James Bond 007: Blood Stone

What's working

 Bond, James Bond - While playing, you (at moments) get the ''Bond feeling''. The feeling you get after clearing out a room filled with badly controlled AI. It's nothing ground-breaking, but, it's a nice touch. The same touch you get when playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, being the dark knight. Of course, it's nowhere near as epic.  

Authentic Bond-ism - When you add up all the things Bizzare Creations put in the game, you get the Bond formula. It has all the right ingredients: High-caliber cars (Aston Martin, Koenissegg, etc.), high-caliber women and high-caliber weapons. 
 
If it ain't broke - The game runs well. The frame rate doesn't rise and fall, the camera is just about right. You wont have to complain about  those things. 

The voice of Bond - Authentic voices for Bond, M, and a crapload of other people, add to the nice vibe of the game.
 

What's not working

James Bond: Conviction - There's a nice little adjustment for y'a. If you've played Splinter Cell: Conviction, (or any other stealth video game) you're going to find some things the same. Which things? Everything. It's like playing SC:C, but only worse. You also get the ''cool'' kill ability (in lack of a better term), after performing a takedown, you also execute the same way as in SC:C, the cover system is close but not as good, and you're just having deja vu. 
 
Robocop -  The shooting system is good. But nowhere near great. Often, you'll need a crapload of bullets just to take down one guy. It doesn't matter where you shoot him. 
 
Bland Stone - The game looks bland, weak, lifeless. 
 
The long life of Bond - Unlike the forever lasting legend of James Bond, this game is really short. You can hardly squeeze 5-6 hours of it. I've been playing for about 2-3 hours, and I'm on the fourth chapter, out of seven. You do the math.
 

The Verdict

 I'll have whiskey, instead - It's hard to recommend this game, especially at the price it's selling for. It's short, it's filled with some things that may or may not drive you crazy, things that should have been changed, but were instead left the way they were. You can call this a step in the right direction, but it's hardly even that. If you can, rent it. (or don't, you won't miss anything) As the IGN reviewer pointed out, ''Blood Stone is not a bad game, it's just a painfully average one.''