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Quantum of Solace Review Microsoft Xbox360

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  • Quantum of Solace Review Microsoft Xbox360

    Quantum of Solace marks the return of the Bond franchise to the world of first-person shooters and actually draws from Craig’s other Bond performance, Casino Royale, in addition to Quantum itself. By utilising a greater range of source material, the developers have been able to be much more discerning in their selection of which scenes to turn into levels. There have been a few liberties taken with the story, either for the sake of game constraints or to enable the story to move along quickly without requiring a complete retelling of the two films for newcomers. But, overall, it remains true to the main elements of the stories. There are a few instances of quite significant alterations such as the way the secretive Quantum organisation, which consists primarily of high-powered business magnates, now meets in an empty Opera house, due to the engine’s understandable inability to display thousands of characters on screen at once. Or the pursuit of middleman Dimitrios through the Miami Science Centre, which has been heavily rewritten to make it more suitable for a shooter. For the most part, the developers have been reasonably clever fitting sections of gameplay in between camera cuts in the films, with intermissions told through some rather slick loading screens presented as a trawl through MI6’s archives.
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    The visuals are bright and vibrant, but, on a technical level, everything looks a little basic given the platform it’s running on. While in some areas there has been some blatant corner-cutting, such as the green sludge supposed to pass for water in the Venice level. Part of the reason for this is the sheer variety of locales you get to visit across the 15 levels, each sporting their own look and texture set. As a result of the increasing visual fidelity of modern releases, and the workload for developing these art assets, many games today tend to sport a limited, singular look, reusing the same texture-set throughout their entire length. So it’s refreshing, albeit at the cost of slightly lower-quality visuals, to play a title where one minute you can be clambering about the rooftops of Vienna, the next darting between marble statues of a hotel spa and then charging down a train while it clatters through the stormy night. That’s not to say the game is completely without any stand-out visual moments, the chase scene from Casino Royale across a construction site and several towering cranes is particularly impressive, with the player hundreds of feet up and the camera angled downwards to show off all the background detail below.
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    The campaign’s level design is a mixture of stealth sections, focused around dodging cameras and patrol routes, and all-out, frenetic action, with lots of scripted explosions and pyrotechnics, interspersed with a smattering of mini-games such as lock picking and beam balancing. In a nod to the classic Goldeneye, none of these stealth sections are ever forced on the player, but you’ll face far less resistance if you take the effort to remain undetected. Special mention should also go to one Casino Royale level which sees you in control of a poisoned Bond as he staggers through the hotel trying to reach his Aston Martin and the awaiting medical supplies. The view is constantly bobbing up and down and time alternately speeds up and slows down, giving a real sense of disorientation. There are no enemies to kill, but trying to cross the road while in this state is easily one of the most heart-stopping moments in the game.
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    It‘s on the multiplayer front where things really start to pick up, though, as the game marries a strong strategy element with fast, twitch-based gameplay. Quantum takes some degree of inspiration from Call of Duty 4, featuring the same perk system that lets players gradually unlock new abilities such as carrying extra weapons or increased bullet damage. Despite these unlockable rewards, it still remains balanced with decent weapons and equipment available from the start – new players just have less of a selection to choose from. Once you get past the awkwardly animated character models and begin to play, it’s not long before you start to notice the same rhythms and flow underlying the action as in the aforementioned release, but, crucially, tweaked and modified enough to make the game its own beast. There is a more close-ranged combat model here, and this lends a faster pace and more immediate feel to the proceedings.
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    The level design is top notch, featuring predominantly mid-sized levels based around two or three focal points, with plenty of inter-connectivity. Most maps make good use of multiple-height levels, with quick transitions between them placed liberally throughout. The result is that, while it doesn’t take long to travel from one side of the map to the other, there are plenty of routes open to keep things interesting. This isn’t a game that rewards those inclined towards sitting still and sniping, you need to be on the move, constantly thinking and making aggressive plays in order to keep the opposition on their toes. Individual combat between two combatants plays out incredibly fast, requiring quick and precise movements from the player to stay alive. The drop-off in accuracy with range is also really nicely modelled, requiring the player to learn the capabilities of both their and their opponents' gear. This makes for an exhilarating experience – you have to stay calm under pressure, knowing that you need to take that initial hit of damage and keep closing in on the enemy, making sure your one shot is on target because you won‘t get a second chance.
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    Quantum isn’t just about how quickly you pull the trigger, though. Due to the high rate of damage the weapons deal out, the player needs to predict the enemies’ routes through the levels and model their psychological behaviour. Knowing how to spook the opposition, when to push up into their face and panic them and when to frustrate them into making silly mistakes is key. Flanking tactics and knowing how long it will take them to travel from point A to B are par for the course and, to an extent, it plays very much like an aggressive form of poker – you assess the odds and make your plays accordingly.

    Given that this is a licensed game, it’s quite surprising to see this level of effort invested in the multiplayer elements. The game would have sold perfectly well without it and it’s refreshing to see this level of care put into the product. The developers haven’t just stopped there, throwing in a few Bond-specific modes for good measure, the most interesting of which is Bond Versus. This is a round-based mode where each player takes it in turns to play as Bond, tasked with disarming several bombs scattered throughout the level, while the others try to stop him. Bond has two lives and access to all the equipment he has unlocked, whilst the terrorists are restricted to just a few basic weapons with no respawns. Once everyone has had a chance to play as Bond, the winner is the player who performed the best in both roles. It’s a creative little game mode and plays well, although some maps are better suited to this style of play than others.

    As a single-player experience Quantum is decent, revisiting sections from the movies is enjoyable and the shooting action is solid enough. Couple this with the wide diversity in level designs and you‘ve got a satisfying package. But it’s as a multiplayer game where it really holds its own and moves the game beyond the clichés usually associated with film tie-ins. Quantum of Solace is definitely of interest to more than just Bond fans – anyone looking for a varied, somewhat light-hearted shooter will derive a good degree of enjoyment from it.
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