James Bond, a character in a series of books written by Ian Fleming, has since become a symbol of national pride among the British media. Whenever a new Bond is chosen there are interviews, montages, comparisons, but each of the six actors have managed to portray the character in their unique vision. Daniel Craig is the current Bond, and has basked away from the former casual clever character many have so grown to love, instead the films have become significantly more focused on action. Quantum of Solace is the second Bond film starring Craig and the first sequel in the series ? Quantum of Solace follows on from the critically acclaimed Casino Royale.
The developers for this game, Treyarch ? creators of Call of Duty : World at War ? had the Call of Duty engine for Quantum of Solace, throw in a killer license with some excellent source material and you wouldn?t be mistaken in thinking they had the perfect combination for a game. So, is it shaken or stirred?
The game, funnily enough, follows the story of Bond throughout the latest film, not only is Craig fully licensed, but he also did the voice work for the game alongside all of the other film stars, and as such the main character models are perfectly replicated. The problem lies later on in the game ? the scenes from Quantum of Solace are all perfectly replicated, from the fight inside the volcano to chasing an assassin around Sierra. Yet there are in total around five scenes from this film, the majority of the game is actually taken scene for scene from the far more action-orientated Casino Royale.
Now, this isn?t a bad thing ? Casino Royale was a fantastic film and I would argue the action sequences, particularly a Mirrors Edge style free-running section around a large building site, are better than those of Quantum of Solace, but the box clearly stated this game would be about said film, not its prequel. This may disappoint some, and please others. Regardless the game lasts around six to eight hours depending on the skill level and difficulty settings of which there are four. This is a little disappointing, especially as there are only a few different ways to play the game, and besides a few collectible mobile phones you have little incentive to play through the strictly linear single player campaign again.
As stated, the game uses the Call of Duty engine; and as such it looks and feels like you?re playing CoD when in the standard first-person view. However, a cover mechanic not unlike that of the Rainbow Six Vegas series is in place, offering Bond some much needed cover. The cover system works similarly to Gears of War. The first Gears of War. The animation is often inaccurate and moving when in cover does not work as smooth and fast paced as it should. For the most part though, the cover system is needed to advance through the game. Unlike Call of Duty you cannot just run through levels, Bond has significantly less hit points ? despite offering regenerating health. The game helps to curve the difficulty due to this factor, the screen will flash grey when Bond is low on health, but players shouldn?t be viewing the cartoony blood that appears on screen when Bond dies ? the A.I, although clever, is easy to kill. Despite taking cover, and attempting to flank you, they offer very predictable movement ? throw into the mix only a few different character models for the enemies and you have a rather repetitive game.
Despite this, the environments are graphically sound; each location has been very well drawn out from the films, and as a fan of said films this is excellent news. What is not so great are the abysmal mission briefings that offer little information and switch between different parts of the film ? this becomes confusing, particularly when Casino Royale?s plot is brought into the fray.
There are a wide variety of guns to choose from, you have varying assault rifles, some very Call of Duty-esque sniper rifles and a number of pistols. Despite this they all feel similar and ammo is plentiful meaning you can run through the game with the same gun, as enemies all seem to use the gun you are carrying so you don?t run out, thus again limiting the challenge. There are no real boss battles, there are simply quick time events, in which you press the correct button to advance the fight ? this makes the fights feel detached and, despite being visually entertaining, they lack the fun and excitement of many other action game villains.
The game regularly uses these quick ? time events, for example, when Bond performs a melee kill he must do so through the means of a quick time event. This can get rather predictable and can break the few stealth sections the game offers. Thats right, there are a few stealth sections, but aside from these brief encounters and said free-running the game offers little variety - even the mission objective pointer is stolen from the Call of Duty series - its all rather bland and generic with Bond killing wave after wave of enemies until he reaches the next story point.
I certainly recommend you watch the films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace before deciding whether or not to pick this game up. Your enjoyment of those films will be proportionate as to how much you enjoy this game. If you enjoy Call of Duty, or any other kind of mainstream FPS I recommend you rent this game ? the multi-player (which I won?t touch on here as aside a few ?Bond specific? modes in which Bond takes on the rest of the players it is similar to Call of Duty) is very typical, but maintains interest through the speed of its gameplay.
Overall, Quantum of Solace is a fine rent, its an interesting ride through the short single-player, rather bland, but the fact your playing as Bond makes up for it. It?s no Golden eye, but then again ? maybe it shouldn?t try to be.
The developers for this game, Treyarch ? creators of Call of Duty : World at War ? had the Call of Duty engine for Quantum of Solace, throw in a killer license with some excellent source material and you wouldn?t be mistaken in thinking they had the perfect combination for a game. So, is it shaken or stirred?
The game, funnily enough, follows the story of Bond throughout the latest film, not only is Craig fully licensed, but he also did the voice work for the game alongside all of the other film stars, and as such the main character models are perfectly replicated. The problem lies later on in the game ? the scenes from Quantum of Solace are all perfectly replicated, from the fight inside the volcano to chasing an assassin around Sierra. Yet there are in total around five scenes from this film, the majority of the game is actually taken scene for scene from the far more action-orientated Casino Royale.
Now, this isn?t a bad thing ? Casino Royale was a fantastic film and I would argue the action sequences, particularly a Mirrors Edge style free-running section around a large building site, are better than those of Quantum of Solace, but the box clearly stated this game would be about said film, not its prequel. This may disappoint some, and please others. Regardless the game lasts around six to eight hours depending on the skill level and difficulty settings of which there are four. This is a little disappointing, especially as there are only a few different ways to play the game, and besides a few collectible mobile phones you have little incentive to play through the strictly linear single player campaign again.
As stated, the game uses the Call of Duty engine; and as such it looks and feels like you?re playing CoD when in the standard first-person view. However, a cover mechanic not unlike that of the Rainbow Six Vegas series is in place, offering Bond some much needed cover. The cover system works similarly to Gears of War. The first Gears of War. The animation is often inaccurate and moving when in cover does not work as smooth and fast paced as it should. For the most part though, the cover system is needed to advance through the game. Unlike Call of Duty you cannot just run through levels, Bond has significantly less hit points ? despite offering regenerating health. The game helps to curve the difficulty due to this factor, the screen will flash grey when Bond is low on health, but players shouldn?t be viewing the cartoony blood that appears on screen when Bond dies ? the A.I, although clever, is easy to kill. Despite taking cover, and attempting to flank you, they offer very predictable movement ? throw into the mix only a few different character models for the enemies and you have a rather repetitive game.
Despite this, the environments are graphically sound; each location has been very well drawn out from the films, and as a fan of said films this is excellent news. What is not so great are the abysmal mission briefings that offer little information and switch between different parts of the film ? this becomes confusing, particularly when Casino Royale?s plot is brought into the fray.
There are a wide variety of guns to choose from, you have varying assault rifles, some very Call of Duty-esque sniper rifles and a number of pistols. Despite this they all feel similar and ammo is plentiful meaning you can run through the game with the same gun, as enemies all seem to use the gun you are carrying so you don?t run out, thus again limiting the challenge. There are no real boss battles, there are simply quick time events, in which you press the correct button to advance the fight ? this makes the fights feel detached and, despite being visually entertaining, they lack the fun and excitement of many other action game villains.
The game regularly uses these quick ? time events, for example, when Bond performs a melee kill he must do so through the means of a quick time event. This can get rather predictable and can break the few stealth sections the game offers. Thats right, there are a few stealth sections, but aside from these brief encounters and said free-running the game offers little variety - even the mission objective pointer is stolen from the Call of Duty series - its all rather bland and generic with Bond killing wave after wave of enemies until he reaches the next story point.
I certainly recommend you watch the films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace before deciding whether or not to pick this game up. Your enjoyment of those films will be proportionate as to how much you enjoy this game. If you enjoy Call of Duty, or any other kind of mainstream FPS I recommend you rent this game ? the multi-player (which I won?t touch on here as aside a few ?Bond specific? modes in which Bond takes on the rest of the players it is similar to Call of Duty) is very typical, but maintains interest through the speed of its gameplay.
Overall, Quantum of Solace is a fine rent, its an interesting ride through the short single-player, rather bland, but the fact your playing as Bond makes up for it. It?s no Golden eye, but then again ? maybe it shouldn?t try to be.
