A View To A Kill

Year: 1985

Can you spot the Eiffel Tower? (Middle-right) Second and third stage.

Comments:

I know how old games look bad to us now but this looked awful even then! The game involves three levels that can be practiced in any order or played in sequence. The first one has Bond racing (well maybe not racing, more ambling) around Paris trying to follow the parachuting Mayday. The second is set in the City Hall and Bond must escape before the place burns to the ground. The final level takes place in the collapsing mines. Did I mention the graphics? Ok so the Amstrad wasn't advanced but this looks more like an Atari 2600 game. It really makes you think just how far games have come. There is no in game music at all. This game is just no fun to play not even as a joke.

Other versions of A View To A Kill:

Format: Spectrum 48K

From: Domark

Year: 1985

Comments: Same as the Amstrad version. Just when you thought the graphics couldn't get any worse... Unlike the Amstrad and Commodore versions you can't practice levels in this one. The game opens with a terrible rendition of the Bond theme but enjoy it, as it's the only music in the game. There is one sound effect in the first level and that is a sort of tick-tick noise supposed to represent the engine of the car. I thought Bond had all the best gadgets in the world? Why is he driving a clockwork car? This is awful!

Format: Commodore 64

From: Domark

Year: 1985

Comments: Better presentation and graphics than the other two but that really isn't saying much! The first and last levels are accompanied by a reasonable working of the Duran Duran song 'A View To A Kill' and the last has the Bond theme. The graphics are still terrible. They got the spindly, old man look of Roger Moore right but his head?! It looks like he has been sitting too close to the microwave! The second and third levels have the added value of a search and use system but this is so fiddly that it detracts from the, already bad, gameplay. The best of the worst.

Format: IBM PC

From: Mindscape

Year: 1985

Comments: The good news is this is a totally different version to the terrible Domark games. The bad news is it's a dull old text adventure from the makers of Gold Finger. Good if you like that sort of thing.