007: Quantum of Solace

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

Yes, it is possible to stop an enemy without using any weapons. These Jason Bourne-like moves are a nice variety to the partially boring gameplay.

Quantum of Solace is hugely enjoyable, and a complete surprise.

This is a game with a number of mediocre elements, being released in a season already crowded with other shooters. However, the main thing it does well – capture the spirit and fun of the Bond movies – is enough to draw in a number of people.

The cover-feature provides a tactical touch to the shoot-outs. Thanks to many different locations and surprises, the variety is sufficient. Considering the fact that there are a lot of good shooters on the market, we long for a little more Bond-feeling.

At the end of the day, Quantum of Solace is a sturdy action game with elements of first person and third person shooters.

The robust multiplayer saves the day. Though pleasant, the very short single-player campaign is only good for maybe a couple of playthroughs, but it is not in any way memorable.

No matter which side you choose, though, Quantum of Solace is mostly fun, but it suffers from some annoying AI and "by the numbers" gameplay, and it's far too short to recommend as anything but a rental.

The length of the game is probably its biggest weakness, but the robust multi-player makes up for the short campaign.

Unfortunate for Quantum of Solace, had it not been for a slightly confusing “story” and a slightly annoying cover system it could have been a great competitor.

The action is less compelling and the world that’s built around Bond doesn’t do much to enhance the fun factor. All of the additions do nothing to push the game ahead of other first-person shooters and instead take you out of the world of being Bond.

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

Quantum of Solace: The Game is actually well above average where licensed material is concerned. As a shooter on its on merits, however, it’s a fairly standard experience helped a bit because it features James Bond.

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

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

There’s little uniquely Bond about this experience. It’s simply an average shooter at a time when average doesn’t quite cut it.

A James Bond movie tie-in that unfortunately lacks any of the gadgets and fun aspects we expect from 007. Treyarch have created an enjoyable shooter that fails to live up to expectations, and is far too short to be considered anything special.

While it succeeds in nailing some key moments from the films, Quantum of Solace fails to place them within an organized package and ends up making the events utterly confusing.

It plays like Bond, feels like Bond and sounds like Bond, if only it moved a wee bit faster and was as smooth as Bond. [Summer 2009, p.66]

There are some rather solid qualities that can be found, and they come alive when you're playing online, but even the multiplayer suffers from a lack of depth and features. Quantum of Solace doesn't break the mold of bad movie to game adaptations.

The game, with a short campaign and poor gameplay, really doesn't deserve to be bought.

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.

Quantum of Solace directly suffers at the hands of a strict movie release schedule - with more time the game could have been the Goldeneye replacement everyone has been dreaming of.

There are better online shooters available for you to spend your money on.

Just an average shooter.

For Bond fans, the complicated controls, lack of an original story, and mediocre graphics may cool the ardor for owning any and all Bond-related products.

Quantum of Solace is a new reason to not trust videogame adaptations from movies. Treyarch's title transmits a sensation of rushed development and not achieved goals. Short, quite repetitive and dreary.

Quantum of Solace isn't a bad game, but certainly not a great one either. It doesn't really feel like a Bond-game either, but in the end the movies don't either. It's a fun game but there are certainly better shooters on the market right now.

The game is also lazily linear at times. [Christmas 2008, p.94]

Maybe we'll get what we're craving from the next Bond game. [Jan 2009, p.72]

Quantum of Solace is by no means a poor first person experience, its just rather bland and decidedly average.

We don’t care what it says on the packaging, this is not a PS3 game. It’s a mediocre, clunky, primitive PS2 game, although in itself a reasonably playable inoffensive one. But having the cheek to release it on the PS3 – that is offensive.

Quantum of Solace will give you enough of a Bond fix, but you’ll be jonesing for something better.

Quantum of Solace is pretty much what youýd expect from a movie-licensed shooter. It ticks all the boxes on a purely surface level, but fails to allow the player any kind of expression or creativity during actual gameplay.

A slow and underdeveloped shooter that does no justice to 007. [Christmas 2008, p.70]

The temptation is to make sure that the environments and models match the movies as closely as possible, but doing so takes more time and resources with each technical leap forward, and there are only so many months in the development cycle.

Even by taking the plots from two films, the game is somewhat short, and definitely on the easy side when played on the default difficulty. The multiplayer is fun in bursts, but it's not going to draw players away from the big guns that are currently popular, so I can't imagine it having much of a community past the first few months of release.

With its mix of both the settings in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, the latest 007 game manages to stand out from other license games. But only a little, as many other elements - like the graphics, gameplay and online settings - are nothing more than average.

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

For those of us wanting to relive the Goldeneye 007 experience, Quantum of Solace provides some brief, cheap thrills. Yes, Treyarch does manage to resuscitate the old Nintendo 64 Bond title, but this release proves that sometimes it’s best just to let the dead rest in peace.