Quantum of Solace

Has Treyarch handed in a decent Bond game?

	Version 360, (All Formats)	Developer Treyarch	Publisher Activision	Genre Action

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While they react realistically depending on where you shoot them, the thickly accented grunts all tend to die the same way: a comedy-banana-skin flop onto their derrieres. They also like to make loud, revealing comments such as "I'm just reloading, so be a dear and don't shoot at me for a bit" or "Oi, he's over there behind that hotdog stand," and derive suicidal satisfaction from taking refuge near explosive objects like electricity boxes and - you guessed it - oil barrels. On the flipside, the goons are also quite good at flanking manoeuvres, and veer realistically between bravado and cringing cowardice depending on the level of back-up. On the whole, we're moderately impressed.

There's also the (predictable) option of stealth, hinging mainly on the crouch button, but Treyarch doesn't ram it down your throat. Some levels are strewn with cameras, and straying front of these will cause a lot of heavily-armed, helmeted men to take a pressing interest in your whereabouts; cripple the requisite circuit boxes and you'll have only a few, fixed-route cannon fodder to deal with.

These well-worn mechanical derivations add up to a template broad enough to permit a little choice, but linear enough to foster a little mindlessness, and after a few hours have passed you'll wake up to the idea that you're actually having fun. Quantum of Solace is almost entirely frustration-free. Cut scenes never overstay their welcome, checkpoints are plentiful and the ageing COD4 engine ladles out polished environments and detailed shadows without compromise to the frame rate.

Shame, then, that it's over so quickly, with five hours on the clock at medium difficulty. But pop online for a spell and you'll find Treyarch has made a decent fist of things here, too. Regrettably, the more original modes feel most underdeveloped: Bond Versus sees one player trying to disarm bombs before the others take him out, while Bond Evasion challenges one team to escort a VIP to a safety zone. They can be a laugh if you have a well-organised party of friends, but soon disintegrate when populated by randoms, and most players will soon default to old standbys like deathmatch, team deathmatch and king-of-the-hill.

Initially, you can switch between three classes - long, mid and close-range - with their own primary and secondary weaponry, but the real meat of Quantum of Solace online is the custom loadout system. You can fill six equipment slots with weapons and gadgets bought from the online store using credits awarded during play, and segue between them when you respawn. It doesn't stack up to COD4, but the online component ekes out the game's wafer-thin run-time to a forgivable 10-15 hours.

Quantum of Solace is derivative but crisply implemented, unspectacular but serviceable. Come to it heavily aware that bigger, better things are in store this winter and you'll soon be curling your lip. But arrive with nothing more than a desire to shoot identikit mercs in a Bond-ish sort of way and Treyarch's latest is guaranteed to entertain. Double-oh-seven out of ten it is then.

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