If you have ever heard of Bizarre Creations, the creators behind the Project Gotham Racing franchise and Blur, then you might be surprised that the studio has been tasked with creating a third person, cover-based shooter that is based on the James Bond license. There is no 007 movie coming out this year but Activision has decided to release an MI6 based project anyway. James Bond 007: Blood Stone takes players, as Daniel Craig’s Bond, through several exotic locations in pursuit of biological weapons and other criminals that are up to no good.
As mentioned before, Bizarre Creations developed Blood Stone and therefore it is not a surprise that players are not just shooting their way through the game, but are also partaking in a handful of driving sections. Taking to the streets in London or the tight back allays in Bangkok is some of the most fun I’ve had in Blood Stone. The chase sequences are a blast gameplaywise and it doesn’t hurt that the game has a high level of polish. Playing through Blood Stone will have players take the wheel of new and classic Aston Martins as well as boats and other vehicles.
While there are some driving sections, Blood Stone is mostly a third person shooter. Daniel Craig’s likeness looks good and the fact that the character never breaks into a smile is more of a realistic feature than a flaw. The other two main characters in Blood Stone are M, played by Judi Dench and Joss Stone as Nicole Hunter – she also performs the theme song of the game, “I’ll take it All”. The three main characters are solid but a good or even memorable ‘Bond Villain’ is nowhere to be found. Most enemies are also generic and not very smart as they are going through the same pattern over and over before Bond takes them out with an awesome looking take-down move or simply guns them down.
This is where the game takes its biggest hit, the title has too many sections where players are required to take out dozens and dozens of enemies before advancing, that it becomes too much of a chore. Blood Stone is at its best when players are navigating Bond through some of the beautiful locations, while taking out enemies quickly and keep moving. When making your way through the somewhat repetitious levels, which includes loads of cover sections, Bond can use some nicely animated takedown moves which earn him ‘Focus Kills’ which are pretty similar to the system used in Splinter Cell Conviction. Those focus kills basically take out enemies with a clean headshot – three of them can be held at one time. Again, using these focus kills while running though a fast section and taking out three enemies in rapid succession are where Blood Stone shines. I would have loved to see more fast paced action like this as opposed to the boring and sometimes frustrating waves of stupid enemies. Another gameplay feature that was ‘borrowed’ from Arkham Asylum is the use of MI6’s cell phone which puts a grain on the screen, which allows players to detect waypoints, enemy status and their weapons as well as the ability to scan objects in the environments. Players need to be careful not to use it too much as it can be distracting from any immersion.
The story in Blood Stone is okay but not great, it seems that a better villain would have spiced up the game quite a bit as I was simply going to the next local just because I had to. The voice acting and sound design are good and play into the overall high production values Bizarre has put into the title. Unfortunately, gadgets were nonexistent. I would have loved to get my hands on some rather cool tech which Bond typically uses in tight situations.
Okay, the single player of the latest Bond game is decent but what about the multiplayer? Forgettable. This is a classic case where a game did not need multiplayer but the back of the box required to have it. Players will not spend much time on Blood Stone’s online modes when games like Black Ops, Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor are out.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone is a good game, not a great game though either. Playing through Blood Stone was fun and I enjoyed some of its sections a lot, especially the driving elements. Bizarre Creations has done a fine job with its first attempt at an action game apart from the endless waves of generic ‘bad guys’ and repetitive combat. If the studio had focused more on variations of enemy encounters and fleshed out its story, rather than putting a pointless multiplayer into the game, Blood Stone could have been one of my favorite games this year.
Score: 7 / 10
James Bond 007: Blood Stone was developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 2nd. A copy of the Xbox 360 version was provided to us by Activision for reviewing purposes.
