Bond, James Bond, the name just brings about mysterious and exciting thoughts of espionage and of course gorgeous women. 007 has been around for quite a while, there has been many iterations of his character by actors, and all have done a decent job overall. The latest is Daniel Craig, and I’m not sure I like him as 007 yet, let me see him in a couple more movies and then I can make a judgement.

Bonds’ latest movie is Quantum of Solace, and as with most action oriented movies we’ve got a video game spin off over onto to several of the platforms including the PS2, which I’ve got for review today. It still surprises me all of the support the PS2 still gets from game companies, the PS2 has had a great run and seems to still be going strong. Quantum of Solace for the PS2 puts the player in Bonds shoes and allows him or her to really get a  feel for what it’s like being the famous super spy. In the PS2 version of the game,sadly, there is no multiplayer support like the other versions have, it’s fully intended to be a single player game.

QOS generally follows the storyline of the movie, overall it’s not bad, but honestly the PS2 is showing its age with this game in terms of graphical capabilities, and the controls just don’t seem to be as responsive as I would like them to be.

First up here’s a few box shots for you:

As I mentioned the intro there are versions of Quantum of Solace for the next gen consoles, and they vary quite a bit from what you’ll see on the PS2 version.  The first major difference is that the PS2 version is a third-person, or over-the-shoulder, type shooter, while the others are first-person.

Obviously with the PS2 you’re not going to get all of the eye candy as with the other versions, but the graphics are decent and show what the PS2 is capable of when pushed to the limit. The best looking character of course is Daniel Craig or James Bond, you can tell just by observing that they spent more time on recreating 007 in digital form and less on the other characters of the game.

The voices are right on, and sounds effects are very good as well, you can hear the bullets flying around, bouncing off the walls etc, overall the audio is about as good as it gets for the PS2, which is very good.

Here’s a video of the menus, and opening scene, first level, it’s about 11 minutes long, and you’ll get to see the basic tutorial, and how things work in the game a bit.

Specifications:

James Bond Quantum of Solace PS2

Quantum of Solace – James Bond is back to settle the score in Quantum of Solace. Introducing a more lethal and cunningly efficient Bond, the game blends intense first-person action with a unique third-person cover combat system that allows players to truly feel what it is like to be the ultimate secret agent as they use stealth, precision shooting and lethal hand-to-hand combat skills to progress through missions. Seamlessly blending the heart- pounding action and excitement of the new "Quantum of Solace" and prior "Casino Royale" Bond films, the title propels players into the cinematic experience of international espionage. Based on the renowned Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare game engine that has been specifically engineered to immerse players in the Bond universe, the Quantum of Solace game delivers superior high-definition graphics, reactive AI and visually stunning locations inspired by locales portrayed in the films.

*  The Quantum of Solace game marks the first time players can become the dangerous and cunning Bond as portrayed by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale.

* From silent take downs and sneaking through confined spaces, to one-on-one shoot outs and large scale battles, players experience a variety of gameplay that challenges them to think through situations and choose how they progress, whether it’s through covert means or confronting enemies in full force.

* Players engage in both first-person and third-person gameplay that allows gamers to be Bond in unscripted battles against the world’s most evil villains and mercenaries.

* Filled with armed combat, massive explosions and vertigo-inducing chases, gamers are immersed in an authentic Bond universe and drawn into epic movie moments with theatrical camera angles, split screen effects, picture-in-picture sequences, and amazing environments inspired by real world locations such as Montenegro, Venice, Bolivia and Austria.

(The game is rated "T" for Teen and is currently available on the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation2, Wii, Nintendo DS and Games for Windows).

One of the things QOS features is the use of stealth, for a lot of actions, like an enemy guard or video camera for example, in the game there are two ways to deal with them brute force or stealth. The stealth system sort of works but it’s a bit odd at times, the controls just don’t seem as responsive as they could or should be. The stealth system mainly relies on cover to sneak up on opponents and take them out silently. The cover system also works with shooting as well, and vaguely reminded me of Gears of War, cover and shoot blindly type of thing. The major problem here is that ammo is scarce, so you’ll want to make every shot count.

Again with the controls here, the controls are a bit difficult, especially when it comes to aiming your gun, there is a precision mode that helps a bit, but it’s not very precise, you’ll waste quite a bit of ammo missing your targets, especially in frantic firefights when a few guys are shooting at you from various places.

There are two major downfalls to QOS, it’s short, it’s only a single player campaign with different difficulty levels, there’s not much in terms of replay value at all. No multiplayer, The other versions of the game feature multiplayer modes, and I don’t know why it was left out of the PS2 version, even it it wasn’t online play it would have made for a great game. I remember playing Goldeneye on the N64 years back and it was tons of fun, they could have easily done something like this with QOS and added a lot of value to the game.

Don’t expect blood or gore in this game, yeah there’s violence of course, but you won’t see your victims lying in a pool of blood.

The AI isn’t the brightest in QOS, at times the enemy will just run right towards you and you can easily pick them off, other times they’ll run around like they’re stuck on something, and then at times they’ll actually shoot from cover as they should, it’s hit or miss with the AI really.

As for gameplay, it’s all keep moving forward, move, kill bad guys, get to the next checkpoint sort of thing, not bad but it gets repetitive, some sort of free roaming might have been nice.

Quantum of Solace isn’t a bad game, especially for a PS2 game, but it just feels to me like there’s something missing and I just can’t put my finger on it. For a James Bond game it works and faithfully recreates that super-spy feeling, but it’s just too short really, and there’s basically zero replay value to it.

Screenshots:

 

Conclusion:

Quantum of Solace for the PS2 is a decent game, it does well at giving the feeling of being 007, and for a PS2 title it’s very well done.

There are problems with the game though, the AI isn’t the greatest, the controls are quirky, the zero replay value and the lack of multiplayer make it not the best choice of the versions out there. I think people will enjoy the next gen versions much better as there offer a bit more in terms of gameplay and fun.

Pros:
It is a fun game overall
Faithful to the whole Bond experience
Good voice acting

Cons:
No multiplayer
Controls are quirky at times
Fairly short game
Not much replay value

Grades:
Overall
Design
Performance