819 replies to this topic

[MattofSteel]

They are certainly far more engrossing than you'd expect them to be.

[Marketto007]

Finally arrived.



xxx

[DamnCoffee]

Mine should be arriving tomorrow. God, I hate Amazon.

[Jeff007]

One thing I'll never get tired of seeing: Bond's brutal takedown animations.

Agreed. Ben Cooke definitely did great stunt work.

[PeteNeon]

Mine should be arriving tomorrow. God, I hate Amazon.

Blood Stone and GE should be coming from Play for me, they're usually reliable, but my friend ordered Fallout: NV and Fable 3 and they both came on the Saturday. Amazon are good if you use first class.

[DamnCoffee]

I always use Play.com, but my mother ordered it for me. She prefers using Amazon. I want to play Blood Stone so bad!

From Amazon
Dispatching Soon
Delivery Estimate: 5 Nov 2010
James Bond: Bloodstone (Xbox 360)


So do I actually have a chance of it arriving tomorrow? It's 16:53 and it hasn't even dispatched yet! Expedited delivery my .

[Matt_13]

They did manage to capture the vibe of the two films. But between the two, I find there is somewhat more QoS inspired content.

I felt more of a casino royale vibe myself, the ending and the story were more CRish, both having a similar sort of 'part one' with a cliffhanger. in particular the bangkok chase reminded me of the chase in the miami airport. also I should note that all 3 of these story have had a rooftop chase of some sort (CR-madagazcar, qos-sienna, bs-bangkok assassin) the bangkok and madagascar scenes felt similar to me in terms of excitement, the sienna chase just didn't do it for me...

See I thought they absolutely nailed the Quantum of Solace vibe.

I'm revising my score from a 6.8 to a 7.2. I just learned that you could adjust the aim sensitivity (not a huge gamer so that sort of stuff typically goes over my head). Having a much easier time finding my targets now. I really just wish the writing was better. I know they crafted the game around the set pieces (that's what one interview said anyway) and I think that's why Feirstein's script isn't as strong as his other ones. I say let the man go to town, write up an entire script, and THEN choose what you want to keep, add, and omit. Also, get someone to polish the dialogue.

Blood Stone is definitely in the top echcelon of Bond games, and for a game that has to keep violence pretty mild, it does a wonderful job with providing the player with some visceral moments. There just needs to be more of them, and less walking around.

[Mr.Zukovsky]

Is the bond theme used in the game at all? I guess the action was too loud and i missed it when it played. Great game, they should make this as a movie.

Edited by Mr.Zukovsky, 04 November 2010 - 09:39 PM.

[00Kevin]

Finally arrived.



xxx

way to keep the brosnan era alive there!

[sharpshooter]

Blood Stone is definitely in the top echcelon of Bond games, and for a game that has to keep violence pretty mild, it does a wonderful job with providing the player with some visceral moments. There just needs to be more of them, and less walking around.

In the lead-up to the game, people thought it would be all shoot, race, shoot and wanted to have walking around/investigating sections to break it all up. It's funny. We wanted it, and we got too much of it!

[Matt_13]

Well it wasn't real investigating. We were basically told where everything was, and our "investigation" was a simple button press. Also, forcing us to walk/jog instead of run, while boosting the realism, just bogged down the whole thing even more. It's not bad, it just hurts the momentum of the game. I wasn't interested in what I was investigating so it didn't mean much.

[tdalton]

Well it wasn't real investigating. We were basically told where everything was, and our "investigation" was a simple button press. Also, forcing us to walk/jog instead of run, while boosting the realism, just bogged down the whole thing even more. It's not bad, it just hurts the momentum of the game. I wasn't interested in what I was investigating so it didn't mean much.

The whole "investigation" thing is extremely weak, and it really, really bogs this game down. Having played a couple of levels thus far, this definitely does feel like a waste of $60. After a thrilling opening in Athens, the game has slowed down considerably.

[MattofSteel]

I really hope there's some great plot twist coming, I just finished Siberia and so far no indication why in the hell this game is called Blood Stone.

[DamnCoffee]

I wish the postman would hurry up. I want this game!

[Tybre]

For those of you who got it, how would you rate it so far?

Need to swing by the bank and throw some money into my checking account before I can order it, and being me I forget. Very frequently.

[tdalton]

For those of you who got it, how would you rate it so far?

Probably not much higher than a 4 or a 5, to be honest. There are some decent moments in the game, but it isn't much. It's way too short, as well. An extremely disappointing effort.

[DamnCoffee]

This still hasn't bloody arrived.

[Tybre]

For those of you who got it, how would you rate it so far?

Probably not much higher than a 4 or a 5, to be honest. There are some decent moments in the game, but it isn't much. It's way too short, as well. An extremely disappointing effort.

Well what's way too short? I'm not really expecting it to take several days to clear, unless I'm busy. But like, 4 hours? 6?

[tdalton]

For those of you who got it, how would you rate it so far?

Probably not much higher than a 4 or a 5, to be honest. There are some decent moments in the game, but it isn't much. It's way too short, as well. An extremely disappointing effort.

Well what's way too short? I'm not really expecting it to take several days to clear, unless I'm busy. But like, 4 hours? 6?

I don't know exactly how many hours, but I can't imagine that it would take much effort to beat the game in one sitting. In an effort not to spoil anything, it does feel as though it reaches its conclusion rather abruptly, especially considering the $60 price tag, one would (and should) expect there to be more.

[Matt_13]

Yeah, the main plot is resolved basically after 3 levels. They needed an excuse to keep going so Bond yet again goes semi rogue, and there's a weird bit of "mystery" solving that takes place in the far east for the remaining 2 missions. It's definitely not a bad game, but the story feels disjointed and fails to engage. It's a real shame, because when it hits its mark, Blood Stone impresses immensely.

[tdalton]

Yeah, the main plot is resolved basically after 3 levels. They needed an excuse to keep going so Bond yet again goes semi rogue, and there's a weird bit of "mystery" solving that takes place in the far east for the remaining 2 missions. It's definitely not a bad game, but the story feels disjointed and fails to engage. It's a real shame, because when it hits its mark, Blood Stone impresses immensely.

Entirely agreed. When it's good, the game is very good. But, the problem is that it's only good in extremely small doses, and those moments are few and far between. While I'm all for the idea of getting away from the larger-than-life villains and dealing more with the types of villains that the game features, it's still necessary for the villains to be in some way memorable. I've already forgotten just about everything about the game's villains and I just finished the game roughly an hour ago, and that basically just sums up the game as a whole. A mediocre way of wasting a couple of hours but something that will be instantly forgotten once you turn the console power off.

[Quantumofsolace007]

i haven;'t beaten it but It's far from the arkham asylum I was hoping it would be however that said it's far better the most of the EA turnouts and even Quantum of Solace. i think if it was longer and the levels a bit more varied (pissed only the DS version lets you play cards) I think this game would be amazing. Activision is definitly starting to "get it" better then EA and Faster too Let's hope the next game is even better

[Matt_13]

The game operates too much like a film in terms of structure an narrative, instead of providing and exciting interactive experience. Slowing things down after a hugely exciting opening for the sake of plot and exposition works fine in film, because we are watching real actors and looking at real locations. Plot points like this don't work as well in the game universe. Lets look at Splinter Cell and Batman. There is always SOMETHING exciting going on, and even when we're investigating areas, we WANT to know what we are actually investigating. The plot is constantly pushing us forward, whereas Blood Stone's (why was the game called that anyway?) kind of just pulls us back and says "wait, there's something going on here that we swear makes a difference!" This game is SO FREAKING CLOSE to being the best Bond game ever. Seriously, Bizarre, I want you guys on the next one. For a first effort this is very, very good. Only good things can follow this.

[DamnCoffee]

"Please. I'm no good to you anymore." - "Ya got that right!" *SMACK*

Pure Craig Bond!

Well, I've been playing this for 2 hours and I've just finished the Istanbul Level, which is quite lengthy. That pacing is fine with this, the only reason it's just so short for some people is because they just go in all guns blazing. Stealth is the answer.

Brilliant game so far. The cut scene graphics are wank though. The in-game ones make up for it a lot!

[Tybre]

That's interesting. Usually it's the cutscenes that rock and the game that's meh.

[DamnCoffee]

The Monaco level has some of most beautiful graphics I've ever seen. Especially the Casino.

It's my favourite level so far, actually. I'm loving the stealth! The takedowns are brutal as well! Loving the neck crack!

[Matt_13]

The Monaco level is my favorite of the on foot sections. Beautiful lighting and atmosphere. Pure Craig Bond.

[DamnCoffee]

The Istanbul section was quite enjoyable, for some reason I wasn't looking forward that much to it. Did anyone else get killed millions of times in the Catacombs? Where Bond fights about 10 guards with grenade launchers? It's probably why I was on it so long.

[dinovelvet]

"Please. I'm no good to you anymore." - "Ya got that right!" *SMACK*

Pure Craig Bond!

One thing that really made me laugh was at the start of the Istanbul level where the foreman tells Bond he has to wear a hard hat to go on the construction site, so Bond takes the hat, walks in to the site and then tosses it away, *exactly* like Craig throws stuff in the Bond films! That was a fun little touch.

And yeah I got killed a few times in that catacombs room where there are several grenade launcher guys. I tried to save the focus kills for them.

[Matt_13]

The Istanbul section was quite enjoyable, for some reason I wasn't looking forward that much to it. Did anyone else get killed millions of times in the Catacombs? Where Bond fights about 10 guards with grenade launchers? It's probably why I was on it so long.

THAT WAS SO ANNOYING!

I figured out that the best way to beat that section was to save up your Focus Aims and use them on those bastards. That was such an annoying section. Beating it on 007 was so hard. I haven't touched the Aquarium mission on 007 mode, because I know I'm going to put my controller through the tv when I do. It's so freaking hard.