007 Legends
Overview -
While I have yet to see the film, Daniel Craig's latest outing as James Bond, 'Skyfall', is reportedly one of the best entries in the long-running series. Seeing as how that's the case, it would make sense that the newest game, '007 Legends', would be one of the best Bond games, right? Well, sense has never really been a hallmark of Bond's video game outings, and sadly, '007 Legends' may in fact be the worst Bond adventure of all time.
Video Review
'Goldeneye Reloaded' was a port of a Wii title, which explained why it looked so visually deficient. '007 Legends' has no such excuse, but manages to look just as bad. Textures are indistinct and muddy, and characters move choppily. A few likenesses turn out pretty well, like Tracy in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', while others seem sloppily put together. When there's a lot of action on screen, frame rates drop dangerously low, and screen-tearing is frequently evident. This is an ugly, ugly game.
Audio Review
The sound doesn't come off much better. Yes, there's your basic directionality, but the bass feels anemic. As noted, Craig doesn't even do Bond's voice, although Richard Kiel and Michael Lonsdale appear as Jaws and Hugo Drax, respectively. Current Bond score composer David Arnold makes contributions to the soundtrack, but the music feels awfully generic. Even though a few film-specific themes weave themselves through each mission, the major Bond themes rarely show their faces. Most of the time you'll be listening to music so forgettable that you'll wonder if you even have the right game in the system.
'007 Legends' may be the worst Bond game ever made, which, when you consider some of the competition, is really saying something. Broken mechanics and a moronic AI join forces with terrible graphics and mediocre sound to create a game that no one should play. The fact that the developers didn't even give us the whole game, promising the last mission as DLC, just adds insult to injury. James Bond may only live twice, but '007 Legends' can't even be bothered to live once.