'Quantum of Solace: The Game'. Here's how I would've done it.

ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
edited March 2018 in 007 Gaming Posts: 15,423
I was obsessively playing both versions of Quantum of Solace recently on PS2 and PC, lately, so I decided how I would've done the game, because... let's face it. The games are far from being perfect. Firstly, I'd ditch everything related to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and make the gameplay akin to From Russia with Love (2005). No gadgets, of course. Just lots of spying, stealth, less linear levels, and subtle action available in both First-Person and Third-Person fields of view. Of course, the First-Person switch would still have the Third-Person cover system, but the Aim-Down-Sights are completely to be removed. Firing from the hip is the way to go, and the hand-to-hand combat should be manually done rather than relying on Quick-Time-Events. Adding to that, during the Casino Royale segment of the story, Bond actually gets to play Texas Hold 'Em Poker against Le Chiffre, so the player has to have knowledge in the card game. The vehicular levels vary from cars to speedboats to motorcycles (Haiti) to planes. I'd also have the Sink Hole level completely removed as it is the most unnecessary level in any Bond game, or at least one of them.

So, here's the structure of the levels:

1-White Collar:
After following the only lead he has left on a terrorist organization known as Quantum, the trail leads James Bond to a man named Mr. White whose estate is located at Lake Como. Agent 007 is to apprehend his target and bring him in for questioning in order to learn the whereabouts and the operations concerning rogue world affairs being handled by the shadowy figures behind every scheme of terror.

(Split in two stages. The second stage is a vehicular level)

2-Traitor Within:
Having successfully brought Mr. White in to a MI-6 safe house in Siena for interrogation, Bond aspires to find out what is the next step in Quantum's plan to spread further acts of terror across the globe. But, things don't go accordingly in his favour when a mole within M's security, Mitchell, reveals himself and frees White, while Bond has to give the traitor a chase and capture him.

(Split in two stages)

3-A Dead End:
A recent evidence recovered from Mitchell's house leads 007 to Haiti where he encounters a Quantum enforcer known as Edmund Slate. As is the case previously assumed, Bond has to extract information from the actor in question, prevent whatever would be Slate's objective and try to obtain as much intelligence on the shadowy organization as possible.

(Split in four stages. The second and fourth stages are vehicular levels)

4-Night At The Opera:
Bond tracks down Dominic Greene to the Bregenz Opera House at Lake Constance where a meeting with Quantum members is scheduled to take place. Blending into the crown with formal attendance, 007 has to spy on the meeting and find out what is Greene's scheme throughout a game of shadows the world knows nothing about.

5-Pretense & Prejudice:
With the help of his old contact, Rene Mathis, Bond travels to La Paz, Bolivia where Greene was last seen. Attending to his cocktail party with a resourceful MI-6 ally, Strawberry Fields, Bond's mission is to recover information regarding Tierra Project that 007 overheard of during the meeting in Bregenz. Subtlety is a vital key in the act, and Bond has to avoid drawing attention to him, at all costs.

(Split in two stages. The second stage is a vehicular level)

6-Desert Storm:
Wasting no time despite the unpleasant occurrence overseeing the death of Mathis, Bond has to find out furthermore what Tierra Project is about with the aid of Camille Montes, a Bolivian secret service agent who has her own agenda against Dominic Greene. Leading them both to the desert in pursuit of the truth, they are attacked by General Medrano's forces who is in business with Greene himself for his own gains. Bond and Camille have to survive the attack without any holds barred.

(Vehicular level)

7-African Rundown:
Flashing back to the past where it all began, Bond is on his first ever assignment as a 00-agent, tracking down a freelance bomber called Mollaka Danso in Madagascar. Due to the incompetence of a fellow operative, the target discovers that opposing forces are onto him and flees the scene, leaving Bond with no choice but to chase him across the shanty town of Antananarivo and capture Mollaka to find out what is he hired for.

(Split in two stages)

8-Blunt Instrument:
The trail leads Bond to a man called Alex Dimitrios, a government contractor who was revealed to be Mollaka's client. Attending the exhibition at the Science Center in Miami, 007 has to find out who is assigned to be Mollaka's replacement and what are they targeting, while blending in with the crowd to spy on Dimitrios and avoiding detection.

9-Occupational Hazard:
Bond follows Dimitrios' contact to the International Miami Airport and discovers he is about to eradicate the launching of a new plane by setting off a bomb and sabotaging it. The authorities are not playing ball, so 007 has to act on his own and stop the terrorist from causing the deaths of innocent civilians.

10-Murder On The Adriatic Express:
In order to get to Le Chiffre, a banker who helped finance the botched operation in Miami, Bond is assigned to travel to Montenegro and clean him out when the former had set up a high stakes poker game to recover the money he lost and give it back to his benefactors. But, first, Bond should get the invitation and identity of John Bliss, a drug trafficker who happens to have a seat reserved for him at the game table, by either apprehending him or killing him, while carrying out a clandestine operation on the train to Montenegro.

11-Casino Royale:
After arriving in Petrovac, Montenegro, Bond impersonates John Bliss and joins a group of rich players at a high stakes poker game. Engaged in a tournament in a restricted area available only for members of the VIP list, Bond must win the rounds against Le Chiffre and everyone else by winning all the money for HM Treasury, and ensure Le Chiffre is delivered to the authorities alive and well.

12-The Hand You Dealt:
As the tournament continues, Bond discovers that he has been poisoned by his own drink and must race away in time to reach the defibrilator in his Aston Martin parked outside Casino Royale and smother the venom he was infected with to nonexistence. He has to survive to play the last around and defeat Le Chiffre for good.

13-Black Hare and Grey Hound:
After his defeat in the poker game, Le Chiffre and his men kidnap Vesper Lynd, Bond's ally and HM Treasury liaison. Bond gives them a chase in his Aston Martin and pursues them across the outskirts of Petrovac in an effort rescue Vesper from captive hands. But, Le Chiffre isn't the sort of man who's unprepared for consequences and he has one more card to play to secure his safety and stay alive.

(Split in two stages. The first stage is a vehicular level)

14-"I'm Sorry, James.":
With the desire to leave the service and spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves, James Bond has one more thing to do: Transfer the funds of his winnings to HM Treasury. But, a phone call from M puts him on alert that the transfer was not made as promised, only to discover that Vesper is a double agent who stole the briefcase containing the money, heading for a rendezvous with the members of the shadowy organization behind the killing of Le Chiffre. With his trust shattered, Bond must eliminate hostile gunmen and retrieve the money, and if he must, capture or kill Vesper.

15-Knowing Who To Trust:
Back to present day, Bond and Camille return to his hotel in La Paz only to discover that MI-6 agents are after him for being indirectly instrumental to the deaths of Rene Mathis and Strawberry Fields, classing him as an out-of-control loose cannon. Bond must evade his captors at all costs and return to Camille to continue his mission in obliterating Greene's Tierra Project.

16-Friendly Rivals:
Meeting Felix Leiter, his CIA colleague, in a low profile joint, Bond learns of the deals and agreement Dominic Greene has made with the US and Bolivian governments. But, before he could go after his target, he must evade capture, once again, by a sanctioned SWAT team ordered by a corrupt CIA official, Gregg Beam, on behest of Greene to put 007 down.

17-Make It Count:
Having teamed up with Camille Montes, Bond tracks General Medrano down in the middle of nowhere, a hotel in the desert, where the meeting between him and Greene are to take place. The agreement is for General Medrano to sign over Bolivia's water resources to Quantum's control in exchange for his revolution against his own government in order to take over Bolivia and assume leadership. Bond and Camille must prevent that from happening and eliminate all threats that come in their way.

18-Quantum of Solace:
An epilogue has Bond travelling to Kazan, Russia to warn a Canadian intelligence officer from the danger of her boyfriend dragging her into a honeypot. The same man who was instrumental in Vesper's reluctant defection to Quantum, for which Bond feels the motivation not only driven by duty, but also by revenge. He must either capture or kill Yusuf Kabira to put an end to his journey in blackmail, thus finding solace in the act.

DLC Levels:

The "It Takes Two..." Pack:

1-Cricket Isn't For Everyone:
Being years in service as a field agent, James Bond is finally assigned to obtain his 00-status by ensuring two official kills in cold blood initiate his ascendancy to the rank after passing K Protocol. 'K' standing for 'Kill'. His first target is an enemy operative who is the middleman to smuggling information from a British leak in the organization. Setting up the kill to be covert, Bond must move wisely and not alert the crowd at the cricket game around him, follow the target and execute him.

2-"Yes, Considerably.":
With Fisher dead, the enemy operative in Pakistan, there's one more kill to go. Tracing the contacts to a corrupt MI-6 section chief in Prague, Bond should infiltrate the Universal Exports building without alerting the guards at night, and wait for Thomas Dryden to show up and a put a fatal bullet in him, thus earning Bond his well-deserved 00-status.

***

Of course, I have the level Haines' Estate in mind to add as a DLC pack, as well, but that is going to have to change in what was originally planned. Mr. White's character will be spared and escape, again, while Haines is captured and gives up the secrets of Quantum hence it is dismantled by the time we get to the events of Spectre (2015).

Any insight is welcome. Thoughts, chaps?

Comments

  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited March 2018 Posts: 5,185
    Thats a lot to read, will go through it all later.
    So far i am absolutely with you on:

    Making fights manual instead of the horrible quick-time events, even if it's just one punch-button, i don't care.

    Adding Texas hold-em to the game, god how could they not?!

    Vehicular levels. Thats what i missed the most. I guess they did not have enough time to add them. That's one of the reason why movie tie-ins suck so much most of the time.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Agreed, @00Agent. Tight schedules often result in underwhelming content with the most potential of concepts, which are mostly licensed games and particularly movie tie-ins. Now, had MGM given Electronic Arts more time, their Casino Royale video game would have been a terrific experience. But, some things were just not meant to be, due to unfortunate circumstances.

    There's a reason why GoldenEye 007 (1997) was a massive success. They had time on their hands!
  • RemingtonRemington I'll do anything for a woman with a knife.
    Posts: 1,532
    I really enjoy the game. Nostalgia lol. However, this would've been amazing. Well done @ClarkDevlin. I expect the game to be ready to play next month.
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    Posts: 15,423
    Thanks, @Remington. Glad you liked it! :D
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    I think the reason we didn't get card playing in Quantum of Solace was because they thought our demographic wouldn't understand how to play it.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,370
    I think the reason we didn't get card playing in Quantum of Solace was because they thought our demographic wouldn't understand how to play it.

    That's my assumption. It's a CoD-esque shooter, that's why it wasn't spiced up with a lot of unique missions such as card playing.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    True, for example there is Poker in the DS Version of Bloodstone but it was considerably dumbed down.
    A compromise might have been to make it optional
  • ClarkDevlinClarkDevlin Martinis, Girls and Guns
    edited March 2018 Posts: 15,423
    Their biggest mistake to begin with was to assume that a James Bond fan is a generic Call of Duty player. The ones who experienced the glory of GoldenEye 007 on Nintendo 64, and then EA's installments would be far from anything that would relate them to CoD. I am sure the average Bond fan will know how to play at least Poker or Baccarat.
  • Posts: 9,730
    Add a Texas hold ‘em mini game and I would love your game would it be first or third oerson
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,050
    Great ideas! I think that they should have waited and put all of DC's films into one game. Maybe even add the missions like 007 Legends.
  • mgeoff88mgeoff88 At a nice safehouse in Rome... Erm... Bay Area, CA
    edited January 2019 Posts: 50
    This would have been so much better than what we got. I actually got more enjoyment out of QOS’s multiplayer.

    As far as implementing Poker into the game, they could have a tutorial to familiarize someone with the game who hasn’t played it before. They did a good job of handling that in Red Dead 2.
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