I, SPY...
Bond is back - as if you hadn't noticed! And now he's making his software debut in Domark's latest game based on the new film, A View to a Kill. The YS spies, Tony Samuels and Ross Holman have decoded the following message.
There must've been late night meetings - money changing hands - clandestine rendez-vous - and plenty of secrets to be kept. But finally, Domark pulled it off - the computer marketing coup of the year. Bond has gained his license to thrill on the Speccy in the new game of the film. A View to a Kill.
And Domark certainly hasn't skimped on the plot. There are three sizeable chunks of the original celluloid that have been turned into separate but connected games. Plus there's a title sequence based closely on the film's opening and a finale for the few who manage to complete it (or cheat at it! Ed).
Each of the games loads separately but as you complete them you're given a code-word to take onto the next one. The first game is set in Paris and has you motoring round the boulevards in hot pursuit of the villainess, May Day as she parachutes down from the Eiffel Tower. It's certainly the weakest of the three games and any tension there might have been is completely destroyed by the poor programming. The car is pathetic and your control over it is non-existent - you can ignore the bit in the blurb about doing handbrake turns as a joke. The game also has too many bugs to make it playable for long. OK, so you expect Bond to drive into walls occasionally but it'd be nice if he could get out again.
From a poor start, things start to look up. The City Hall game is based very closely on the film and seeing it beforehand helped us rescue Stacy, the new Bond blonde. The programming still looks pretty raw but once you get used to the poor animation, the game content should have you hooked.
The third game's set in a silver mine and it's Bond's task to defuse a bomb that the evil Max Zorin has planted. It's certainly the most inventive and innovative of the three games and has Bond running, jumping, climbing ropes and turning somersaults in his quest to find May Day and stop the explosion. But it's also a minefield when it comes to bugs. Bond can end up encased in solid rock, he lost his feet at one point (literally) and you even take a ride on a hidden lift that'll take you on a journey to the centre of the program! All this isn't to say it's unplayable. On the contrary, it's very addictive - if only the programming had been tidied up beforehand.
For all that they're based on the Bond film, these three games are very different from it. OK, who's the wise guy who said that's obvious? No, the Bond films are all about style and special effects, Just the things that these three games lack. Still, they've got plenty of content and with three games on one tape you can't really complain about not getting your money's worth.
All information in this page is provided by ZXSR instead of ZXDB