Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
Activision

Price: £49.99 (Xbox 360; check above links for other prices) Players: 1; Online: 2-16 Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes (only) HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: Yes Vote and comment on this game: View Comments Taking missions from both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace movies, starting with being disturbed while you're picking up Mr White at his house - which happened at the end of CR, your first job is to find and pick up the cash from that film's baddie which White has his hands on. In fact, there are missions like this inbetween the things we did see in the film, so it's like you're getting to see how Bond got from A to B in certain situations and it fills in the gaps a bit and adds more to the gameplay. On that subject, though, it is one which for the most part of very linear in that it'll stop you from doing even the most minor of jumps if it doesn't want you to go a certain way. As you progress, you'll use gadgets to unlock gates and other things in very simple puzzles, eg. push a directional button when the automatic device you're using finds part of the code to unlock it. On the plus side, there is authentication in the form of Daniel Craig's voice as James Bond as well as others such as Judi Dench in between-mission segments, and glorious openign credits with a far better theme tune than the Alicia Keys and Jack White dirge the cinema release got. Bond also can carry three different weapons available at any time, one of which is his trademark Walther P99. To help with being shot at, just as you're about to die, just hang back and take cover and you'll soon heal yourself. It's clever as you lose energy that the Bond-style opening camera-click comes into view as the picture goes black and white... go one step further and when you die the screen goes all red like the opening to a film featuring this character. The graphics in the cutscenes are similar to those used in the film as part of MI6's own computer system so that helps blend in with the film. The fights within this title are like the Bourne Conspiracy game, pressing buttons at the right time to carry out the given moves. I could record footage from that game, so if you check out the videos (particular "Fighting with Castel") you'll see what I mean. Random irritations about this game... Bond running about feels a bit stilted when it goes into first-person mode as if he's regressed to the old Doom-style of moving about from the 90s which does feel a bit odd but I guess it gets the job done. The third-person 'cover' mode when you're hiding between walls and sneaking a peek now and again to shoot at the baddies comes across as fun but is rather too easy. There's the occasional option to press a button to dash a short distance and hold yourself against the wall that you can see directly in front of you but I prefer to run myself rather than let the game automate everything. Minor baddies have a tendancy to hang around next to explosive things that can kill them, which is reminiscent of the Bourne game too. Situations like running after the rogue agent early on are peppered with random bad guys popping up like a duck shoot, since they weren't in the film itself. It's rather odd to see so many mobile phones left around with various pictures and phone conversations to listen to, although this is just like finding scraps of paper in other games that contain similar info. Here, of course, they're all coated in endless product placement for the brand of mobile phone. All this said, this game does feel like a fantastic bit of fun with gorgeous detailed levels and it's nice to see how it ties in with both of Craig's films so far, and it also features Mads Mikkelsen and Eva Green from Casino Royale in flashback scenes. Overall, it looks fantastic, especially in HD, and the explosions are LOUD, but the mechanics of moving about can be a bit odd and you cannot escape the comparison with the Bourne game. This game does not play in 50Hz mode so I couldn't record any footage from the game directly, and rather than use my camcorder pointed awkwardly at the TV - which doesn't always gain great results - check out the Bourne Conspiracy footage online and know that it's like that but with James Bond running about instead of Jason Bourne and also a bit more polished.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.