A fun Bond game that doesn't fully deliver on all levels
I can remember when I first seen the trailer for the Quantum of Solace video game. I said to myself, "This could be the game to finally top Goldeneye." Well I was wrong. But that doesn't mean Quantum of Solace is a bad game. It is a fun experience but it just doesn't perform perfectly on all levels.
The game play does a good job of making you feel like Bond. The game is a first person shooter but turns into third person when you become involved in quick time events and wall cover. The controls mimic those of the Call of Duty games because the game was developed by Treyarch. Some levels contain parts of stealth. You will sometimes need to avoid security cameras, disable cameras and avoid enemies all together. The environments are beautifully modeled and contain destructible elements. Character models look very gorgeous and overall the game looks very realistic. I was very impressed with the visuals and even more impressed with the audio. The sound effects really make you feel like your in the middle of a gun fight. You got voice overs from Daniel Craig himself which makes the experience feel very authentic. The score is feature film worthy and has James Bond style written all over it. Overall all these things are done very well. The game does have some flaws though which drag it down.
Quantum of Solace's biggest problem is the length of the single player campaign. You can run through the entire campaign in about 5-6 hours. When the campaign was over I felt myself wanting more Bond. I must also mention that I was unimpressed at where the campaign ends. Once you see it for yourself your going to ask yourself, "What the heck just happened?" This game contains missions from both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and it still only clocks up to about a 5-6 hour play through. For so much source material to look at there was very little used. Another thing that hurts the game is how poorly the story is presented. I understand that the story was blocked out a bit since the game was released before the movie and they didn't want to spoil it for everyone. I deeply believe that it is a bad idea to release movie based video games before the movie is released. This is a problem that really hurt this game. I don't blame Treyarch for this problem because I know they had no control on when the game is to be released. If Quantum of Solace would have came out along side the DVD release, they could have had extra development time to make the game a true knockout. Another problem I had was that I found there was a little overuse of the quick time events through the campaign. For example, interactive cut scenes where hitting buttons at the precise moment allowed you to advance to the next event and this also prevailed when you did hand to hand combat with enemies.
Quantum of Solace's saving grace is the multiplayer and by god is it awesome! The campaign was really short but you will definitely become hooked on the multiplayer and add hours upon hours of gameplay time to your experience with this title. There is a tremendous amount of modes to choose from. You got some classics from Goldeneye and you can even play in an updated version of the Facility called Chemical Plant. This added touch really put a smile on my face. The classic mode kind of brings everything back to the Goldeneye days where you don't need to hold down a button a to pick up a weapon when standing over it. You can just walk over it and you will pick it up just like back in the old school days. Yes, there is also Golden Gun mode so don't worry. Quantum of Solace also features the upgrade feature that is in the Call of Duty games where you earn points for your performances and can upgrade weapons, ammo and gadgets between gameplay. The multiplayer is the funnest part of this game and I'm glad Treyarch put the time into making that deliver.
Overall, Quantum of Solace is a good game. It just doesn't have anything in it that makes it any different from current first person shooters. It just blends in with the large amount that sit on store shelves. If your a die hard 007 fan then you may want to purchase the game but I recommend to most that you give this game a rent first. You should have a fun time and you will probably invest most of your time into the awesome multiplayer experience. If this game would have gotten extra development time, filled out the entire story and would have been released at the same time as the DVD, this game could possibly have been a must own shooter.
Review originally written: March 13th, 2010
