Licensed to thrill?

During the making of Quantum of Solace, developer Treyarch played N64 GoldenEye 007 religiously. It ‘still plays pretty well', apparently. But does it really? Rare's 1997 masterpiece may still be the best Bond blaster ever, but pick up a pad and it starts to show its age. Given a choice between that and present day Call of Duty 4, we know what we'd prefer to play.

CoDlike

And that's where Quantum of Solace on PS3 and Xbox 360 comes in. Combining the Modern Warfare game engine with Daniel Craig's gritty new 007, it boasts the best of both worlds, making for a Bond game experience with true next-gen credentials.

To call this CoD in spy's clothing would, however, be doing it a disservice. Quantum of Solace features something Activision's other famous shooter series doesn't; a cover system. It works a little like that in Rainbow Six – you push a button to snap to cover, and the camera pans back from a through-the-eyes viewpoint into a third-person perspective, giving you a look at Daniel Craig's digital depiction in all his HD glory.

From here you can blindfire, or duck out (still in third-person) and unload lead into the legions of bad guys – who, presumably, come from the same henchmen school as those in every other action flick. To their credit though, they do a decent job of making your life difficult. They'll flank, take cover themselves and close in for the kill if you're not careful. They're hardly Halo Elites in terms of intelligence, but they've definitely got their wits about them.

Duck and double-0

The drawback is that the CoD engine was never designed with cover in mind, and so Quantum of Solace can develop into really quite linear, stop-and-pop gunplay. While this works well in a game like Gears of War, full of fantastical enemy types and gothic architecture, the real-world locales and human enemies of Quantum of Solace aren't perhaps the best fit for this approach.

Still, Quantum of Solace makes an admirable effort at offering a varied gameplay challenge. Stealth sections and a segment where you're inching along the outside a building avoiding glaring spotlights are both included. There's also QTEs, which again take you out of first-person, and occasional first-person disarmings as well. In all then, and despite the omission of vehicle sections, it's a pretty good recreation of the film.

Except, somewhat oddly, when it's a pretty good depiction of the film before it. Quantum of Solace features a lengthy flashback sequence focusing on Daniel Craig's previous Bond outing in Casino Royale. It's a great way to bring both of the films together, and features possibly the coolest set piece in the game, guiding a drugged, blurry-visioned Bond to his car in order to shock himself back to life. The downside is that this flachback sequence comes around halfway through, and by the time you're back into the Quantum of Solace storyline, you'll have forgotten half of what was going on when you left it.

And somewhat surprisingly for a game that features not one but two films worth of content, is that Quantum of Solace is really quite short. You're talking sub-ten hours playtime first time through, and for accomplished FPS players considerably less than that. Which is a shame, because when Quantum of Solace gets going, you won't want it to stop.

More to come

Luckily, there's always the multiplayer to fall back on. Standard shooter modes are present, but it's the Bond ones that feel most at home in Quantum of Solace. Bond Vs has one player controlling the spy trying to disarm bombs placed by the other players; Golden Gun gives one player the titular one-hit-kill weapon, and Bond Evasion has players escorting a VIP to safety. The story campaign, meanwhile, has a pretty decent co-op option, too.

The successor to GoldenEye, then? Well, Quantum of Solace is certainly the best Bond game since 1997. So that's a 'yes'– although we can't help but feel that there's a lot more to come from 007 under Activision's guardianship.

GAME's Verdict

• Explosively gritty Bond action that captures the feel of the recent films.
• Reasonably intelligent enemies and a couple of really cool set pieces.
• Multiplayer works well, particularly the Bond-specific modes.

• Very short campaign mode.
• the CoD engine was never really designed for cover-based combat.
• The flashback sequence will leave you confused as to where you are in the actual plot.

Review by: Mark 'Stop n Pop' Scott
Version Tested: PlayStation 3
Review Published: 28.11.07

Golden buy?

When Daniel Craig pulled on James Bond's Savile Row-tailored slacks two years ago, it represented a gritty, gadget-free new direction for the increasingly exhausted movie series. At the same time Activision nabbed the videogame rights from EA and decided to take a similar direction with 007's digital career. Consequently, the publisher's LA-based studio Treyarch is promising a brutal, thrilling experience. It's brought in the brilliant Call Of Duty 4 3D engine and grabbed the best scenes from both Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace to construct a tight, edgy spy blaster.

Been there, shot that

But this isn't a straight-up kill-fest with bullets for brain cells. Quantum Of Solace is a tactical shooter, sporting an intuitive cover system that lets you dive behind objects or skirt along walls to avoid enemy fire. The enemies, too, are smarter that your average shoot-'em-up fodder - the movie makers specifically told Treyarch 'James Bond does not fight idiots'. They'll run for cover too, as well as using flanking strategies against you - especially if you burst in with machine guns blazing.

Quantum Of Solace certainly makes the most of Bond's globetrotting lifestyle, with levels based in Siena, Venice, Miami and on the shores of Lake Como, as well as many other exotic locations. One minute you're blasting through the beautiful gardens of a palatial mansion, the next you're storming a science centre, or shooting your way through a hurtling passenger train.

All of these areas are highly destructible thanks to Treyarch's advanced physics engine, so almost everything you see in the detailed locations can be blown to smithereens. It's also possible to set up traps using objects found around certain environments, taking several enemies out at once. As in the films, Bond is usually out-manned and out-gunned so must improvise with what he has available.

Bond, games Bond

Detail is impressive, too. The development team has used thousands of production photos to create intricate reproductions of key movie scenes - it was also given access to the Quantum Of Solace shoot on several occasions, and has worked closely with Daniel Craig. It turns out that the Bond actor is a keen gamer who not only fulfills voice acting duties, but also came up with script suggestions for the game. He even helped with some new plot ideas.

The game's story mostly follows the script to the forthcoming movie, flashing back to key scenes in Casino Royale as the plot unfolds. However, it's not a completely faithful conversion. Treyarch has access to scenes cut from both movies, and has expanded on certain sequences, so you'll never be entirely sure what's coming next - even if you know the films inside out.

At certain moments during the game, Treyarch has introduced cinematic action sequences which work like the quick-time events from Resident Evil 4 - you need to hit the right buttons at the right time to make Bond pull of some breathtaking stunts - one example is getting him through the heady free-running scene from Casino Royale. The hand-to-hand combat also works in this way - get close to a bad guy and you'll need to hit a button to perform a devastating 'takedown' move. Both of these elements are shown in third-person, offering a more exciting view of the action.

Craig cleans up

Next-gen multiplayer is another vital element of Quantum Of Solace. There are 12 online gaming maps and a range of modes, taking in familiar FPS options as well as some more Bond-inspired newcomers. One features a lone player taking on the role of 007 while every other player is an enemy agent. Bond must set off a series of explosives before the other team can kill him twice. It's tense and fun, and really captures the feel of the movies.

Quantum Of Solace has its work cut out to match everyone's memories of the GoldenEye game. Already, though, it's looking much more solid and well-conceived than most of the James Bond titles we've seen over the last ten years. Bond has been well and truly rejuvenated on the big screen - it's now time for Craig to clean up on console.

Preview by: Keith 'Shaken, Not Stirred' Stuart
Review Published: 13.10.08