Quantum of Solace (Wii)

For fans of Jimmy, this game is okay, just okay.
11/13/2008 7:57 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 2

It's not for nothing that this new James Bond game is, for the most part, a first-person shooter. The good memories of 1997's GoldenEye 007 -- an FPS on the Nintendo 64, which was based on the movie of the same name -- are still fresh in gamers' minds, as evidenced by the hubbub earlier this year when rumors circulated that it might be re-released. But while Quantum of Solace isn't GoldenEye, it's not all that bad, either.

Despite what the name suggests, Solace is actually based both on the new Bond film and the previous one, 2006's "Casino Royale." But the game doesn't just cover the action scenes of the two films; it expands upon them, making the gunfights bigger and longer.

For most of these scenes, the game is a cover-based first-person shooter, as you can run and gun if you like, or you can duck behind a barrier à la Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas or Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, with the perspective changing to the third-person. However, you'll actually do more of the latter, since -- as with so many first-person shooters on the Nintendo Wii -- trying to aim accurately in a frantic gunfight is about as easy as hitting a thermal exhaust port two meters wide without a targeting computer: It's not impossible, just really rough.

It does help that the cover mechanic works better here than it did in Brothers. And that you automatically lock on to enemies when you're pointed in their general direction and hit the Z button for iron sights. And that your health regenerates over time. And that Bond's enemies aren't crack shots like the Germans in Brothers.

Solace also changes up the first-person shooter motif by including some third-person mechanics. Not only does the game change perspective in certain situations, such as when you're jumping from rooftop to rooftop, it also makes the switch when you perform an optional melee attack, like sneaking up behind someone to bonk them on the head. But this mechanic, which involves swinging the Nunchuk and then hitting a specific button before time runs out, just doesn't work as well as just pumpin' the guy full of lead -- especially since, if you don't do it right, they'll pump you full of lead.

Solace also changes things up by including multiplayer, both online and offline, a rarity among movie-inspired games. The game boasts variations on "Deathmatch" and "Team Deathmatch," here called "Conflict: Free For All" and "Conflict: Team," as well as an objective-based mode, dubbed "Rush" (solo) and "Team Rush" (group). It's best to stick with plain deathmatch, though, as the game's controls make it hard enough to hit people; adding more to do just complicates matters unnecessarily.