James Bond has been absent from the shooter scene of late.
Isn’t it time that the video game franchise lived another day?
James Bond is set to return in 2015in his latest film adventure,Spectre.
Wouldnt this be the perfect time to re-introduce us to a classic 007 video game experience, as well?
I cant seem to wrap my head around the absence of James Bond from the video game world.
Not exactly the character we adore in the movies or books.
Should we be thankful that we never got aSkyfallvideo game tie-in?
Honestly, I think anything wouldve been better than 2010sBlood Stone…
The good news is that Activision recently announced that they are backing away from theJames Bond 007license.
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Video games as a whole are undergoing a great transformation.
More and more games allow you to opt out of violence.
The indie scene is blowing up.
More attention is being paid to narrative than ever before.
Now that the license is back out in the wild,James Bond 007is ripe for transformation.
Can a James Bond game truly be innovative anymore in a genre that seems to have reached its peak?
Whether you like it or not, theCall of Dutyshooter formula seems to be here to stay.
The problem isnt the source material.
Bond changed on the big screen, and thats a good thing.
Finally, the consequences of Bonds actions were almost always at the forefront.
What happened when Bond fell in love?
He let his guard down.
When he abandoned MI6?
Well, the bad guys blew up MI6.
Todays Bond is a man with flaws.
What happens when 007 massacres a bunch of people and blows up half a country?
He is put on rogue status, forcing him to flee from both his enemies and MI6 agents.
THATs a game Id pay to play.
Gadgets would be a good place to start in terms of gameplay.
Seriously, you could use a shaver to take down enemies as a remote-detonated grenade…Out of bullets?
How many times have you had to use motion control to lockpick a door in the past few years?
Way too many, I bet.
Or maybe the Watch Laser to open up a gate for a fast getaway.
And lets not forget the Stunner that Bond could use to take down enemies without killing them.
The gadget looked like his car key, by the way.
The Bond Jet Pack.
Bond doesnt pick locks.
He pulls out his laser andbreakslocks, not a sweat.
If gadgets make a return, they should not be applied in a rigid fashion.
I want my exploding shaver back.
Or attract tons of reinforcements.
One man cant take down an entire enemy base without being at least a little cunning and tricky.
The on-rails shooter approach isnt right for Bond.
Sit down and watch howThe Last of Usdoes stealth.
Theres no better example of one man vs. an overwhelming force of enemies.
Instead, weve received enemies who love to jump in front of Bonds bullets.
But the odds should be stacked against the agent in this situation.
After all, he was the dope that triggered the alarms by running past a surveillance camera.
That meant that health wasnt renewable.
But even these armor vests depleted very quickly when the bullets went flying again.
The game was fast-paced, but strategic.
Again, takeBatman Arkhamas an example of stealth done right.
Get shot too many times, youre dead.
No one can take all those bullets and live except Superman.
The same should go for Bond.
Shouldnt secret agents, you know, keep things as clean as possible?
Early adopters of the console shooter might even say he cocked the first gun.
With the right developer, all of the best parts of Bond could represented in one perfect package.
And finally, 007 games could live another day.
A version of this article appeared on 8/13/14.
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