I think we are all aware James Bond is back on our screens again with the release of “Skyfall”, and he is, of course, back again with a new game 007 Legends developed by Eurocom and Activision, and, to be honest, I wasn`t shaken or stirred by this game at all.
James Bond the iconic secret agent kicking bottoms and bedding beautiful women willy nilly, his somewhat dubious antics being a role model for middle-aged men the world over, has been around for 50 years now, and you would think that wealth of cinematic action would result in a blockbuster of a game; unfortunately this is not the case with 007 Legends
The story is set prior to the events in “Skyfall”, Bond is shot and left for dead, as he lies dying he is transported back to previous missions, only these are now updated and have taken place between “Quantum of Solice” and “Skyfall”, the gameplay is similar to GoldenEye 007: reloaded yet it is nowhere as good, with wooden voice acting and even duller graphics, this is just a poor man’s Call of Duty.
Regarding the voice overs, some of the original stars actually do their own voices in this game, well-known actors like Judi Dench, Richard Kiel and Rory Kinnear, yet they all seem laboured and not really into it, especially the actor (Timothy Watson) who tries to mimic Daniel Craig’s voice and just comes across as dull and wooden.
The gameplay is pretty straight forward. You have a number of gadgets a mobile phone which does a multitude of things, a gadgety watch and, of course, the obligatory dart pen all of which are accessed via the D pad. Play is more stealth-like than previous games and there are a number of clues to look for in certain situations, either hacking into things or analysing other things, all of which can get tedious after a while. Players can carry up to three weapons which you can pick up and upgrade as you progress, thanks to the new XP progression system
The game itself is divided into six chapters, each one a rewritten version of a classic Bond adventure, complete with the original villains so we have Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Moonraker, Licence To Kill and Die Another Day with Skyfall being released as DLC soon.
Gameplay itself is easy to describe as all the missions are more or less the same, Bond shoots his way into the bad guys’ lair, does a bit of snooping around with his smart phone, fights a bad guy (this sequence is awful, requiring a set sequence of moves which is ridiculous) sorts the problem and then shoots his way out, mission done.
As a so-called stealth game Bond is pretty limited in his moves. You can`t peek round corners or move bodies even, so what’s the point? All you can do is sneak up on guards, either execute them or shoot them with a silenced weapon and if you get spotted it’s an instant failed mission
The driving missions are poorly created and do nothing to enhance the gaming experience, as for the boss fights, what were the developers thinking? It’s like playing boxing with Wii, absolutely ludicrous
OK, the on-line multiplay does pull back some credibility with up to 12 players at a time and the multiplay has a split screen but this hardly makes the game worth playing
Summary
Who or what are the developers of 007 Legends aiming at? If they want to upset Bond fans, they have succeeded, with 50 years of great material to choose from they have come up with the worst Bond game ever. To be honest if you want to play a descent Bond game get GoldenEye: reloaded and avoid this one like the plague.
Skyfall looks like it’s going to be the best Bond film ever, it’s a pity 007 Legends won’t be making the same claim
007 Legends
Developers: Eurocom
Publishers: Activision
Xbox 360®
Playstation 3®
PC
WiiU
Genre: FPS
Release Date: 19th October 2012
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