There are probably few reviewers out there who want the new James Bond game, Blood Stone, to be good as much as I want it to be good. I have been a fan of the character, the films, and the books for much of my life (when the games began I quickly became a fan of those too). There is something about James Bond which energizes me, which captures my emotion, and which – as much as anything – makes me swoon. A good James Bond movie is a thing of beauty, and a good James Bond game equally so. However, with every step you take in James Bond 007: Blood Stone it becomes more and more clear that this is not a good Bond game.
In truth, I am not quite sure where to begin discussing the problems with the title. Consequently, do not mistake their order of appearance for their order of importance; the below simply seem
s the best way to structure the piece, not to state the game's faults.
The plot is certainly straight out of a middle of the road (or slightly lower) Bond flick – there is a megalomaniacal villain who, for reasons of his own, is producing vast quantities of biological weapons (and doing some other not so nice things). Bond's job is to stop the villain and his henchman at all costs, but as Bond's the good guy, preferably he should proceed with no civilian casualties.
That is our first problem – there can be no civilian casualties. You will absolutely see ordinary joes walking around in Blood Stone, but you can't interact with them in any way – no talking; no pushing; no interrupting their mundane, brief, and repetitive conversations; and certainly there is no shooting them. The game simply doesn't allow that. The civilians in Blood Stone are little more than animated pieces of scenery.
As for the multitude of enemies you will face, they do not go much beyond that definition. The AI employed in the game is a throwback to something you would have expected to see years ago, not on a current generation system. The game employs a decent cover mechanic (although the ability to crawl, or at least run in a crouch would be nice), and when there are multiple bad guys you are forced to use cover. However, when facing that multitude, the enemy closest to you almost always opts to close the distance, doing so to the point where he is within arm's length but before he has an angle from which to fire. That means that all you have to do is press your takedown button to eliminate him.
Article comments