Quantum of Solace for the PS2 will surprise even the most skeptical gamers. The gameplay is the star of the show here!!
User Rating: 8.5 | 007: Quantum of Solace PS2
O.k. I am usually against making comparisons of games that are developed on last gen consoles against the games on new consoles, especially when they are made by different developers. But in Quantum of Solace's case, I just had to break my own rule. To be honest I was very surprised and extremely impressed with the PS2 version of Quantum of Solace! I had played a little bit of the Xbox 360 version at Gamestop and it just felt too similar to CoD4…not a bad thing right? Obviously this is due to the fact that the game is running off of Infinity Wards amazing CoD4 engine, and sure the graphics are alot better due to the Xbox 360's hardware. But I played through the PS2 version on my 50" Samsung HD TV and used component cables with Widescreen display and it literally is one of the Best looking PS2 games ever made. But enough about graphics, onto gameplay. Believe me when I tell you that the gameplay is so much better in the PS2 version. Playing this version actually feels more movie-like vs. seeing the gun model half of the time in the other versions of the game. This is also due to the PS2 version being completely in a 3rd person view which allows you to rotate the camera around James Bond at any given time (to get more of that cinematic movie feel.) The realism is very impressive especially when engaged in a hectic firefight. I had to tweak the camera's sensitivity from the get-go, but once I found the right setting the game controlled very smoothly. Simply put, the firefights are flat out AWESOME!! I have read other reviewers complaining about the enemy A.I. being dumb, but that is absolutely NOT true. I don't know which game they played but enemies in this game really show self-preservation to the fullest extent. For example I was outnumbered 4 to 1 in a confined area with some debris and a couple of large concrete pillars for cover. I immediately took cover behind one of the pillars and moved to a good flanking position on the left side. Well what I witnessed was that one of the enemies had anticipated the flank and dived out from behind cover (away from my line of fire) vaulted over a piece of debris, shimmied along the cover (out of my sight) and popped out and shot me in my side. Now don't ask me how I lived, but I somehow managed to turn and fill him full of lead. But my point is that these guys are pretty darn smart. That kind of A.I behavior happens constantly throughout the game and actually ramps up towards the latter part of the campaign. I will admit that there were a couple of A.I glitches but they were few and far between and nothing that lessened my enjoyment of the game. Now I played through on the 007 difficulty so this might explain the more realistic enemy behavior. I recommend playing on that setting to get more bang for your buck. There are quick time events during some cut scenes that require you to hit a certain button at the right time to complete the scene. The hand-to-hand combat is handled in the same fashion. Hit the right button at the appropriate time and you can pull off a pretty cool and brutal natured takedown. But to be honest I have never been a real fan of this system. I would have preferred that the developers added in some form of hand-to-hand combo system to be learned during the first level tutorial. But the production values are top notch. The menus are very slick looking and definitely fit nicely with the Bond theme. The audio is also very well done. Gunfire sounds very realistic and you can definitely feel the kick from these weapons. The theme song from the movie is missing but that's just fine with me because what they gave us is actually much cooler. The voice acting is top-notch as well. Daniel Craig and the rest of the actors have done their own voice-overs and you can tell. They didn't just phone-in their lines here. You can tell that they have passion for what they do and that they took this project very seriously. After all of the praising that I have done on this game it would only be fair to name a few flaws right? The first complaint starts with the quick time events, which I have already mentioned. The second complaint I have is the lack of ammunition for the weapons. A few times I found myself running out of ammo very quickly and had to resort to running straight at enemy fire to try and melee someone for his ammo or weapon. But this could also be due to the fact that my accuracy is not all that great, so I'm not sure if this is a valid complaint. At any rate this hang-up has actually inspired me to play through the game again to try and increase my accuracy and be more sparing with my ammo. It's amazing how that little hang-up contributed to the replay value of this title. Anyway, another complaint I have is how the enemies just vanish the second they die. Now I realized that this is a Teen rated title but with how well the death animations and rag doll physics were done, they could have at least let the bodies stay until you move on to the next checkpoint. Granted this is not a major complaint but this little detail could have really added to the realism that the developers were going for. Also there is no multiplayer whatsoever. With how well the cover system and shooting mechanics were implemented I could have seen this game getting a lot of online play. It could have breathed some new life into these last days of the PS2. I know that this review seemed to overly praise the game but it is well deserved. My hat is off to Eurocom for treating the Bond franchise with respect. They could have half-heartedly developed this game to turn a quick buck but they didn't. In the end, every true gamer knows that it's gameplay over graphics and James Bond: Quantum of Solace for the PS2 proves that fact once again.
