The name’s game, movie based game, yes it’s those dreaded words again and this time they represent James Bond’s latest adventure Quantum of Solace, so does this game live up to he usual poor reputation attached to movie based games or is it actually… quite good?

This latest bond game uses the Call of Duty 4 engine, which you would think actually gives it a step ahead when it comes to being at least half decent, taking the guise of a first person shooter, most of the time anyway, it actually does a good job of keeping you entertained. Levels in the game are taken from the latest movie and Casino Royale, so there is certainly a good mixture of levels to keep you busy.

Unfortunately there are some issues with the gameplay, the main one being that it tends to hold your hand and guide you through, here the engine that served the excellent Call of Duty 4 so well seems to have been dumbed down slightly, on the standard difficulty this meant that when aiming at an enemy Bond would automatically lock onto them, meaning taking them down was fairly straight forward. The other issue I have is that the game always seems to poke you in the direction you need to go using an on the rails style, whether this is through corridors or across rooftops, there is always a hint showing you the way to go. Now this is fine as it can be frustrating trying to figure out the way sometimes, however it is also nice to use your brain now and again. Maybe I’m just being picky but oh well.

Some of the missions included in the game are pretty good and do detour from the otherwise constant unloading of bullets that can be found throughout the game, these said missions require you to use your stealth, sneaking around and trying to complete your mission without too much fuss, however it won’t be long before you are back in he thick of the action, which to be fair is where James Bond should be.

The combat in Quantum of Solace is fantastic though, mainly thanks to the excellent cover system, this allows you to take cover behind anything remotely secure and then take out enemies from behind your safe haven, when taking cover the action will switch from a first person to a third person view, this works really well because it allows you to get a great view of the action and a good perspective of your enemies whereabouts.

There are many ways to take down enemies during the game apart from with your guns, first off there is grenades, the effect of which are obvious or if you are a more hands on person then you can charge enemies and partake in some hand to hand combat in which you will be victorious only if you manage to correctly follow the on screen prompts. Another way to take down enemies is by blowing up obstacles near them such as petrol and gas tanks, this usually has the effect of also taking half the environment down with it, but it is both spectacular and devastating in it’s effect.

One thing that can be said for this game is that it looks fantastic, the likeness of Bond is quite uncanny, the environments look wonderful and also include the one thing I always look for, breaking glass. Now it may seem trivial to some but I can’t stand so called next gen games where you shoot windows and the glass doesn’t break, so to me that is a big bonus. Other effects in the game (apart from my broken glass) are also pretty spot on, the smoke looks great and anytime you blow something up the results are always are pretty impressive, try shooting a wine keg and you will see what I mean.

Overall the single player campaign while fairly basic at times is also a fun and enjoyable experience and is one (I can believe I’m going to say this about a movie based game) that I would highly recommend, which makes the fact the I am still to cover the multiplayer side of the game all the more surprising.

Online the game is almost identical to Call of Duty 4 in terms of gameplay, offering various modes to play in such as Bond Invasion, Team Conflict and Golden Gun to name a few. The problem with the online multiplayer, for the moment at least is that it isn’t very stable, in every single one of the matches I played in not once did I manage to finish the match without getting kicked, and also for some reason during matches everyone seems to have the ability to fly, which is very strange to say the least. It’s a pity really because online this really does have the potential to be great as the maps are fantastic and it has a real good feel to the balance of play. Here is hoping the servers get fixed soon.

Quantum of Solace is a pretty mixed bag of a game, the single player experience while being fun to play is also fairly average at some points, in a sort of seen it all before way, however at other times it does inspire and these parts make it all feel worthwhile, should the developer bother to fix the online side then this just may be a game that you should consider paying for, even though it is based on a movie.

Overall Rating: 7.9/10