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Official Blurb
Your name is Bond - James Bond, the world's
top Secret Agent, and now embarking on one of
the most important missions of your career.
To fail is the worst thing that can happen to
you.
Your objective is to discover what dastardly
plan is being hatched by Max Zorin, an unscrupulous
European electronics magnate, and prevent him
from carrying it out. You learn that the information
you need is in three main locations. Paris,
where you must make contact with May Day to
get a vital clue. The City Hall in San Francisco,
where various secrets are hidden, and finally
a Silver Mine under Silicon Valley, where you
piece together your information and finally
foil Max Zorin - we all hope!
History
"A View To A Kill" was released on
7th June 1985 by a company named Domark - named
after it's founders whose names were Dominic
and Mark.
The company no longer exists after it was bought
out along with United States Gold & Core
design and became part of the Eidos video game
company which still exists today.
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Above: British magazine
advertisement.
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MI6 Review
Domark published a number of James Bond 007 licensed
games during the late 1980's ("The Living Daylights"
(1987), "Live And Let Die" (1988), "Licence
To Kill" (1989)) and into the early 1990's with
"The Spy Who Loved Me" (1990), "James
Bond: The Duel" (1993)). 1985's "A View
To A Kill" was the first movie tie-in game ever
produced for the Bond series and also the first 007
title published by Domark, and without doubt their
worst...
The game is split into three different sub-games
- one of the first titles to usher in the (soon to
be common) "multi genre" movie-tie in videogame.
The first chapter uses a very basic 2D / 3D hybrid
driving system, the second is a room-to-room scrolling
walk around (much like the popular "Spy Vs Spy"
games), and the third chapter is a sideways-scrolling
romp around. On paper this sounds like a great way
to cover three of the movie's key sequences ("Paris
Chase", "City Hall" , and "Silicon
Mine" respectively) but the end result can only
be described as a rushed, buggy and disjointed mess.
Above: Spanish magazine
advertisement. |
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Bugs are most prevalent, and
most annoying, in the opening "driving"
chapter. Collision detection was something of
a young art at the time of the game's release,
but this is still no excuse for the head-scratching
moments that cause your car to crash for no
reason or stick to a wall. The aim is to follow
Mayday on the radar whilst avoiding Parisian
traffic. Either would be a challenge, but both
simultaneously is too much for the poorly developed
game engine.
The second chapter fairs slightly better, but
the flawed "duck shoot" menu system
ruins the gameplay. This poor menu device also
plagues the third chapter, which is the simplest
of the lot, consisting of Bond running to find,
and defuse, the mineshaft bomb.
However dreadful the gameplay may be, the game
is not without it's saving graces. The music
is where "A View To A Kill" offers
it's only noteworthy feature, with a fantastic
(for the time) rendition of Duran Duran's movie
theme for two of the chapters, and a variation
on the Bond theme accompanying the other. You
only get to enjoy this on the C64 version though,
as the Amstrad has no music at all, and the
Spectrum only has a short Bond theme at the
intro.
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Sound effects are dreadful too, with the Spectrum
making Bond's car sound like a wind-up toy. Even the
the voice-synth quotes (which were quite cutting edge
for the mid-80s) grate on the speakers. A gruff voice
says "Bond, James Bond" at the intro, and
"Damn it, you failed Bond!" upon the frequent
"game over" screen.
Graphically the game is lacklustre, even for it's
time and the platforms it was designed for. As usual,
the graphics are better on the C64, disappointing
on the Amstrad, and dreadful on the Spectrum (the
psychedelic colours do nothing for the game's appeal).
Put simply, "A View To A Kill" looked dated
- in 1985.
The developers clearly bit off more than they could
chew when taking on 007 for the first time as "A
View To A Kill" fails to hit any mark. None of
the three game chapters work well and are riddled
with so many bugs that play becomes too frustrating
too quickly. Thankfully, you can play chapters out
of sequence (see the level codes below) but players
will have to work hard to get anything good out of
this experience.
Viewed within the era that "A View To A Kill"
was released, Domark's first movie tie-in set the
bar for all future Bond games - nothing could be worse.
Even Dominic and Mark (of "Domark" fame)
said at the time that taking on 007 had "set
them in a downward spiral". Things could only
get better...
Manual
The Codes
At the end of the first two games you'll be given
a code which you must type in at the start of each
new game. This simply tells the program how well you've
done in the last game, and passes over helpful pieces
of information. You may play any game at any time,
but to be totally successful in the final game you
must have done as well as James Bond himself would
have! This will become apparent as you play each game.
Once you've got the codes, you can always use them
again - the numbers are not randomly generated each
time. However, you may wish to improve them each time.
The Real Time Element
Each game is played in real time. You're against the
clock - and good times are passed on via the code
to give you more time in subsequent games.
| Your Performance
James Bond doesn't exactly die - but he can
fail when you play him! He may irrevocably damage
his car in Paris - or become engulfed in flames
in City Hall. How the real James Bond gets out
of these situations without your help (some
might say interference!) is left to your imagination.
Needless to say, he lives to fight another day,
and you can try, try and try again.
Features (Different in various
games)
Pause - Select this on your menu, and give yourself
a break. Open a bottle of Bollinger Champagne,
or light a Davidoff cigar. Sit back for thought,
and time will stand still.
Abort - So things are a little tricky on this
mission and you want a weekend in Acapulco.
Select Abort on the menus, press 'fire' twice
(not applicable in Paris - you're on holiday
anyway) and pack your bags.
Music - You have a choice of "The James
Bond Theme" by Monty Norman (c) 1962 United
Partnership Ltd, reproduced by permission, or
"A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran
and John Barry (c) 1985 Tritec Music Ltd/CBS
Songs Ltd reproduced by permission, at various
points in the program.
Controls - All games may be joystick or keyboard
operated.
Speech - You'll hear it at various times - listen
out!
GAME 1: PARIS CHASE
The scene is set: Bond has been briefed by 'M'
and has been instructed to find out what Max
Zorin's plot is all about. He has lunch in the
Eiffel Tower with a friendly Agent who is killed
by May Day. Bond chases her up the Tower, but
she hurls herself off the top and parachutes
to a drop point in Paris. He leaps onto the
top of the Tower lift and commandeers a taxi
at the bottom. From then on, you take over.You
can follow her movements with the aid of a radio
tracker, which indicates her proximity and her
altitude, and her shadow will pass over your
aerial view. You can see the building in front
of you through the windscreen, and your speed,
the time and your damage is indicated on the
dashboard. Your objective is to reach the correct
drop point exactly at the same time she does,
but be careful. The winds constantly change,
and her direction may alter at any time, landing
her on any one of a number of possible drop
points. Along your route you will encounter
various hazards. The street's one way system
is indicated by little yellow arrows, and going
against the system may cause the police cars
to chase you. Watch out, they may take a pot
shot at you! The drivers around Paris are fairly
reckless, and the odd Porsche may career into
you. There are barriers to avoid, and brushing
into buildings will definitely take it out on
your blue Renault. Because Bond never travels
without a pistol, you can use one here to knock
out unwelcome vehicles which may get into your
path. Also, being an expert driver, handbrake
turns are easy for you, and may get you out
of tricky situations! In the event that you
fail to catch May Day the game will automatically
start again. Maybe you'll have learnt something!
If you do well your code will be important for
use in later games. It relates your success
to the other programs, in a way that you'll
subsequently discover.
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Above: Splash screens for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore
64 and Spectrum 48K.
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GAME 2: CITY HALL
James Bond has traveled to San Francisco
in his search for Max Zorin. Armed with the information
from May Day, he finds him in the City Hall, but Zorin
turns the tables. At gunpoint, Bond and his companion,
Stacey, are pushed into the lift and trapped between
floors. In an effort to finish them off in an "accident",
Zorin sets fire to the top floor of the City Hall,
and leaves. Bond pulls himself out of the lift and
must now get Stacey and himself out of the burning
building. You take over at this point. Using the "duck
shoot" menu system, you can either move Bond
from room to room, or take action, such as searching,
using, dropping or issuing commands to Stacey. You
can also select the top menu to collect objects that
will be useful later on. There is however a limit
to what you can carry so be selective. Your objective
is to find some way of getting Stacey out of the lift,
and fight your way to safety. You will notice that
the fire has started on your view of the City Hall.
This will spread across with time, and although the
odd fire bucket will slow it down, you've got to move
fast. Unfortunately, if you get too close to the fire,
you become hot and find it difficult to breathe. This
has the effect of slowing your actions. If the fire
catches up with you or you get into a burning room,
you will be totally overcome, and have to start again.
Stacey won't love you much if you fail her. To help
in your task, a light will shine on the plan view
of the City Hall to indicate your location. Once a
room has been visited, it will be marked in color
to show your achievement. Use door passes correctly,
and consider what items might be helpful in getting
Stacey out of the lift shaft. Once you've got her,
don't forget to hurry to find a way out. It's not
as easy as it seems! Important. To get out, you're
going to need a set of numbers, which fit into the
code holder you start off with. When filled, this
holder must be set to break the security-locked door
at the bottom right of the City Hall - and that's
a long way!
Above: Original Spectrum
48k cassette inlay |
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HOW THE "DUCK SHOOT"
WORKS
When you press the fire button, control will be
passed from Bond to the upper part of the duck
shoot menu. Moving left or right will scroll the
objects you are carrying past the selection point.
When you have selected the object, press the fire
button and control will be passed to the lower
menu. If you want to go straight to the lower
menu, select the downward arrow. In the lower
menu you have a number of actions which can be
selected. |
These are:
RETURN - Returns control to Bond
SEARCH - Searches the room you are in. Any object
that is in the room will be displayed on the upper
duck shoot. Select the objects you want to pick up
by scrolling the menu and pressing the fire button.
DROP - Drops the object selected in the upper menu.
USE - Uses the object selected in the upper menu.
GIVE - Enables you to give an object to the girl if
she is with you.
STAY - If the girl is with you, then selecting the
picture of her head and this command will instruct
her to stay in the room.
FOLLOW - When selected in conjunction with the girl's
head, will instruct her to follow you.
PAUSE - Allows you to pause the game.
ABORT - If you select this, the lower menu will flash.
If you really want to abort then press the fire button
again. This will return you to the start of the game.
USEFUL OBJECTS
GUN AND BULLETS: You will find a gun and bullets in
the City Hall. Using the gun you can shoot open the
interconnecting doors. To do this, select the gun
and then select the USE option. It takes two uses
of the gun to shoot open a door. Take care, you will
only find a small number of bullets, don't get too
trigger-happy.
DOOR KEYS: These keys are color coded for specific
doors. They can only be used in the door for which
they are intended.
SECURITY CARDS: These are color coded for the doors
for which they are intended. N.B. The yellow card
is outlined in black.
CUPBOARD KEYS: Color coded and can be used to open
locked cupboards.
MINE PASS AND GEIGER COUNTER: Get these and they will
aid you in the mine.
You will find many other objects, but you will have
to work out how they can help you or hinder you.
CITY HALL OBJECTS
Fire bucket, Fire hose, Typewriter, Geiger counter,
Security pass, Bullets, Dynamite, Torch, Tape, Code
holder, Crowbar, Safe combination 1, Safe combination
2, Drink, Coin, Mine security pass, Filing cabinet
* These objects make up the winch mechanism
GAME 3: THE MINE - SILICON VALLEY
At last, Max Zorin's plan is revealed. As
Bond suspected all along, the evil mastermind of the
electronics empire is intent on capturing the silicon
chip market. What better way to achieve this than
blowing up the disused mine under Silicon Valley and
set off the geological faults to send the whole area
into the Pacific? Bond enters the old mine to discover
the nuclear detonator has been set and time is ticking
away. The bomb is in an underground cavern, and the
only way to get it out is to be winched down. He needs
help - and May Day is the only person strong enough
to help him. She may be Zorin's henchperson, but surely
she must realize the insanity of it all? He must find
her and persuade her to aid him in his effort to save
countless lives and the computer world! This is where
you take over. You're in the mine, and must use the
objects you find and the help you need to defuse the
bomb before it is too late! As you run through the
mine, use the lift to reach different levels, or climb
ropes to get the various items that will be useful.
Sometimes you may have to tumble into oblivion, but
you can look before you jump. Watch out for the nasty
pits - have you got your grappling hook? Will the
dynamite blow up the section of rock you want to go
through? Have you got what you need to light it? Will
time run out, will the Pacific's fish meet Silicon
Valley's chips? All this and more awaits you! Important:
When you've found May Day, she will set off on another
route; meet her at the winching point later on, but
make sure you free her before you leave. Your reward
for succeeding is a fitting end for such an accomplished
super Secret Agent!
| MINE DUCK SHOOT
The Mine Duck Shoot works in the same way as
the duck shoot in City Hall. There are some
different commands, these are as follows:
GET LIFT: If you are standing next to the lift
shaft then this command will cause the lift
to move to your level.
WINCH DOWN: If you have successfully assembled
all the winch mechanisms and have rescued MAY
DAY then using this command will cause May Day
to winch you down to the detonator.
WINCH UP: This will cause May Day to winch you
up.
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Above: BugByte re-release
cassette inlay |
USEFUL OBJECTS
GRAPNEL GUN: using the gun will allow you to shoot
a rope up from your position to whatever is above.
You will then be able to jump onto the rope and climb
it as normal. When you jump off, the rope will rewind.
Take care; you only have a limited number of charges.
DYNAMITE AND LIGHTER: Both of these objects can be
used in conjunction to blow up certain rocks.
GEIGER COUNTER: If you found this in the City Hall,
it will then be displayed on screen and will show
how close to the bomb you are.
CODE NUMBERS: You will find numbers throughout the
mine, five of these numbers, used in the correct order,
will defuse the detonator. It is possible to find
out the correct numbers and sequence. But that is
a problem worthy of the best Secret Agent!
MINE OBJECTS
Dynamite (appears different on duck shoot), Grapnel
gun, Helmet, Plank, Lighter, Winch drum*, Winch handle*,
Winch hook*, Winch rope*, Conveyor handle, Detonator
Walk Through
Paris Chase
This level is a nightmare because
there are two bugs in this level that
will most likely make you want to throw
the game cassette out the window. The
two bugs in this level are the most annoying
bugs in the game. When these bugs occur,
you will most likely get heavily damaged
and you will have to restart the game.
The two bugs involve getting stuck to
objects in the level. Let's say you ram
a car head-on...Congratulations you are
now stuck to a car, your car will be heavily
damaged, and you'll have to restart the
level. The second bug in this level is
similar to the first bug. Let's say the
left or right side of your cars are right
next to a green wall. Once you are stuck
to the wall, you can't get out unless
the green wall ends and goes in another
direction. If you try to get out of the
wall, you will get damaged.
On the street there are yellow arrows
on the road pointing in a direction. These
arrows show you the possible places where
Mayday can land. Going across the bridge
and picking a landing point from there
is a good tactic. When you see a symbol
on the road that looks like an 8, that
will be one of the possible points where
Mayday can land. Pick a landing point
where you can easily get to other landing
points and hopefully Mayday will land
on the landing point you picked. Good
luck. You'll need it.
City Hall
The password for this level is QQQQQ.
If that password does not work, try CCPHJ
as a password. If the CCPHJ password doesn't
work try entering QRS21 as a password.
If that password doesn't work, then try
to beat the first level "Paris Chase".
First of all - the menu system. The manual
calls this menu the "Duck-Shoot"
menu system. Like Paris Chase, this level
will make you want to throw the cassette
out the window not because of the bugs,
but because of the horrible, terrible,
poor, abysmal, appallingly programmed
menu system. There is at least one major
bug in this level. This one bug is when
you start the level, whatever you do,
the horrible figure of James Bond will
not appear on the screen. If this happens,
try pressing the fire button and/or moving
the joystick around. If that doesn't work,
you will probably have to load the game
from the cassette again.
This menu system has two parts. When
you use this menu system, first, you must
select the object you want to use. Then,
press the fire button, and you will be
able to control the lower part of the
screen. This is where you can do things
like restart the mission, abort the mission,
give things to people, and other things.
Select the action you wish to perform,
and if all goes well, the game should
perform the action. If you want to go
straight to the bottom of the menu system
and you don't want to screw around with
the objects you have then select the black
arrow and it will take you to the bottom
of the screen.
Say you want to unlock a door and let's
also say that the key to unlock the door
is in the room you are in. First, you
would switch to the bottom of the menu
via the method above and select to SEARCH
the room. Now, you would have probably
gotten a key, pass card, or a similar
object to unlock the door. Return to controlling
Bond by selecting RETURN on the menu system
and go to the locked door you wish you
unlock. While facing the door, select
the key, and select USE while facing the
door. If the door still remains closed
try going through the door by simply walking
through it or if you are still in control
of the bottom of the menu system, select
RETURN. Good luck. You'll need it.
Silicon Mine
Like the previous level, there are multiple
passwords for this level too. When the
password screen asks for the password
try the following passwords: QQQQQ, QRS21,
or HRMQE. If none of the following passwords
work, try beating City Hall. Like City
Hall, this level has the same menu system.
Unfortunately, this level is not bug free
either . It's amazing how many bugs are
in this game. This level also tries hard
to be like the 1984 Commodore 64 game
"Impossible Mission" but fails
horribly. The correct combination of numbers
to defuse the bomb is 32768. Again, good
luck. You'll need it. |
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Many thanks to "Lethal Weapon"
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