Software required : Windows 95 or Windows 3.11
A Tomorrow Never Dies , due out in
the UK on December 12th 1997, "The name's Bond. You know the rest..."
1997 marks the 35th anniversary of Bond in the cinema, and what better way to
celebrate than to investigate the James Bond: The Ultimate Dossier ,
which will tell you just about everything you need to know about the master-spy,
his friends, his enemies, the cars, the weapons, the gadgets, and of course...
the women .
Installing the Dossier
Installation is simple. After inserting CD1, run the Setup program which sets
up a desktop group named MGM Interactive James Bond Dossier which brings up the background graphics for the
dossier and highlights a single red button at the top-right of the screen asking
you to click on that.
Once done, the dossier unfolds piece by piece before your eyes in quite a
stylish way, aping the sophisticated style of the Bond series. Pictures relating
to the various sections are shown on the screen to aid ease of selection, with
the pictures in each section diffusing into others to show more of what that
area has to offer. For example, the "The Women"
Contents
The Missions
There are 17 Missions - one for each of the films in the Bond series from
Dr. No to Goldeneye . Accessing the mission plays an extended
trailer for that film.
Taking Goldeneye as an example, first the trailer is shown, this one
beginning with the leap off the top of the damn down to where Bond is to meet
agent 006, Alec Trevelyan. Then you can choose one of the following while the
classic theme tune plays on in the background.
Mission Profile
The mission profile for Goldeneye is eight pages long. You can read each page
in turn or click on any one of the pages at any time. This profile informs you
that Alec Trevelyan, a one-time ally of James Bond when he was active agent 006,
along with renegade Soviet officers General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp are
attempting to take control of the Goldenye weapons system, and Bond has to stop
it.
Each mission profile gives a full description of the film with photo-quality
pics and the related Bond theme running along in the background. Beware though
that the ending is revealed, so if there's an entry in the series which you've
not yet seen, then you may prefer to see that film first before reading the
conclusion.
Database
The database for each film allows you access to information on a number of
key features in the following classes...
Allies including Natalya Siminova (newcomer Izabella Scorupco), Jack
Wade (played by Cape Fear's Joe Don Baker) and Miss Moneypenny
(Goldeneye featuring Samantha Bond as the third Miss Moneypenny in the series)
Q-Branch detailing various gadgets used by Bond. A profile, use and
specification for each is given...and did you know that a number of the gadgets
in Bond films being actual prototypes of real-developed items ?
Vehicles include the obligatory Aston Martin, a Tiger Helicopter and
Jack Wade's car which needs a kick-start from a sledgehammer to get it going!
Villains include Alan Cumming's Boris, and a classic still-frame shot
of his fate along with a sound file proclaiming his catch-phrase "I am
invincible!"
Women including the aforementioned Natalya, plus bad-babe Xenia
Onatopp (Famke Janssen, also seen in Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions )
along with a clip of the sex-in-the-sauna scene... ;)
NB. These can all be viewed by class or alphabetical order.
Location
A click on this icon brings up a detailed map with sweeping arrows to indicate
Bond's movements. Then, by clicking on any city name brings up the opportunity
to access Bond's exact actions at that location, including the Arkangel Weapons
facility where the film begins, and the beauty of St. Petersberg in Russia.
NB. In each of the above sections (Profile, Database, or Location), you can
click through each simple < and > buttons onscreen, rather than
having to go back to the list which aides ease of use.
Release
This section gives details of the original US cinema release date, box-office
details around the world, reviews of the film, plus details of what current
events were happening at the time, to bring the mood of the film into
perspective - something to take note of especially in the case of
Goldeneye as the Cold War ended between the release of that and the
previous Bond action-adventure, Licence To Kill .
Backlot
The backlot provides a selection of behind-the-scenes photos showing general
snapshots of cast and crew, and how certain shots were created. All of these
can also be viewed in close-up.
Credits
As the title of this section suggests, full film credits for each Bond story
are given with links to a number of the main cast and crew.
The Women
Back in the main menu, this part of the dossier is indicated by the face of a
member of the female persuasion who has caught Bond's eye by fair means or foul.
The entire female cast of good girls and femme fatales can be selected either by
order of mission, class (ie. Allies, Villains, Turncoats, and Lovers) or alpha
order.
There are plenty of pictures to be viewed along with some choice sound clips.
The Allies
Like "The Women" , this section shows all of the men and women that Bond
can rely upon within the films. These can be selected by order of mission,
class (ie. British, Foreign, Independent, Turncoat, and Organisation), or
alpha order.
The Villains
Yes I think you've got the jist of it. The entire range of Bond's adversaries
can be investigated in order of mission, class (ie. Mastermind, Political,
Henchmen, Associates, Turncoats, and Organisation), or alpha order.
Q-Branch
For all the techno-buffs among you prepare to salivate beyond your wildest
dreams as this section features all the gadgets featured in the films. As above,
these can be selected in order of mission, class (6 categories: Weapon or
Special for Bond, Allies or Villains), or alpha order.
Vehicles
Whether on four wheels, two wheels, none, or plain old-fashioned Sherman tank
(great for those three-point turns), take a look through the entire range of
vehicles in order of misssion, class (ie. Sea, Land, Air and Space) or alpha
order.
Q
Major Boothroyd, better known as just one letter plain and simple, although
his gadgets are anything but.
At any time during the use of the product, you can click on the "Q" at the
top of the screen for program assistance. There's a number of different clips
of Desmond Llewelyn pointing out the menus to help you find your way around the
game engine that the dossier uses.
007 Declassified
007 Profile
The 007 Profile provides essential information on the man including details
about his mannerisms, the sort of drinks he likes (shaken, not stirred,
naturally), his proficiencies in land, in sea, and in marksmanship; his
wardrobe, and how he likes to gamble.
007 AKA
007 AKA displays between six to eight pages of background information on each
of the five actors who have officially played James Bond, namely Sean Connery,
George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and the latest, Pierce Brosnan,
including how Brosnan very nearly got the part in 1986, but American TV station
NBC kept him on as "Remington Steele", and the part went to Timothy Dalton at
the time.
007 By Design
007 By Design produces background information on the five main people behind the
scenes, namely writer Ian Fleming, executive producers Harry Saltzman and Albert
'Cubby' Broccoli who died shortly after "Goldeneye" was completed, and producers
Barbara Broccoli, daughter of Albert, and Michael Wilson.
007 Chronicles
007 Chronicles shows a month-by-month account of the life history of the Bond
enterprise from its inception in January 15th, 1952, when Ian Fleming began
writing "Casino Royale" which later starred David Niven, via October 5th,
1962, when "Dr. No" received its premiere at the London Palladium,
through to the end of 1996 when the James Bond Interactive Dossier was released
in the US.
Additional
As if all of the above wasn't enough, at any time, the three buttons at the
bottom of the screen will help you find your way around the Dossier.
"F.Y.I." provides any extra text relating to what is selected,
"For Your Information" .
Web Link
Information junkies need look no further for more Bond as this link will
connect your PC directly to the dossier's Website at :
http://www.mgmua.com/bond/dossier
HMSS Trivia Challenge
After extensive viewing of the entire dossier, it's time to pit your wits and
see how much you know off by heart, or have learned from the dossier, in this
trivia game.
Parts of the game involve identifying voices, and certain characters favourite
dishes, drinks and the things which give the bad guys away.
However, while the theme tunes play without a hitch on my Pentium 90 PC on all
other parts of the dossier, in this section, the sound effects, background music
and guess-the-voice sections have a tendancy to 'stutter' for some unexplained
reason, making it more difficult than it should be. Hence, the sound factor
loses a point because of this.
Power Down
When you're done, click on "Power" with the red dot to terminate this
session of the Dossier. Your PC won't really meltdown after 15 seconds, but the
program will try to convince you it has, with even Q having a go at you for
executing a shutdown.
Overall
This excellent package is only marred by two things, bar the sound problem
mentioned in the HMSS Trivia Challenge.
Firstly, none of the clips are in widescreen format. Given that the video clips
are played in small sections of the screen, usually taking up no more than a
quarter of the monitor's area, the horizontal aspect of the clip could have
been extended to provide that cinematic look.
Secondly, the package doesn't feature information on the Sean Connery starrer,
"Never Say Never Again" . While this title was made by another film
company, so wasn't an official Bond film, it has recently been bought by Warner
and added to the current collection of James Bond videos available for sale
in shops.
Overall, however, this is definitely the essential add-on in life to any big
James Bond fan, and is also well worth checking out for anyone who simply wants
to find out more about the super sleuth.
Content : 5/5
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.
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Amazon.co.uk Widgets
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
