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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
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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!
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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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