Quantum of Solace
Movie games are generally terrible. Quantum of Solace is no exception. In 1997 Rare made a stunning movie-game called "007 Goldeneye" based on the Bond film of the time... Goldeneye. The game was critically acclaimed because it was fun to play, had a nice multiplayer mode and overcame various challenges which the Nintendo 64 presented. Since then, EA has tried to recapture the Bond franchise the same way Rare did, but all attempts fell flat, releasing a series of lack-lustre video games. EA has since moved on and Activision has stepped up to the challenge of making a Bond title which we could all be happy to play, but have they done it?

Short answer: No. Not on the Playstation 2 at least. A game which has a series of good ideas and some pretty impressive visuals is haunted by bad controls, seemingly useless aiming mechanics and the general feeling of "What the hell am I supposed to do here?" Although it's no excuse, Activision have made the effort to make a different Bond game for every platform. The Playstation 2 version and the Nintendo Wii version of the game are very different to one-another unlike what you expect, the 360, PS3 and PC versions are all the same one and the DS version is a different game as well. Efforts have mostly been focused on the 360/PS3/PC version of the game and it shows. The Playstation 2 version has many glaring flaws and is generally unpolished. As nice a gesture it is for Activision to release Bond on every platform, perhaps they should have just made one very good game for some platforms, not making half-hearted lack-lustre games for some.

Quantum of Solace, like all movie games takes the general story of the movie and then warps the game into something completely different to make it actually feel like a game. Not only does it do this for the Quantum of Solace movie, but also for little flash-backs to scenes from Casino Royal, the previous Bond movie. Again, the gesture is nice; have scenes from a Bond film which *should* have had a video game, but didn't. Sadly, it's just another gimmick which falls flat on itself. If you don't want to know the general premise for Quantum of Solace, look away now. Quantum of Solace picks up just after Bond pays Mr.White a visit at the end of Casino Royale. Shooting him in the leg, his bodyguards come to his aid. After capturing Mr.White, all hell breaks loose and White escapes. Soon, Bond and a newly acquired female accomplice move to take out a Mr.Greene, a Billionaire tycoon. Sadly while doing so, Bond manages to kill a powerful UK ambassador and goes rouge after MI6 start coming after him...

Story in Quantum of Solace feels rather cheaply portrayed. The most 'story' you'll get in the game is an opening CGI cinematic which's theme song is simply just better than the actual Quantum of Solace theme. In-between levels, you'll have a moving slide show of what is supposed to be some sort of MI6 computer system. You hear familiar cast voices including Judi Dench ("M"), Daniel Craig (Bond, James Bond) and a host of other characters, mostly voiced by their actual on-screen actors. In what seems to be a licensing issue, hardly any of the film's events are shown in-game, instead they're simply explained from MI6's point-of-view. Boring. You get a very brief briefing and thrown straight into the action. And I mean literally. The game doesn't even present you with an objectives list before you start, highly frustrating when doing Stealth missions which the game doesn't really tell you that "Stealth is recommended" means "Use stealth or get a Game Over. Simple as."

Quantum of Solace attempts to be more than it really should be. Shoehorning in various 3rd person action/adventure game clichés such as 'keep up with someone or fail' mechanics which can be counter-intuitive, especially since you are not told just how far away what you're supposed to be following is and if it is actually still on the move. The second stage in the game is just like that. You're chasing after this guy, if he gets too far away, you fail the mission. It's not all running, though, you'll occasionally stop to shoot some bad guys, but the shooting mechanics in the game are terrible. Enemies soak up bullets (as does Bond), but just trying to hit enemies is a challenge. You're given three degrees of aiming, only two I will speak about right now; standard shooting and 'zoom' shooting. The difference? Standard shooting means you can move faster while trying to shoot enemies (and failing to do so), 'Zoom' shooting means you move slower and still don't shoot enemies while trying to. The 'Zoom' shooting is supposed to give you better aiming but from what I could tell, it didn't matter either way. It was pure luck if an enemy was hit and even then you weren't quite sure if they WERE hit because there's no way to tell!

After a long pause in the running segment of the game at a shoot-out I realised that the game is a bit lenient in the whole 'chase' aspect. If you're in a fire fight, you have infinite time to lay down some pain. However, I sure wish the game made that obvious. The way the game tells you how far you are behind an enemy is some nagging MI6 overseer moaning at you about how awful a 00-Agent you are. Well excuse me, I'm sure even Bond would struggle to do his job if he had a control scheme as terrible as this. The back shoulder buttons on the Playstation 2 pad do this; L2: Shift Camera, L1: Shoot, R2: reload. "Shift camera?" you're thinking. Yes. The in-game camera likes to cling to either the left or the right of Bond's side. Most the time, the game IS smart enough to automatically align the camera to best suit the situation, but why was such a useless function placed on a very important button? They should have used L2 as a 'action button' rather than X and Triangle (I'll move onto that in a moment) as this would mean the player only has to use the analogue sticks and and shoulder buttons for most the game.

To help you fight enemies, QoS uses a Gears of War style cover system. By holding down L1 you hug a wall, pressing left and right on the left analogue stick moves Bond across the wall. Pressing up makes him pop up from cover to aim. Pressing R3 enters Zoom mode which can be done while hugging a wall ready to pop up already in Zoom mode. Much like Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 (Note, the PS2 version of the game doesn't actually use the Call of Duty 4 engine, but more a cheap imitation of it) you can utilise the third aiming style; 'blind shooting'. While still behind cover, just press the fire button and watch Bond aim even more uselessly then before as he just shoots over the top of the cover you're hugging. I haven't killed a single enemy with blind shooting, not once. If you come to the edge of a stretch of cover, you can press Triangle to turn a corner, still hugging the wall or press circle to swap to nearby cover on the opposite side. Easily the best and most functional part of the game right there.

During the course of the game, you'll be faced with quite a few obstacles to get around. Locked gates, fences, beams and doors. For some reason, there's no definitive 'action' button as many games have. Instead, you'll be alternating between X and Triangle to progress. The basic idea was that to 'jump over' something, you pressed Triangle, to open or interact with things, you pressed X. You have a prompt at the top of the screen showing you available actions to perform on the Playstation buttons (X, O, Square, Triangle), so you're never left stranded on what to do when faced by an obstacle. Then again, why isn't it just one action button and you can just press that when you think you've come to an obstacle. Obstacles are never clearly highlighted, they blend in with the surroundings making it sometimes frustrating when you come to a similar series of boxes or a door to find out it's just part of the world, not interactive at all. Some scenery can be shot down to either lure enemies away from posts during stealth missions or can attack enemies, these are indicated by a red shine on them. Items to be used or key items are signified by white shines. This convention goes out the window about half way through the game, where shootable items sometimes appear as white shines, not red. Making the player try to interact with them, rather than shoot them. (The shine is somewhat like is seen in Stranglehold. Hope your keeping count of all these unoriginal ideas.) The game also can be rather confusing on your first play-through. At one point, you are instructed to destroy a boat which is obstructing your progress in the mission. Of course, I say 'instructed', the objective is added to your objective list, but no on-screen prompt tells you so. Eventually figuring out that you have to use the environment to do so, I shot an explosive... Barrel or something which did the trick. This was NOT shining or at all obvious it had to be shot other than it was coloured red.

During intense battle sequences, rather than letting the player do all these cool combos you're performing, you hit the Playstation Buttons when instructed. (Similar systems were used in Clive Barker's Jericho and The Borne Conspiracy) These 'quick-time events' often come in short, sharp bursts while the player sits back and enjoys fairly good in-game choreography of the fight. You must question why the player isn't performing these moves, though. Later in the game, these events become tedious with the game giving you very little time to perform the moves. Even my thumbs of steel failed a few events, much to my amazement.

Visuals, the visuals are amazing. For a Playstation 2 game, the visuals are stunning. No evidence of frame dropping, a few choppy loading sequences mid-game can cause a brief pause in the game, but despite a healthy number of enemies on screen, a large draw distance and some pretty snazzy particle effects don't slow the Playstation 2 down a bit. A large number of items in stages are destructible to various degrees of destruction, which don't seem to be scripted. If they are or not, that's uncertain, but even the illusion of life-like damage on the console amazes. There are no words to describe just how amazing the visuals are for the platform.

Sound, a generic blend of 3rd person shooter music with the 'Bond' jingle thrown in make up a lot of the music used in the game. It's nothing special, but it doesn't stand out for better or for worse. Sound effects are generally spot on, various guns have different sound effects to distinguish them from one another, which is handy in a fire fight. Enemies have a broad range of voices, however are usually just talking to themselves. There's no 'hurt' or 'dying' sound effects though, something you generally rely on in shooter games to know if an enemy is dead or dying.

One more negative in the game, the AI in the game is incredibly accurate. They can shoot you from the end of a long hallway with no problem, the player can barely hit them when standing 10 feet away from them. In which case you're best to just melee them because it's a one hit kill, but even then your chances in fisticuffs is promiscuous. The aiming in the game is truly a huge bummer, as you would expect some sort of decent shooting mechanisms in a THIRD PERSON SHOOTER GAME. What Activision were thinking with this level of inaccuracy... It really is a mystery.

Overall then, Quantum of Solace is nothing new, nothing original. Everything you find in Quantum of Solace has been done before and has been done much better. It's an utterly infuriating game which will annoy you to such a terrible extent. It's held together with a story which only borrows from the movies which have already solid storylines just ready to be put into the game, not adapted to resemble something that looks like the film. The Playstation 2 version of the game is probably the sore loser of the QoS game range, perhaps one better than the DS version. If you're looking for a new 007 Goldeneye, you wont find it on the Playstation 2. Keep away from this game, your sanity will thank you for it later.