007 Done Right

Published November 11, 2008

With the movie Casino Royale, actor Daniel Craig reignited our love affair with 007 with a performance that still smolders with perfection two years after the fact. Now, developer Treyarch looks to give the Bond video game franchise a similar shot in the arm with Quantum of Solace for Xbox 360®.

MI6's blunt instrument returns.

While named for the new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace races breathlessly through the major action set-pieces from both the Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace movies. Treyarch works the previous movie's escapades in as one long flashback sequence as a gift for gamers who had to do without a Casino Royale game. Here, you get the best of both worlds.

Quantum of Solace for Xbox 360 puts Bond back in gaming with a style and legitimacy befitting the franchise's legendary status.

FPS Bond Style
Quantum of Solace makes use of the much-heralded Call of Duty 4 engine, and predictably, the quality of its presentation and first-person shooter controls bear a remarkable resemblance to that game. This is Bond we're talking about though, not a military shooter, and as such Treyarch has worked diligently to tweak the gameplay accordingly.

• Visible Bond: Inhabiting Bond from the first-person perspective is a rewarding experience. After all, from the first-person perspective, you are Bond. That said, you more than likely want to see Treyarch's fully realized likeness of Daniel Craig as 007 in action. The game pulls the camera back to showcase Bond whenever it makes sense. Whether it's shimmying across a ledge, climbing a ladder, balancing on an I-beam, or knocking the snot out of an unsuspecting baddie with a Takedown, you'll see plenty of well choreographed 007 action.
• Stealth: Our super-spy hero may indeed boast a license to kill, but he's not quite a mass murderer. While large-scale firefights are littered liberally throughout the game, so too are a number of stealthier engagements where security cameras must be avoided and disabled, locks must be hacked, and guard patrols must be carefully studied in order for Bond to properly execute stealth-based attacks.
• Cinematic action: Reality has always taken a backseat to style when it comes to Bond action sequences. Indeed, the franchise has defined the hyper-realistic approach to action in movies and the game is no different. Whether it's hunkering down behind cover, shooting out a transformer box to stun enemies, sending a chandelier crashing down, or executing a stylish melee Takedown on gun-toting enemies, Quantum of Solace gives the player every opportunity to embellish the action with cinematic flair.

Takedowns are a beautiful thing.

Cover to Cover
When Bond enters the fray it's in a well-tailored suit, so he can't last long out in the open with a party of thugs wielding automatic rifles. The game uses a slick, easy to execute cover system, and it allows you to move from cover to cover with ease. Aim at the next point of cover where you wish to move, and if it's close enough, tap A and Bond will slip seamlessly behind the new cover.

Quick-Time
Life as Bond requires instant decision making and lightning reflexes, and that's reflected in Quantum of Solace in the form of quick-time events. Rather than recreate some of Bond's most spectacular action sequences with nary an interaction, you must participate in these sequences if you hope to see another checkpoint.

For example, the brutal melee with the nefarious Obanno in the Casino Royale stairwell requires you to time button presses at critical moments. These sequences aren't entirely unforgiving. You can miss one button press and still continue. Likewise, while melee Takedowns are initiated by pressing down on the Right Thumbstick, you'll need to time a randomly generated quick-time event to execute the attack to completion.

Killing is a black-tie affair.

007 Online
Bond video games have long been associated with multiplayer and Quantum of Solace is no different. It plays with the same speed and silky smoothness you would expect from a game built with the Call of Duty 4 engine. It even uses much the same Party system so you can group together with friends and find a match together.

With every match you play, credits are earned which can be used to unlock new weapons and gadgets, including the ever-popular and Bond-appropriate "golden" weapons for that extra bit of prestige.

Best of all though, the game types are widely varied, with objective-based games like Bond Versus, Bond Evasion (MI6 players must escort Bond to the escape zone) and Territory Control mixing naturally with classic deathmatch and team deathmatch.

Quantum of Solace for Xbox 360 puts Bond back in gaming with a style and legitimacy befitting the franchise's legendary status. Can you fill 007's shoes?

Article by Ryan Treit