James Bond 007: Blood Stone

James Bond 007: Blood Stone is the latest installment in the line of Bond games. The game begins with a traditional intro action sequence that gets players acclimated to all of the gameplay that they will encounter throughout the course of the game. There are gun fights, car chases, close quarters combat, and stealth take-downs all within the first fifteen minutes of play. Between each level and within levels, the gameplay is paused while a cutscene plays to help progress the story and show off the wonderful voice talent the game has to offer. Both Judy Dench and Daniel Craig reprise their roles in the 007 universe by lending their voices and likenesses to the game.

As Bond chases down the international criminals presented in the game, he will travel all over the world, from Monaco, to Siberia, to China, and back again. The environments in Blood Stone are quite pleasant to look at; the colors are bright and vibrant when they need to be, giving a very satisfying look. The only downside to the graphics is in the character models, which are adequate, but are by no means jaw-dropping in terms of realism. The music stands out by being authentically “Bond” and adds the perfect complement to the game’s more exciting sequences.

The game consists of a single player campaign, which takes approximately 4-5 hours to complete, and a reasonable online multiplayer. In multiplayer, players can compete in traditional deathmatch, objective based team combat, or “Last Man Standing”, where the last player to survive is the winner of the round. Through playing multiplayer matches, players earn experience which can be used to upgrade weapons and earn other unlockables.

What Parents Need to Know

Violence

Players take control of Bond and view the action from a 3rd person perspective. Throughout the game, Bond will use his traditional silenced pistol to take down enemies, or whatever weapons he takes off of his dispatched foes. The weapons in the game range from assault rifles and shotguns to grenade launchers and anti-aircraft machine guns. As enemies are killed, small splashes of blood can be seen. Also, as Bond takes hits, the screen will redden with blood. If Bond takes a lethal hit, the traditional Bond blood drip will scrawl down the screen. Along with gunplay violence, Bond has the ability to run up or sneak up on bad guys and take them down with close quarters combat. This usually involves kicks and punches, and occasionally depicts Bond bashing an enemy’s head into a wall or box or breaking an enemy’s arm. Last, there is some automobile violence from Bond driving his car into another vehicle causing it to crash.

Also within Blood Stone, there is a cutscene in which Bond is beaten. The violence is shown in a close-up view.

Language

There is mild language in Blood Stone. Instances of “hell” and “damn” can be heard during different cutscenes and sequences of the game.

Sexual Content

After the first mission, there is a cutscene where Bond is in a hotel room with a woman in lingerie. There is no sex that takes place, but the camera does pan over the woman as she rolls over in her underwear.

When Bond is in China, he must go to a night club to meet with an informant. When in the night club, women in bikinis and lingerie can be seen poledancing.

Near the end of the game, the camera pans over the chest of a woman who is wearing a dress with a deep v-neck. No explicit body parts can be seen, but the camera makes it apparent that her chest is the main focus for a moment.

There is also some mild innuendo dialogue when Bond has conversations with the main Bond girl in the game, but no sexually related scenes ever result from this dialogue.

Spiritual Content

There is not any spiritual content in Blood Stone.

Misc.

In Blood Stone, there are references to smoking and alcohol. Early in the game, Bond is offered a drink, to which “M” says, “He’ll have a vodka martini, I’ll have a Bourbon.” Certain enemies, while conversing with each other, will make statements like, “Finish your cigarette.” or “I’m gonna finish my smoke.”

Reviewer’s Thoughts

On one hand, this game was nothing special. The game only takes a few hours to complete, the gameplay is ridiculously repetitive, and it adds nothing new to the genre of 3rd-person shooters. That being said, I can say that I thoroughly ENJOYED this game. Even though I knew that there are far better games out there, I found myself engrossed in the story. Even though the same gameplay repeated itself over and over, I loved every sequence. I have always been a mild fan of the Bond movies, but after being able to take control of Bond and play through some international espionage, I lament the fact that another Bond movie may not happen for some time. The music in the game really adds a tremendous effect to how the game taps into your emotions. Players will truly feel like they are playing through a Bond movie. Though, as with any Bond movie, it does come with its fair share of possibly offensive content, and Blood Stone is no exception. The aforementioned content in the game should be considered when deciding if the game fits into your family’s entertainment guidelines.