By Sam Coles:
Bond has had its ups and downs when it comes to the
interactive medium, but there are a lot of good games to choose from, such as
the N64 classic Goldeneye to the excellent Nightfire. What if I told a movie
tie in from 2008 is worth your time? Well 4 hours of your time to be precise.
Quantum of Solace was released in 2008 to meet the silver screen release with
the film, it was developed by Treyarch, who are known for creating the highly successful
Call of Duty Black Ops series. When I saw that logo on the back of the box I
knew I was in good hands, because Treyarch know how to create a high octane
shooter experience, plus the Call of Duty set piece nature fits the James Bond
action.
Quantum of Solace does not follow the events of the film,
but instead retells action scenarios from Casino Royale as there was no tie in
game for that film, however there are parts of Quantum of Solace in the game,
but it then goes into a flashback from the previous film. The voice acting is
top notch with actors such as Daniel Craig and Judi Dench reprising their roles
with superb performances. Although there are moments where the voice acting is
terrible to monotone, the terrible voice work generally comes from the goons
you gun down by the dozen, and Craig will deliver his lines as if he is reading
off a shopping list in some scenes.
Once again 007 takes the form of a first person shooter,
trying to relive the success of Goldeneye, it does not reach the same levels
but it is still a solid shooter. You traverse each linear locale which sounds
negative but it’s not as the game entertains you with witty quips and outrageous
action scenes. Gunplay is solid throughout as it takes influence from the
Rainbow Six Vegas games where it is mostly first person but you can snap to
cover where it then switches to third person to give you a better field of view
so you’re not constantly looking at a wall texture.
There are stealth sections to change the pace, however these
are terrible because if you miss a headshot and they spot you, every enemy in
area knows your position and there is no way to go back to stealth until you
kill them all. There is also no clear indication when they have spotted you
like in Goldeneye Reloaded where an arrow will fill up when they start to see
you. Don’t bother with stealth and shot your way through as it was not fleshed
out.
The presentation is inconsistent, there are parts where the
game looks fantastic especially in levels where torrential rain falls as you
see water slide off your gun, on the other hand there are environments that
look as if they were taken straight from the PS2 port of the game. The visuals
overall are okay. Sound design is fantastic the guns have a good punch to them
when you pull trigger, especially Bond’s P99 and the shotguns, you also get the
iconic 007 soundtrack going in action scenes as you shoot your way through
goons.
The only major issue I had with this game was its length, I’m
not joking when I say I managed to finish it the same day I bought it, it took
me 4 hours to finish in two 2 hour sessions. I know that’s not an issue now as
the game cost only £2, but can you imagine buying this game at full price back
in 2008 and finishing it in 4 hours you would be outraged.
Quantum of Solace is a solid shooter although it is a short experience
that could have been spiced up with some driving sections in Bond’s Aston,
which are conspicuously absent in this game. I would say give it a spin, I
picked up a copy on the PS3 for £2 it’s also available on the 360, PS2 and Wii
but I would recommend the 360 and PS3 versions as they are the definitive
versions.
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