007: Blood Stone

Greetings, 007: Blood Stone is the one of the latest James Bond videogame created and was released before Skyfall. Unlike the previous videogame, Quantum of Solace, it has its own storyline that take place a few years after the film and was the last game developed by Bizzare Creations before it was shut down. While the experience was short, I felt it was a lot better than the last 007 game and strengthens my belief that the new direction that has been taken with Bond is paying off. In my opinion the film series had noticeably slumped in quality since Casino Royale. Unfortunately Bloodstone finished with a cliff-hanger and that is unlikely to be resolved due to the collapse of Bizzare Creations.

The plot is straightforward until the twist at the end which leaves some questions. At the beginning of the game 007 stops a terrorist incident from occurring in Greece where it was holding a G-20 summit. After the title sequence, Bond is sent on a new mission that would have dire ramifications on a global scale if the spy could not stop the sinister scheme. One of the United Kingdom’s top scientists, Malcolm Tedworth, disappears and is believed to have been kidnapped by an unknown threat. He has access to dangerous information on Bio-weapons.

007 tracks the scientist’s location to the catacombs in Istanbul. Tedworth, unable to resist the pain any longer, eventually surrenders to the torture conducted by his captors and provides the terrorists with a password before being executed. With the password the mercenaries are equipped witht the knowledge of how to build advanced weapons that could unleash catastrophic damage. Bond pursues the villains along with leads as he travels across the globe trying to unravel who was behind the kidnapping and the motivations behind it.

The conclusion hints that there is a large scheme at hand, which may have been a reference to the upcoming events of Skyfall. The game is a third person shooter and gives the player the opportunity to take out the hostiles AIs with stealth attacks. Daniel Craig and Judi Dench return to their respect roles as James and M. On an additional note, the chase scenes are entertaining with plenty of obstacles to avoid such as oncoming traffic and it is an element that I don’t recall being in the last Bond game. To accompany the main story line there is also a multiplayer section.  While the campaign isn’t overly long I did enjoy it and would encourage you to buy it if you are a fan of 007.

Plot=8/10

Characters=8/10

Graphics=7/10

Overall=8/10

Quote of the day

There's some men coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first.

James Bond

Skyfall