IGN recently posted what I believe is the world premiere for Activision and Treyarch’s new foray into the James Bond franchise, Quantum of Solace. After reading it, all I can say is that while few of us may approve of Treyarch heeding our calls of duty, it looks to me like they’ve done a hell of a job on QoS. I sure hope CoD5 offers up half as much promise.

The game is obviously based on the newest iteration of the venerable movie franchise which has seen countless videogame interpretations, most notably the N64’s (arguably) best FPS game, Goldeneye. What’s surprising to me is that the game is also based on the last Bond flick, Casino Royale, too. The game is presently set to split the game between both movies at a pretty even 50/50 split, which is nice for those of us that wanted to do some free running.


He just played CoD5. Zing.

What’s even better to hear is that the game is utilizing a modified version of the CoD4 engine (if an Activision game uses anything BUT the CoD4 engine these days the devs should be shot, imo). I say modified because it was made clear in the preview that the game utilizes a first-person perspective as well as a transitional third-person views (as well as what is referred to as picture-in-picture, although I don’t know how that TV concept would translate into a game effectively) for stealth and hand-to-hand combat. This makes sense to me, since using a license as high-profile as James Bond usually means people will want to see the guy, ya know?


BOOM!

From the few screens released it definitely looks like it will offer quite a few thrills and a lot of polish. They claimed it ran smoothly, but that’s obviously up in the air until it’s seen in motion/in my hands.

Other details, such as those concerning multiplayer, were only hinted at as the team isn’t ready to reveal proper details, but it’s good to know it’s included. It’s also reassuring to know that the end of the article mentions that the devs didn’t want to throw too much gameplay into the game without having it be refined as possible so they actually removed some aspects (such as car chases) in order to make the rest of the game that much better. If only more game devs did the same thing.


Ahhhhh, so pretty.

So does Activision’s new take on Bond have you shaken or stirred? (Sorry.) Personally, this game was nowhere close to my radar until I read through the article. I’m glad to see someone is taking their time with the franchise and not just trying to make another Goldeneye like EA tried to do for so many years when they had the license. It looks to me like Quantum of Solace may end up being the game we all wanted The Bourne Conspiracy to be.