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https://www.facebook.com/007TheVideoGames/videos/847028518790408/
I would love to see a Bond game that actually played like the footage, where you could control Bond fluidly and shoot on the move while jumping over obstacles and generally interacting with a destructible and dynamic environment. I think Rockstar realized this well in the third Max Payne game, for instance.
I also laughed out loud when that rocket came at Bond's head and he nonchalantly moved his head to the side to avoid it. :))
@ClarkDevlin, I could picture Bond recalling the moment in a discussion with Q...
Q: "007, this is a multi-operational heat seeking rocket launcher, with ammunition tuned to trace the heat signature of any human in its path. Familiar with it?"
Bond: "Yes...I recall having to dodge one coming right for me by cocking my head to the side on a job a few years back. Nasty business."
Q: "You don't simply dodge heat seeking rockets, 007. There's no way you could face a weapon of this kind head on and get out of it alive."
Bond: "Well, you know what they say, Q: the best way to face a heat seeking rocket is by keeping your cool."
Q: "Nobody says that. The rockets will be installed for operational use in your Aston before you leave for the field tomorrow. Treat the unit with care and...don't aim the rocket's targeting apparatus at any hospitals, alright? M still barks at me for giving you that magnetized grenade before sending you off on that stake-out at the Hamburg museum. If those German chaps didn't want their sculptures blown up with a highly combustive miniature magnetic explosive they shouldn't have made statues out of scrap metal. The Greeks got on fine with marble, after all."
Bond: "Careful, Q. You don't want people to start calling you an art snob."
Q: "Nobody will say that either."
Indeed! That sort of fast, fluid feeling seems to be unfortunately rare in today's gaming landscape overall. The only game in recent memory that brings that to mind for me is Titanfall 2. I think developers shy away from that because it might cause a game to be perceived as "too easy," but sometimes all I want is a light/moderate challenge and a fun experience. Not every game needs to be a march through Hell.
@Murdock That was more than I ever knew or saw of the game. Thanks for posting!
But you're right that it's not a widespread style. The movement in a lot of games is very stiff and not at all fluid, perhaps because the designers are trying to replicate for gamers the feeling of heavy movement with characters that feel like they have actual weight to them. In theory this is an interesting idea, but in execution it just makes for very unsatisfying gameplay because nobody wants to play as a character that moves in a labored fashion.
I agree about the Uncharted series. I didn't feel that way when I first played them, but having retried a few sections after dropping the difficulty to the lowest setting, I find I enjoy the games even more than I already did. I wish I had played on Explorer difficulty on my first play-through, as I always found the bullet-sponge enemies to be irritating, rater than an enjoyable challenge. I could beat them, but it always felt like it took a bit too long and was too labored.
Your point about characters having a feeling of weight is a good one, and makes a lot of sense. It makes it all the more ironic that Titanfall 2, a game where you pilot giant Mechs, is the most fluid feeling game I've played in years. The game makes the Mechs feel noticeably heavier than on-foot sections, while still maintaining fluidity of movement. The game is genuinely underappreciated, I believe.
Awesome little game. Brutal, but great.
As for the mechanics behind character movement, I think developers make the mistake of trying to simulate weight with the actual controls. A character should feel as big or small as they are, with a giant feeling like they are a giant and an elvish character feeling fluid and quick because of their size and agility, but you have to do it right. I think the easiest way to make a character feel substantial and that they have weight to them is to stay away from fiddling with the controls (if a game isn't fun to play, what's the point?) and instead double down on the rumble features and sound design to compensate. Instead of making the control of a giant labored no matter how quickly you move the analog sticks to try and get the giant to tread more precisely, you could include a rumble feature so that every time you moved the giant his footsteps would echo and the sound of the giant's feet making impact on the ground with a crunch or boom would continue to transmit that he carries weight. That way you have a sense as a player that you are controlling the motion of a massive character without the movement of the giant feeling like a chore.
To go back to Uncharted, that kind of design philosophy is there. To make the punches Drake throws feel impactful, there is the use of rumble and sound to simulate the pressure of his fist against an enemy, while the actual controls of punching with square are fluid and responsive. You still get that thrill without the movement weighing it down, and the rumble and sound step in to compensate.
Thing is, about this game, then-titled Bond6, development on an actual game engine didn’t begin as far as I’m concerned. This was just a concept video in a 3D program editor or whatever. Saw the development phase of this video too, and it borrows a lot of things from Everything or Nothing, including motion capture (Bond’s jog, clearly) and the soundtrack. Got to say, though, while I like my Bond quite “an only man who can” and all, seeing him cross arms with two guns and fire at them John Wick-style feels off. After all, Bond is not the John Woo type of dual gun wielding gun-kata practitioner.
Oh yeah, I figured Bond6 didn't get very far into development, but I always wonder how far the others did. For instance, we know the GE remaster was nearly finished.
I agree about the crossed-arms shooting. A bit too much.
Yeah that was really cool, nice seeing some new Brosnan Bond material after all this time.
Is that real? Even I have to admit that was a cool shot, the rocket flies past overhead, as Bond casually drops to one knee and checks the body.
What the hell happened to Bond gaming? Between 2001-2004 it was all going so well, then gradually the cracks started to show.
Here's a footage from the original concept:
https://www.facebook.com/007TheVideoGames/videos/506628086163788/
Its cancellation mainly had to do with Brosnan's departure and the new direction Danjaq was heading into. It's why Royale started late and ended up getting a cancellation. They've tightened the freedom space with the license.
I bet developers love being told that they have to stay close the the current era. There is so much potential for a developer to explore the world of Bond.
@ClarkDevlin, that concept footage was great too. Love that shot where Bond comes down on parachute and tears all the gear off to reveal his dinner jacket as he does.
The footage reminded me of a lot that appeared in Blood Stone's opening, and I don't know how conscious that was. Bond speaking with M about a mission before jumping off a plane, parachuting and landing on a yacht, Bond shooting his way through the yacht as the environment is torn to shred by helicopter bullets, then how he must jump in a smaller boat and race after the villain, bailing out of the boat the same exact way to get after Greco on land. Very interesting.
Yes, Feirstein also wrote the adaptation script of FRWL to video game format.