James Bond on Gameboy is an original, highly-entertaining action adventure title that will especially entertain fans of the movies.  Packed with lots of dialogue, international locations to explore and moments inspired by James Bond big screen adventures, as well as a healthy dose of humor, this game will keep gamers entertained from start to finish.  

James Bond is an over-head viewed adventure game similar to the Legend of Zelda.  By default one button blocks and the other punches, though as the game progresses and James acquires more items you may assign an item or weapon of your choice to either A or B.  James is free to explore the areas he finds himself in as he sees fit and may backtrack to his heart's content, though the first level has a somewhat linear design as if to keep things simple tutorial-style.  Almost every new screen James comes across has either foes to fight or more often new peaceful nonplayable characters (NPCs) to chat with.  These NPCs often share helpful information to keep James informed about the current situation in the area and on track toward progressing through the level, but just as often they say something foreboding and dramatic, silly and hilarious, or even completely pointless (and consequently also humorous), and the surprise of hearing what each NPC has to say is a big motivating factor to progress and talk to everyone.  

Fans of the movie will be delighted by all the authentic touches throughout, such as James Bond's banter with Moneypenny at his homebase in London, the gadget-inventor Q's insistence that James not interfere with any of the humorous and dangerous experiments ongoing at the Q lab (and the fact that James will interfere anyway), the appearance of villains from the movies and new villains invented for the game in the same style as the films, also entertaining are James's one-liners when dispatching bad guys or his puns and double-entendres.  

In light of James Bond's sometimes frustrating video game appearances, like that first-person shooter on Gameboy Advance, and even in light of the FPS games like Goldeneye that are super successful but sometimes miss the fun and humorous spirit of the Bond films, it is quite a relief and quite a bit surprising that they got the feel of the movies so right in this technologically primitive adventure game inspired by the Legend of Zelda.  

Graphics = 8  

The graphics are very functional and varied.  James and his foes are kept simple, and cartoony to facilitate recognizability despite the gameboy's low pixel count, and both the people and scenery vary authentically depending on what corner of the globe he is currently exploring.  The fact that indoor and outdoor locations are both represented in a recognizable yet detailed way really enriches the depth of the game, encouraging players to search every bookcase indoors or machete-cut through every fern outdoors until whatever international crisis he's currently dealing with is solved.  Also, boss encounters involve a distinctive-looking villain each time, adding to the rewarding-ness of exploring through each area trying to get to the end.  Other graphical flourishes throughout the game look like they should, such as James riding on a boat, an authentic world-map showing where James is, and very helpful icons enable the game to talk ABOUT the items James has acquired rather than simply describing what they are--for instance when James picks up the hammer it is easily recognizable as such when the hammer icon flashes at the bottom of the screen, indicating a new item has been added to the inventory.  

Sound = 7

The music in this game is unlikely to inspire insane fan devotion and numerous remixes, often being merely a technologically primitive tune inspired by the film's orchestral score, but that having been said what music there is in the game is used incredibly effectively not only to set the mood, but also to highlight accomplishments.  When James is exploring the background music appropriately stays unobtrusive yet it's recognizable James Bondness will keep the gamer in the James Bond mindset.  When James visits various countries, the sort of humorous, stereotypical tune it plays is so appropriate and recognizable gamers would know what country James is visiting without even reading the screen, and the tunes are so cliche and stereotypical they border on being racist (but in an arguably forgivable way given the game's lighthearted delivery).  Perhaps the most welcome use of music is the James Bond hook, those 7 notes that scream James Bond that highlight whenever James Bond makes progress, very similar to that Zelda tune when Link solves a puzzle.  In a way, this technique is used to even MORE satisfying effect in this game than in Zelda, because not only did James just acquire an item or solve a puzzle (or both), but almost always when this occurs James will say something clever or humorous to highlight the achievement.  It almost makes you wish that Link wore a tuxedo and flirted with all the hyrule ladies with James Bond levels of swagger.  

Addictiveness = 8

The level design of this James Bond game is very smart.  James is given the freedom to backtrack, chat with people and search everything to his heart's content--there is no time limit or anything--and yet apart from occasional areas that exist seemingly to give false hope of progress (red herring rooms that don't have anything hidden in them, for example, to make the rooms that do hide secrets more rewarding), there is a strong sense that there is very little wasted space in this game.  The levels seem just big enough to make the gamer feel just lost enough that exploring and solving the puzzles of the area are rewarding, the areas are not so big that there is a feeling of unfairness or boredom and progress never feels out of reach.  Because of the smart and efficient level design, however, the replay value of the game may be dimished somewhat, there is not a feeling that the areas are so big it's impossible to see everything, so while the addictiveness is increased on the first playthrough, gamers may set this title down until they've forgotten about it before feeling up for playing it through a second time.  

Story = 10

As I described above, this game is very authentic-feeling, like a James Bond adventure converted into 8 bit Gameboy monochrome glory.  The more adult elements of James Bond are kept vague enough that kids can play the game, and yet adults will still be able to tell what is going on.  For example, in the cabaret when a guy behind a long table in the corner of the room asks "shaken not stirred?" the game doesn't explicitly explain that they are talking about getting drunk on vodka even though fans of the movie and the more savvy youngsters out there may be able to figure it out.  All the authentic flourishes that make the gamer feel like he is in a real James Bond movie make the random, pointless elements thrown in seem all the more surprising and humorous.  When an old dude in China explains, in the midst of a massive karate brawl, that his friend did not arrive so he must move his cart by himself, it is so absurd that many a gamer may be entertained by the pointlessness.  There is a really good blend of reverence, as though the game developers respected the James Bond source material enough to include so many authentic elements, and also mockery, as though they were not afraid to poke fun at the Bond franchise and it all contributes to the engaging yet light, fun atmosphere of the game.  It has the perfect balance of weight and fluffiness to give gamers the motivation to struggle yet simultaneously relax through their playthrough.  

Depth = 8

As I described, the efficiency of this game is sort of a double-edged sword.  Levels are not so big or intimidating that you feel you missed a lot (apart from maybe a missed first aid kit here or there), so while there is a strong incentive to be thorough and talk to everyone on the first playthrough, there is not the same kind of mind boggling depth and explorational elements that might inspire gamers to be even more thorough on a second playthrough, though this is forgivable since that does not seem to have been the developer's intention.  

Difficulty = 6

This game has the feeling of being deliberately and thankfully on the easy side, as if to avoid unnecessary frustrations and allow the gamer to focus more on the fun.  This increases the sort of immersive, almost hynpotic quality of the game.  For instance, while there are first aid kits that must be assigned to either the A or B button, forcing the gamer to pause and take himself out of the action, when battling many thugs they often leave smaller versions of the first aid kit that automatically replenish James Bond's health somewhat, so if the gamer is diligent about defeating foes while taking as little damage as possible, you may end the battle with more health than you started, without ever having to pause the game to apply a first aid kit manually!  Similarly, in a very ahead-of-its-time move (not too ahead of its time though since the gameboy version of zelda had this same feature), the gamer may "save and continue" at any point while playing, no save-point required!  This is a feature that is very welcomed in a videogame and is even more popular nowadays than back when this game was made, and it is all the more important that this game featured it being that it is a portable title.  It's important to be able to save and quit on short notice when gaming on the go.  Overall, the relatively low difficulty of the game is a very good fit for this title, allowing the main focus of the game and the challenge to be on exploration and overcoming the game's puzzles, with violence and action to enrich the experience without frustrating and ruining it.  

Overall, fans of action-adventure titles and especially James Bond fans should check out this lesser-known treasure on the gameboy.  How cool would it be if they released a modern day, Daniel Craig starring skyfall title on the 3ds in s style like this game??  So unlikely, and yet how cool would that be???  Until the day when they make fun titles like this one more often, thank goodness you can enjoy this classic on Vizzed!  

Wow, another great review by you! Lots of detail, easy to read, everything explained well. Nice job!