JAMES BOND BLOOD STONE REVIEW - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

JAMES BOND BLOOD STONE REVIEW

Posted on January 2, 2011 at 12:25 PM.

(0)

Blood Stone is a typical 3rd person shooter that features Daniel Craig as the rough and tumble Bond agent. The game puts a heavy emphasis on the story which is as good as a typical Bond movie. The graphics are decent with nothing to complain or rave about. Much of the focus is on taking cover and firing but stealth does play a significant role in the game. While you can choose to �crash the party� some areas are nearly impossible to defeat without using stealth. There are also quite a few racing sequences which are done very well.

DIFFICULTY

I�ll start by commenting on difficulty of the game. It�s simply too easy on the lower difficulty levels. I found myself playing on the Normal difficulty level (Field Operative) and I was making my way through each level with minimal resistance. This wasn�t rewarding and any experienced gamer could fly through this game quite quickly. I chose to start over on the Hard (Agent) difficulty and it was much more satisfying. Adding to the ease of the gameplay is the game�s desire to hold your hand. Hints pop up constantly making any actual espionage insignificant in this game. You have a �smart phone� that can be used to scan certain items and get past security cameras. It�s a bit corny but works fine for these things. But the game designers inexplicably decided to let you use it to also uncover enemy locations and weapons which make it unrealistic and even easier. Unfortunately there are no options to change some of these things.

I would advise anyone with gaming experience to only use the smart phone when prompted to scan things and not use it to help spot your enemies. It takes away from the experience. If you want the game to be challenging, fun, rewarding and last at least 10 hours then play on Agent and severely limit the use of the smart phone. Once completing Agent it will unlock the �007� difficulty level (will try that soon). The difficulty level does not apply to the racing levels.

Another complaint is the file management system. There isn�t one. You only have one game save file. If your sibling wanted to fire up a second campaign you will have to copy your save file to a USB stick because you can�t create a second save, copy or delete any files through the game menu. Any new campaign overwrites the old one.

COMBAT SYSTEM

The game features both a shooting and hand to hand take down system. There are no buttons to punch or kick but rather a simple one button system that automatically takes down an opponent when you are near them. This includes direct confrontation but is particularly useful when using stealth takedowns as some areas of the game pretty much require it. Some of the most enjoyable parts of the game for me were when I was just sneaking around, trying not to be seen and taking down as many enemies as I could. For every take down you perform you earn a �focus kill�. You can accumulate a maximum of three focus kills which you can use to automatically take down any opponent with your weapon. These definitely come in handy.

There aren�t that many different weapons in the game and you typically carry two of them. One is your silencer and another is an automatic weapon. Ammo is something readily available but don�t waste it foolishly or you will run out. The cover system works well and you can navigate around corners and from one barrier to the next with only a few hiccups. The crosshairs can disappear on you with some white backgrounds in the game but it is rare and not a big deal.

The enemy AI is generally poor. They don�t use cover that well or force you to change positions much. Sometimes they will just walk right up to your location to allow you to use a takedown to gain a focus kill. It gets better on the higher difficulty levels and is another reason to make sure you play on Agent difficulty. Overall though the shooting and cover system works well.

RACING

The game features quite a few racing levels and these are a lot of fun. Many are by car but there are a couple boat levels. Most of these require you to keep up with the bad guy you are chasing and if you crash too often and/or fall behind you have to restart. I found that I had to do these levels quite a few times to get through. They are fun so it wasn�t overly frustrating and the levels required you to learn the layout so you wouldn�t repeat the same mistakes twice. The driving controls are very sim like so don�t expect an arcade like or easy racing experience.

LEVEL VARIETY AND PACING

The game does take you around to many different places and I really enjoyed the pacing of the game which you normally control. You enter an area, bad guys appear and there is no time limit to get rid of them. You just have to clear the area. You can move around to different positions to gain a tactical advantage for both shooting and stealth. Some areas are large while some are confined but the game does a good job of mixing it up. When you combine that with some racing levels and a handful of segments where you must race on foot or hold off enemies for a certain amount of time the game never got boring to me. I found the game to get better as I went along and I truly did enjoy myself despite some negative comments.

CONCLUSION

If you expected this game to blow you away and redefine the third person shooter you will be disappointed. If you like third person shooters you will find this game to be enjoyable. The game includes very good likenesses of Daniel Craig�s James Bond and M and also includes some good audio provided by Joss Stone who is the Bond girl in the game. You do feel like Bond when you get into the game and I refused to run in public places because Bond is too cool for that lol. The action was varied and enjoyable despite the lack of an intelligent enemy AI and a corny smart phone system. Just don�t take the easy way out by playing on the easier levels and you will find a rewarding game that isn�t too short.

77/100