007 LEGENDS (WIIU)
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Publisher: Activision.
Developer: Eurocom. Released: December 2012. Genre: FPS. Other versions: X360; PS3; PC. Posted 23rd August 2016. By Shane Battams © 2016 |
Despite the absolutely insane number of platforms the James Bond franchise has appeared on, many have a soft spot for his Nintendo outings, particularly his famed N64 outing GoldenEye 007. Bond has featured in many more since; we saw 007 on GameCube and DS; the Wii even received a reimagined version of Rare’s classic. 007 Legends, marking Bond's debut on Wii U, is no GoldenEye 007 however. That might sound obvious, but it is a game of alarmingly low quality. Not even Jaws could save this one.
Both a loose tie-in for Skyfall and a celebration of 50 years of Bond, Legends follows the British spy near the beginning of Skyfall where he is shot accidentally by friendly fire. While he recovers in the film, 007 Legends sees him experiencing flashbacks to his earlier missions in a presumably comatose state. These flashbacks see you reliving events from Goldfinger, Moonraker, License to Kill, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Die Another Day and Skyfall, albeit with Daniel Craig replacing the respective original Bond actors. With more than twenty to choose between, everyone has their preferred instalments, but you can’t help feeling that most of these are B-rate choices. How can it be fun playing through the goofiest Bond, the one which killed Brosnan’s career as the super-spy and the most polarising Bond film to date?
OHMSS isn't the first Bond film that springs to mind when you're thinking "that would make for a good FPS!"
Needless to say, it feels like it was chopped together, but sadly this is the least of the game’s problems. Rather than capturing the spy-centric flavour of these films with taut and tactile approaches, it often boils down to Call of Duty: Bond. Do you remember the slow-mo breaches, mini-gun segments and relentless gunfights with respawning enemies until you progress? No, because that is the furthest from what a Bond product should feel like. At its best, it’s a relentlessly flaccid shooter that never escapes generic mediocrity. At its worst, it’s an oft-frustrating and noisy sludge. Stealth is even worse, often suffering from buggy AI that make segments far harder than they should be, especially when some require you to be undetected.
When you’re not shooting, the game somehow gets worse. Tedious vehicle sections are the worst offender, with awful controls combined with irritating blockades that stun you, often causing you to lose the target you’re pursuing. When you add in shooting guards, it becomes downright infuriating. Less tedious but duller are the fisticuffs you engage in with guards, seeing the game descend into a bland series of QTEs with noticeably ugly button prompts. Other obstacles appear in the form of vanilla hacking mini-games, ensuring any sense of pace is stopped dead. Sections which should be awesome recreations of the movies, such as the downhill chase on a snowy mountain, become irritating imitations of these oft-classic movie moments.
When you’re not shooting, the game somehow gets worse. Tedious vehicle sections are the worst offender, with awful controls combined with irritating blockades that stun you, often causing you to lose the target you’re pursuing. When you add in shooting guards, it becomes downright infuriating. Less tedious but duller are the fisticuffs you engage in with guards, seeing the game descend into a bland series of QTEs with noticeably ugly button prompts. Other obstacles appear in the form of vanilla hacking mini-games, ensuring any sense of pace is stopped dead. Sections which should be awesome recreations of the movies, such as the downhill chase on a snowy mountain, become irritating imitations of these oft-classic movie moments.
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But most offensive is the absolute lack of care in the presentation. The game is a technical nightmare, often unable to maintain a smooth frame rate and even dropping below 10fps despite being on eighth-gen hardware. This hurts more when nothing looks particularly spectacular either, with bland, dully lit environments and repetitive, ugly character models. Shootouts certainly become more challenging when the gameplay runs akin to a slideshow and some QTE segments become next to impossible due to slowdown affecting your input. The music is generic Bond bombast, the acting is dire (especially the sleepy sounding Daniel Craig knockoff) and the guns sound closer to pea-shooters than powerful weapons. It feels aesthetically lame all around.
All of the above is a shame, because actually, 007 Legends is mostly a fully-featured game. You can breeze through the campaign in a few hours, but there’s also a challenge mode that tests your skills in specific scenarios. Earning stars is achieved through better performance on aspects such as stealth and combat. There is also local and online multiplayer, with a variety of modes carried over from GoldenEye Reloaded. Sadly, the latter can be crippled by lag, and issues with performance and shooting still remain. But for the masochistic, you can unlock classic Bond characters such as Jaws and Pussy Galore by finding collectibles in the campaign. Sadly, that involves playing the woefully inept single-player.
All of the above is a shame, because actually, 007 Legends is mostly a fully-featured game. You can breeze through the campaign in a few hours, but there’s also a challenge mode that tests your skills in specific scenarios. Earning stars is achieved through better performance on aspects such as stealth and combat. There is also local and online multiplayer, with a variety of modes carried over from GoldenEye Reloaded. Sadly, the latter can be crippled by lag, and issues with performance and shooting still remain. But for the masochistic, you can unlock classic Bond characters such as Jaws and Pussy Galore by finding collectibles in the campaign. Sadly, that involves playing the woefully inept single-player.
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Old Bond films, reimagined with more photography and even more gunfights.
007 Legends should have been a celebration of 50 years of Bond, letting you relive a myriad of classic scenes. Instead, you’re forced through a game blundered by a multitude of issues. Bad gameplay, worse technical issues and almost no mechanical identity with this beloved franchise make this one to avoid. It sits at the lower end of the Bond spectrum, making middling outings like Tomorrow Never Dies look reasonable by comparison. Even if you are a diehard fan of shooters or Bond, stay very far from this one. It’s shaken, stirred and shockingly subpar.
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VERDICT
Visual: 3/10
Audio: 3/10 Gameplay: 3/10 Longevity: 5/10 OVERALL: 3/10 |
PIXEL SECONDS: 007 LEGENDS (PS3)
Buoyed by the excellent GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, Eurocom reunited with the Bond license for a follow-up that seemed a recipe for guaranteed success. A first-person shooter utilising Infinity Ward’s superb engine, 007 Legends would act as a show-reel for some of Bond’s most memorable silver-screen moments. At least, that was the plan. Starring Daniel Craig, the game covers six films (one for each of his predecessors), each consisting of two to three level mini-stories. Whilst it’s not a disaster, 007 Legends feels like a missed opportunity and is disappointing for its lack of polish. The enjoyment you’ll glean from the campaign varies wildly. Goldfinger is perhaps the most successful, with an action-packed assault on Fort Knox proving perhaps the highlight of the package. Naff skiing section aside, OHMSS works surprisingly well, considering the source material isn’t especially conducive to an action game. From here on in, things feel rushed. License to Kill squanders a gritty story with a couple of hugely disappointing levels that are a non-entity. Die Another Day does a poor job of apeing Reloaded’s superior nightclub level, and like the film upon which it’s based, makes for a poor showing. Moonraker is saved till last, no doubt because of the unusual, zero-gravity space battles that were to act as a showpiece. It’s ambitious, but doesn’t quite come off, spoiled by some fiddly, frustrating sections. There’s a modest smattering of positives; locations and (most) character likenesses are really good, and the Challenges mode offers a bit of additional mileage. However, 007 Legends feels rushed. Stealth sections are sloppy, loading times are simply horrendous and whilst the shooting is acceptable, it lacks the punch of its Call of Duty stablemates. [5] – Tom Clare © 2019