You are carrying: A licence to kill

November 7, 2012 8:58 AM

Whenever a new Bond film is released, the promotional push for it is huge. Sony, which is distributing the movie in many territories, has taken the bull by the horns with this one and commissioned a text adventure game loosely based on the character of James Bond.
posted by Egg Shen (46 comments total)

Holy shit this is pretty cool. I look forward to the one-upmanship that follows and culminates in the official Avatar 2 BBS Door game or perhaps a Man of Steel roguelike.
posted by griphus at 9:03 AM on November 7, 2012 [4 favorites]

This seems like kind of a strange marketing tactic, but I like it. I really enjoy text adventure games. I wrote a lot (of really terrible ones) when I was younger and learning the joys of QBasic.
posted by asnider at 9:04 AM on November 7, 2012

James Bond: why 007 games have almost never worked
posted by Artw at 9:08 AM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

I have to say Sony went a little over the top with the references to its products, with Xperia phones and tablets, as well as Vaio laptops, playing a central role in each mission. Even Bravia televisions make a cameo.

This is my "gambling in Rick's Café!?" face
posted by chavenet at 9:13 AM on November 7, 2012 [8 favorites]

You are in a maze of twisty little casinos...
posted by ubiquity at 9:15 AM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Of course, Goldeneye A) Worked, which they nod to, and B) Didnt work because of any of the things they suggest but by being a polished well thought out shooter with nifty gadgets and a lot of Bond-themes variation in gameplay.
posted by Artw at 9:16 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Infocom's Border Zone (review) was never one of their more popular titles but I think it's way underrated and some of the sequences really gave me a great feeling of being immersed in Secret Spy World. Even if it wasn't called a Bond game... it was pretty much that, it worked well, and I have a lot of faith in the magic of words+imagination to render fantastic things (which the world of Bond certainly is) more convincingly than just about any other medium.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:20 AM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

> jump north

Everything behind you explodes.

> jump east

Everything behind you explodes. There is a luxury car here.

>_

posted by mhoye at 9:21 AM on November 7, 2012 [31 favorites]

It lives at 50.112.251.215. It immediately fills the screen with impressive technobabble. Generating SSH keys, checking Daemons. That kind of stuff

You start with simulations to assess your situational awareness. I'm going to hack it Kobayashi Maru style by running NMAP and Nessus, then I will write a VB application to hack all the IPs simultaneously and steal the internet.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:24 AM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

I would totally go for a Bond game made in the vein of the Walking Dead Game by TellTale. [edited for typo]
posted by Renoroc at 9:42 AM on November 7, 2012

I'm in. I DDOSed the kerberos and got them with a simple buffer overclocking attack , lol n00bs.
posted by Ad hominem at 9:44 AM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure that most Bond games failed for the reasons suggested in the article Artw posted, nor am I sure that GoldenEye was a success for the reasons they suggest.

Frankly, most video games based on movies suck. There have been very few decent Batman games, for example.

Regardless, the suggestion of a video game in which we play as James Bond's secretary ("sorting out his missions for him") is ludicrous. Sure, maybe I'd rather watch Bond than be Bond, but where's the fun in pushing paper back at MI6? That's practically what I do in my day job (except that I don't work for an intelligence agency).

Playing as a Bond Girl might be interesting, though. You get to watch Bond. And you get to plot against him. The best of both worlds, perhaps?
posted by asnider at 9:46 AM on November 7, 2012

SLEEP SPY
posted by benzenedream at 9:48 AM on November 7, 2012

but where's the fun in pushing paper back at MI6?

IIRC the game for The Fourth Protocol was exactly that.
posted by Artw at 9:49 AM on November 7, 2012

/Wonders how an unbearably grim Sandbaggers game would work out.
posted by Artw at 9:50 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

/Decides it would be like the world view from X-COM with the missions being a bit like boarding actions in FTL.
posted by Artw at 9:56 AM on November 7, 2012

A text adventure game? I'll create a GUI interface using Visual Basic. See if I can track an IP address.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:00 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

IIRC the game for The Fourth Protocol was exactly that.

It would be hilarious if the big boss at the end of the level was the accounting department getting on your case for not filing your expense reports in triplicate.
posted by elizardbits at 10:00 AM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

OK am I dumb? Where is the actual game??
posted by ReeMonster at 10:02 AM on November 7, 2012

It would be hilarious if the big boss at the end of the level was the accounting department getting on your case for not filing your expense reports in triplicate.

A big pile of expense reports would be the end of level boss from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
posted by Artw at 10:04 AM on November 7, 2012

ReeMonster, here it is.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:06 AM on November 7, 2012

I played through this without really knowing it was a Bond game and immediately hated it. For a type of game that requires you to try a lot of stuff it imposes a time limit on you right out of the gate and results in failure if you don't play guess-the-syntax correctly. It's the worst sort of text adventure.
posted by codacorolla at 10:25 AM on November 7, 2012

The Fourth Protocol- exciting Mac-like interface!

For a type of game that requires you to try a lot of stuff it imposes a time limit on you right out of the gate and results in failure if you don't play guess-the-syntax correctly. It's the worst sort of text adventure.

Hitchhikers flashback ensues.
posted by Artw at 10:29 AM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

50.112.251.215

Too bad they couldn't get a 007 in there
posted by chavenet at 10:36 AM on November 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

it imposes a time limit on you right out of the gate and results in failure if you don't play guess-the-syntax correctly

Some people are qualified for Her Majesty's Secret Service and some aren't.
posted by Egg Shen at 10:42 AM on November 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Are You A Bad Enough Dude To Rescue The President Queen?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:18 AM on November 7, 2012

I think this is a great bit of free gamvertising. And it reminds me that since games came on cassette tapes I've been terrible at text based adventures.
posted by thecjm at 11:18 AM on November 7, 2012

If he drinks Heineken, he deserves to be eaten by a grue.
posted by HFSH at 11:24 AM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Here's hoping it's better than the EAMON version of Dr. No. I can't believe I mapped out that entire hotel on graph paper. All the rooms were empty!
posted by rlk at 11:43 AM on November 7, 2012

Having just played through simulation 1, I found the game fairly entertaining, though I wish it was a bit easier to figure out the syntax.
posted by asnider at 12:23 PM on November 7, 2012

Still can't figure out how to keep the enemy agents alive for interrogation.
posted by asnider at 12:50 PM on November 7, 2012

yeah boo syntax but yay concept
posted by Mister_A at 12:53 PM on November 7, 2012

OK, I've completed the first simulation with all three objectives met this time. Seems a little bit arbitrary in terms of whether or not what is essentially the same action kills or merely traps the enemy, but clever nevertheless.
posted by asnider at 1:02 PM on November 7, 2012

YOU: Drop xperia

AGENT: I'm hanging on to my phone. But you're right, my gear's going to be key in the next minutes.

YOU: Eat xperia

AGENT: It's a Sony Xperia smartphone. Modified to detonate the watch. Barely any signal down here though.
posted by jeribus at 1:12 PM on November 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

How many ways are there to explain a goddamn prism? This computer is being very obtuse!
posted by Xoder at 1:26 PM on November 7, 2012

[12:27:57 ~]$ ssh 50.112.251.215
The authenticity of host '50.112.251.215 (50.112.251.215)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 2c:05:b9:80:87:35:45:d7:74:c3:18:f1:71:4f:d4:fe.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '50.112.251.215' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Permission denied (publickey).


Well, I've played better. ;)
posted by Celsius1414 at 1:31 PM on November 7, 2012

How many ways are there to explain a goddamn prism? This computer is being very obtuse!

I felt the same way. Once you figure it out it'll seem so obvious, though.
posted by asnider at 1:32 PM on November 7, 2012

Annnnd...I cannot find the most optimal solution for simulation 3. I've passed it successfully, but not in a way that gets me intelligence. And I'm out of attempts. Anyone know the best possible solution for that one?
posted by asnider at 1:59 PM on November 7, 2012

it imposes a time limit on you right out of the gate and results in failure if you don't play guess-the-syntax correctly

You only get double-O status if you spell two enemy agents' names correctly.
posted by dhartung at 2:14 PM on November 7, 2012

Haha...man, that syntax is stupid.

SPOILER ALERT

Typing "look at fire evacuation map" does nothing, but if you say "look for building blue print" then he sends you a picture of the fire evacuation map. Brilliant.
posted by asnider at 2:18 PM on November 7, 2012

> You are likely to have a gadget made by Q

posted by tapeguy at 2:53 PM on November 7, 2012

When I played this a week or so ago I stopped at the missile base mission. I could finish, but not optimally. Haven't gotten back to figuring out the optimal for that one.
posted by linux at 12:09 AM on November 8, 2012

When I played this a week or so ago I stopped at the missile base mission. I could finish, but not optimally. Haven't gotten back to figuring out the optimal for that one.

That's the situation I'm in. As the mission unfolds, there is some suggestion that you can find an access code to stop the drone, but anything I type that involves something like "find the access code" ends with the agent saying some variation of: "We don't have time for that!"
posted by asnider at 8:03 AM on November 8, 2012

oh, hey, we're also in the middle of the Interactive Fiction competition right now (voting ends 11/15.)
posted by Zed at 11:52 AM on November 8, 2012

For 3 you need to ask what you head before you bust in and start cracking heads.
posted by Carillon at 2:43 PM on November 13, 2012

Hear not head
posted by Carillon at 2:52 PM on November 13, 2012