James Bond is a movie. That’s the kind of insight you can only get at a site with its finger as firmly on the pulse as TheGamer. It’s also a series of novels - again, we’re giving you the scoop here. However, despite being far less known for its games than its world famous movies and books, gaming is the area of media Bond has influenced the most. This, of course, is because of GoldenEye.
007 has had a few games, but GoldenEye is unmistakably number one. Fans may debate amongst themselves as to what the best movie and book are - Skyfall and Thunderball, personally - but there is no debate with GoldenEye. One of our features editors, Andy Kelly, wrote about Agent Under Fire this week, and even then called it the ‘second best Bond game’. GoldenEye is irreplaceable, and also incredibly influential in a way Bond’s better known mediums have never been.
Despite being iconic as a character, there are few films that have tried to ape Bond as a concept. Part of that is because of the recasting - much like The Doctor, Bond’s personality changes with each new actor who plays him, and so the movie’s tone follows. Though less winked at than David Tennant and his new teeth, there’s an understanding that Bond exists in a strange universe where he can be Sean Connery in the ‘60s and Daniel Craig in 2021. Hopefully it will be Daniel Kaluuya in 2023. It’s hard to know what Bond is when Bond is so different.
There are still films that share ideas with Bond. The Ipcress File is clearly a more grounded version of Connery’s Bond, with Pierce Brosnan channeling his own version of the character in Dante’s Peak. Few films are actively inspired by Bond though. Bond is a big action franchise that has been around since the ‘60s - it’s easy to compare it to other films released around the same time, but it’s usually just that both films happen to be action movies in using the conventions of the era. Similarly, Lethal Weapon and A View to a Kill have a bit in common, but really they’re both just action movies from the ‘80s.
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Films do influence other films, but it doesn’t seem as though many films want to be Bond. On the other hand, John Wick - with its clear identity and fresh take on choreographed violence - already has imitators in the form of Atomic Blonde.
Likewise, Fleming’s novels are just popular pulp of their day. Enduring, certainly - even if this endurance has been established by the movies. But influential? Not really. You can point to things going after the idea of Bond - Codename Villanelle, the novels behind Killing Eve, for example - but it has a smaller influence than its huge stature would suggest. Conversations about iconic crime authors usually point to Christie, Ellroy, Highsmith, and le Carré. Fleming doesn’t get so much as a spare breath.
Anyone who has ever even smelled a video game knows of GoldenEye, but to the average person on the street, Bond is far better known for films and books. Many, if asked for a third piece of Bond media, would say ‘watch adverts’ before video games - yet it’s video games where Bond has left the biggest mark. GoldenEye was not just a ‘good game’, it was a game that shaped the future of its genre the way Bond’s movies and novels can only dream of replicating.
Without GoldenEye, I don't think we have Halo or Call of Duty. And think of how different video games would look if there were none of the games those two behemoths in turn inspired? It introduced the idea of single and multiplayer modes existing in the same game, on a home console, in a title that people actually enjoyed playing. The scoped sniper rifle, while also present in MDK, became homogenous with the FPS genre thanks to GoldenEye. Multiplayer deathmatch exists because of GoldenEye. Perfect Dark exists because of GoldenEye. The idea of the headshot exists (mostly) because of GoldenEye. While Doom and Quake were splatterfests, GoldenEye was a more tailored, sophisticated FPS that revolutionised what the genre is. Don’t get me wrong, Doom and Quake are excellent. GoldenEye is just different.
Another game would undoubtedly have come along later to put headshots and sniper rifles in shooters, but that GoldenEye was the first to introduce so many ideas - and do most of them incredibly well - is the reason it is James Bond's biggest cultural legacy. As No Time To Die hits cinemas, it doesn't stand a chance of being as important as GoldenEye.