Not your father’s Bond

by Elliott Schuhardt, Games Editor

Gameplay

Gamers familiar with the Gears of War series will feel right at home with Bloodstone’s core gameplay.  Bond can take cover behind any object, dodge between them, crouch around corners, pop out and take shots, and climb or jump over any piece of cover.  It’s pretty intuitive, letting you know what pieces of scenery can be used as cover when you’re near it. James can also perform a melee attack called a takedown by pressing the X button when close to an opponent. When he’s undiscovered, a silent version is offered.  Both offer cool cut scenes of the takedowns, showing off more reasons why 007 is a certified bad ass. In addition to the scenes, you’re given a focus point to use as a slow-motion one shot kill on any enemy. 

The story present here is an original one to the James Bond universe.  Written by Goldeneye scribe Bruce Feirstein, it plays out just like a blockbuster movie.  You’ll find plenty of action, double-crossing, and classic Bond moments mixed in its entirety. At the outset, Bond is sent to Athens stop a bomb from destroying a world leaders summit.  It contains some of the core gameplay elements throughout as well as a car chase and a boat chase section to haul ass through.  Speaking of chase, Bizarre Creations definitely put its experience in the Project Gotham Racing franchise to good use.  Catching a villain while driving an Aston Martin is a fun and fast experience.  BC also did a great job of introducing tutorial elements into the story without slowing down the game.  Bond hops in a car, you’re presented quick instructions and in seconds, you’re burning rubber.

Oh, and wrecking sh**!

Once he leaves Athens, Bond travels around the globe following leads in an attempt to stop an arms dealer.  Each level has you switching through the different play mechanics offered in the first act with a little variety thrown in throughout. In one particularly cool chase scene, Bond must follow an assassin driving a massive dump truck as it barrels through the city of Bangkok, destroying nearly everything it touches. In another memorable moment, Bond must fight a boss character while he hovers on a small jet, firing grenades.  007 Bloodstone offers plenty of moments like these that are as exciting to watch as they are to play.

The included multiplayer contains a collection of standard modes with team deathmatch and objective based entries featuring MI6 versus Mercenaries characters.  I ran into some minor issues with hit detection, which caused some frustration.  Occasionally you’ll snipe an enemy only to have your bullet go directly through his head, hit the wall directly behind it and not register the kill.  It’s worse when trying to perform a takedown.  You’ll lie in wait behind a wall only to have your silent takedown completely miss the opponent and them in turn killing you in the same manner.  All this may be attributed to lag, but it happened often enough to irritate me.  Otherwise, it’s a good enough distraction if you’re looking for a break from Black Ops.

Focus Arms are your best friend.

Graphics/Video

Bizarre Creations has also done a great job of creating the look and feel of a Bond film.  They nailed the look of Daniel Craig as James Bond perfectly.  On the other hand, the design of M is solid, but her hair looks atrocious.  In addition, the generic villain types feel similar after killing the 1000^th one, but the level design and the objectives change frequently enough to keep it fresh. Speaking of level design, they’re all over the map, literally.  Each locale offers a very diverse look and feel and range from brightly lit vistas to underground sewers, casinos, and even a jungle. All of it runs incredibly smooth and looks amazing, showing off all of the core gameplay mechanics in true Bond style.

Audio/Sound Effects

With both Daniel Craig and Judi Dench lending their voice talent to 007 Bloodstone, Bizarre Creations and Activision have crafted a game worthy of the Bond name. This could have easily been the script for the next film in the franchise. English songwriter Joss Stone lent her pipes and persona to the game as well, singing the title song “I’ll Take It All” as well as providing the voice for the character Nicole. The rest of the soundtrack is pretty standard fare that complements the action well.

I’m on a boat!

Overall

007 Bloodstoneprovides an exciting albeit short adventure.  Bizarre Creations has done a great job mixing multiple play mechanics into a rewarding package.  Fans of third person shooters will find a lot to love here.  I hope that the excess of holiday titles doesn’t distract gamers from this essential James Bond experience. 

ComicsOnline gives 007 Bloodstone 4.5 out of 5 vodka martinis.

Buy Bloodstone on Xbox 360 at Amazon.com now.

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