Mindscape to publish another Interactive Fiction game based on the 007 franchise a year later with Goldfinger. Domark went on to release five more Bond games, with two of them based on the newest Bond movies, two of them based on a couple of older Bond movies (Live and Let Die being a joint operation with Elite), and the last of them based on the assumption that Timothy Dalton would continue as James Bond after Licence to Kill. Some of them are more playable than others, but hardly anything worth mentioning outside of bad nostalgia trips.
Despite how all the versions of the two games turned out, I have to commend both Domark and Mindscape for their bravery on trying to tackle the epicness of James Bond in the form of a computer game. Domark, quite possibly unbeknownst to themselves at the time, created a prototype of later movie-based games by Ocean and other publishers; and Mindscape had a fairly notable footnote in the history of Interactive Fiction with two games by a future Bond-novelist. Both games are good examples of how not to do a game, but in all honesty, they could still be worse.
That's it for now, hope that wasn't too shocking! Later this month, there will be another abomination to read through, so watch out for that one. Thanks for reading, see you later!
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