Beginning with a scene out of the as-of-yet unreleased Skyfall, 007 Legends shows Daniel Craig’s James Bond being struck by a sniper’s bullet while fighting on a moving train, causing the agent to stumble off the side and into the lake below. As he descends into the dark depths, his past adventures flash before his eyes, giving you an excuse to play through abridged climaxes of his classic spy movies. Even Bond’s near-death experiences are cool.
As expected, a majority of the game is spent gun in-hand as Bond runs through Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Die Another Day, License to Kill, and Moonraker, killing lackeys non-stop for the five-hour long jaunt. There are times where shooter in Legends clicks--some gunfights are exciting, and blasting away inaccurate henchman definitely evokes the James Bond vibe--but a majority of the time, the major set-piece battles end up remarkably dull. Each movie has its own set of levels that follow the same basic rhythm, with you controlling Bond as he blows his way from uninteresting battle to uninteresting battle, occasionally stopping for frustrating driving segments that the game would be better without, even if it adds some interesting variety.
Sometimes, though, you’ll be allowed to do more than simply run through hallways filling generic enemies with bullets. At some points you’re tasked with using Bond’s gadgets to stealthily work your way through guard-filled rooms, or asked to investigate an area for clues. Surprisingly, these segments can work well. They’re still not great, or even all that good, but they’re at least serviceable, and set 007 Legends apart from others in the genre--at least for fleeting moments.
The occasional brawler segments fall into that same class, earning points for originality even if they’re a bit one-note and simplistic. It’s strange that, despite being built modeled after Treyarch’s and Infinity Ward’s shooter, Legends falters the most when it comes to doing what Call of Duty does best, and shows the most promise when it attempts to stray off the beaten path.
These occasional glimpses of ambitious gameplay don’t carry over to the story in the least, which incoherently jogs from plotline to plotline with no aspirations to create a cohesive experience. The narrative feels disjointed and rushed, making no attempts at actually linking together these moments, or even explaining why James is randomly remembering these specific journeys. They also lack context: Bond aficionados might understand why there’s a gold-painted woman laying nude at the beginning of the Goldfinger level, but those who haven’t followed the double-oh agent’s journeys will likely be in the dark.
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