James Bond - Quantum of Solace (X360)

I've heard a lot of good things about this one. People seem to be of the opinion that it will be the best Bond game since Goldeneye. They may be right.

The game follows a pretty straight duck and cover format, very similar to games like Gears of War, except that you're in first person when you arent in cover. Unlike Gears though, there's a good amount of stealth gameplay, where studying enemy movements and dispatching of them quietly is going to give you an advantage. Your watch gives you an overhead map of the area, so you've always got some intel in addition to what you observe straight up. This is a little bit more realistic than a heads up minimap in the corner, since Bond doesn't have any ocular implants or anything. Being spotted, heard, or seen on camera in these stealth modes will bring elite guards down on you.

Throughout the game, you can find cell phones that give you intel on the level as well. Perhaps it's a voicemail or a text message with the location of some ammo or a sweet gun, or a picture of an upcoming area. Collecting these gets you achievements as well, so keep an eye out for them (or an ear, they ring when you're close by).

The graphics are gorgeous. This being coupled with some Hollywood style deaths (enemies flailing their arms, shooting wildly as they fall) and action (explosions actually deforming buildings, perhaps a bell on a building under construction is persuaded to fall on some enemies) and you might actually mistake the game for a movie every now and then. Daniel Craig's face is modeled extremely well, so that adds to the realism, since you're looking at his mug every time you're in cover. I also found it pretty cool that his hair looks realistically wet in rainy levels. The game seems very polished, obviously a lot of effort went into making it seem like a real movie.

The story line bothered me a bit though. It starts off in the new movie, but then flashes back to Casino Royale for at least 75% of the game, before returning to Quantum of Solace. They make an effort at explaining it, but it just seems a bit weird. It also doesn't give me much hope for the new movie, if its namesake game spends most of its time on Casino Royale. If you ignore the timeline warps though, the story telling is done very well. You get your futuristic computer display which constantly cross references pictures, video, audio, etc. while M talks to James and other MI6 people, which is cool. Daniel Craig and Judy Dench do the voices for Bond and M respectively, so that makes a big difference as well. Games such as Force Unleashed that use imitators just leave a bad taste in my mouth (ears?).

However well told the story is though, it ends way too soon. I think I spent 5-6 hours on the single player, and that's just not long enough at all for $60. It's really a great game too, and with two movies to pull from, its a shame they didn't make it longer. The replay value isn't terrible though, since there are multiple difficulties with their own achievements, and of course all the cell phones to find.

What may save the brutally short single player from massive ridicule is the multiplayer. It looks pretty sweet, as it offers some customizations that you can purchase with money that I assume you win from online matches. Unfortunately I haven't been able to play it, as there is NO SPLIT SCREEN MULTIPLAYER, ahem, but it does look like it will be excellent online. On that note, why is split screen multi dying out? Is it that hard to implement? Games like this and Pure are both lacking it, but offer excellent online play - I don't get it. Those of us with real friends shouldn't be punished here!

The achievements are exactly what achievements should be in a game like this. You get some for beating levels and beating the game, and stupid things like hacking every locked door that you're gonna do anyway, but just about every level has something extra to shoot for, like going through undetected or only using the pistol. Those type of achievements can add a lot of replay value, and this game really needs that.

So in closing, this is an excellent game that suffers from a bit of a length problem. It's probably worth the money when multiplayer is considered, but I just can't say at this point. Absolutely pick it up if you're a Bond fan, but you're not going to be able to invite friends over to play like the Goldeneye days.