James Bond is back to settle the score in the Quantum of Solace video game.  Introducing a more lethal and cunningly efficient Bond, the game blends intense first-person action with a unique third-person cover combat system that allows players to truly feel what it is like to be the ultimate secret agent as they use their stealth, precision shooting and lethal combat skills to progress through missions.

Seamlessly blending the heart-pounding action and excitement of the upcoming “Quantum of Solace” feature film with the “Casino Royale” movie, the title propels players into the cinematic experience of international espionage.  Based on the renowned Call of Duty® 4: Modern Warfare™ game engine that has been specifically engineered to immerse players in the Bond universe, Quantum of Solace delivers superior high-definition graphics, reactive AI and visually stunning locations inspired by locales portrayed in the films.  

• Be the new Bond: Become the dangerous and cunning Bond as portrayed by Daniel Craig in the Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale films.

• Combat variety: From silent takedowns and sneaking through confined spaces, to one-on-one shoot outs and large scale battles, experience a variety of gameplay challenging you to think through situations and choose your methods, whether it's through covert means or confronting enemies in full force.

• Advanced combat and realistic A.I.: Engage in both first-person and third-person gameplay allowing you to be Bond in unscripted battles against the world's most evil villains and mercenaries.

• Cinematic appeal: Filled with armed combat, massive explosions, and vertigo-inducing chases, immerse yourself into an authentic Bond universe and epic movie moments with theatrical camera angles, split-screen effects, picture-in-picture sequences, and amazing environments inspired by real world locations such as Montenegro, Venice, Bolivia, and Austria.

• Unparalleled Bond multiplayer experience: Battle online in a variety of modes as James Bond comes to next-gen consoles for the first time.

GCM: Thank you for your time! Please get us started by introducing yourself and telling us about the team behind the new James Bond adventure.

SR: My name is Stuart Roch and I’m the executive producer at Activision. I handle all the standard production duties so I work with Treyarch who is doing PS3 and 360 and Beenox who is doing our Wii and PC version, and Eurocom who is doing our PS2 version.

GCM: How was it working with the COD4 engine, and what did it allow you to do that you didn’t think could be done going into this project? How was the engine tweaked to work better for Bond than a war game?

SR: So often you spend the first part of pre-production building up technology or trying to figure out how to make an old engine do what you need it to do. The great thing about the COD4 tech is we hit the ground running with it, so it was a really robust engine when we started and we had a really great set of tools. It allowed us to get all of our vision onto the screen very quickly and then start iterating on it instead of just struggling to make something happen. I feel it allowed us a really great jumpstart with a really tight engine.

COD is really great for Call of Duty games so when we started playing with it we realized that Bond has more of an espionage side to him so we had to rewrite and enhance the AI system to deal with the run and gun gamer and also the gamer who wants to take more of a spy approach. Another example might be the cover node combat – obviously that was very key to us and very visible in the game. We wanted it to feel like a very deliberate experience; the idea that if Bond walks into a room and there’s one or two guys in there he’s just going to manhandle them, but if you get four or five it should feel like a pretty rough fight. It’s a little bit different than Call of Duty where you have these massive battle scenes, so the cover node combat allows us to slow it down and make the combat a bit more intimate.

GCM: How deeply does the game tie into the film? Is it a retelling of the movie or do you expand upon the plot, locations, and events? What’s and example of something we get to do in the game that we don’t see in the film?

SR: It’s all those things. We’re telling the story of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, so that was kind of cool for us because we get to pull the greatest moments out of those two films that people would find memorable, but beyond that, we have some sequences like the casino. That level takes place in the break in the poker game in the film. We tell that side of the story but we are allowed to elaborate on it in a different way so when you play the game it’s not an exact retelling of the movie scene. I think that’s great because it keeps things fresh for the gamer and you not just replaying an experience you are already familiar with. It also allows us the flexibility to create good gameplay. We’d go to the licensor and say, “Hey, we’d like to tweak the story here because it’s going to make for better gameplay”, and they were really supportive of that.

Another example is the train level. The train in Casino Royale is actually a very short scene with Bond and Vesper talking back and forth in the train car about the poker game. In the game we have an entire level that is basically how you take down Bliss, so in the game you learn how Bond takes that guy’s identity – you actually have to go take down Bliss. This was an entire scene that was filmed and ended up on the cutting room floor. We asked the filmmakers about it and they said it had to be cut for time and budget, so we asked them if they minded if we told that side of their story and they said, “by all means, do it”.

It was really kind of funny too because we got a lot of really great assets from the film but the train, when we started to build it out, there wasn’t much in the way of assets, so I talked to one of the producers and told them we needed more reference of the train, we wanted to make sure this seemed like an expansion of the film and not just something we made up.

GCM: How much was Daniel Craig involved in bringing his character into the game. Was it purely face mapping and voice work or did he do any motion-capture work?

SR: We didn’t do any mo-cap with him, but we did cyber-scan sessions, ADR sessions and a little bit of facial capture. The thing that was cool about Daniel was when we started with him we approached it like you would approach any talent from Hollywood, and we found very quickly that Daniel is a gamer – he plays Guitar Hero on his breaks between movie shots. It was kind of a double-edged sword. On one hand he wanted to play the game and he’s been on record in the press saying, “I don’t want to be in a bad game”, so we had to convince him that we were creating something quality that he’d want to be involved with, but on the other hand it was really great because we’d go in and do ADR and he took a really active role in the process by saying, “Look, I know the Bond character inside and out and I don’t think he’d really say that”. So we got a lot of really great feedback from him.

GCM: What’s it like to work with big stars like Daniel Craig and Judi Dench in a recording session? Was this Judi’s first time in a video game?

SR: They were all fantastic and Judi was one of those ones where you go in and it’s "Dame Judi Dench"; how is she going to react to all this video game stuff? She couldn’t have been a nicer person to work with to be quite honest. She was just a pro. Sometimes when you go in and do ADR with Hollywood film talent that aren’t used to games it can be really hard to get a good read out of them but she just nailed it, often in one take.

GCM: Did Judi Dench get scanned into the game and what was her reaction to seeing herself in a video game?

SR: Of course; we got all of the major talent, Judi, Daniel Craig, all the Bond girls, all the Bond villains from both films, we got all of the major talent to appear so we did all the same stuff with all of them. We have a piece of “making of” footage with Judi that shows her reaction to seeing her character. You get all sorts of reactions. You have some people who already understand games and technology and they’re just thrilled to be a part of it, and you’ve got some people where it’s just like Christmas – you show them their cyber-scan after they sit down for 30 seconds and it just blows them away.

GCM: Treyarch got to visit the Quantum of Solace movie set. Was it as cool as it looks on the big screen or does it lose its magic when you see it for real, and how did your visit help make the game more realistic?

SR: It’s incredibly cool but in a different way. It’s kind of like unwrapping your Christmas present early. You feel a bit disappointed because you know what’s going to happen in the film before it happens and you want to hold onto that and see the movie when it opens and really appreciate it, but on the other hand it is such an amazing experience. I remember the sinking house scene from the first film with Vesper and it’s such an amazing process – they built that whole set in one of the soundstages at Pinewood and they had this house that would literally sink into a pool of water. Just seeing the whole process of how it all comes together is amazing.

It’s a fun and unique experience. They’ll be between takes and we’re literally there with a digital camera taking a picture of an ashtray or something and they think you’re crazy, but we have to recreate these sets. These photos are really crucial. I’ve worked on a lot of licensed properties over the years and there is a real difference in quality between a project where the film producer or the licensor really embrace it and allows you to come and be a part of it, and that was the experience we had with the Bond people.

GCM: Quantum of Solace promises a variety of gameplay including a mix of combat and stealth. Can one tactic be used in place of the other or do certain situations demand a certain tactic?

SR: We really wanted to offer flexibility so for instance, to refer back to the Casino level again, when that level starts you hear in your earpiece saying, “you may want to keep your head down”. It’s a cue that the designer would like you to play it as an espionage-style level. If you do, it could be the path of least resistance and offer a really good gameplay experience, but we didn’t want to make it one or the other. We didn’t want a run and gun gamer or a major Call of Duty fan to feel pigeonholed into playing stealth.

In the past we’ve made a point of saying, “hey, play the level as a run and gun, then stop, reload the last checkpoint and play it as an espionage level” and you can see how the AI reacts to somebody’s play style. People sometimes ask me if you can play through the entire game using espionage – the answer is no, because there are some things we’ve added like chasing the bomber through the construction site where sneaking just doesn’t make any sense. But for the most part you can play it one way or the other. It just depends on your play style and what kind of mood you are in that night.

GCM: So the AI will allow for stealth gameplay and won’t spot you the moment you enter an area or walk into a room?

SR: Yeah, and that was a big thing too because you get to that first iteration of the game where the AI just spots you instantly and you have to say to the AI program, “Hey wait a minute, you have to give the player, for gameplay reasons, a chance to feel clever”. It’s the difference of you putting the controller down and saying, “that feels cheap” or making you feel like James Bond, you were super-heroic and outwitted those enemies. It’s a fine balance.

GCM: Explain a bit about the mix of FPS and third-person gameplay. Does the player choose the view or is this dictated by the game?

SR: When we first started this game it’s a lot of “firsts”. It’s the first James Bond game with Daniel Craig. It’s the first James Bond game that is releasing with the movie, ever. It’s the first James Bond sequel in 22 films, and most importantly, it’s the first James Bond game for us here at Activision. We asked a lot of gamers, “What do you want out of the next Bond game?” and it was split almost 50-50. Some people said, “I want to BE Bond”, and some people said, “I want to SEE Bond”. So the third and first person thing – we think it makes a lot of gameplay sense, but we hope it really appeals to gamers because you get to step into Bond’s shoes and feel like an MI6 agent when you’re in first-person, and then when you have these really cool moments or you’re in cover combat, the camera will pull out automatically to give you a great shot of Daniel Craig, so you get the best of both.

GCM: The COD4 engine is great for weapons combat but James Bond is known for his close-quarters combat skills. Is there going to be any hand-to-hand combat?

SR: There is. I think hand-to-hand in a first-person game is particularly challenging. What we did is we had designed a system in the beginning that was more of a melee or stealth takedown system where you can sneak up behind a guy, do a couple of button presses, and choke him out or something. What was really cool that was on paper we thought it was going to be a minor system but when we started putting it in the game people thought it was super-satisfying, so we ended up going back to the mo-cap stage and capturing a bunch more varieties of these espionage and melee takedowns. There’s a ton of variety in there now and most people find it very satisfying.

GCM: Bond is always about the “toys”. What kind of gadgets will we get to play with and what exotic sports cars will we get to drive?

SR: The Aston Martin is obviously key. It makes some appearances in the game. In terms of the gadgets, his cell phone is the biggest part of it. You can download stuff from MI6, hack into cameras, and electronically pick locks. In both cases we didn’t go crazy with them and the reason is that Casino Royale, to me, is a Bond origin story, how did Bond become Bond, he’s pretty rough around the edges, him and M are still coming to grips with each other, there’s no Q in it, so we’re trying to stay loyal to that film as well as the upcoming Quantum of Solace. So you’re not going to see invisible cars and alligator submarines, and things like that because it doesn’t make sense with the new Daniel Craig Bond.

The same with driving. Driving wasn’t a big emphasis in the previous film and it’s really not so much in the next film, so we didn’t do a driving level. The other reason we didn’t do a driving level is that we wanted to make sure, first time out, we were delivering quality, and if we tried to make a really great action-espionage game and a really great driving game it was going to spread us too thin. So you’ll see the Aston Martin and you’ll have some gadgets to use but not to the level some people might expect if they’re Roger Moore fans.

GCM: Bond is usually a one-man show. How does this translate into multiplayer and what kind of modes can we expect?

SR: In terms of multiplayer we have 12 players that can play at the same time. It was obviously a unique challenge for us in that we didn’t want to have 12 James Bonds running around as doppelgangers. We have the standard modes you’d expect; Conflict, Team Conflict, Domination where you are trying to control an area, and a classic mode as kind of a throwback to the old school days where everybody starts off with the same gun and the guns are rotating in the environment you pick out.

On top of that we offer some really unique modes that are specific to our Bond game. For instance, Golden Gun mode, everybody starts with their custom load-out but there is one golden gun in the level and everybody races for it. If you pick it up it’s a one-shot-kill gun and you get three or five points per kill but now everybody is gunning for you because they want that golden gun. We have one called Bond Versus where two teams start and one team is the terrorists and you’re trying to take out Bond. The other team has one player as James Bond and the rest are MI6 agents and it’s their job to escort Bond to the drop point. That all goes in a round robin so everybody gets a chance to play as Bond. So we have some really fun and unique modes like that hopefully play into the fiction of the Bond universe and also give players the multiplayer experience they want.

GCM: Is Bond multiplayer going to share the same elaborate multiplayer system of ranks, challenges, and perks that we saw in COD4?

SR: No, not exactly. That was a really genius system with the perks and all, but with that being said with respect to IW [Infinity Ward] that’s their baby, so we definitely dovetail on some of the ideas they have – we have an upgrade system with currency and things like that, but I didn’t think it would be fair to Infinity Ward to just take their system wholesale.

GCM: Will Bond multiplayer have the same staying power without this system?

SR: I sure hope so. We have economies and things. I’ve definitely worked on it and built my custom load-outs over time and before I knew it I was running around levels in QA and I have a golden semi-automatic gun and everybody is like, “hey…where did you get that golden gun?” and I’m like, “yeah…keep working at it”.

GCM: How is the selection of maps for multiplayer?

SR: We have about 10-12 maps now and we’re expecting to do some downloadable content in the future. We definitely have plans for future support and we want to support the community.

GCM: So, do you think you can knock GoldenEye for the N64 off its pedestal for best multiplayer Bond?

SR: GoldenEye, to me, is one of those classic games – it’s in my personal list of Top 10 video games of all time, so I think it’s something we aspire to be and I think we’ve got a really great game on our hands, but trying to say you’re one of the greatest games of all time – I think I’ll leave that for the users to decide – I wouldn’t want to make that decision.

GCM: What kind of Achievement Point rewards can we find on the 360? Any favorites? And will the PS3 support Trophies?

SR: I’m not familiar with them all to be quite honest. It ranges from stuff that’s kind of the obscure to having to replay a level and having to hunt for that one thing to do. We have multiplayer achievements and level progression achievements. I feel like in general we’ve built a really good achievement system that’s not just, “Hey, you got 50 points for finishing that level”. It’s a good combination of stuff that will appeal to mainstream gamers who want to get some points as well as the hardcore gamers who will really have to work at it. Yes, we are definitely supporting PS3 Trophies.

GCM: Thank you again for your time! Do you have anything to add that I may have missed or something you’re particularly proud of in this game?

SR: We’re really proud of the fact that Infinity Ward lent us their Call of Duty 4 tech, the talent participation from the film, and the multiplayer. I think we’ve covered it all. Thanks.

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