- Original Release: 1988
- Developer: Keypunch, Elite
- Publisher: Domark
- Platform: Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum
- Version played: Commodore Amiga
- Also Known As: Aquablast
This game was in development before there were any plans to make a Live and Let Die game. Publishers Domark saw Aquablast under development. Aquablast was a speedboat action game and, because there’s a speedboat sequence in Live and Let Die, decided to help publish it as a Bond game – although only in the UK, it was still released as Aquablast in the USA.
Live and Let Die has you operating a speedboat equipped with a gun and missiles. The gun is simple enough to use, but the missiles can only be fired if you go fast enough first then fire when slowing down. These need to be saved for certain targets, but you can collect more (as well as fuel) from crates dropped by helicopters.
As you play, you’ll weave through enemies and dodge obstacles, and there’s a decent amount of both, including narrow areas with walls, planes dropping torpedoes and slides you have to use to dodge rocks. The game consists of four missions.
The first is a training mission with infinite fuel and missiles. Here you have to destroy red targets with your gun and black targets with your missiles. Then there are North Pole and Sahara levels, where you can practice using limited missiles and fuel. The levels have a different look but all feel exactly the game.
The final mission is New Orleans, once you hit a certain number of points, you need to destroy Mr. Big’s base by firing a missile from mid-air (you do this by hitting a log).
The gameplay is fun but, due to the game never changing, wears off very quickly. This is fine for a quick blast but it’s also obvious that this was never designed to be a Bond game. If Domark had waited another year, they could have used a much better speedboart combat game called Cobra Triangle.
Other Version
Atari ST
The Atari ST version is identical to the Amiga version.
Commodore 64
This version is the nicest looking 8-bit version, the 8-bit versions do run a bit slower compared to the main versions.
Amstrad CPC
This one has more cluttered backgrounds that doesn’t look quite as nice as the Commodore 64 version.
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum struggles to run this game, even with the graphics toned down a lot.
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