- Original Release: 1987
- Developer: Sculptured Software, Walking Circles Software De Re Software, Exasoft
- Publisher: Domark
- Platform: Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, MSX, Atari, BBC Micro, Arcade (possibly)
- Version played: Commodore 64
The second Domark game for James Bond, this time based on The Living Daylights. This one has a single consistent gameplay style throughout the whole game. It’s a run-and-gun shooter, but with a control method that is an interesting idea but doesn’t quite work.
Shooting works a lot like a lightgun game – place your cursor over the enemy and fire to kill them. However, the game doesn’t scroll automatically, you have to move Bond yourself. To do this, you move the cursor to the right side of the screen and carry on holding right. You can also jump by pressing up while still moving right – something that took me a few levels to figure out, as Bond just kept falling over obstacles every now and then.
If the cursor was fast and more precise, this might work, but as you’re moving, enemies can pop up on the left side, meaning that it takes a while to move the cursor over to them.
After you finish a level, you can choose a special weapon for the next level. The weapons changes the strength of your shot, but don’t alter any graphics, so Bond’s “Bazooka” kills enemies in one shot, but Bond is still holding a pistol. One option at the end of the first level is an Infrared Sight. If you don’t choose this, all the enemies will be shadows, and this is the only level with civilians – shoot them and you’ll lose points. If the Bazooka is available, definitely choose that for other levels.
While the first few levels are incredibly grey, there’s a bit of colour late on. The graphics make use of the Commodore 64 quite well, with some nice locations. You’ll encounter a few different enemies. Most are at the “back”, but a few will stand in your way and throw bombs at you (the first of these throws explosive milk bottles). The game also has some nice music to go with it.
The Living Daylights is a decent game, hampered by the awkward controls. It doesn’t really do anything special, but it also isn’t horrible in any way.
Other Versions
Amstrad CPC
This version has simpler and flatter looking graphics, although some of the stages are much more colourful in this area, especially the first stage, which is just grey in the C64 version.
Amstrad PCW
This is similar to the Amstrad CPC version, except that it runs in monochrome.
Atari 8-Bit Systems
This version has simpler graphics, but tried to create the depth of the full version, instead of simplifying the layout like the Amstrad version. This makes this version look cluttered and messy.
ZX Spectrum
The graphics for this version are simple, but they have been properly adapted to suit the system.
BBC Micro
The graphics for this version are simple, but they have been properly adapted to suit the system. One issue the game has is that the obstacles don’t always load properly, so Bond will often trip over nothing.
Amiga, Atari ST and Arcade
It’s quite difficult to find information in these versions, and my conclusion is that it seems they were never released. A developer Richard Naylor was working on the arcade version for Arcadia Systems, which was essentially an arcade cabinet using an Amiga.
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