Daniel Craig’s James Bond makes video game debut in Quantum of Solace

But the actor’s initial efforts at keeping his alter ego alive in the new videogame version of the film apparently left a lot to be desired.

The game’s developer, Garrett Young, says Craig is a keen gamer who was excited yet nervous about how he would look in a videogame.

“But once he saw it, he was happy and much more comfortable,” Mr Young said.

“Then he grabbed the controller out of my hand and just started running around and playing. He is a gamer, so he picked up the controls right off the bat.

“Then he started getting killed a lot, so I told him about cover. Once he started taking cover, he was really successful.”

The highly interactive cover system — in which players morph from first to third-person mode before taking cover behind obstacles such as walls — is one of several innovations rolled out in the Quantum of Solace game.

Next-gen 007

The first Bond game for game developer Treyarch is the first in the franchise for the next-generation PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

Mr Young said his team seized the chance to harness the hi-def graphics grunt of both systems to deliver what he claims is the best-looking Bond game yet.

Along with the cinematic feel and faithful representations of exotic environments, ranging from Venice to Bolivia, this involved stepping into the shoes of a very different Bond.

No game tie-in was released with Craig’s first Bond role in Casino Royale, so the storyline spans both movies.

Capturing the spy

Mr Young said his team went to great pains to capture the essence of the harder-edged spy that Craig brings to the role.

“He’s a much more physical, more cunning and a more dangerous Bond than ever before,” Mr Young said.

“So we really wanted to make sure that came across in our game, because obviously gamers come to our game because they want to be Bond.”

Top of the list was sophisticated motion-capture technology used to make representations of Craig and his fellow actors look as realistic as possible.

That involved scanning an image of Craig before taking dozens of photographs of the actor, which were applied as textures to his face.

“We’re really proud of the character team’s results,” Mr Young said.

Then there is the innovative “take-down” hand-to-hand combat system.

From stealthily delivered martial arts techniques to rushing a gun-toting opponent and silently removing him with a lethal blow, two dozen moves are at players’ disposal.

“That was a big part of bringing this more physical Bond to life,” Mr Young said.

“We watched Casino Royale, talked to the filmmakers and saw what they were trying to do with rebooting Bond and that’s why we chose a feature like that.”

Mr Young wanted to be sure gamers could get into Bond’s head as well as his body.

“One of the first things I learned from the filmmakers when I joined this project is that Bond’s greatest weapon is his mind, because he’s always out-manned, he’s always out-gunned,” Mr Young said.

“So it’s important we give gamers not only the ability to use their mind but also a feeling that Bond is human, that this is a more realistic and more plausible Bond.

“When we met with Daniel (to discuss the game script) he said, ‘actually, Bond wouldn’t say that in that situation’.

“Really, we should give him a writer’s credit for helping better define what the script for James Bond would be.”