In James Bond 007 in Quantum of Solace, you'll take on the role of the ageless James Bond, as played by the remarkably popular Daniel Craig. He's no Sean Connery, but we'll begrudgingly agree that he's done a good job with the role. His take on Bond has been more "deadly intelligence operative" and less "martini-sipping playboy," though those aspects of the character are still part of what defines him. In any case Craig's Bond doesn't shy away from gunning people down, and thus makes for an ideal videogame shooter character.

Quantum of Solace takes a cue from Rainbow Six: Vegas, blending first-person shooting with a third-person cover system. You can duck behind boxes, take position to peek around corners, and sprint from cover to cover with ease. It's interesting that a proper cover system was implemented, since it's been developed by re-engineering the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine, which lacked a proper cover system.

While it differs from a thematic standpoint, and makes use of the cover system, we can also see where the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare engine came into play. The visuals are quite impressive, from the running and gunning character models to the varied and detailed environments.

The premise of Quantum of Solace is more of a catch-all "Daniel Craig as Bond" game than it is a straight rip of the upcoming film. The game will combine scenes and scenarios from the upcoming "Quantum of Solace" film with those from the last picture, "Casino Royale." We wanted to check out some of the levels based on the forthcoming film, but were limited to those based on "Casino Royale" for fear of spoilers leaking out. Oh, those overprotective film studios. Don't they want us to get the word out?

The single-player level we played took place on a speeding train, with Bond taking out the bad guys aboard. He was lead from area to area by a mysterious voice on the other end of the cell phones strewn throughout the various train compartments. It was in these areas that we noticed how effective utilizing the environment was in combat. We were able to shoot fire extinguishers to make them burst, blinding nearby enemies, while shooting at a more volatile target, like a gasoline drum, would very nicely explode, taking out multiple targets in one shot. We liked using the powerful magnum for this kind of work, though we spent a lot of time using submachine guns and laser-sighted automatic pistols as well.