Blood Stone 007 PS3
Blood Stone 007 released by Activision and developed by Bizarre Creations arrives without the usual movie tie in and to less fanfare than Bond deserves.
Ratings:
Graphics & Audio: 15/25,
Gameplay: 13/25,
Creativity 12/25,
Fun 14/25
Total: 55/100
I just watched a trailer for Blood Stone from Activision and was very impressed with the video, cool fast moves and stealth take downs that all look fun. The neat combat system where you can target multiple enemies after performing melee takedowns amounts to a different type of tactic that looks impressive.
The problem with watching a video teaser trailer and playing the real thing is no different here than in movies, hopefully the full version is as good as the highlights they chose to show us. In Blood Stone 007 you can do neat takedowns and the cool targeting for a super looking shoot out where you hit multiple targets after using one of those cool hand to hand techniques but you really don't have to.
Blood Stone 007 takes you where no movie has, a Bond game without a film to tie into, the game is based on no movie so starts off all on its own. The story is true Bond with James fighting terrorists trying to smuggle bio weapons and he uses the true to Bond theme of a sidekick woman.
Bond is voiced by current film Bond Daniel Craig and his sidekick is Joss Stone, you get some other familiar voices but the story is not all that interesting. The game is actually not all that interesting as it has too many elements that while unique and fun are just not needed at all.
The new combat system with a multiple aim after a melee takedown is neat but the enemies are not all that tough to require a super combat system. You can literally wander through room after room and just aim and shoot without resorting to any special takedowns or aiming help.
The third person view often helps as you can peek around corners that you normally could not in first person and the games level design also helps out a lot. The levels are very linear so moving from room to room and always knowing enemies will be in front of you in a series of linear spaces makes clearing areas easy.
A few times you will be required to perform some moves but throughout the campaign you can leisurely take out opponents as easily as Bond in the films for those lowly henchmen they toss his way. Ammo will never be an issue in the single player campaign as just about every enemy you come across will have useful weapons or bullets.
The single player gaming will also have you driving a boat or car a few times but other than crashing into things that won't be moved out of your way and dying the chase sequences are not all that great. In my opinion they seem to have been added because the developer specializes in these game types, the creator of Project Gotham Racing, Bizarre Creations, is also responsible for this game.
Graphics, effects and audio are pretty standard and not all that inspiring as well as the rest of the game so it is no surprise that the games overall appearance is average. Sound is decent with some good voice acting but again the game just does not have any extra oomph and the lack of any real arch villain just does not help.
Blood Stone seems too much like a game from a few years ago with a poor AI and too familiar level design to be a current title, the game just lacks many current gaming features. There is three difficulty levels but even at the harder ones the campaign is only a five or six hour affair and multiplayer is just as lackluster.
With current third and first person shooters you have multiple game types and leveling up to unlock new weapons or gadgets, all you get with Blood Stone is new character skins. No cool weapons or fancy Bond gadgets unlocked at leveling up, just a new look so the multiplayer is not all that great.
Multiplayer puts up to 16 players on several maps with three game modes, Team Deathmatch, Objective and Last Man Standing where you spawn, pick up whatever weapon you want and have at each other. The Multiplayer works fine but without any kind of leveling system it just does not have much to it for fun other than a multiplayer that works well.
Blood Stone plays well enough for a third person shooter but just lacks anything beyond the Bond name to give players a reason to rush out and purchase it. I just do not see much of a reason to bother with Blood Stone 007 as there are so many better options in games right now.