James Bond: Quantum of Solace
Review
Bond on the big screen, and the tiny one
by William Thompson
reviewed on NDS
Cashing in
After completing missions, Bond is able to cash in any poker chips that he has been able to collect during the mission. The gamer can then distribute the points to various abilities, in RPG fashion. Abilities such as more powerful punches, faster moving when in stealth mode, better accuracy with weapons, or increased fire rate as well as others are available. This could certainly add an increased replay factor to the game. Bond can also collect various playing cards scattered around the levels. When combined with other cards to form poker hands, such as pairs, straights and flushes, these too, will activate and increase certain abilities for Bond.
Not exactly a visual treat
Visually, the game is fairly ordinary. The characters in particular are extremely blocky. Also, after playing for a little while, you’ll begin to think that your adversaries have been fashioned by the same people who created the Star Wars Stormtroopers – they are largely identical. Hence, you may get bored fighting the same guys over and over. The still shots during cut-scenes look good as they are actual shots of Bond and M taken from the film.
The audio is rather good using the well-known Bond music as the background score. I was still humming the tune long after I had finished playing a session. The sound effects are pretty standard, with the usual gunshot and punching sounds as well as the groans when enemies (or Bond himself) are defeated. The voice acting during the cut-scenes is very good though, with Daniel Craig and Dame Judy Dench providing their voices for the game.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the interface used in Quantum. As mentioned, the game is played with the DS in ‘book’ mode which as also previously mentioned has its visual-range limitations, but it is definitely a nice change from the standard. The inventory system is done well, providing a finite space for Bond to store his weapons and other goodies. It helps to make the game a bit more realistic. There will definitely be times through the game where you’ll either be moving around items in your inventory or even throwing them away completely.
Wait for a sequel
Quantum of Solace is largely an undemanding journey that shouldn’t take most gamers more than 5 hours to complete. There are a couple of areas that will require multiple attempts (there was one area where I had run out of ammo, and had two combatants out of fist-fighting reach) which will no doubt extend the playing time. Despite the nifty features such as the RPG elements and the finite inventory system, the game doesn’t quite reach the level that many gamers will hope for. The graphics (apart from the movie stills) could have used a bit more clarity and variation of henchmen. The voice-over work used in the game is superb though.
If you’re after a shooter, then you may want to look elsewhere (or even to the console and PC versions), but if you’re a fan of Bond and only have a DS with which to play, then this will definitely be good enough to satisfy.
6.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
