Sean Connery's Surreal Final James Bond Performance Was In A Video Game

James Bond might be cinema's most enduring franchise, but for anyone who grew up in the era of "GoldenEye 007" on the Nintendo 64 he's had almost just as prestigious a video game run. Video games based on the world-famous spy have been around since the early-'80s when "James Bond 007" was released for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, and ColecoVision in 1984. But "GoldenEye 007" was, as every '90s kid knows, a watershed moment for James Bond video games and, I think it's fair to say, video games in general.

Ever since, developers have been trying as hard as possible to emulate the success of that 1997 touchstone, with new James Bond shooters cropping up every few years, some of which have actually been quite good ("James Bond 007: Nightfire" and its grappling-hook heavy multiplayer remains a standout). Sadly, we're yet to see a game that can match "GoldenEye 007," though you might think a "From Russia with Love" third-person-shooter featuring Sean Connery reprising the role he made famous would come close.

Yes, 22 years after Connery played Bond for what would have been the final time in 1983's "Never Say Never Again," he returned to celebrate the spy's 50-year anniversary in a video game that saw the then-75-year-old star voice a character based on his younger likeness. The result wasn't quite "GoldenEye 007." In fact, it was a bit surreal, even while it wasn't a complete disaster.

Playing James Bond was a double-edged sword for Sean Connery, to the extent that by the time he left the series for the first time after 1967's "You Only Live Twice," he was only tempted back for 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever" by the prospect of a large payday that he could use to start his charitable foundation and a commitment from United Artists to back two films of his choosing. After that slightly anti-climactic return as 007, Connery was seemingly finished with Bond for good, which made his return to the character in 1983 all the more surprising.

A remake of "Thunderball," which in and of itself proved to be a legal landmine for James Bond author Ian Fleming, "Never Say Never Again" was an unofficial Bond movie in the sense that it wasn't produced by EON productions, longtime custodians of the 007 IP who recently ceded control to Amazon. The movie saw Connery's return in the lead role at the age of 52, and wasn't quite the disaster you might imagine a "Thunderball" remake with an aging Bond to have been. In fact, the movie received a solid appraisal from contemporary critics and in retrospective reviews, and holds a perfectly respectable 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite all this, however, the fact that "Never Say Never Again" wasn't an EON film meant that it was largely left out of the Bond discourse ever since its release, and became somewhat of a forgotten curio — all of which made Connery's final performance as England's greatest spy a bit of an anticlimax. At least, it would have if it actually was Connery's final performance as Bond. In reality, that moment came more than 20 years later with the "From Russia with Love" video game in which Connery delivers his actual final Bond performance, albeit a voice performance. Much like "Never Say Never Again," however, this last outing as 007 felt a tad anticlimactic, not to mention slightly surreal.

Based on the 1963 film of the same name but with added elements, "From Russia with Love" was a third-person shooter game from EA which starred Sean Connery as Bond. That is to say, it used his likeness from the original 1960s Bond movies. What made the whole thing a little odd, however, was that while the game featured Connery's likeness from his golden age Bond years, it also featured the unmistakable voice of a septuagenarian actor.

The game, released for Gamecube, Xbox, PS2 and PSP, not only marked Connery's final performance as James Bond, it marked his video game debut. It also incorporated elements from many James Bond movies, including the laser watch from "Never Say Never Again." Why the developers chose "From Russia with Love" as the basis for the game remains unclear, especially since there are much more popular Connery outings. 1964's "Goldfinger," for example, is often cited as the best Bond movie ever made, and was full of iconic moments that would have conceivably made for some great gameplay experiences. Still, the game did at least feature the Aston Martin DB5 from "Goldfinger" as well as the jetpack from 1965's "Thunderball."

Overall, while it wasn't quite "GoldenEye 007," "From Russia with Love" was actually a fairly solid effort from EA, and currently bears a respectable 71 score on MetaCritic. Still, it remains jarring to see a young Connery rendered in digital pixels with the voice of the older actor, which had taken on a much more marbled Scottish intonation by 2005. Just take a look at this particular line delivery. Rather than thrilling, hearing an older Connery speaking through the somewhat rudimentary graphical equivalent of is younger self is just sort of upsetting. At least Connery never got to make his robot shark James Bond movie.