James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace Multiplayer Hands On

by Sarkis Daglian at Oct 7, 2008 9:00am

Activision and Treyarch have set out to return the James Bond franchise to its former glory days. Two weeks ago I was on hand in Los Angeles to take a sneak peak at both the multiplayer and single player portions of James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace.

While Treyarch has battled a lot of criticism from the community for its effort in Call of Duty 3, with the proper development time Treyarch has proven itself to be a strong developer. If you liked Call of Duty 4 and you like James Bond, this is going to be a title for you.

During my play time I tried out two modes, standard multiplayer deathmatch and territory control. Overall, the visual style of the Bond multiplayer reminded me of a cross between CoD4 and what I am pretty sure updated high resolution Goldeneye would have looked like. The maps on display were Embassy and Construction. Embassy lent itself to more close quarter free-for-all combat. Construction was a much bigger map geared toward bigger teams and team game types.

As with CoD4, before the start of any round you can change choose your character and customize your weapons with attachments such as a scope or a sight. But do not let the game’s innate feeling of similarity to that of CoD4 take away from the fact that QoS is an arcadey multiplayer shooter.

The weapons are for the most part over the top Bond world style weapons with a few “normal” ones thrown in to boot. During play, I noticed many of the weapons such as the SMGs, rifles, and shotguns had very little or no recoil. Good ol melee combat is also present in the game where any melee strike will result in a kill either face to face or from behind.

Speaking of weapons, the grand daddy Bond weapon of them all, the Golden Gun is in the game and it’s been changed from how you remember it. The gun now has a scope on it and no longer does it fire single shots like a conventional pistol, the golden gun shells actually explode. This led to some fun in free for all as other combatants were going at it one shot of the golden gun was able to take out both of your enemies.

The map design in the multiplayer in the levels on display were superb. Specifically, the map Construction made for an excellent territories map. Two teams begin on opposite sides of the large map separated by a building that isn’t completely built. However, the number of multiple attack paths between the two sides is incredible.

You can easily swing your team to the left or right, or go through the ground level of the building across. There are multiple hiding spots and sniper perches throughout the map in containment boxes, behind barrels, and within the building itself. Think of it as a more fleshed out version of the map Containment from CoD4.

In addition to the multiplayer, the single player was also on display. Daniel Craig’s likeness never looked so good. Deleted scenes from the actual QoS movie such as a sequence where Bond must make the leap across moving trains has made it into the game. The shooter action in the game is your textbook cover system. But with Bond, it just felt so much cooler.

The visuals in the single player were very detailed and crisp. Unfortunately, making the jump across the trains itself proved to be a challenge so I didn’t get a chance to see much beyond that.

However, the overall game play, control scheme, and visual style is very much CoD4 modded for Bond. I came away from the preview very excited for the game and can’t wait to get my hands on the final build.