Not as good as goldenye...but better than all the other 007 rubbi
Treyarch were rather busy last year. In one year they cranked out two, quite competent, FPS’s based on the COD 4 engine. One was the flawed but enjoyable World at War, whilst the other was James Bond’s latest offering Quantum of Solace.
Or should it be called Casino Royale? Most of the missions are from Daniel Craig’s first operation. Or maybe even something different. Lets make an example. Do you remember the massive gunfight between Bond and masked terrorists during the chase in Madagascar after bomb maker? or even the technical you had to destroy? No? Thats because Treyarch thought Bond was boring. They even gave him a bloody M60 in two levels. Bond wouldn’t use a M60. It wouldn’t suit his tux.
The gameplay is based around the old stalwart, COD4, but with a few changes. The main one is the cover system, which totally changes the dynamics of a gun fight. Its more cinematic, as the devs intended, while also making the fights interesting. However it does make it boring when your forced to fight without cover. Also Bond can use melee in a different way to a COD character. Quick time events are used to perform one hit kills. This system is a defining characteristic of the new bond and works surprising well. The weapons included fell slightly less weighty than their cousins from COD4 but are still satisfying.
This instance in the Bond series of games was good for me. Normally i hate forced stealth sections and can’t do the driving ones. Well in Quantum there are neither. No driving at any point and stealth can be broken straight away. This means that at no point was there a sticking point which would have put me off finishing.
The graphics in single player are good, as you’d expect from the engine. Daniel Craig lent his likness to the game, and he looks scarily like the real version. However they are turned down in multiplayer by quite a lot, making it horrible to watch. Another point about multiplayer is that it feels like a thin version of COD4's with none of the improvements of WaW.
One final point is Games for Windows Live. Yes, its back, and for once works well. Matchmaking was exceptionally quick and the achivements are a good mixture of easy and hard,in both single and multiplayer.
To conclude, QoS is not a vital game that everyone has to play, but should be picked up if your an achivement whore or really like James Bond. But it is the best bond game since Goldeneye.
Overall score is 68%
