Developed by an internal Domark development team The Kremlin, The Duel is Domark’s not just final James Bond game, but also their first one not based on a specific Bond film. Instead, this is a new adventure starring Timothy Dalton’s Bond (although I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s never heard of this game, the box just uses a photo from a Licence to Kill poster).
That said, the “story” is just a bit of blurb in the manual: Professor Gravemar is planning on launching a satellite from his secret island base, which will let him take over the world. Expecting James Bond to try and stop him, he fills the island with his goons and creates a cloning device to bring some of his villains back to life. He also spreads hostages across the island to distract Bond. The hostages are all the same women, so perhaps the hostages are also clones – such a concept is far too much of the simplicity of this game’s plot, which is completely absent from the game itself.
Starting off on a boat, The Duel looks very nice, making good use of the Mega Drive’s capabilities, with detailed sprites that are zoomed out enough to not hamper gameplay. The music is also great (including a great rendition of the Bond theme), having a distinct Mega Drive feel but also fitting James Bond. You go you through levels, running, jumping and shooting. I did think the jumping felt a bit stiff and overall the game has a bit of a janky feel to it.
It’s not as simple as getting to the end, though, you need to hunt for the hostages. These are hidden extremely well and most of your time will be tediously backtracking back and forth searching for them. The game loves to make use of covering entrances with foreground objects, and also hides enemies in the same way. Once you find the hostages, you can set off a bomb (which is hidden somewhere near the end of the level) then rush to the exit.
After the initial boat level, you have to explore a jungle and do the same thing. Due to platforms on different levels, you’ll find yourself missing enemies more. Your ammo is limited. While enemies drop more, that’s the only way to get more ammo. If you run out, there’s nothing you can do, as Bond has no melee attacks in this game, which is strange, especially for a game with limited ammo. You can shoot diagonally, but you need to shoot and hold down fire to change the angle of the shot.
Next up is the secret volcano base. There are lots of needlessly large pits and lifts and you’ll spend quite a bit of time waiting for platforms, sometimes having to wait for them a second time as you have to time them with the movement of fireballs. More hostages to find and a bomb to set off.
Next up is navigating the hanger bay for the professor’s oddly shaped shuttle, which features lots of empty areas with nothing going on. The end of this level has a short boss you need to get rid off before activating the bomb and escaping.
After this, you reach level five: which is a boss fight against Jaws in a strange machine. Once you beat him, you’re done.
This is an incredibly short game padded out by hiding some of the paths to the hostages, making you walk and down each level – which aren’t particularly colossal either. The gameplay is fine, but feels a bit clunky. The graphics and music are the only particularly good parts of the game.
That said, the “story” is just a bit of blurb in the manual: Professor Gravemar is planning on launching a satellite from his secret island base, which will let him take over the world. Expecting James Bond to try and stop him, he fills the island with his goons and creates a cloning device to bring some of his villains back to life. He also spreads hostages across the island to distract Bond. The hostages are all the same women, so perhaps the hostages are also clones – such a concept is far too much of the simplicity of this game’s plot, which is completely absent from the game itself.
Starting off on a boat, The Duel looks very nice, making good use of the Mega Drive’s capabilities, with detailed sprites that are zoomed out enough to not hamper gameplay. The music is also great (including a great rendition of the Bond theme), having a distinct Mega Drive feel but also fitting James Bond. You go you through levels, running, jumping and shooting. I did think the jumping felt a bit stiff and overall the game has a bit of a janky feel to it.
It’s not as simple as getting to the end, though, you need to hunt for the hostages. These are hidden extremely well and most of your time will be tediously backtracking back and forth searching for them. The game loves to make use of covering entrances with foreground objects, and also hides enemies in the same way. Once you find the hostages, you can set off a bomb (which is hidden somewhere near the end of the level) then rush to the exit.
After the initial boat level, you have to explore a jungle and do the same thing. Due to platforms on different levels, you’ll find yourself missing enemies more. Your ammo is limited. While enemies drop more, that’s the only way to get more ammo. If you run out, there’s nothing you can do, as Bond has no melee attacks in this game, which is strange, especially for a game with limited ammo. You can shoot diagonally, but you need to shoot and hold down fire to change the angle of the shot.
Next up is the secret volcano base. There are lots of needlessly large pits and lifts and you’ll spend quite a bit of time waiting for platforms, sometimes having to wait for them a second time as you have to time them with the movement of fireballs. More hostages to find and a bomb to set off.
Next up is navigating the hanger bay for the professor’s oddly shaped shuttle, which features lots of empty areas with nothing going on. The end of this level has a short boss you need to get rid off before activating the bomb and escaping.
After this, you reach level five: which is a boss fight against Jaws in a strange machine. Once you beat him, you’re done.
This is an incredibly short game padded out by hiding some of the paths to the hostages, making you walk and down each level – which aren’t particularly colossal either. The gameplay is fine, but feels a bit clunky. The graphics and music are the only particularly good parts of the game.