Bond, by the numbers.
It's been two years since we've last seen Bond in theaters, unfortunately MGM's money woes will probably drag the wait out further. Bizarre attempts to fill the gap with a standalone entry in the Bond canon. They are mostly successful in their more literal attempt to recreate the Bond experience in a video game. It's a fun romp that ultimately feels more like a movie than an actual game.
Given Bizarre's lineage with the PGR racing series, it's only natural that Blood Stone features a healthy emphasis on driving. These driving sequences usually center around some type of chase. The driving feels like PGR, which means the cars are a bit too finicky for this type of arcadey action. If you run into any sort of obstacle you are forced to restart. While the game checkpoints frequently, this still breaks the illusion of a continuous chase. The car portions aren't as great as they could have been, but they go along way towards capturing the Bond essence.
The meat of the gameplay is very solid. The shooting works well enough. The cover system works well enough. The melee system works well enough. etc. It all comes off as functional and perfunctory, not a lot of new ides here. You rack up insta-kills through melee attacks. I'm still not sold on why this is a feature. Seems implemented as an afterthought.
Speaking of going through the motions, the story is pretty bland. They supposedly hired some guy that has actually written some Bond films. They should have saved their money... The story is little else beyond a means to move you from location to location, setpiece to setpiece. Plot and character twists are telegraphed from miles away. Daniel Craig voices Bond in a lethargic performance. Judi Dench and Joss Stone fare somewhat better, in that they don't sound like they're on queludes. Still it's a commendable attempt at making this more of an "official" or canon Bond story. It's structured like a film.
It's a very short game, which is good because it ends before it wears out its welcome. I had a lot of nitpicks, but I was never bored or frustrated during my stint as 007. It's a fast paced, competently made Bond game that manages to capture the essence of Bond, if not the magic of Bond.
