Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace

Brrrr…. it’s cold in here!

First off, let me just say that the James Bond titles that have been released since Goldeneye have been more than underwhelming.  A certain company that will remain nameless generally takes movie licenses and makes them just good enough to not fail.  It’s like that old saying in Office Space goes, “I work just hard enough not to get fired.”  For years the Bond games that have been spat out have had fun stories, but just the crappiest gameplay imaginable.  Much like the new Bond films compared with the old. Thankfully, two changes have occurred to make the following game good: 1. New publishers! 2. New type of Bond film!

Those are two very important aspects of this game. 

Before I get to the good, let me get to the bad and get that out of the way.  The one complaint that everyone and their mother will have about this game is the lack of enemies.  You basically get the same minions in the game over and over again.  You will see that the bad guys actually wear the same sweater.  It’s as if there is some really warped bad guy sweater store out there for henchmen with accents.  It’s quite funny when you play the game and notice it over and over again.  There is also a bit of bugginess to the game that does, once in awhile, rear its ugly-ass head.  I caught an enemy in an odd angle during a rooftop chase (get to that in a minute) and he floated on air trying to run through the wall of a building.  He didn’t do it just once, he did three times.  Don’t they catch this in beta? Anyway, those are my two complaints.  Lack of variety and once-in-awhile a bit of bugginess. 

Okay, with that said so I don’t come off sounding like a kiss-ass (because clearly we have no tie-ends to the publisher or this game on the site), let’s talk about Quantum of Solace and everything that makes it fun.  

First and foremost, the game is a direct reflection of the best parts of Goldeneye. This is what we always came to love as the ultimate Bond game (ask Schardein what Klobb stands for).  The controls are easy to pick up immediately, as you predominately use the typical firing button (R1) and the reload button (square) and the gun changing button (L2) quite often in the game.  If you forget what button to push, there is usually an onscreen indicator to help you along.  So, if you need to cover behind something, you simply hit X which allows you to get out of the line of fire (most of the time).  All of these things that keep this first-person game simple are intact. There’s nothing complicated, nothing unfair, nothing really to complain about in terms of controls.  It’s very straight forward.  I like that in a Bond game.  Again, this is how Goldeneye was back in the day, which made it popular amongst the masses, and this is a great way to add ease-of-use to Quantum of Solace.  

Now, you might want to know about the gameplay.  Well, picture 80% first-person shooter and about 20% of button mashing like in God of War.  That’s the gameplay in a nutshell.  Now, most of you (if not all) have experienced this type of FPS before, there’s a difference, which we’ll get to in a second.  The quickness of the FPS intact here can be compared to Activision’s Call of Duty series.  When you play QoS for the first time you will probably recognize the engine as such (it’s very close to, if not completely exact, the Call of Duty 3 engine).  Everyone like CoD, right?  Well, it’s what QoS is made of.  How could you go wrong with that type of gameplay.  You have your close-ups of intense fighting areas, where loads and loads of screaming enemies are trying to take you out.  It does get a bit annoying to hear them call for back-up twenty times in the game, but it’s still neat that there’s conversation going on that increases/enhances the gameplay experience.  The elements around the FPS experience really do add to the gameplay how valuable it is.  For most FPS, it’s just shoot, shoot, shoot. Here it’s everything is alive around you, outside of water-effects, and you have to get going.  Again, very much like Call of Duty in those aspects.   As for the button mashing scenes, they’re neat.  They’re mainly reserved for the fights with the big bosses.  You get some really nice action slowed down so that you can push the correct button on the controller at the correct time. It’s not terribly tricky, but it’s fascinating to watch.  Cousin to that, you also have to play a mean game of matching when you’re breaking into locked down rooms.  You’ll be taken to a screen where you have to push the directional pad in certain directions, at certain times, when it’s certain colors to access certain rooms.  It’s a neat, yet simple concept and it’s not terribly hard to accomplish, but it’s entertaining as hell to get your mind from predicting the next move.  Sometimes frustrating.  Speaking of which….

The gameplay can get frustrating at times.  If you aren’t in the right position when you’re ducking for cover you’re going to get the holy hell blown out of you.  The A.I. in this game isn’t dumb, but not incredibly smart; it’s somewhere in between. A computer player will wait for you to reload your weapon before they attack you.  They’ll also avoid peering their head around corners to avoid getting it shot off.  It’s very intelligent for a game of this magnitude.  Again, this isn’t typical of movie licensed game.  It’s sharper than CoD in some respects, as typically in the third CoD there would be swarms of German soldiers who would be dying to have their heads blown off.  Here, the computer players know you want to kill them and do their best to preserve their life.  You’ll find yourself propping up on a box waiting for a computer player to pop up and try to shoot, but it will be in vain.  If you are going to kill these people you’re going to have to work for it.  This is probably one of the biggest parts of Quantum of Solace that truly impressed me, the time put into the enemies.  Again, I hate they all wear the same clothes, but their reactions are quite different most of the time. They will dispose of you in the best/sometimes quickest way possible too, which says a lot as well. Now, speaking of which, the life meter in QoS is probably one of the most unforgiving elements of the game. If you get caught in crossfire, you’re dead.  If you put yourself out in the open and try to go ‘Rambo’ on people, you’re dead.  You get the drift?  The game gives you recharging life, but if you’re getting it good from different areas in any given board, you’ll be forced to find shelter somewhere until you can get a good shot in.  It adds drama and…. wait for it…. THINKING/STRATEGY to the game.  Can you believe this?  In a movie licensed game?  Again, shocker!

Well, to preserve your life, you get a large variety of weapons to choose from, which helps (Sorry Steve, no Klobb this time).  You can arm yourself with a simple automatic, uzi, something more complicated like a shotgun and/or a sniper rifle (there are more guns, but I can’t identify them — sorry, memory of a bee).  The guns come and go as they please and there are moments for them and there are moments where you shouldn’t use them.  For example, on the train scene during the fight to get to Casino Royale (did I just ruin some of the story? Oh, well.), you have very long and narrow hallways.  Enemies are generally at a pretty good distance, though very restricted in their movements. You will somehow run across a case that contains a very high-powered shotgun (you find these cases with different weapons as you move along in the game).  As a gamer, you will be dying to try this sucker on someone.  As a gamer, you should know that games don’t give you gifts without reason.  You’re more likely to use a longer range weapon than one that spreads shot in a shorter distance to get through this level quickly.  It’s impressive how that works out.  I really like that they restrict usage of each weapon, giving it ups and downs.  You simply don’t have guns just to fire.  You have guns that are appropriate for the situation.  That’s a huge plus! Now, a minus is the amount of time it takes to reload a weapon.  Once you start reloading the enemies will try to get you in your weakest second.  It takes roughly 2-3 seconds to reload, which is forever in a game this intense.  While I can see the real world seeping through this method, it still can cause a very frustrating moment.  Now, to counter that, slightly, Activision has allowed you to use the weapon if the reloading isn’t completed yet.  It gives you a bit of freedom with that, but everything comes at a price. You only get the ammunition that made it in the weapon, nothing more.  So, eventually you’re going to have to reload in a shorter period of time. 

So, how does it handle, you ask?  Well, it handles really well.  It’s very fast, very stylish and very Bond! Again, it’s like Goldeneye as it’s so damn addictive.  Much like The Incredible Hulk, which was a great film, QoS might be passed over because of previous attempts by a company that shall remain nameless.  This is the closest thing you’ll have to Goldeneye.  It’s freakin’ fun!  I played this game four straight hours, two nights in a row before I had to start cutting back.  It’s that addictive.  It moves really quickly, as you’ll probably only get around 9-12 hours out of the main game.  What else do you want?   From the get-go it pushes you along with the story that is already laid out on film.  There are some liberties and even some trailing off (Casino Royale flashbacks anyone?), but it keeps pushing you forward, which is fantastic for an FPS.  This is how CoD became successful and how all the great FPS games turned out well.  You have a solid story that keeps moving you forward.  QoS is no different.  It’s really intense and it stays true to the characters and story that have already been put on reels (I read the plot points to the new one, which we’re going to review on Thursday of next week and they’re really damn close). Action oriented film is now an action oriented game. Very solid material here. 

Presentation is the key to all well-dressed games

I like starting out with the bad to get it right out of the way.  During levels you have very restrictive spaces to work with.  The game is linear, I won’t deny that.  It’s the only way to keep you moving forward.  There are times that you have to escape out of a level quickly, like the opera scene, and you can get easily confused on where you should be going.  Of course, once you find your way out it’s time to move on, but bumping into invisible barriers can be a tad frustrating.  That’s my biggest complaint for presentation.  Other than that complaint, I wish the ocean and lakes looked better.  They were horrible.  For the PS3 the graphics of water shouldn’t look like that.  If CoD 4 can produce enormously cool water effects, so can QoS.  That was pretty lazy, but minor.  

Now on to the good.  The environments are beautifully detailed (except for the water).  The chase scene at the beginning, through spain or wherever the hell they are, is so detailed.  You jump from rooftop to rooftop and the details of the shingles on the houses is so nice.  You also have a lot of damage that can be caused in the environment with gunfire.  So if you’re behind a concrete slab and bullets are flying towards you ricocheting off the concrete, you’ll find holes in the concrete afterwards. It’s very impressive. The environments are generally huge and vibrant, but you won’t have time to enjoy the scenery.  The story always pushes you forward.

Kudos for the character models! They are spot on the actors and actresses who gave up their time to be scanned in. Daniel Craig looks like Daniel Craig.  Eva Green looks like Eva Green. Snoze berries taste like, snoze berries! (sorry on a roll).  They really bring the characters to life and closer to the film counterparts.  The fact that all the voices of the main actors/actresses are intact with this film is impressive.  They didn’t simply cut the movies up and place the dialogue in, they had them record dialogue for these characters.  Nothing but high-class stuff here! So, when you see Daniel Craig yelling at someone, it’s his voice you’re hearing. 

Finally, the cutscenes are too much.  You get your typically Bond opening where you have to get the bad guy and the game cuts to the opening credits.  How cool is that?  It’s like the movie! Imagine that.  In-between the action you get a very solid cutscene story that provides depth to the main story itself.  You also get the option to skip these scenes if you don’t care too much for the story.  Typically games make you go through it first and than give you the option to skip.  QoS allows you to skip from the beginning and gives you the option to either watch or don’t watch the cutscenes.  Again, I’m very shocked that this much detail went into this game. 

A martini to die for

This game is certainly worth you time and effort.  I could careless about any reviewer that tells you otherwise.  I’m telling you, this is the best Bond game to hit store shelves in sometime.  It brings a great storyline, it gives you actors/actresses, it flows really quickly (and intensely) and it gets you, the gamer, involved with it heavily.  This is a fantastic Bond game.  Add that to the fact that it has 12-player online play and you’re going to be happy that someone finally got a movie license right.