James Bond has had a long history in the video game industry, with the first game based on the characters, simply titled "James Bond 007," releasing all the way back in 1983. Since then, Bond has enjoyed a fairly successful video game career, with stand-outs like GoldenEye 007 and 007 Nightfire remaining relevant today. However, there is one aspect of Bond's video game titles that have never really hit the mark, but are also fairly integral to the character: vehicle missions.
With IO Interactive hard at work on the next 007 game, it's unclear whether or not vehicle missions will be included in the game. With the developer's history working on the Hitman franchise, a series that has no vehicle gameplay whatsoever, the likelihood that vehicle missions will be in "Project 007" is fairly low. This shouldn't be the case, though.
Taking A Look Back At Some of Bond's Past Vehicle Missions
When a Bond fan thinks about the character of 007, his charm, sophistication, skill, and a slew of weapons and gadgets likely springs to mind. But Bond is never without some form of iconic vehicle. Whether it's the classic Connery-era Aston Martin DB5, Craig's newer DBS model, or even Roger Moore's transforming Lotus Esprit, Bond always has a vehicle to get out of tricky situations.
James Bond's video game counterpart is no different. Across the years, the various video game Bonds have all had their own set of vehicles, many of which use the contemporary Aston Martin models of their time. The best Bond games offer a handful of varied and thrilling vehicle missions that go a bit beyond just a simple car chase.
One of the most underrated Bond games, Everything or Nothing, puts quite an emphasis on vehicle missions, each one offering a slightly different form of gameplay than the last. Its first vehicle mission, titled "Train Chase," is particularly memorable. Players can choose either a Chimera motorbike or a Porsche SUV, and are tasked with catching up to a speeding train. Players will need to avoid helicopters and enemy SUVs, all while manoeuvring around ancient temple ruins and mountainous terrain.
One of the other highly memorable vehicle missions in Everything or Nothing sees the player stealthily follow a cargo truck in their Aston Martin Vanquish before sneakily planting a tracker device on its wheel. The mission quickly goes sour, and the player has to use their Aston Martin's various gadgets, like an acid slick, to stop the limo chasing them.
Everything or Nothing also has some flying segments where Bond takes control of a helicopter, as well as some tank missions that let the player cause chaos and some racing missions. Everything or Nothing really honed in on what makes a Bond car chase fun, aiming to make each of its vehicle missions more varied than the last.
The always forgotten-about James Bond 007: Bloodstone, while not the best Bond in terms of third-person shooting, had some pretty solid vehicle sequences. Rather than try to replicate the bombastic nature of 90s-era Bond vehicle chases, like Everything or Nothing did, Bloodstone instead tried to imitate the brutal and visceral action of Daniel Craig's car chases, like the one at the start of Quantum of Solace.
While they do not quite nail the intensity and danger of Craig-era Bond, the vehicle missions in Bloodstone are still very enjoyable, as most offer fast-paced chases through winding city streets - such as one of the last missions that sees Bond chase a villain through the narrow and twisting alleyways of Monaco. The Bloodstone vehicle missions are much less varied than Everything or Nothing's, but the game does a solid job of recreating the thrilling nature of some of Bond's fastest car chases.
One of many players' favorite games from childhood, 007 Nightfire, also has its fair share of vehicle missions. Some are good, and some are infuriatingly bad, but each one is distinctly unique. During the game, players will go from classic Bond car chases in Aston Martins kitted out with a range of high-tech gadgets, to an underwater stealth mission that is far too difficult and long, to a island-wide assault using an armored truck. They may not be the best in franchise history, but Nightfire's vehicle missions are undeniably memorable, for better or worse.
What a Modern Day Bond Vehicle Mission Needs To Look Like
They haven't all been winners, but vehicle missions are somewhat of a staple of James Bond video games, and IO Interactive shouldn't shy away from putting them in their game, after all, they are a definite mainstay of the movies, and are core to the Bond character in some ways. However, putting a vehicle mission into a modern video game isn't as easy as it once was.
In the current video game landscape, there are games that focus on vehicle gameplay and those that don't, with it being rare for the two to cross nowadays. Forza Horizon 5 focuses solely on vehicle gameplay, and that's what it excels at. Returnal focuses on third-person shooting, and it excels at that. It's only really open-world games that tend to mix both driving and third-person action, as modern linear games are less likely to combine the two. It seems as though most developers want to try and focus in on one specific type of gameplay and deliver the best possible experience around it.
Still, that doesn't mean vehicle combat and third-person action can't be done, but it would take quite a bit of effort. If IO's Bond game is more linear than its Hitman series, with less options on how to go about completing objectives, then it may be possible for IO to create some paired down vehicle missions with a more limited scope.
As players haven't really experienced a virtual Bond car chase for quite some time, a simple Aston Martin sequence in the upcoming game might be enough already to satisfy players, regardless of its length or gameplay variety. If players are given an iconic Bond vehicle, and are tasked with taking down a fan-favorite villain with an array of absurd gadgets, then that's likely to make a lot of 007 fans happy.