Better than Goldeneye? Tomorrow Never Dies PS1 Retrospective - Every James Bond Game [Episode 3]

9 months ago
94

I'm fully committed to completing all the James Bond games, and with that being said, I present to you, 007 Tomorrow Never Dies, the third game in my A Review to a Kill series. This was an Exclusive PS1 release, tied to the story of it's movie namesake, with a very messy and interesting development cycle, being regularly compared against the N64 juggernaut, Goldeneye. I have no nostalgia for this game, as I never played it before, so I will be totally impartial here. In this retrospective, I tell the story of a "complicated" development, read magazine reviews from the time of release for context, break down every level, and of course, I Wrank it.

**********007 Tomorrow Never Dies**********
In Chinese occupied waters, a British navel vessel, the HMS Devonshire, has been sent off course, attacked, and sunk, along with a Chinese fighter jet investigating the incident. Tension between the UK and China are building due to the incident, and MI6 suspects foul play. Media magnate, Elliot Caver, covered the story in his newspaper, Tomorrow, before any reports were released, and has become the prime suspect, with James Bond being sent into investigate.

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:55 Preface
00:12:01 Outpost, Russian Border
00:19:39 First Ski Section
00:21:28 Arms Bazaar
00:24:33 Carver Media
00:27:48 Pressing Engagement
00:29:17 Hotel Atlantic
00:31:22 Convoy
00:32:42 Ski Ridge
00:34:18 Carver Media, Saigon
00:36:38 Saigon Market
00:40:00 Stealth Boat
00:42:47 Lets Wrank It
00:45:21 Conclusion

**********PC, Equipment and software used for the video**********
Ryzen 9 7950 X3D Processor
Asus ROG X670e Extreme Motherboard
Geforce RTX4090 24GB
128GB DDR5 RAM
Avermedia 4K Live Gamer PCI-e Capture Card

Adobe Premiere,
Adobe After Effects,
Corel PhotoPaint,
Retrotink 5x,
PAL PS1, fitted with Xstation ODE, using RGB Component out,
Tomorrow Never Dies, PAL region
Shure SM7B Microphone,
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Cloudlifter AMP

**********Video Links and Information**********
My first stop for RGB gables - Retro Gaming Cables https://retrogamingcables.co.uk/ (not sponsored)

Bond Remix Credit:
Song: 007 James Bond - Eleven Music No Copyright
Music provided by Eleven Music.
Video Link: https://youtu.be/Zv-hLHFQSCU

Picker Wheel Tool - https://pickerwheel.com/

RetroTink 5x Settings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNK1pT1W8B8&ab_channel=WobblingPixels check out @wobblingpixels3921 if you have a RetrotTink

External Gameplay Footage;
@Civvie11 Powerslave - https://youtube.com/watch?v=Fc0vF7su6K8&t=224s&ab_channel=Civvie11
Quake @Bolloxed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ_xy0agNm4
Alien Trilogy @Jumss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYk4UNNOoM4
From Russia with Love @retrogamer.mj48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2wN95wEEzM
Robb Alvey's Youtube - @robbalvey
Original Desmond Llewelyn promo - @MI6HQcom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSSDSqDFesw
AI 2k upscale of said promo - https://youtu.be/kWtnSN6rwyU
My RAW playthrough Footage - https://youtu.be/pJQ-jCyjn7E

Sources;
EA Acquires 007 License - https://www.ign.com/articles/1998/11/21/ea-and-mgm-bond
Activision obtains James Bond license - https://web.archive.org/web/20081121212546/https://gaming-age.com/news/2006/5/3-19
Next Gen Issue 42 Pre Alpha - https://archive.org/details/NextGeneration42Jun1998/mode/2up
Robb Alvey Pre-E3 Interview - https://web.archive.org/web/20180602145058/http://www.ign.com/articles/1999/05/12/pre-e3-tomorrow-never-dies-interview
UK Playstation Mag Issue 54 - https://archive.org/details/Official_UK_PlayStation_Magazine_Issue_054_2000_01_Future_Publishing_GB
Edge Issue 80 - https://segaretro.org/Edge
Tommy Tallerico Steps Down - https://www.gameinformer.com/2022/02/07/tommy-tallarico-steps-down-as-intellivision-ceo
Intellivision doesn't have enough money to release the Amico - https://filmstories.co.uk/gaming/intellivision-says-it-doesnt-have-enough-money-to-make-the-amico-console/
Designer Diaries https://web.archive.org/web/20020606214728/http://www.videogames.com/features/universal/tnd_dd/081099/page2.html

• Website - http://www.criticalwranker.com
• Odysee - https://odysee.com/@TheCriticalWranker:1
• Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/c-1980192
• E-mail - contact@criticalwranker.com

All music used in this video came from the game's OST, and Goldeneye for the N64 .
All gameplay, unless stated, was captured by myself, using the original medium and console, with a RetroTink 5x. All media used, including video clips from; South Park (S06E01 Jared Has Aides), Futurama (E02E06 The Lesser of Two Evils), The Living Daylights, Live and Let Die, A View to a Kill, The World is not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies, By Her Majesties' Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Pulp Fiction are within the guidelines of Section 107 of the US Copyright Act "for purpose of critique or review". All the media remains the intellectual property of the relevant copyright holders.

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