007: Blood Stone

Gothamite

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Anyone else excited about this game? I can't wait, as I'm a big supporter of third-person James Bond games.

[video=youtube;YuUb5di5p8M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuUb5di5p8M[/video]

What I like most about the look of the gameplay is that it looks a lot like Arkham Asylum, except you get to shoot people as well.
 
Anyone else excited about this game? I can't wait, as I'm a big supporter of third-person James Bond games.

I'm excited mainly because it continues the Daniel Craig Bond storyline, and the gameplay looks like a lot of fun.

What I like most about the look of the gameplay is that it looks a lot like Arkham Asylum, except you get to shoot people as well.

Ice said:
That is a great selling point.

It really is.



Speaking of which, have you seen the Goldeneye remake for the Wii (also redone with Craig's likeness instead of Brosnan's). I'm looking forward to that as well.
 
I'm excited mainly because it continues the Daniel Craig Bond storyline, and the gameplay looks like a lot of fun.





It really is.



Speaking of which, have you seen the Goldeneye remake for the Wii (also redone with Craig's likeness instead of Brosnan's). I'm looking forward to that as well.

I'm with you on this, from seeing the trailer, and the early reviews, it looks like Blood Stone may break the Bond curse on video games.
 
I'm with you on this, from seeing the trailer, and the early reviews, it looks like Blood Stone may break the Bond curse on video games.

The curse thats only been broken once before with the original Goldeneye. Its a game well deserving of a re-make/update for improved graphics and gameplay.

I'm only bummed they come out on the same day...which do I play first!?!?!



But yeah, this game looks like a lot of fun. And I'm not ashamed to admit I'm looking forward to the Joss Stone opener. CUZ THIS ONES GOT DIAMONDS!!!
 
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GoldenEye is a very good shooter. But James Bond does much more than just go around shooting people. Seriously, I started playing it again recently and as great as it is for what it is; I feel far more like McClane or Rambo than I do like Bond.

Everything or Nothing is by far the truest and best James Bond game I've ever played. And it's third person.
 
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GoldenEye is a very good shooter. But James Bond does much more than just go around shooting people. Seriously, I started playing it again recently and as great as it is for what it is; I feel far more like McClane or Rambo than I do like Bond.

Everything or Nothing is by far the truest and best James Bond game I've ever played. And it's third person.


Ok, the best James Bond game for its time, then.

Still, first person shooter only or not, its a great game that reached "Classic" status within only a few months of coming out, both critically and commercially.

Hopefully, "Blood Stone" will take it ten steps further, and seems to be doing just that. Great FPS aspects (or third person specifically), interesting and dymanic melee combat (which to be honest, wouldn't have been a notable aspect for any other Bond but Craig's version), driving missions, etc.

Right down to the flavor of the year doing the "cover song", in this case Joss Stone.

As far as I'm concerned, this is Bond 23, you just get to have control over who Bond shoots or punches. I'm good with that.
 
Ok, the best James Bond game for its time, then.

Still, first person shooter only or not, its a great game that reached "Classic" status within only a few months of coming out, both critically and commercially.

Hopefully, "Blood Stone" will take it ten steps further, and seems to be doing just that. Great FPS aspects (or third person specifically), interesting and dymanic melee combat (which to be honest, wouldn't have been a notable aspect for any other Bond but Craig's version), driving missions, etc.

Right down to the flavor of the year doing the "cover song", in this case Joss Stone.

As far as I'm concerned, this is Bond 23, you just get to have control over who Bond shoots or punches. I'm good with that.


What he said.
 
Still, first person shooter only or not, its a great game that reached "Classic" status within only a few months of coming out, both critically and commercially.

Certainly.

But just because it's a great game does not mean that it is a great James Bond game. It's certainly still the best, most innovative and revolutionary videogame with James Bond in it, but it's by no means the best James Bond game.

Hopefully, "Blood Stone" will take it ten steps further, and seems to be doing just that. Great FPS aspects (or third person specifically), interesting and dymanic melee combat (which to be honest, wouldn't have been a notable aspect for any other Bond but Craig's version), driving missions, etc.

Certainly melee combat hasn't been as impressive before the Craig films, but it was always a big part of Bond, as was high-flying action and adventure that you just can't capture in an FPS.

Seriously guys, everyone should play Everything or Nothing.
 
Certainly.

But just because it's a great game does not mean that it is a great James Bond game. It's certainly still the best, most innovative and revolutionary videogame with James Bond in it, but it's by no means the best James Bond game.



Certainly melee combat hasn't been as impressive before the Craig films, but it was always a big part of Bond, as was high-flying action and adventure that you just can't capture in an FPS.

Seriously guys, everyone should play Everything or Nothing.


See, for me, the problem is I hated the older James Bond films. Even the Brosnan films, while less hokey and more serious than the Connery or Moore Bond films, still just didn't interest me.

The "new" Bond (the Craig version which so many Bond purists hate) is, in my opinion, much better. Smarter, more realistic, more capable (at least from a physical standpoint in comparison to previous actors' portrayals--and that takes into account the fact Bond is a rookie in Casino Royale).

Laser-shooting watches and cars that turn into submarines don't interest me.

So taking into account the more physical presence of the Craig Bond, and translating that to the game, along with all the classical Bond elements of flashy car chases, gun fighting, and general death defying-ness, I'd be quite surprised if this game isn't impressive as hell. Hopefully as good as or better than the aforementioned Everything or Nothing (which I haven't played but have heard good things about).
 
See, for me, the problem is I hated the older James Bond films. Even the Brosnan films, while less hokey and more serious than the Connery or Moore Bond films, still just didn't interest me.

The "new" Bond (the Craig version which so many Bond purists hate) is, in my opinion, much better. Smarter, more realistic, more capable (at least from a physical standpoint in comparison to previous actors' portrayals--and that takes into account the fact Bond is a rookie in Casino Royale).

Laser-shooting watches and cars that turn into submarines don't interest me.

So taking into account the more physical presence of the Craig Bond, and translating that to the game, along with all the classical Bond elements of flashy car chases, gun fighting, and general death defying-ness, I'd be quite surprised if this game isn't impressive as hell. Hopefully as good as or better than the aforementioned Everything or Nothing (which I haven't played but have heard good things about).

What's most amusing, most "Bond purists" have never read a single Bond novel in their lives.


With that said, the old Bond has its place, and they're fun to rewatch, but the Craig films actually made me excited to watch Bond.
 
See, for me, the problem is I hated the older James Bond films. Even the Brosnan films, while less hokey and more serious than the Connery or Moore Bond films, still just didn't interest me.

Okay well you're kind of generalising Bond films there, a bit. If I can get a bit fanboy, the Brosnan films are generally regarded as being the weakest series of the whole bunch, so they're nothing to base your opinion on.

Watch From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only. Those are all considered the better of the more realistic Bonds (even though calling Goldfinger and Thunderball 'realistic' is a bit of a stretch sometimes). And they're all miles better than any of the Brosnan films.

The "new" Bond (the Craig version which so many Bond purists hate) is, in my opinion, much better. Smarter, more realistic, more capable (at least from a physical standpoint in comparison to previous actors' portrayals--and that takes into account the fact Bond is a rookie in Casino Royale).

I would argue that the reason Craig is a success is specifically because he isn't smarter, or more capable and that his physicality only seems more adept because you can actually see muscles on the guy. A lot of the other Bonds displayed Batman-like levels of hyper-intelligence and general competence in the other films.

Also, Timothy Dalton was totally the Daniel Craig of the 80s.

So taking into account the more physical presence of the Craig Bond, and translating that to the game, along with all the classical Bond elements of flashy car chases, gun fighting, and general death defying-ness, I'd be quite surprised if this game isn't impressive as hell. Hopefully as good as or better than the aforementioned Everything or Nothing (which I haven't played but have heard good things about).

Agreed.

If they can take the control, the presentation and the movie-like scope of EoN and add in Arkham-like fighting, I'd be a very happy man.
 
What's most amusing, most "Bond purists" have never read a single Bond novel in their lives.

Good point.

With that said, the old Bond has its place, and they're fun to rewatch, but the Craig films actually made me excited to watch Bond.

Exactly. I'm not knocking the older films, they're just not my cup of tea. They're fun to watch in a campy, somewhat humorous way (not to say they're all that way, but most of the Connery and Moore Bond films certainly had a noticeable element of campiness, though thats probably more to do with their age than intention).



Okay well you're kind of generalising Bond films there, a bit. If I can get a bit fanboy, the Brosnan films are generally regarded as being the weakest series of the whole bunch, so they're nothing to base your opinion on.

Generalising? Yeah, definitely. Can't be helped as I've only seen a handful of the older Bond films, but none ever struck me as memorable or interesting. Maybe I'll give some of your suggestions a rewatch, since to be fair I haven't seen a non-Craig Bond movie in probably 10 years.

I would argue that the reason Craig is a success is specifically because he isn't smarter, or more capable and that his physicality only seems more adept because you can actually see muscles on the guy. A lot of the other Bonds displayed Batman-like levels of hyper-intelligence and general competence in the other films.

I think thats unfair when you factor in the fact that the Craig Bond is still rookie Bond. He's only in his first couple months as a 00 agent in both CR and QoS. There's a noticeable growth and change in the character between the two, which in my mind is the first step on the road to becoming the suave, smart, debonair agent of the older films. Its nice to see some genesis and change to the character, really the first shown in any of the films (to my limited knowledge) before Casino Royale. While there were certain differences between the actors' portrayals of the character, overall he was pretty much the model for your cookie-cutter spy hero for every novel and movie featuring spies since Dr. No, and that honestly wasn't very interesting to me.

The new Bond just has a certain element of interest, intrigue, and possibility that I just never really got from any other Bond actor. Could just be me, of course.


Agreed.

If they can take the control, the presentation and the movie-like scope of EoN and add in Arkham-like fighting, I'd be a very happy man.

The trailers seem to hint at that, though that could be a marketing red herring. We'll see. I'm optimistic.
 
Anyone else played this yet? I rented it last weekend.

Not bad. Not quite as good as I thought it'd be (which means the advertising worked), but altogether a pretty decent game. Decent Bond tale (nice to see a female antagonist, though she's quite forgettable), good gameplay mechanics (driving and ground-based combat: shooting and melee--though the trailers make it seem the melee combat is much more expansive and involved than it really is), pretty nice graphics.

The use of the PDA/Cell phone scanner is really the only instance of gadgets being used in the game, unfortunately. Too much of the hokey gadgetry would be reminscent of the 60's to 80's era Bond, though there should be a bit of that, especially with the fact this is a video game and such gadgets could find practical usage in the gameplay itself. Unfortunately, other than the cell phone, there's nothing.

Altogether it was a decently handled game, though I have feeling I'm going to like the Goldeneye remake a bit more (probably entirely due to the classic/retro feeling I'll get while playing it). Craig and Dench reprising their movie roles (and the decently-handled CGI scenes) goes a long way to making this feel like a new Bond movie, which I enjoyed.

I'm going to probably buy this one and then re-play it on 007 difficulty.

Overall, this one gets a 7/10.
 
The use of the PDA/Cell phone scanner is really the only instance of gadgets being used in the game, unfortunately. Too much of the hokey gadgetry would be reminscent of the 60's to 80's era Bond, though there should be a bit of that, especially with the fact this is a video game and such gadgets could find practical usage in the gameplay itself. Unfortunately, other than the cell phone, there's nothing.

James Bond had far, far sillier more science fictiony gadgets in the 90s than any other decade.

Altogether it was a decently handled game, though I have feeling I'm going to like the Goldeneye remake a bit more (probably entirely due to the classic/retro feeling I'll get while playing it). Craig and Dench reprising their movie roles (and the decently-handled CGI scenes) goes a long way to making this feel like a new Bond movie, which I enjoyed.

I'm going to probably buy this one and then re-play it on 007 difficulty.

I'll rent it and see if I can have any fun with it, but the reviews have been really disappointing. What's particularly upsetting is how good the GoldenEye game supposedly is (I can't play it because I ain't got no Wii). If the DS version stands up, I might get that.

What's most amusing, most "Bond purists" have never read a single Bond novel in their lives.

Most of them I know have. I've read about five of them as well as a couple of the continuation novels written by other authors.
 
I've heard the campaign only lasts about 5 hours. That is sad.

If you rush through the game just to get onto your next game review, then yeah, 5 hours could be doable. I took my time and played it on the Agent level (the one below the hardest difficulty, 007), and searched for the extra scannable items.

I think I completed it in about 7 or 8 hours.

Its not that short, honestly. Its got some pretty good meat on its bones in terms of length, it just depends on the difficulty and how into the game you get. Rushing through it, yeah, 5 hours sounds right.

Still, overall, its worth the price of a rental. The controls work well, the third person shooter and driving aspects all combine together well.

There are a few problems, most notable the storyline, but otherwise its not a bad game by any means.


GoldenEye on the Wii is better, however, but that could be entirely due to that classical feeling of awesome you get by playing it and remembering the N64 version.

James Bond had far, far sillier more science fictiony gadgets in the 90s than any other decade.

Really? Because the 60's and 70's seemed the worst for that in my mind, but I'm no professional on the character.

I'll rent it and see if I can have any fun with it, but the reviews have been really disappointing. What's particularly upsetting is how good the GoldenEye game supposedly is (I can't play it because I ain't got no Wii). If the DS version stands up, I might get that.

GoldenEye really is great. But Blood Stone is a decent game in its own right, in somewhat different ways. Storywise, like I said, its a bit of a let-down, but the action and gameplay itself aren't bad at all.
 

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