A View to a Kill

The title of this article is ambiguous. James Bond (Disambiguation).

A View to a Kill

Game No.	368
Voting	3.67 points, 12 votes
Developer	Softstone Ltd - Tony Knight and Team, graphics: Nichola Vlades and Rober Ritson
Company	Tigress Marketing Ltd
Publisher	Domark
Musician	Tony Crowther, Stimme B. Jones
HVSC-File	C/Crowther_Antony/A_View_To_A_Kill.sid
Release	1985
Platform	Amstrad CPC, C64, MSX, ZX Spectrum
Genre	Action Adventure
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

Example for entering a code before part 2 and 3 or the final.

A View to a Kill - James Bond 007 is an arcade adventure in 3 parts which is based on the movie James Bond 007 - A View to a Kill. The aim of the game is to uncover the plans of Max Zorin and of course to hamstring them. You get the necessary information at the main places of the movie: Paris (meeting with agent May Day), the mysterious City Hall of San Francisco and in the Silver Mine of Silicon Valley. The adventure is played in real time against the clock. You take over the task of the world-famous agent of the Secret Service: 007 - James Bond.

The original film songs "The James Bond Theme" by Monty Norman and "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran and John Barry are used as background music.

Introduction

"My name is Bond - James Bond..." with this famous words the game starts.

In each part of the adventure 5-digit codes are hidden. They need to be entered at the beginning of the other parts. By means of these randomly generated codes, the game recognizes to what extent your tasks as James Bond were fulfilled in the previous parts, as well as points and the time elapsed.

Also without the codes all 3 parts can be played, but it is a bit more difficult...

From time to time a voice sounds. Listen carefully.

Design[edit | edit source]

Each part of the game has a correspondingly divided screen, in which different views are shown.

Game 1: 3D view in the car, 2D view of the streets of paris with obstacles and the meeting point with May Day, time display running backwards, damage display of the car.
Game 2: 3D view of the rooms, 3D view of the building, inventory and word list, time display running backwards
Game 3: The mine is a so to speak a jump&run game, in which different items are collected, Geiger counter (shows the closeness to the bomb), inventory and word list, time display running backwards.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Game 1: Car chase in Paris[edit | edit source]

A racy car drive through Paris, to meet agent May Day at Eiffel Tower... Try to keep the damage on the car as low as possible, drive in the given driving direction, avoid the road blocks, the police and the wrong-way drivers. You are allowed to shoot!

...the mission

...the car chase in Paris

Game 2: City Hall in San Francisco[edit | edit source]

Escaping the blazing flames is only possible with a series of numbers that fit into the code holder. Then, this has to configured so that it unlocks the door locked with a secure padlock at the lower right corner of the city hall.

The duck shooting menu
Inventory
List of words:
- RETURN - back
- DROP - put down object
- SEARCH - search/examine object
- USE - use object
- FOLLOW - follow someone
- STAY - stay
- GIVE - hand over object
- ABORT - abort level and start anew
Useful objects

Revolver and ammunition

Door keys (marked with colour for certain doors)

Security cards (colour-coded for certain doors (yellow card is black-rimmed))

Cabinet key

Mine pass and Geiger counter

...the mission

...the design from part 2

Game 3: The mine in Silicon Valley[edit | edit source]

The rendezvous is supposed to take place next to the jack at the deep mine. Do not forget to release May Day, before you leave the place.

"Duck shooting" in the mine
Inventory
List of words:
- RETURN - back
- EXAMINE - examine object
- USE - use object
- GET LIFT - use lift
- WINCH UP - wind up
- WINCH DOWN - wind down
- PAUSE - pause level
- ABORT - abort level and start anew
Useful objects
- Hook gun
- Dynamite and detonator
- Geiger counter (If you have taken this instrument from the City Hall, it will show you the distance to the bomb on the screen)
- Code numbers (5 of them are enough to deactivate the detonating cap, if they are used in the correct order)

...the mission

... the design of part 3

Another view of the mine level...

Solution[edit | edit source]

City Hall Escape Complete solution: Lösung bei youtube.com
Silicon Valley Mine Complete solution: Lösung bei youtube.com

The final: Not too much should be revealed!

Cheats[edit | edit source]

City Hall: CCPHJ
Mine: DB4CT
Final: ILVCT

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
3.67 points at 12 votes (rank 1080). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	5	27th October 2014 - 5 out of 10 points - 21082 downs
Lemon64	4	27th October 2014 - 4,1 out of 10 points - 41 votes
Ready64	5	27th October 2014 - 5 out of 10 points - 1 vote
Kultboy	5	27th October 2014 - 4,76 out of 10 points - 3 votes
The Legacy	7	27th October 2014 - "good" - 2 votes
Happy Computer	-	Issue October 1985 - test report without evaluation
ZZap!64	3	Issue August 1985 - 36% - p. 23 Issue November 1992 - 19% - p. 17
Your Computer	6	Issue Juli 1985 - 3 out of 5 points - p.29
Your Commodore	4	Issue October 1985 - 2 out of 5 points - p.62
Commodore User	6	Issue September 1985 - 3 out of 5 points - p. 27

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Heinrich Lenhardt in the Happy Computer: "In this complex programme you play three key scenes of the movie. The title song by Duran Duran and the Bond theme sound from the speakers not with Ghostbusters standards but still very worth listening to. The famous lead of the Bond movies was also realized very well. A View to a Kill combines three different skill games to one programme. No worldshaking software event, but a successful adaption of the movie, which does not bore you so quickly."

Jodigi: "The game idea is good, but the game parts are realized badly."

Shmendric: "During the title tune the gooseflesh started, here also the (grotty) speech output sequence cannot rescue anything. The game looks graphically, as if it was painted by kindergarden children. Concerning these points, I have a relatively contrary impression than the Happy Computer review (see above). Concerning the character one refuses to acknowledge it as James Bond, thats how miserable it looks. The ideas are nice, but no fun in the game can arise with such a technical botch. 2 points."

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Movie[edit | edit source]

Roger Moore played James Bond for the seventh and last time, when the movie James Bond 007 – A View to a Kill was played in the cinemas. It was officially the 14th part of the series and came up with relatively known stars and lots of action. The super villain Max Zorin tries to raze Silicon Valley to the ground with a fake natural disaster, which the agent in the Service of Her Majesty can hamper successfully.