Ian Flemingâs British super spy returns in an all-new original adventure, James Bond 007: Blood Stone, thatâs about as unoriginal as video games get. Blood Stone is an entertaining, just good enough shooter that borrows heavily from better games.
The Daniel Craig version of Ian Flemingâs Bond is sent on an international manhunt to stop a bioweapon threat, an adventure that seemingly has nothing to do with diamonds, as its title might imply. Perhaps it has something to do with the appearance of singer Joss Stone, the gameâs Bond girl equivalent, or a cameo from a jewel encrusted knife. Regardless, Blood Stone is primarily a simple, cover-based shooter spiced up with a liberal dose of chase sequences, explosions and modern day James Bond action.
Ideal Player
The James Bond fanatic who hasnât played games like Splinter Cell: Conviction or Batman: Arkham Asylum, two games in which Blood Stoneâs differentiating gameplay mechanics have been done better.
Why You Should Care
This is a Bond game from Bizarre Creations, the people who make good games like Project Gotham Racing, Blur and The Club, plus great games like Geometry Wars. They have the talent to make a James Bond game good⌠right?
What does this Bond game bring to the table? First, Blood Stone gets the flavor of modern James Bond right. Itâs packed with thrilling vehicle chases; itâs stuffed with diverse and colorful international locations to explore; and it nails the more vicious, mostly humorless Daniel Craig version of Bond wellâeven if Craigâs own line delivery is flat and muted. Taking down hundreds of rank and file thugs with bone cracking melee attacks or effortless head shots with the press of a button serves the Bond character well. Itâs quite easy, even on harder difficulty levels, underscoring Bondâs super agent skills.
That all sounds pretty good. Whatâs the problem? Almost everything youâve played in Blood Stone, youâve played before and more capably in action games of its ilk. For example, Bondâs sole gadget in Blood Stone is his smartphone, the gameâs take on Batman: Arkham Asylumâs âDetective Modeâ view. Switching on the phone alters the gameâs visuals, highlighting waypoints, weapons, bad guys and items that can be scanned for intel or hacked with a button pressing mini-game. The smartphone gimmick is useful, but distracting, as the screen fills with static in an attempt to restrict overuse.
Any other tricks up Bondâs sleeve? Yes, Bond can pull off âFocus Aimâ shots in Blood Stone, which are essentially free, automatic headshots. Players can collect âFocus Aimâ tokens by performing melee takedownsâwhich are admittedly quite fun to pull off, because watching Bond snap necks again and again is oddly entertainingâthen cash them in if things get hairy. Thatâs a mechanic lifted from Splinter Cell: Conviction, which is certainly fine, but the gameâs shooting is so simple and Bond so powerful in hand-to-hand combat, youâll find little real need to use âFocus Aim.â It just seems pointless.
James Bond will return⌠in the many subsequent attempts to survive this insufferable driving level that made me hate ice in video games even more.
What about the driving? While Blood Stoneâs cover-based shooting mechanics are solid, if simple, itâs surprising how little I enjoyed the gameâs driving sequences. Yes, theyâre action-packed, highly choreographed car chases through a shower of explosions and flying cars, but they can also be frustrating. Thereâs a great sense of speed, but it never feels as if youâve caught your prey, just that youâve reached the end of the ride and cued up the next cut scene. One driving sequence set on ice represents Blood Stoneâs lowest moment, a maddening memorization of barely visible cracks in the frozen river and dozens of deaths by drowning.
But this is Bond! Heâs been in far worse situations than Blood Stone. Despite my distaste for the driving and the copied mechanics, Blood Stone actually manages to be light fun for the six to eight hour campaign. Bizarre got the cover-based mechanics right, Richard Jacques delivers a spot on musical score and watching 007 beat the consciousness out of dumb thugs is certainly satisfying. Weaponsâshotguns, SMGs, pistols, a stun gun and moreâfeel good, but remind the player that this Bond doesnât have much in the way of interesting gadgets. Blood Stone does a few things right, it just doesnât do much thatâs great.
Sounds like a rental. Would the multiplayer make it worth a purchase? Absolutely not. Thereâs only a handful of gameplay typesâteam deathmatch, last man standing and an objective based modeâbut multiplayer feels like a tacked-on, technically iffy addition thatâs not worth your time.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone Driving Side In Action
The Bottom Line
James Bond 007: Blood Stone is good enough to keep players entertained for a few hours, but does little to make it worth a purchase over much better games that donât have the benefit of the Bond license. Bizarre Creations and Activision have invested heavily in everything else not gameplay related, with nice looking action-packed set pieces, diverse environments, and quality contributions from Bond film talent. There are a few standout moments in Blood Stone, but too much of it youâve seen before, better.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone was developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360, released on November 2. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played single-player game to completion on Xbox 360 on Agent (hard) difficulty. Played 15 matches of online multiplayer over Xbox Live.
