Price: $59.99
007 Legends Review
Following the release of Goldeneye Reloaded last year, Activision and Eurocom have returned with 007 Legends. Combining 5 ‘classic’ Bond movies (Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Moonraker, Licence to Kill, Die Another Day) and the upcoming Skyfall, the game replaces the iconic past Bonds with the latest one, Daniel Craig.
What I Liked
It’s A Decent First Person Shooter
Despite numerous problems, such as enemies who all look the same with only different wardrobes in each movie, 007 Legends is a decent first person shooter. The actual gameplay is just what you’d expect, with the ability to sneak around (though it’s nearly impossible to go undetected for long), and missions that feature interesting moments, such as killing enemies while floating in space at the end of the Moonraker level.
In no way does it reach the heights of a Call of Duty, Halo, or Battlefield title, but you’ll be able to get some enjoyment out of it.
The Multiplayer
This is more or less something I was indifferent about, but since the What I Didn’t Like section was so big, I decided to put it here.
For starters, 007 Legends features a full 4-player splitscreen multiplayer mode (no bots allowed), which can give you and your friends some fun times, with modes like the classic Golden Gun game type, among several other genre stalwarts like Conflict (Deathmatch).
As for the online portion, it works well enough. You kill people, rank up, and unlock more weapons and loadouts as you progress. The playlists are varied and can be fun, it’s just that there aren’t many people playing online. About the only populated rooms are Legends (play as any character), Team Conflict, and Conflict. The other 9 or so playlists are very hit or miss when it actually comes to getting people to play with (on Xbox 360 at least).
Basically, the multiplayer is the same as the single-player: decent, just don’t go expecting anything spectacular.
What I Didn’t Like
The Storytelling
If you’ve seen any trailers for Skyfall, you’ve likely seen James gets shot while on a train. With 007 Legends, the game begins right on that train, with Bond getting shot. As he lands in the water below, he begins to flashback to his previous missions. It’s a very lazy way to present this story and when you do complete a movie, you just jump right into the other one, with no proper segue.
As for the missions themselves, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen some of these Bond movies, but even I know that Halle Berry’s character in Die Another Day was not a white woman with a British accent. The inaccuracies get worse as you progress, with way too many liberties taken with enemies and locations, turning once great bad guys into people who are just evil for the sake of being evil.
Honestly, they give you no backstory on why the enemies are doing what they’re doing, possibly assuming you’ve already seen the movies, but they mess with everything so much that anyone who has seen the movies will be extremely confused. To make matters worse, the Skyfall mission isn’t even out yet, meaning that you won’t even get to see the finale to this game until November 9th on PS3 and November 20th on Xbox 360.
You Don’t Feel Like James Bond
While you may replay some of James Bond’s finest missions, you definitely don’t feel like James Bond. Instead, it seems like the main character from Call of Duty: [Insert Any Subtitle Here] was plucked from their game and thrown into this one. Rather than using your superspy skills to get clues and do interesting spy-related stuff, you travel from room to room, shooting anonymous henchmen after anonymous henchmen. Sure, you use your phone to find clues and hack computers, but it is done in a boring way and the same three types of deciphering are repeated throughout the whole game.
Speaking of repetition, you defeat every major bad guy with the exact same quick-time event bare knuckle fight. Again, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a Bond movie, but I don’t think that every bad guy stood still as you threw punch after punch at him to defeat him. By the end of the game, I was groaning every time I saw a bad guy and my gun disappear, because it meant the same boring hand-to-hand fight.
Screen Tearing
Usually when the words ‘screen tearing’ come up, it is a minor issue that happens once in a while during the game. With 007 Legends, it happens usually once every five times that you spin James around to the left or the right quickly, then a very noticeable wavy line will appear about 75% of the way up the screen. I checked other live videos of the game and the issue is prevalent there as well. Needless to say, this game really needs to get a patch.
Comparison
Not As Good As: Goldeneye Reloaded
Last year we saw Goldeneye Reloaded and it brought classic levels seen with the original Goldeneye, with a graphical (and Daniel Craig) overhaul. The missions were varied, objectives were fun to complete, and the multiplayer was welcomed. If you really need to play a James Bond game, Reloaded is the better choice.
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Final Word
Taken purely as a James Bond video game, 007 Legends is a huge disappointment. It turns the superspy into a supersoldier, having us kill 1000′s of nameless enemies, with no skill or precision needed. Strictly as a first person shooter though, it does have some fun moments, but it is better left as an after-the-holidays purchase at under $20.
007 Legends was reviewed with a copy provided Activision.
