November 2nd marked an important day in video games, the return of James Bond to video games, not just with Goldeneye but the newest edition and 24th Bond game made with James Bond 007: Blood Stone. With Goldeneye on its way, Blood Stone fell under the radar for most approaching its release. Unfortunately compared to its Wii counterpart, Blood Stone falls somewhat short of expectations and falls into the territory of being an average third person cover based shooter.

Gameplay:

James Bond 007: Blood Stone’s action consists of two main gameplay types. The first and most widely used is the third person shooter. Players use a basic cover mechanic to pop out from behind walls and bunkers to take out oncoming foes. The shooting is fairly accurate and the autolock often aims are opponents bodies making players use some degree of twitch skill to move in to a head shot. Unfortunately, these head shots don’t always register as well as they should, even with the most accurate of guns.

Even on the Agent (normal) difficulty, some foes who are not wearing protective headgear or are shot right in the face take multiple shots to bring down. In a realistic setting (i.e. not zombies, superheroes or space aliens), this definitely pulls a player out of the game as they wonder what adamantium skull must be taking this kind of punishment. While the pop in and out shooting can be fun for some time, it does begin to get slightly repetitive as the enemy AI doesn’t effectively use cover to draw the player into a vulnerable position.

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While players think of 007 as a first person franchise when fondly remembering Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, most forget the lack of success that subsequent releases on the PlayStation 2 garnered. Hoping to reinvent the wheel, Bizarre creations is releasing a new third-person action adventure featuring the British super spy.

Coming to the XBox 360, PC, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo DS, James Bond 007: Blood Stone will be an original Bond experience coming from screenwriter Bruce Feirstein (Tomorrow Never Dies and Goldeneye).

In addition to Daniel Craig (Bond) and Judi Dench (M), Grammy and BRIT award winning artist Joss Stone will be featured in a leading role in the game. Stone, as seen in the screen shots below, will also be creating new original music for the game as well.

“James Bond 007: Blood Stone captures the cinematic intensity of a Bond film by immersing players in an intriguing conspiracy that will require them to think and act like James Bond,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing.  “In addition, the game will feature a diverse array of multi-player modes and debut strategic objective-based gameplay that will allow Xbox 360, PS3 and PC players to battle as teams of spies and mercenaries through authentic Bond locales.”

Check out the trailer and screens of Craig and Stone in James Bond 007: Blood Stone.

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