Overall Feeling:
Instead of coming across as a love letter to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise, 007 Legends comes across as a soulless and poorly conceived game. A familiar presence may be felt through the inclusion of classic Bond films, but everything that made those films memorable is either missing or has been trimmed in a barely recognizable or cohesive form. With gameplay that feels archaic and like it was merely trying to meet its assuredly short development deadline, 007 Legends is a huge missed opportunity and is yet another example of how future Bond games need to go in a different direction, specifically one that isn’t influenced by Call of Duty.
The Pros:
+ It’s possible to play the game without any annoying technical hiccups.
+ Aiming at the countless goons of Auric Goldfinger or Hugo Drax is easy thanks to the responsive controls.
+ The fact that Eurocom created this whole game with a short dev cycle is commendable, despite the obvious shortcomings it has.
The Cons:
- The retelling of the classic Bond films is horrible since its missing the character that defined those films.
- A constant shoot-em-up approach results in an experience that quickly becomes tiresome due to the uninspired level design.
- Graphics are ok but are nothing that screams of the high-production values and sleek presentation people associate with the 007 franchise.
- Multiplayer modes featured some noticeable lag alongside the rather tepid gameplay and predictability of everything.
- The voice over replacement for Daniel Craig works in some instances but sounds incredibly stiff at times.
- The ending is flaccid to say the least.
For the last 50 years we’ve seen James Bond defeat massive crime organizations, save the world from the brink of WWIII, escape otherwise deadly situations, and of course make countless women fall in love with him in less than a week. The character of James Bond may be legendary due to his extraordinaire feats as a master spy, but what’s more impressive is that the franchise itself has lasted as long as it has.
