James Bond 007: Blood Stone review

Formats: PS3, XBox 360, PC, Nintendo DS
Format reviewed: PS3
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Made2Game James Bond 007: Blood Stone review score: 7/10

Watch any Bond movie and at the beginning you will always be greeted with a heavy action sequence which paves the way for things to come.  Now, put the disc in for James Bond: Blood Stone, the new 007 game from Bizzare Creations, what are you met with? The same high octane action as the movies; but does this pave the way for things to come? Let’s find out shall we.

Right at the beginning of Blood Stone you are thrown into the action, you’ll find yourself in a gun fight, boat chase and car chase, all of which surround you with some rather explosive action. It’s certainly a very impressive start to the game, in fact probably one of the most action packed I’ve ever seen, and certainly leaves a fantastic impression. Blood Stone takes place over six locations based in Burma, Siberia, Istanbul, Athens, Monaco, Bangkok.

Throughout the game you are placed on various missions and given tasks, all which are linked to finding a man named Pomerov and discovering what he’s up to. We’ll leave the story side at that for fear of spoilers, but let’s just say it’s fairly decent and well acted.

Most of the game is taken up by the combat and to be honest I was really surprised just how good it is. Having played through the game on Agent difficulty, most of the action is centred around the cover system. Basically you can stick to most objects in order to stay out of the sight of bullets, before poking your head out and taking out the enemy. The aiming is done using a reticule on screen, which will go red when on the selected enemy; this makes it east to take down the enemy and pull off headshots, which generally take the enemy down first time.

One of the main elements of the combat is the focus shot; you can have up to three of these at a time, basically allowing you to take down any enemy with one shot. Focus shots are gained by taking down an enemy in hand to hand combat, which brings me to my first problem with this game. Takedowns in Blood Stone are shown by an action sequence, showing Bond up close as he takes the enemy down. To perform a takedown you simply stay in cover until the enemy comes to you and then hit the takedown button. The main problem I have with this, is that even in Agent difficulty, the enemies will just walk straight up to you, even though they know you are there and are probably going to break their neck, it’s very unrealistic and very frustrating. Another problem I have is with the cover itself, Bond seems to stick to the cover, meaning when you press the button to come out what you’re hiding behind it’s a bit of a chore. Again this is frustrating and definitely caused Bond to get killed on a few occasions when he was in my control.

Speaking of getting killed, the game follows a checkpoint system, in generally these are pretty well spaced out, meaning you won’t have to replay much more should you get killed on the odd occasion - and you will. Although the previously mentioned problems do take away from the game slightly, taking on the groups enemies with the wide variety of guns available is definitely both a challenge and enjoyable. Weapons are certainly easy to come by and are spread throughout the levels, while any enemy you take out will also drop their weapon. You ammo is limited, but given the plentiful supply you shouldn’t really go short too often.

Scattered in between the combat missions are the car chase action scenes - well I say car chase but you will find yourself in all manner of vehicles, a hover boat, speed boat, car and even a tow truck with a Tuk Tuk clipped on to its back.  These scenes are great fun to play, but at the same time annoying. Considering Bizzare Creations (PGR series) is the developer, you would expect the driving to be more refined; however all it seems to be about is throwing obstacles in your path in order to stop you catching up with your target. The aim when in a chase is to catch up, however should you spin out and hit a wall, or get stuck behind many of the obstacles thrown in your way, then the screen will go grey and you will have to start again.

It’s been mentioned that many of the explosions and smoke which fill the screen when driving actually impair your vision and make the chase even more difficult, however to me this just adds to the atmosphere, so I’ve certainly no problem with this part. If only a little more thought went into the chase.

As for the handling of the vehicles, I’ve got to say there are no complaints from me here, I found each vehicle very easy to controls, since all you really need to worry about is accelerating, the brake, handbreak and steering – so its hardly difficult. Bond wouldn’t be Bond without Gadgets, although here things are a little lighter than I would have liked.

The only real gadget is bonds smart phone, this is used to gather evidence throughout the game, giving you something to aim for. The smart phone also points out the whereabouts of nearby enemies, and discarded weapons, it’s certainly a handy device to have, although a few more gadgets wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Blood Stone certainly does a good job of mixing things up, whether you are blowing up oil refineries, involved in a rooftop chase or trying to dodge rivers in a speeding car while being chased down by an apache helicopter. There certainly is a great balance to the levels in my honest opinion.

Presentation-wise the game is a bit of a mix, the explosions, action and environments in general are all pretty top notch; however the cutscenes aren’t the greatest. The likenesses of the characters feels slightly off, though it’s kind of hard to put my finger on why. It’s a shame really because the acting is top notch with Judy Dench, Joss Stone and Daniel Craig all providing voice work for the game.

While the single player is the main bulk of the game, Bizzare has also stuck on a 16 player online mode, which includes three types of play to choose from. This comprises of Team Deathmatch, Objective (capture the flag essentially) and Last Man Standing.  The multiplayer is a nice addiction but to be honest, after a while we don’t really see that many people utilising it, especially with games such as Black Ops on the horizon.

James Bond: Blood Stone is an action packed game which doesn’t let its grip loosen from start to finish. It certainly has its flaws of that there is no doubt, however if you are looking for an authentic Bond experience, then this is the game for you.

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