007 Legends review (Xbox 360)

007 Legends is a first person shooter developed by Eurocom to celebrate 50 years of James Bond films. The game comes a year after their release of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded, which garnered a generally favourable reception.

007 Legends does not pick up where GoldenEye left off. Instead, the game is split into five missions, each representing five memorable James Bond missions of his 50 year career. A 6th mission, inspired by the recent release of Skyfall, will become available as a download later on.

The five missions currently playable are Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Moonraker, Licence To Kill, and Die Another Day. Naturally, there is no cohesion between the missions, which is one of the initial flaws in the game.

Being dropped into the middle of a mission with no background story and no emotional investment does little to engage you. Eurocom seems to assume players have prior knowledge of the mission due to the James Bond films, but if you have not watched them recently or at all, you’ll find yourself wondering what the man you just killed did wrong.

This lack of cohesion also affects character development to the extent that there is none. To be fair, the aim of the game is not to tell a story so much as to let you relive some of the greatest moments in the films, but a game that does not engage a player in any way leaves much to be desired.

The gameplay is very similar to that of its predecessor, GoldenEye 007, with some new additions and a few changes. Despite this, the gameplay also seems to share the dysfunctional feel that ails the plot. There is an XP system that allows you to spend experience points earned from combat to customise your weapons – a common feature in modern first person shooters.

However, customisations are lost the minute you pick up a new weapon, making them feel trivial. On top of that, you can get through the game without a real need to upgrade anything at all. The customisation and upgrading seem like an afterthought and ends up being nothing more than a small distraction as opposed to adding to the weaponry.

Stealth is another big feature and often times it is essential to completing missions. You are aided with 3 gadgets: your smartphone, which allows you to hack into systems or unlock safes (via mini-games); your wristwatch, which can disable cameras; and lastly a dart gun disguised as a pen, which can be used to distract guards or take them out quietly. Even with so much at your disposal, you’re still allowed to revert to Rambo-mode and tear through a mission guns blazing if it is your preferred style.

Once you reach near completion of a mission there is a classic boss fight which involves up close, melee battles and the idea seemed really innovative the first time. It gave variation to the standard shooting and blowing things up routine, however, after the fourth melee fight, you realise this is all there is to it and it quickly loses its thrill due to its repetitive nature. Again, like the experience system, the melee fights feel like tacked-on element to the game.

The variety of missions that you go on allowed Eurocom to really express themselves with the environments you are placed in. From snowy forests and luxurious mansions, to glittering, bedazzling high class parties to beat up dirt roads, you get to see a vast collection of landscapes. The attention to detail in each level helps to pick up the game from its timid performance in other areas.

However, one drawback to an otherwise richly detailed world is the out-dated nature of it. First person shooters have evolved by being more realistic, so that shooting computers blows them up and firing through thin walls allows bullets to go through. In Legends 007, that is not the case. It makes the game slightly frustrating when a sliver of a computer screen prevents you from shooting an enemy and makes the environment more of a frustration than a beauty to behold.

For the dialogue, Eurocom made an effort to find many of the original actors and actresses to provide authenticity, but it seems they forgot about dialogue having just as big an impact as who it was saying it. It lacks wit, intelligence or anything remotely impressive. The same can be said for the music. It becomes akin to ambient noise, not adding anything to high tempo scenes nor evoking any emotions in tense cut scenes.

Despite its lacklustre campaign mode, the vast options in the multiplayer mode help make it a safe buy if you want to have fun with friends or else playing online. There are 8 different multiplayer modes as well as an extensive list of characters to choose from, each with unique features that will give players an edge depending on the situation. It supports 4 players split screen and up to 12 players in an online match, so there’s a lot going for it in the multiplayer department.

There is also a Challenge mode with 10 trials to put yourself through. You can compare your ratings in this mode with an online leaderboard giving you an incentive to practice and be the best.
If you are looking for a memorable, engaging and challenging shooter, 007 Legends is not for you. This is a superficial game and whilst it provides entertainment and some initially innovative features, ultimately there are first person shooters that do a far better job and the longer you play the game, the sooner you realise it. This might be one for the James Bond fans, but the rest should stay clear.