Quantum of Solace (Xbox 360) Review
Posted by Joe Roche on 01.02.2009
Does Treyarch deliver a James Bond game worthy of dethroning "Goldeneye" as the best 007 game ever? Or do they falter under the pressure that creating a game under one of the most recognizable movie licenses ever brings with it?
Title: 007: Quantum of Solace
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Type: First Person Shooter
Players: 1 (Multiplayer)
Rated: T
Video game James Bond has suffered a similar fate to movie character James Bond, namely that everyone has such an affinity for the “classics” that anytime something new comes on the scene it can never live up to our memories. For video game 007 we call that the Curse of Goldeneye, and with the release of Quantum of Solace Treyarch (the same team behind the new Call of Duty: World at War) tries their hand at delivering a new Bond for the video game loving masses.
Story:
A strange thing happened on my way through Quantum of Solace, namely I felt as though I had seen this movie before. Naturally I’m sure this happens to most people when they’re playing a movie license inspired game. For me though it was a bit strange because I have not seen the most recent James Bond movie. Of course I get that some commenter’s here will complain that I can’t give an accurate review of this game without seeing Quantum of Solace first, but I assure you that seeing the movie is not necessary to fully understand what is happening. Most of this game takes place during Casino Royale (which I have seen).
Playing through Casino Royale isn’t all bad even if it is a bit misleading; I mean Casino Royale had some pretty good action sequences that translate well into video game form. Plus Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to Casino Royale so there is a pretty good blend happening throughout the game.
You will basically experience both movies in a fast forward type manner. Some dude who apparently has the Director’s Cut of the past two Bond movies is watching your every move as you fight through the movie as video game 007. The biggest problem that I had with this method of going through the story is that things are all disjointed and if you’re trying to follow the game as if it was the movie you’ll be all kinds of lost by the time you’re done. Other then that minor feature there isn’t much else to say about the story, it’s Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace I’m pretty sure most people who play this game will know the basics already.
Gameplay:
I think if I had one major problem with Quantum of Solace it was the gameplay. That is not to say that the game doesn’t provide some fun moments because it does. However, the game seems to have a bit of an identity problem as it grapples with whether it wants to be a stealth spy game, or an action/shooter like Treyarch’s other 2008 project, Call of Duty: World at War. Some of the most fun that you’ll have in Quantum of Solace will come when you’re using Bond’s stealth to creep up behind an opponent, hit the R3 button enter a takedown sequence where you push a corresponding face button to incapacitate your enemies. To me James Bond should be able to walk into a casino and take out every enemy without drawing his weapon. The only time Bond should even discharge a gun is when he’s breaking out of some elaborate scheme to have him killed.
Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace puts you in some positions where there is no choice but to fire off hundreds of rounds as wave after wave of nameless drone charges you from the hills/adjacent homes/some mysterious offscreen pod. I understand the need to add some excitement into the game, but throughout the history of James Bond how many times have you seen him pinned down behind a counter while twenty goons fire automatic rifles at him and he’s forced to pick them each off one by one with a shotgun?
That isn’t to say that this style isn’t fun. Hell my favorite game of 2008 was Gears of War 2, so you know I enjoy the occasional firefight with faceless goons. But I expected it going into Gears 2, with Quantum of Solace I guess I expected more Solid Snake, and less Marcus Fenix. And before you start sending me hate mail, I understand that there might be a way to get through most of the stages without firing a weapon, but if that’s true it was way more complicated then I wanted it to be and if that makes me pathetic then so be it. I’m trying to write this review through the eyes of the average man, and on average I thought it was just much to difficult, inconvenient or downright impossible to play through this game as a stealth Bond.
My other complaint with the gameplay is that during the most climactic scenes in the game you’ll feel more like a spectator then a participant. There are too many instances where a fight sequence will break out and you’ll be relegated to pushing buttons that correspond to a command on screen and then watching the fight happen in front of you, instead of actually determining the outcome of the fight on your own. I understand that this was done so that important scenes stayed true to the movies but it was still a bit sad to have the great stairwell fight from Casino Royale play out in front of me while I waited patiently to push “A” at the appropriate time.
Graphics:
Graphically Quantum of Solace is about what you’d expect. This is the first game featuring the Daniel Craig version of Bond, and you’ll actually get to see him in action because when you head into cover the camera switches to a third person view. So if you’ve ever wanted to see Daniel Craig kneeling behind a car, this is the game that you’ll want to pick up.
You will not be blown away by anything you see in Quantum of Solace. Everything is well designed, the architecture is pretty when you’re in Italy, and you do get some feeling of running through a South American ghetto when that is appropriate. However, there is nothing awe inspiring in this game. You will not stand around and gawk at the graphics. There are actually points where you’ll wonder how much time was put into the design at all, including a pretty generic mansion at the beginning of the game, and a rather unimpressive final scene, including fire that Silent Hill: Homecoming would be offended by.
That’s not to say that this game is ugly, because it’s not. But to me the best graphics make you feel immersed in the world. In the case of Quantum of Solace I felt more like a character running around against a backdrop, almost like a movie actor then someone who was part of a living breathing environment, if that makes any sense.
Sound:
The voice acting in this game is pretty good. You’ve got Judy Dench, and while her voice might be the only one that sticks out in my head I am pretty sure that everyone from the movie gave their voice talent to the video game so if you’re a fiend for continuity like that you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Quantum of Solace.
As for the rest of the effects, they’re about what you’d expect. Since most of this game left me trying to sneak around with a silencer on you won’t get the same jarring, loud machine gun sound that comes with some other FPS in the genre, but everything still sounds pretty good.
Lasting Appeal:
This is a tricky one because Quantum of Solace has a pretty decent multiplayer component that should add considerable shelf life to the game. The “Golden Gun” feature is in particular pretty fun to play as you get to control the uber-powerful Golden Gun and take out opponents with one shot. Most people remember that game type from Goldeneye and it makes a triumphant appearance in Quantum of Solace. But there is a problem with the multiplayer for QoS, namely it isn’t Halo 3, Gears 2, Call of Duty 4, or Call of Duty: World at War. What I mean by that is that while yes, this game does have a pretty good multiplayer component, I’m not sure it’s good enough to warrant picking this game up over any of the aforementioned games which are already hugely popular on Xbox Live. I’d think that the majority of people who are on QoS are already looking for something else to play, which takes a lot of the points off the lasting appeal of this game.
The single player is not enough to get you to come back, as a matter of fact the single player is so short that you should be able to beat it in one sitting on a weekend, or at the most two. So you really need a strong multiplayer to give this game high marks in the Lasting Appeal section, and it does deliver a pretty decent online feature – but again, it’s pretty bare bones, and it’s not one of the major Xbox Live games so you may be hard pressed to find people on the serves in about six months which docks the game huge points in Lasting Appeal.
The 411:
Quantum of Solace is not a bad game. Of course it’s not a great game either, which is a problem during a season that saw the release of so many highly rated and highly regarded games. If you’re a James Bond fanatic you’ll want to pick this game up because you have the opportunity to play as the Daniel Craig version of Bond, and the game is a fun waste of time. Most other people are going to avoid this game though and won’t be worse off for it.
The single player campaign is brutally short and you will get through it in five hours. You’re going to have some fun during that five hour stretch though, even if the controls are a bit wonky, and even if the stealth aspect of the game isn’t that fun. This is essentially the game you’d want out of the Bourne series, which is my same complaint about the most recent Bond films that they are much more Bourne, then 007. However, this isn’t a bad thing, Bourne is a cool character, and this version of James Bonds makes for a completely serviceable video game.
Will this game make you forget Goldeneye? Probably not, but that’s mainly due to your childhood memories moreso then the quality of either game. If Treyarch or Activision or whomever takes the reigns of the next Bond game really wants to create something special with the license they will create a stand alone Bond game. The biggest problem with this game is that you already know what is going to happen, and how it is going to happen. If you took out the elements from the movie, and instead gave me a specific game, where I could stealth around as James Bond, drinking Martini’s shaken, not stirred, and rescuing beautiful women before bringing them to my bedroom using the same engine and style as Quantum of Solace I would buy that game in a heartbeat. As for this particular game – it’s a rental at best.
Graphics
8.0
About what you'd expect, nothing spectacular
Gameplay
7.5
Too much cover and shoot, not enough stealth action for a Bond game
Sound
8.0
The voice acting alone is enough for a high score
Lasting Appeal
7.0
It has multiplayer, but I'm not sure how many people will play it for very long
Fun Factor
7.5
This is a fun game for a day, after that it's pretty much run its course.
