I had better expectations for Blood Stone but also knew it will not make it for Game of the Year.

User Rating: 8 | Blood Stone: 007 PC
First thing first, i have no rating system of my own and I really hate giving grades to games because those grades become obsolete one day and the game might appeal to some while other players are not into that game, that theme, that genre or even that publisher. You see, from my point of vision (and many) games are art and like art there are many "legs" holding the "canvas"... i meant to say aspects that some might like and some might not. Anyway, i found the game great, although i haven't finished it quite yet but from what i've heard the second half of the game is the brightest. I'm not going to comment on that. The introduction seems familiar if you've seen some of the bond movies and that's a good thing. Picking memorable scenes from Bond actions and immersing you into that is awesome but the thing is throughout the game you have no choices or individuality. Also if you miss some of the quick time events you might die or just end up facing the menu where it tells that you must replay from the last checkpoint. The checkpoints are intuitive, abundant and helpful and lots of them come with a well done artistic cut-scene. The combat and fast takedowns are engaging, cinematic and executed beautifully but here comes the total letdownd: the cinematics as beautiful as they are crop away the freedom of movement and gameplay. "It's okay" i say again, linearity was no problem for me back in the days so... moving forward.
The gameplay also features a good working cover system that i managed to learn fast despite my lack of confidence the first time i've tried it. It just felt so clunky at first but i got the hang of it after a few minutes, however it will never be as good as Gears of War's cover system or Wanted Weapons of Fate, but it's also not as bad as 007 Quantum of Solace, that was awful. It's bad that some actions like getting behind a cover, jumping or taking down enemies are all tied to this system of timed action button sequence thingy, but that also did not stop us enjoying Tomb Raider or Splinter Cell. You can use any gamepad (trust me, i checked) wich work great or you can use the mouse/keyboard system that also works like a charm.
Graphics are impresive but not the best of them all, just sticks in the zone of this generation. The great thing about the graphics it's that at the best settings with a 9800 GT video card, a dual AMD processor at 2.5 GHz and 4 GB of RAM it runs smooth with thinly beef jerky here and there.
Soundtrack is so great, Joss Stone is my next favourite singer and... i'm too nervous. The music is awesome, it just rocks, it's better than "Another Way to Die", it's called "I'll Take It All" and it's my new ringtone. Made me cry! It's like "Sunglasses at Night" but for real. I try but i can't describe it. And you must be a Bond fan to really enjoy it at full! It's so awkward that i can't explain the beauty of this soundtrack.
The voices are from the actual actors that play the caracters but most of them sound like they suck at providing the voice for some fictional character, most of the time. It's cool and all, but they could have tried harder. Daniel Craig sounds weird and the guy has a particular voice timbre. Like if you played CoD World at War and heard a crazy voice that's stuck in your head and then you watch 24 and then you realize that "oh yeah, dude, that's the voice of Kiefer Sutherland" (check it out). It's not like that in this one, Bond's voice is a low-pitched voice with british accent and even the accent is sometimes doubtful. Come on, Daniel Craig is born and raised in Cheshire and his middle name is Wroughton for goodnes sake.
Here's a good average fun game, nothing to worry for the game of the year favourite, overall great action and engaging but brief storyline as i've heard, no cool gadgets or wierd villains but that's in the trends. I enjoy this game, not worth 60 bucks though but worth waiting for discounts (for collectionary nuts like myself) or just go rent it, give it a try. I think Gamespot got it right this time (unlike other reviews) and i allways keep my confidence in Gamespot reviewers, they're at least consistent.
Enjoy a good game!!!