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  07

  News > Pgnx Media: Quantum Of Solace (360)

Quantum of Solace is one of the best Bond games to come along in a long time.

As fans know, Quantum of Solace is the second entry in the reimagining of the Bond franchise that began with Casino Royale. Casino Royale dumped the larger-than-life settings, enemies, and situations for a darker and more believable (though still extraordinary) world. Quantum of Solace picks up soon after with 007 chasing the man responsible for the death of Vesper, Bond’s love interest in Casino Royale. The game begins with a bang with Bond taking on enemies on Mr. White’s mansion and dealing with very unhappy patrons. As an added bonus, many of Casino Royale’s action scenes are also playable in the game through flashbacks. The story is told through a combination of CGI cutscenes (seemingly taken from the movie) and cutscenes that take place back at MI6.

Given that Quantum of Solace is powered by the Call of Duty 4 engine we fully expected the game’s shooting to be incredible. And it is. The game doesn’t waste any time throwing you right in the middle of action but the control system should feel familiar to fans of COD4. Similar to the COD series, Bond’s health recharges after a while but instead of seeing blood fill your screen as you take more damage you’ll see the series’ gun barrel start to encroach on your screen.

Bond begins the game with his trusty P99 (with silencer), a mobile phone (which shows the level’s map and information from enemies), and the advice of someone at MI6 who is keeping tabs on Bond who helps guide you through the levels. As you play through the game, you’ll be able to pick up an additional two weapons, since you’ll always hold on to the P99. These weapons cover the typical range in first person shooters and include everything from other pistols, machine guns, and sniper rifles. Yes, a grenade launcher is included, too.

Of course, Bond isn’t all about shooting enemies down. The game includes a cover system (where you switch to a third-person view point) very similar to Gear of War’s system, where you can easily take cover behind certain items. You can easily move around behind different items and take aim from behind cover before going back down. Bond can also defeat enemies that get to close to him fairly easily, too, by using a takedown. Superb FPS gamers will find that they can get through the game by just shooting their way to the end but most of us will have to use the cover and takedown systems, especially because the game (and AI) gets progressively more challenging. The AI in the game is great, as you’ll see them take cover, flank you, and provide suppressive fire for one another.

One nitpick against the game is that it uses interactive cutscenes are a bit too regularly. Takedowns, the melee move described above, are executed through these cutscenes. You essentially begin a takedown and enter an interactive cutscene where a face button will flash onscreen. If you do it correctly, Bond will grab the guy and take him out of his misery. Some of the game’s story cutscenes also have these button presses, forcing you to focus on hitting the right buttons and not on enjoying the cutscene.

Quantum of Solace includes some stealth segments, as well as relatively simple puzzles that involve mostly pressing the appropriate button at the right time. During the stealth segments, you’ll have to face fewer enemies if you use takedowns (or even the silencer) and avoid (or disable) cameras. For the most part, being stealthy is a suggestion and you can easily continue the level by blasting your way through (albeit with many more enemies trying to gun you down now). There are some third-person elements, too, such as when you need to tip-toe across a window ledge and avoid being seen where you do have to remain unseen to continue.

Quantum of Solace would have been compelling as a strictly singleplayer game so we were excited to see that the game also has an in-depth multiplayer mode. Treyarch included a number of fantastic multiplayer environments in the game, as well as the standard multiplayer modes you would expect from a modern shooter. These all have Bond themes going for them but you’ll still protect a VIP or detonate bombs while enemies plant more. There are also some neat Bond-specific ones like Golden Gun where one player will control the one-shot pistol while everyone else tries to take it from them.

Visually, Quantum of Solace looks great but rarely stellar. Bond’s character model looks fantastic since Daniel Craig’s likeness was licensed for the game and Treyarch did a great job of making the character come to life with a fluid animation system. Some of the game’s environments also look fantastic and awe-inspiring, while some look good but lack that extra oomph. The game’s visuals are augmented by the fact that you’ll find no loading screens as you play.

The game’s audio is terrific, though. The soundtrack is appropriately epic and sounds like it could have powered the blockbuster movie, thanks in large part to the famous Bond theme song. The sound effects—particularly explosions—all sound great, too. Activision got the film’s cast including Craig, Eva Green, and Olga Kurylenko to provide voice acting for the game, and they all do a great job.

With Quantum of Solace, Treyarch absolutely nailed the James Bond experience. You truly feel like you’re playing as Bond in the game, which would have been fairly impressive on its own. Coupled with an amazing shooting engine (courtesy of the COD4 engine), Quantum of Solace is the Bond title gamers have been waiting for since GoldenEye. The singleplayer campaign (at about 5-6 hours) is a bit short but the multiplayer mode should more than make up for it.

-- Jose Liz, PGNx Media

---- Oct 31, 2008

http://www.pgnx.net/reviews.php?page=full&id;=16798