IO Interactive is working on a James Bond video game, as the Danish developer recently revealed on their website.
Better known for its series of Hitman games, IO will now bring Agent 007 to life in a new game which has the working title “Project 007”.
Aside from the fact this will be a new James Bond game, the Danish developer did not reveal much else. What’s interesting, though, is that this will be an origin story as IO Interactive explains.
“Featuring a wholly original Bond story, players will step into the shoes of the world’s favorite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status in the very first James Bond origin story”, says IO Interactive on the game’s website.
There is also the briefest of teasers to accompany the announcement (see below), and no release date is given either.
What’s clear, though, is that IO Interactive surely is a great choice to make a James Bond game. After all, their Hitman video games have always had a James Bond feel about them, featuring exotic locations, and missions involving rich and powerful villains with sinister agendas.
Plus, Hitman’s protagonist Agent 47 is obviously based on the iconic British spy. And let’s not forget that IO hired Sean Bean for a commercial in 2018, the British actor having played the villain in 1995’s Bond film Goldeneye.
And regarding Goldeneye, it’s clear the game based on the movie is one of the best to date. This is one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic (a 96 score no less), and is widely considered one of the best games to be ever released on the Nintendo 64 console, and one of the finest first-person shooter games to date. Actually, it’s so good some have compared it to PC classic Half-Life, which is no mean feat.
Other games to star 007 were not so good. For instance, Activision’s Quantum of Solace: The Game was criticized for feeling more like an average Call of Duty clone than a James Bond game, and 007 Legends (also published by Activision), despite featuring missions inspired by several James Bond movies, got some atrocious reviews. Also, the less is said of mobile game James Bond: World of Espionage (which was designed as a vehicle to promote Spectre back in 2015) the better.
Nonetheless, I expect IO Interactive’s James Bond game to be pretty good. The company has been making great Hitman games for a long time now, and these are too James Bond-like for the company to fail at making a 007 game. After all, all they’ve got to do is replace Hitman’s Agent 47 with Bond, create their usual variety of interesting locations and missions, and they’re ready to go…
Although clearly a Bond game made by IO will be more stealth than action oriented, given the nature of the Hitman games. This would fit a character like Bond perfectly, though.
Coming up with a good origin story might be harder to do, although other games such as James Bond 007: Blood Stone came up with an original story to entertain players (even if the game itself wasn’t that good).
Exploring James Bond’s origins in a video game could also be interesting, taking into account the movies themselves have hardly done this. 2006’s Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig, showed us a less experienced 007, and it’ll sure be fun to see how IO Interactive handle James Bond’s origins in their upcoming game.
This announcement should also make up for the fact that No Time to Die was recently delayed again, and is now slated to hit theatres this April (if the COVID-19 epidemic is under control by then, that is). But the announcement of a new James Bond game after years without one is something 007 fans and gamers will surely cheer about, so we’re definitely looking forward to hearing more from IO about their upcoming game in the days and weeks to come.