| Credits
Design: Richard Naylor
Programming: John Cavanagh
Programming (C64): David Barbour
Programming: (Spectrum): Graham Stafford, David
Fish
Graphics (Spectrum): Graham Stafford, David
Fish
Music: David Whittaker
Official Blurb
Brad Whittaker international arms dealer and
megalomaniac. Necros - his ruthless sidekick.
Koskov, double dealing KGB General and the beautiful
Kara, the sophisticated Czech cellist who wins
the hero's heart. Match them against James Bond,
renowned British Secret Agent (for whom love
and death is a way of life) and you have all
the ingredients for a super spy story and a
great gripping games!
This game is closely based on the all action
film and coin-op Arcade game from Arcadia, but
puts you into the action as you control James
Bond through eight fast and furious levels.
Moving from Gibraltar to Afghanistan, you encounter
the SAS (friendly) and the KGB (not so friendly)
enemy helicopters (very unfriendly!) and even
a milkman with exploding bottles!
Now go ahead and join James Bond - living on
the edge!
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Above: Poster/magazine advertisement |
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History
"The Living Daylights" was released
in September 1997 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.
Domark searched around for a year to sign developers
to create the movie tie-in title. Three different
developers (Sculptured Software Inc - C64, Walking
Circle - Spectrum, and De Re Software - Atari)
would all create slightly different versions
of the same design by Richard Naylor.
Originally planned for a June 1987 release
to coincide with movie premiere, "The Living
Daylights" slipped a few months and was
eventually released in September. An arcade
cabinet version by developer Arcadia was also
released in the summer of 1987.
Left: Original game packaging
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MI6 Review
Domark published a number of James Bond 007
licensed games during the late 1980's ("A
View To A Kill" (1985), "Live And
Let Die" (1988), "Licence To Kill"
(1989)) and into the early 1990's ("The
Spy Who Loved Me" (1990), "James Bond:
The Duel" (1993)). 1987's "The Living
Daylights" was another attempt at a movie
release tie-in, this time correcting the mistakes
of "A View To A Kill".
The last time Domark had release a game to
coincide with a movie, "A View To A Kill"
was a dismal effort that suffered bad reviews
and was riddled with bugs. This time around,
Domark chose quality developers who wouldn't
make the same mistakes. In that sense, "Daylights"
is a success as the game is robust and built
with quality from the ground up.
The storyline of the movie is followed during
the game mostly by the locations rather than
character interaction. The game is a sideways
scrolling third-person shooter, so variation
between missions is limited. Consisting of eight
levels, the gameplay is quite repetitive, but
you do get to use different weapons and gadgets
throughout the adventure which helps add a little
variety to the affair.
Gameplay is hampered by the controls. The movement
and aiming is performed by moving a crosshair
on screen where you wish Bond to go to, and
where you want him to shoot. The fact that this
mechanism wasn't taken up by other games using
the popular sideways scrolling system suggests
that it wasn't that successful.
Graphical quality varies across the platforms,
although not as wildly as usual for Domark games.
The characters are competently animated, but
the main criticism of the graphics are the dull,
repetitive and often blatantly looping backgrounds.
The Atari 800 and C64 beat out the Spectrum
and Amstrad for graphical quality.
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Above: Original artwork
created for magazine features in 1987.
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8-bit legend David Whittaker (appropriately named
for this game) provides the game music and once again
hits all the right notes, choosing to create some
original cues rather than translate the movie music
directly. Spot effects are what you would expect for
a game of this era, but with a few interesting creations
such as the "game over" sound.
"The Living Daylights" is an improvement
in Domark's lineage of movie tie-in games in the sense
of robust and reliable gameplay, however it comes
at the expense of interesting action and originality
with the sideway scrolling format. With "Daylights",
Domark went back-to-basics with simple linear gameplay
to deliver a solid title, but it will leave you neither
shaken nor stirred.
Trivia
Upon completion of the game, the British Prime Minister
thanks you for saving the world again.
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Manual
Introduction
As James Bond you must shoot your way through
all eight levels before you at last come face
to face with the evil arms dealer - Brad
Whittaker.
General Koskov, the Russian KGB double dealing
agent helps Bond through his adventure - watch
him closely - he may be treacherous! Once Whittaker's
forces are destroyed, your mission is accomplished
and the beautiful Kara is yours! |
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Above: Spectrum cassette
sleeve
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Level 1- Gibraltar
Bond begins his adventure with a test of the defences
on the island of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. He
must match his wits against the skills of the SAS armed
only with a paint pellet gun. After all, it is only
a mock battle, or is it? Could one of the SAS men really
be an enemy in disguise? Take care, he is out to kill!
Level 2 - The Lenin People's Music Conservatory
Can you get the Russian defector Koskov away from
his KGB guards without injuring any of the music lovers
enjoying the show inside. Koskov will follow you but
it is up to you to defend him from the snipers who
appear all over the building. Get him out of the area
quickly.
Level 3 - The Pipeline
You must smuggle Koskov past the pipe workers and
send him on his way down the Trans-Siberian Pipeline.
Watch out for the Russian Guards and the added danger
of falling pipes!
Level 4 - The Mansion House
You have managed to rescue Koskov but somebody wants
him back! They have sent the ruthless killer Necros
to snatch him back from the British Secret Service.
Disguised as a milkman, he and his friends will try
every dirty trick to get Koskov back. Watch out!
Level 5 - The Fairground
You have to meet your fellow agent but Necros has
followed you and has orders to kill!
Level 6 - Tangiers
Your mission to find the missing Koskov takes you
to the rooftops of Tangiers where you must battle
for your life.
Level 7 - The Military Complex
Trapped in the Afghanistan desert in the middle of
a Russian Air Base. No problem for 007! Watch out
as the enemy release all their forces against you.
Can you survive?
Level 8 - Whittaker’s House
You finally meet the Mastermind behind the dastardly
plot - Brad Whittaker the American Arms dealer and
military historian. He unleashes all the power of
his arsenal against you but you must fight on to reach
him.
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Walk
Through
Level 1
Use the Paint Gun for the snipers dressed
in green. When you see the agent dressed
in green switch to your Walther PPK by
moving the crosshair over the words "PAINT
GUN" and pressing FIRE. When you
shoot the agent once, the level is complete.
Level 2
Choose the Infrared Sight. In case you
haven't noticed yet, if you don't use
the infrared sight the enemies and civilians
will both be in black and you won't be
able to distinguish between the two. Switch
to your Infrared Sight by moving your
crosshair over the words "Walther
PPK" and press fire. Just shoot your
way through the level and eventually you
will get to the end.
Level 3
You won't need any weapons for this. Like
you did on Level 2, run through the level
and shoot whenever necessary. When you
see a small yellow pipe pull down on your
joystick to roll. If you don't, when the
pipe explodes and lets out steam, it will
damage your health. When you see a white
pipe that in Bond's path, push up on the
joystick to jump over the pipe. If you
don't you will trip and be neutral for
about three seconds.
Level 4
Choose the bazooka and look for the agent
with his explosive milk-bottles. I would
recommend switching to your bazooka now.
Shoot the agent three times and he will
disappear. After you run for about three
seconds, he will appear again. Shoot him
again. Every now and then, a helicopter
will appear. Simply shoot the helicopter
once with your Bazooka. I believe you
need to kill the agent three or four times
to complete the level. The helicopter
will also drop some kind of bomb that
makes a big hole in the street. Jump over
the hole or you'll trip and fall like
you did in Level 3.
Level 5
This level is quite hard because of the
enemies' endless supply of explosive balloons.
Switch to your crossbow, move your crosshair
over the explosive balloons, and hit the
fire button like a madman. Eventually,
the agent will run out of balloons and
now you have to kill him. Switch to your
Walther PPK shoot him. Don't worry; it
only takes about 50 shots to kill him.
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Controls
Right, Left, Up, Down - control the
cursor showing where Bond is aiming.
Fire - fires Bond weapon at cursor position.
If you press Right (or push Joystick
Right) so that the cursor hits the right
side of the screen then Bond will run
in that direction until you release
the button. To make Bond jump and duck
under flying objects etc., hold the
fire button down while pushing UP and
DOWN respectively.
Status Panel
This is the area at the bottom of the
screen and shows Bond strength, no.
of lives left, current weapons and score.
Extra Weapons
Bond must fight through 8 levels to
reach Brad Whittaker, the Mastermind
behind all his troubles. Between each
of these levels Q has kindly given Bond
a chance to pick a weapon (or object)
that may help him in his mission. Unfortunately
only one of the objects you can choose
will prove useful on the next level.
You have only 5 seconds to decide. Use
the joystick or direction keys to highlight
the weapon you require and press fire
to select. Remember only one will be
of real use.
Selecting Weapons
To select the special weapon/object
you have chosen, move the firing sight
down to the bottom right of the screen.
The status panel will show the current
weapon and pressing fire will switch
between the gun and the extra weapon.
Moving up onto the playing area will
continue the game, but now Bond can
use the selected weapon.
Note: Some weapons can only be used
once. If you choose an object that cannot
be used as a weapon, selecting it, activates
the object and leaves you with the Walther
PPK, to continue shooting. Among the
weapons/objects you can choose are:-
Bazookas, grenades, night vision glasses,
missile-firing pens and cigarettes,
a hard hat, bombs, mortars, crossbows
and a ghetto blaster! |
Level 6
This level actually isn't too bad. You'll only
need your trusty Walther PPK for this. This
level is actually quite similar to Level 4 where
you killed the agent with the explosive milk
bottles. Instead of the enemy throwing explosive
milk bottles, he'll throw really dangerous...
sticks! Unlike Level 4, you won't need to shoot
down a helicopter. There will be a few enemies
in the background that you'll have to shoot
occasionally, but the level shouldn't be that
hard. Jump when you switch from building to
building or you'll trip and fall.
Level 7
Choose the Bazooka for this. The dangerous people
in green are back from Level 1! This level actually
isn't that different from Level 6. You'll have
to shoot someone at the end of each screen like
you did in Level 4 and Level 6. Occasionally,
there will be some soldiers in the background
shooting at you, but they shouldn't be that
difficult to beat. Kill the soldier at the end
of the screen three or four times and you should
complete the level. You will also have to jump
over green ammo boxes or you'll trip and fall.
Level 8
In this level, you can't choose a weapon for
yourself. Switch to your Bazooka and jump over
the dangerous sticks Whittaker throws. Occasionally
he'll throw a stick that comes from above so
duck and roll to avoid it. Eventually you'll
get to Whittaker himself. There isn't a strategy
at all for beating him. Just press the fire
button like a madman and hopefully you'll beat
him.
Congratulations you just beat The Living Daylights!
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Many thanks to "Lethal Weapon"
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