Quantum of Solace Hands-on Preview

It’s an Oddjob

In the end, we’re sure that Quantum of Solace is very likely to be a controversial game. There’ll be those who hate the fact that the game plays around with the plot of the film, bundling in swathes of bad guys that completely contradict the effusive and suave sense of style that the new Bond was supposed to be about.

Then again, there’ll be the other group of people who claim that as long as the gameplay is solid and the multiplayer is good then it’ll be OK.

And that’s where the problem is, because while the game is certainly as strong as most other titles on the multiplayer front, the gameplay in singleplayer is noticeably flawed. It’s full of the worst type of gaming clichés – quicktime events for hand-to-hand battles (and we suspect that infamous crane-climbing scene too), minigames every time you want to get through a locked door and rows and rows of baddies.

Plus, Bond will be clothed throughout his torture scene now as well, so there’s no chance for you swing the camera around to have a sneaky peek at Daniel Craig’s bruised, bloody and awkwardly hanging googlies. Brr.


The level design too has to be occasionally pulled into question and we frankly can’t count the number of times we fell off the top of the too-narrow train car. Forcing the player to fend off a dozen or so enemies without giving them room to manoeuvre isn’t a winning idea, frankly.

At the same time though, the roots of the Call of Duty 4 engine do lend some considerable strengths to the game.

The weapons are all well realised and feel beautifully satisfying to use, with the game adding in an option for the player to hold their breath to help steady their aim. It’s not a massive addition to the game, but things like this can often help round out a release and give it that extra edge in the eyes of some.

The gameplay itself has a fair bit of openness in it at points and there are at least options for sneakers and fighters, even if much of that choice depends on the level you're in and whether or not you want to do things the simple and quick way, or the long and boring. Whatever you do, don't bother with the third person cover mechanic - not only is totally not needed but we found it wasn't totally reliable either.

The graphics too are pretty good, though there seems to be some sort of divide between certain parts of the game graphically. The environments look detailed for the most part and the weather effects are excellent, but at the same time the animations of the real-life characters are occasionally poor and the daytime levels aren’t nearly as well lit or realistically presented as we’d hope.


It’s a shame, in some regards. This was a new Bond, a new series and a new film, so there was room to do something really interesting and new here. It could have been a totally fresh take on Bond, perhaps geared to a slower and more cinematic style of gameplay – Thief meets Burnout, anyone?

Instead, Treyarch has played it safe in many regards and stuck with what it knows. Thus, Quantum of Solace is an FPS like many other FPS games based on movie licenses.

Don’t get us wrong – Quantum of Solace doesn’t look to be a bad game at all based on what we’ve seen; the multiplayer is fast-paced and fun and if you ignore the changes to the story then the singleplayer itself is still enjoyable if not exemplary. It’s just a case of missed opportunities. This could have been risky and exciting, but it’s opted for assured and familiar and the fact that it’s obviously chosen that path makes the end product feel tired and uninspired, if still enjoyable in a lazy kind of way.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace is set for release in Europe on the 31st of October, in time for the film. We only got a chance to play the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions but there are also releases set for the PC, Wii, PS2 and DS. You can grab a copy of the PC demo (700MB) if you want, then tell us what you think in the forums.