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Home Reviews Xbox 360 Games James Bond: Quantum of Solace (Xbox 360)

James Bond games of previous film releases have been less desireable, but Quantum of Solace has alot of finess and quality to appreciate. A steadfast FPS (first-person shooter), the single-player mode incorporates stealth-action gameplay and a number of third-person sequences. The solo play is fun while it lasts, but it ends abruptly after only four or five hours. Fortunately the wealth of included multiplayer modes ensures that this remains an enjoyable Bond experience.

The majority of the gameplay feels conventional for a first-person shooter, though the optional stealth elements and the third-person cover mechanic definitely make things more interesting. When in cover, the camera zooms out and affords you a third-person view of the situation that makes popping out for headshots a relatively undemanding endeavour. This view also helps the game in more subtle ways; the satisfaction of controlling a character who is instantly recognisable as Bond as you pop out from cover and silently put a bullet in the back of a henchman's head cannot be overstated.

When attempting to move around unnoticed, your silenced pistol serves you well--as long as you manage one-hit kills. Get careless, and you'll find yourself under heavy fire and diving for cover as enemies are alerted to your presence and their reinforcements pile in. With that said, on lower difficulty settings it's certainly possible to make it through many levels with guns blazing. But it's just as much fun and ultimately more rewarding to play by moving carefully, sneakily taking your enemies down, disabling security cameras, and quietly hacking locked doors.

Occasionally, taking a somewhat stealthy approach is mandatory. This would be fine, except that some of the set-pieces feel a little ham-fisted. A couple of segments that leave you pinned down by multiple waves of enemies feel out of place, and the novelty of edging along a window ledge keeping an eye on windows to avoid guards inside wears off by the third time you find yourself doing it.

The environments are, on the whole, well designed. The variation presented by wreaking merry havoc in a large museum in Miami, gunning down bad guys on the roof of a moving train, and chasing double agents across rooftops in a world heritage site is one of the game's strengths; it makes the chapters more fun individually and really helps to make the game feel like a James Bond movie. That feeling is further enhanced by cutscenes that feature key members of the cast of both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, including Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, and Eva Green. The stars' voice talents are also put to good use in the MI6 briefings that flash across the screen between missions, and all of these things add up to a very satisfactory Bond experience. One thing that doesn't sit well is the amount of product placement in many of the levels, from indestructible Sony Vaio laptops to SonyEriccson Cybershot phones that are loaded with clues. The presence of such things really jars with the rest of the world, given that nothing else is branded at all.

 
CRITICS CORNER:

GameGuideDog gives it at 75 out of 100 "After all this hype, the game is above mediocre but don't expect more than just that!"

90VideoGamer
This is "GoldenEye" for a new generation. And praise doesn't come much higher than that.

89PGNx Media
With Quantum of Solace, Treyarch absolutely nailed the James Bond experience.

85MS Xbox World
There's a very solid game here and with the impressive AI and the basis of a good game here, means that any future Bond games can improve on what's already been established. This is well worth playing – for an afternoon or two.

85GamingTrend
While the game may not completely capture our wildest dreams about playing Commander Bond, it does do a great job of capturing the atmosphere.

80GameZone
Quantum of Solace is a fun and exciting Bond title that has some truly engaging situations and pretty production values. However, there are some ugly issues, like poor AI and a buggy cover system, that keep it from truly being a truly great shooter.

79WonderwallWeb
A decent enough game, if not a little predictable. Certainly worth considering if you are a fan of all things Bond.

77Console Monster
James Bond: Quantum of Solace is like a Bond girl. You'll either love or hate her. The game's story mode is short yet thrilling and the online capabilities are to a high standard though unfortunately, the title will get overlooked under all the bigger titles releasing in the run-up to Christmas and therefore not getting the recognition the game deserves.

76Cheat Code Central
Quantum of Solace won't be up for any "game of the year" awards, but it is a solid title that offers a satisfying, though elementary, single-player campaign and a strong, but perhaps niche, multiplayer experience. It's not a total return to form for the Bond franchise, but it seems to be headed in the right direction.

75Xbox360Achievements
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy Quantum of Solace because I did, but this is coming from a huge Bond fan. The single player campaign was entertaining and boasted intuitive and responsive controls; our only grumble is its length.

74GameTrailers
Quantum of Solace is a passable Bond game and an above-average action game, but it's seriously held back by a lack of style and originality.

70Kombo
This is the best Bond game to hit shelves in a long time.

70GamePro
Quantum of Solace is a good first-person shooter that, in my opinion, is the best Bond game since Goldeneye.

70GameSpot
Quantum of Solace will leave you shaken and stirred, but not entirely satisfied.

70GameDaily
Multiplayer isn't bad, but it lacks depth, so while Quantum provides some exciting moments, its developers failed to catapult it to greatness.

70Kikizo
Relentlessly unoriginal but well turned out.

70360 Gamer Magazine UK
Relentlessly packed full of gunfire as well as requiring duck-and-cover defensive play Quantum of Solace blends a balls-out shooter with modern sensibilities to create a game that's refreshingly fast paced and therefore swift to complete. If played on its highest settings you'd be better served by Rainbow Six and if played on lower you're paying for just a few hours of entertainment. Thankfully multiplayer promises much, and we'll tell you how it delivers once we're all online and you've seen Mr Bond die several times.
70Ferrago
Its playable, its easy, its simple, its entertaining, and its got a bit of good multiplayer; but it wouldn't challenge an amateur gamer and it'll most likely be back in the box and filed away as "done with" faster than a day in the office.

70IGN
If you're looking for a game to reveal the plot of Quantum of Solace before the movie's release, this is not it. If you're looking for the answer to GoldenEye, this is not it. Instead Quantum of Solace is a respectable shooter with little that sets it apart from the rest of the field.

70Team Xbox
As a whole package, Quantum of Solace doesn't quite cut it. It's a decent game held back by the constraints of its license, which should be the thing that elevates the product. Treyarch did their best with what they had, but it's not enough to elevate this game to superspy status.

69IGN UK
A true blockbuster of a game, Quantum of Solace is loud, dumb but sadly all-too-forgettable. The Bond licence goes a good way to hiding the game's lack of ideas and for the four hours the single-player campaign lasts there's no denying it's a solid blast, but ultimately there's better ways to spend your money this autumn.

67Game Chronicles
Quantum of Solace isn't a terrible game but it is certainly not the game I expected it to be. Treyarch spent too much time trying to convert a WWII engine into something viable for a secret agent game, and we end up with a gun-toting thug in a tux rather than the sophisticated secret agent we all love from the books and the movies.

67Gaming Nexus
Quantum of Solace is a solid action game with good graphics and great voice acting. Unfortunately it's also an extremely short experience that isn't very original.

65Game Informer
The gameplay shows potential, but the rest of the game isn't strong enough to lift it up into an experience that any gamer needs to see.

60G4 TV
I feel bad for Bond game developers the same way I feel bad for Quantum of Solace. Not just because it's a mediocre shooter that offers some quick thrills and a decent multiplayer experience, but because it has to compete with so many far superior, must-own titles that have either already been released or are going to be released soon.

60D+PAD Magazine
There is a simple pleasure to be had if you leave all of your expectations at the door and, if you can overlook its painful neglect, the multiplayer may keep you occupied until the more prominent shooters arrive later in the month. But unfortunately, Quantum of Solace turned out to be a bit more George Lazenby than Sean Connery.

60Gamervision
It's too bad that once again, Bond fans are left with a game that's more interested in cashing in on a movie license than presenting a complete gameplay experience. Quantum of Solace ends up feeling more like a mod of "Call of Duty 4" than it does its own game, and that's a shame.

60Giant Bomb
A passable shooter in a world that's filled with much, much better ones.

60Boomtown
Quantum of Solace is a pretty slick, well presented and polished product. The gameplay is rather simple, but the game is aimed at the simple end of the market. Yet I feel that James Bond deserves more than this, more than a cheap and very short punt into the cheap seats.

60X360 Magazine UK
This is an unexpected game. Everything points to the fact that by all accounts it should be awful. Licences like this hardly ever work, but amazingly it comes off feeling like a fun, throwaway shooter with a workable shooting mechanic and some quite enjoyable moments that, while strictly not very Bond in nature, make the game well worth a look if you're either a Bond fan or even just enjoy a good shooter.

581UP
GoldenEye's heyday is long gone, and Solace relies too much on nostalgia and imitation to be anything close to the next shooter milestone.

56Gamer 2.0
Quantum of Solace will give you enough of a Bond fix, but you'll be jonesing for something better.

50Variety
It's a decent action game, but doesn't remotely capture the spirit of its source material. Moreover, it falls well short of the year's best shooters, meaning it's unlikely to shake many gamers or stir 007 fans.

50GameSpy
Hopefully Bond's next foray into the gaming world will deliver an authentic and compelling Bond experience, not just a decent but too-short shooter with some fancy window dressing.

50EuroGamer
As a piece of interactive merchandise for the masses, it does its job: it's polished, intuitive to control, and approximates the Bond Experience, albeit with about as much subtlety as Vesper Lynd's neckline. For everyone else though, it's brainless, dull, and ridiculously easy. Rather than giving the Bond game its Casino Royale moment, Activision and Treyarch have simply carried on in the joyless tradition of dumbed-down shooters designed for thickos, and GoldenEye has never seemed so far away.

42GameShark
Quantum of Solace was a rush-job. No amount of pretty textures or fiery explosions can hide it.

40Official Xbox Magazine UK
Quantum of Solace never manages to be a Bond game: at the tiniest of nudges, it panics and starts unleashing gunfire. It's clumsy, it's messy, it's not much fun and most of the time, it's not even the right film.

Check out this great video GameGuideDog has 'fetched' and 'dug up' for ya!
James Bond game, Quantum of Solace, is the first next gen Bond title. Given exclusive information and assets, the team is hoping to recreate the feel of the movie.  Activision released on Nov. 4th and the game is also on DS, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

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