Though the campaign is fun and the visuals nice, Blood Stone suffers from a weak plot, presentation and pacing issues.
Blood Stone follows an original story that isn't tied to any Bond film of past or present, just like the fan-favourite PlayStation 2 shooter Everything or Nothing. Mi6 agent James Bond is sent by M to thwart an enemy from retaining possession of bio weapons, which threaten to destroy the world. First discovering plans of a terrorist, Bond then proceeds to a variety of locations around the globe to pursue the suspects whose intentions are all the more cynical. The story is there, but is often uninteresting throughout the campaign. The cut-scenes are decent, though never engaging or spectacular. They also feature underwhelming lip-synching and animation, but good voice acting and camerawork. The production values are solid, though, and feel cinematic.
The visuals are somewhat nice, particularly most vistas throughout the campaign. For example, the Athens boat chase in the first level is very good-looking, as is the very attractive Burma level and its subsequent car chase. There are a nice variety of other locations too, such as nightlife Monaco, the attractive Siberia level and more. The game also features nice lighting, impressive water and fire effects, some good smoke effects and mostly good textures. However, the texture fidelity doesn't carry out for every level, as some wall and ground textures can look shabby; ripped from a last-generation game. My mind automatically considers the Istanbul construction site level, where at the beginning the supposed brown rubble constantly looks ugly and fake. There is also frequent aliasing on most environment structures and objects, and repetitive enemy character models and animations. The aforementioned vehicle sections are visually striking though, and give good respite from some technical hiccups.
The voice acting in Blood Stone is decent, though Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench's voice work isn't as good as the Quantum of Solace game. However, pretentious Bond girl Joss Stone puts in a decent performance as Nicole Hunter. The voice work fits in decently with each mission, which is complimented by a brilliant orchestral score by Richard Jacques that is perhaps at its best within the car chase sequences. The sound effects are good, from weapon effects right down to enemy chatter. The intro song, performed by Joss Stone, is actually quite good and has a nice art style in the introductory sequence.
The gameplay in Blood Stone plays like your standard third-person shooter in terms of cover, large areas with enemies and numerous objectives. The shooting mechanics are fine and work well, though they are never anything more than solid. Some changes could have been made to the overall formula, such as more stealth and set pieces, but the resulting experience is nevertheless worthwhile. The environments you will fight in are quite linear, so don't expect many opportunities for combat. Saying that, you can still flank enemies, go stealth routes of all guns blazing, so there is still a few options to a degree. There are sixteen weapons in Blood Stone, ranging from pistols to machine guns to shotguns, and sniper rifles. However, some machine guns don't feel much different from the other. AK-47s feel overly similar to M16's and shotguns don't give you that punch that you'd expect.
There are a few exceptions to the third-person rule in Blood Stone. Firstly, there is a feature wherein you collect Focus Aims, earned by killing enemies in takedowns. Takedowns can be done normally when an enemy is hostile, however you can also obtain stealth takedowns, which are satisfying, and takedowns over cover and from balconies and rooftops. Focus Aims are the same implementation as Ubisoft's Splinter Cell: Conviction, though less satisfying. They work fine, and are efficient in taking out enemies, but never feel enjoyable.
Like previously stated, there are vehicle sections in the game, which are undoubtedly some of the better moments of the campaign. Car chases are adrenaline-fuelled and exciting, as well as visually striking. The target vehicles evade quite easily so crashing will result in game over, which can be frustrating. Even more infuriating, though, are the instant-kill moments if you drive into water or crash into a vehicle. It is also hard to navigate at times, especially when rubble suddenly crumbles down, confusing you by diverting a different route, thus failing. A lot is going on in this chases, such as structures exploding, cars flying and other vehicles on your tail. A later chase involves you in pursuit of a monster of a vehicle; a bulldozer. The resulting explosions and rubble feel quite irritating, as it has happened already in the campaign. Another disappointing aspect, though, is the awkward vehicle handling. I say disappointing because this is a developer with 7+ years of experience with racing games, and so you would expect this to be a well-implemented feature. It isn't as solid as it could be, though it works.
There is also a smartphone feature which enables Bond to discover items and locations he otherwise wouldn't be able to normally. The phone can be used to hack doors, disable security cameras and bypass many locks. It's a decent feature, and gives a little more reasoning to feeling as though your Bond.
The pacing is decent, but often inconsistent. For example, on-foot chases and shootouts are good, but then there are times when you are exploring an area, and suddenly an action set-piece is triggered, whereby you must escape quickly. Don't get me wrong, the set pieces are good, but this makes me occasionally question Bizarre's level design implementation, as they should give us a cautionary hint before the sequence occurs. There are also some levels that feel repetitive and tiring, particularly with the number of enemies you encounter and the way you encounter. The game almost constantly follows a rule of taking cover and taking out one enemy at a time. However, this infrequent tone of action and stealth isn't consistent enough.
Oh, and the game is very short. I finished it in around four to five hours, only because I was playing on the second-hardest difficulty, which isn't overly difficult. There are trophies tied to several playthroughs which may warrant another replay, but that will be it afterwards. There is collectible intel acquired via your smartphone (which is the only gadget in the game) but there isn't much of an incentive to collect it other than for trophies.
There is multiplayer too, but it isn't all exciting. There are the usual multiplayer modes, from team deathmatch down to objective-based modes. There is a mode similar to Treyarch's Quantum of Solace – Bond versus – which enables a player to play as Bond. There are also numerous unlocks, but the modes aren't as exciting as other games available, and only artificially extend the life of the game.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone is a fun and enjoyable shooter with clean visuals, an exciting but inconsistent campaign and a nice variety of locations. However, there are technical and presentation issues, some awkward vehicle controls, questionable length and forgettable multiplayer, but all in all this is a decent rental. It isn't a memorable Bond adventure, but is at least fun.
SUMMARY
Presentation - A poorly developed story with iffy cinematics.
Graphics 7.0 - Some nice vistas aside, Blood Stone looks simple.
Audio 7.0 - Blood Stone doesn't sound all that amazing.
Gameplay 7.0 - Some shootouts and driving sections are fun, but everything else is short and easy.
Replayability 6.0 - A short campaign with worthless multiplayer.
Overall - 7/10