Verdict

Pros

• Classic Bond settings and characters
• Vaguely enjoyable multiplayer modes

Cons

• Offputting mix of vintage and modern
• Mediocre gunplay and sub-par stealth
• Dated graphics
• Short with Skyfall content yet to be unlocked

For a while, it seemed like Electronic Arts’ mismanagement of the Bond video game franchise could never be worsted. While 2010’s James Bond 007: Bloodstone and 2008’s Quantum of Solace were hardly masterworks, they weren’t in the same league of awfulness as 2004’s GoldenEye: Rogue Agent or 2005’s From Russia with Love, and 2010’s Wii hit, Goldeneye 007 was reasonably good, even if the subsequent Reloaded PS3 and Xbox 360 ‘HD remaster’ exposed its weaknesses. However, it now looks like we were just being lulled into a false sense of security. To complement what’s reportedly one of the best Bond movies ever, we now have one of the worse Bond games. Whatever epithet you throw at 007 Legends – short, dated, unimaginative, bizarre, disrespectful, inept, frustrating – it’s unlikely to be a good one.

Bond Memory Lane
The premise itself has some promise. With the new film, Skyfall, used as a framework, 007 Legends takes you back on a tour of some of Bond’s greatest moments. OK, maybe not the greatest moments. With one film from each Bond we get Goldfinger instead of You Only Live Twice, Moonraker instead of The Spy Who Loved Me and Die Another Day instead of Tomorrow Never Dies, but there’s no denying that Blofeld’s mountain base from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is an iconic setting, or that License to Kill is the better choice of the two Dalton movies.

We get a couple of levels based on each movie, though with a rather Thunderbird-like Daniel Craig now featuring in the main role, and with smartphones and modern technology making for some quite peculiar juxtapositions against the sixties décor and fashions in the older segments. Doubtless there are licensing issues in getting the likenesses of the original Bonds, but the new mix doesn’t really work.

Dated Graphics and Gameplay
But then anachronism isn’t only an issue for the presentation. 007 Legends is primarily an FPS game, but it doesn’t look or feel like a modern shooter.

Graphically, it’s a close match for Perfect Dark Zero and other early games of the HD era – and at times it looks older than that. Its muddy textures, blocky environments and low-quality lighting and surface effects all make it look like a Wii game that has been upscaled for the PS3. And while the gameplay isn’t totally that of a vanilla FPS, it’s all very reminiscent of a mid-naughties Call of Duty.

Enemy AI is dull and unsophisticated, the turret and driving sequences are just as throwaway, and the mission design is utterly uninspired. The result is a tie-in for a 2012 film featuring characters and settings from 1964 to 2002 with graphics and gameplay from 2005. It’s no wonder that it never quite gels.

At its best moments – as in the early stages of the On Her Majesty’s Secret Servicce assault – 007 Legends hits the right notes of action and Bond nostalgia. In its worst moments, it’s not just mediocre but actively inept. There’s always room in a Bond game for gadgets and simple puzzles, and the smartphone and watch-based hacking and unlocking sequences aren’t all that bad.

Where the game demands stealth, however, it’s all badly handled and incredibly frustrating, with instant fail conditions, poor checkpointing and level designs that just aren’t that conducive to sneaking. It says a lot that, where stealth was just an option rather than a necessity, we soon resorted to just blasting everyone until the area was clear – which isn’t really the point of a Bond game.

Downhill all the Way
Don’t even get us started on the skiing mission at the start of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Having failed to see the prompt to press the left-hand trigger to go faster (i.e. the one that brakes throughout the rest of the game) we ended up repeating and failing the same twenty seconds for over half an hour before fluking on the solution. Given that you can be waiting for nearly a minute for the game to reload after dying, this isn’t good news.

Meanwhile, the game’s preferred way to end a level is with a climactic fist-fight against a villain or major stooge. Not only are these ridiculous – is Blofeld or Goldfinger really a credible close-combat match for Bond – they’re not even fun. You simply follow the on-screen prompts, jerk the analogue sticks in the right direction, and hope for the best.

Multiplayer
If anything could save 007 Legends from infamy it would be its multiplayer. Well, in four-player split-screen it’s perfectly playable, with persistent experience, unlockable perks and loadouts, and a range of modes in some of which you can play as Iconic Bond characters. But then you could say most of the same things about Goldeneye: Reloaded, which can now be yours for under £15 if you’re desperate for some multiplayer Bond action.

The final nail in the coffin? Activision’s baffling decision to lock the final levels – based on Skyfall – until the movie is released in the US on November 9th. On the one hand, you wouldn’t want to spoil the movie for the sake of more of this, but couldn’t we at least see the unlock happen for the UK release?

Verdict
While 007 Legends has its moments, this is comfortably the worst Bond game in nearly a decade – and it’s not as if the competition is that stiff. The mix of Craig-era Bond and gadgets with vintage characters and settings just feels wrong, and the graphics and gameplay are horrendously dated. When the nicest thing you can say is that the multiplayer options aren’t bad, you know we’re in trouble. Bond’s license to thrill gamers is once again firmly revoked.

Trusted Score