The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Roger Moore's third world-saving caper as MI6 agent, James Bond - sees 007 join forces with Russian agent, Anya Amasova, to defeat the reclusive thalassophile megalomaniac, Karl Stromberg. It features some of the best high velocity action scenes, set in the most stunning locations throughout the franchise, whilst let down by a superficial, throwaway plot and distinctly non-menacing supervillain.
Domark's 8 and 16-bit home computer game of the same name released in 1990 adopts all the key chase and escape scenes facilitated by various means of transport, massaging them into playable set pieces. On offer are two car levels (starring Bond's infamous pearly white Lotus Esprit), others involving a speedboat or jetbike, two Operation Wolf style shootouts pitted against Stromberg, Jaws and his lesser henchmen, and a submarine-reprogramming puzzle interlude. I investigate how successfully developers, The Kremlin, managed to invoke Spy Who Loved Me's celluloid source material, honing in on the (hopefully inevitable) direct parallels in the analysis. Few of us appreciate 'loosely based on' licensed video games.
