A port of James Bond 007: Blood Stone
Blood Stone is a third-person shooter game with elements of hand-to-hand combat. Drive around in multiple vehicles as you and your friends work as a team to attack or defend various spy-themed goals. With up to 16 players in multiplier mode and a team deathmatch as well as other standard game modes there are massive objective-based battles for players to prove they to can be 007!
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This review contains spoilers
While the home console releases of Blood Stone and GoldenEye were split between platform, the DS got ports of both games on the same day, and both developed by n-Space (who previously made the DS port of Rogue Agent).
Like the home console version, Blood Stone on DS is a third person shooter with cover based mechanics and vehicle sections.
The cutscenes in the DS version are adorable. Instead of using recordings or screenshots from the main game, the cutscenes are recreated using the in-game graphics, and I absolutely love them. They’re also fully voice acted, even with lines not in the original. That said, there are a couple of moments where Daniel Craig talks so fast that you can’t understand him.
The boat level introduces you to the controls, starting with the aiming as Bond parachutes onto the boat. Unfortunately, there are no options to use the buttons to aim, the touch screen is the only option, which is a nightmare for left handed people like me that don’t get on with southpaw setups. Getting into cover uses the action button on the touch screen, so I found myself using cover without actually using the “cover” option.
The boat chase has unfortunately been turned into a turret section, as the boat moves on its own and you just aim and shoot. The level on land has also been reduced, with a single shootout and then the first driving section replaced with Bond using a rocket launcher to destroy a truck full of explosives, although the acropolis looks like a model.
After the simplified intro (using the Bond theme rather than the song made for the game, which gets relegated to the credits), it skips past the catacombs to Bond finding the missing scientist. You never hear the password the tortured scientist whispers in the main version, but here he shouts out “it’s my phone number”, and you feel really sorry for the guy as it highlights that he’s just doing a regular job.
The chase scene introduces objects you can hit to take out groups of nearby guards, and the game informs you one is nearby with a golden 007 – a lot like Bond Moments in previous games.
Here we get the first car section. Bond is using his new car rather than randomly finding a classic Aston. The controls are a bit odd (but at least uses buttons) and the car never feels like its turning, but rather just sliding around. Without the action set pieces, you really miss the cars having weapons in this version.
After dodging trains in a subway, You follow the guy escaping with the information a bit more on foot until a boss battle where he becomes a bullet sponge and you need to shoot him a lot.
Sneaking into the casino, we now have the first stealth section. You can take guards out instantly by using the fire button up close. Bond automatically melees when close to enemies, although if an enemy is aware of Bond, you get a really annoying quick time event needed to finish them off. If you get spotted, enemies will call for backup, but luckily it means just a few more guards turning up. Interestingly, the silencer is more realistic than other games, as nearby enemies will still hear it if you use it.
In this version, Bond actually speaks to Pomarov face to face (although I have no idea why Bond needed to sneak in when he was invites) and you get to play a simplified form of poker with him. Luckily, Pomarov is a terrible poker player with extremely obvious tells. Still, it’s a very nice addition, one missing from any of the Casino Royale segments of Quantum of Solace.
After this, you have to make your way to Pomarov’s safe to find the information you need, with more optional stealth and a “Bond moment” using a crane. Then you need to get into the safe which is another touch screen addition. Unfortunately, this is not friendly to colourblind people, so I had a nightmare with it.
Heading to Pomarov’s site in Serbia, you fight through his facility to find out what he’s up to. The level design of all the levels in this game are completely different to the main version, made much simpler and straightforward to suit the DS. You make your way through the roof and fight a helicopter, which then takes out his factory instead of Bond sabotaging it.
The train chase is probably the most impressive vehicle section in the DS version, with debris and broken cars to avoid, and a helicopter shooting at you along the way. You fight trough the docks and make it onto Pomarov’s plane before he leaves. The stakes of this level are raised as the plane is on a collision cause to the coast to release the virus there, so you have a bullet sponge fight with Pomarov before Bond swerves out of the way and crashes the plane elsewhere.
Now we get a section exclusive to the DS version. Bond investigates the initial call that led MI6 to the scientist, but instead of it going straight to a Chinese agent, he needs to do some actual investigation. You need to sneak past the guards (you can’t even knock them out) and use CCTV to analyse people in a meeting. A chase breaks out and in some parts of the game like this, I found it much easier to run past all the enemies. After killing loads of his bodyguards, Bond discovers tat they’re on the same side and their boss arranges a meeting in an aquarium in Bangkok. Story-wise, I like this little added bit as the jump straight to Bangkok was a bit jarring.
The aquarium is a much more traditional design than in the main game, but you get to explore it a bit more and it’s really nice on the DS. You have to figure out where Ping is based on some clues by taking photos of secret markings on the glass. I looked at the map showing where the clues are and saw there were none in the shark tunnel, but Ping wasn’t there.
After taking photos you have a surprisingly difficult tile jigsaw puzzle to reveal: a shark. He gets killed by a sniper two feet away and you get to chase Ruk himself, with Ruk escaping in a dump truck (much smaller than the colossal one in the main game) and Bond giving chase via car.
Ruk flees to a small dock and you fight through his goons to continue the chase via boat, another turret section. You pump Ruk with enough bullets but he still escapes back onto land before he knocks Bond out and takes him to be tortured in Bolivia.
Bond escapes with another annoying “safe cracking” minigame, with this level also encouraging stealth, but making it optional. You’ll sneak through flooded ditches and hide behind trees to avoid guards and trucks. The outdoor environment looks really good on the DS. Bond escapes in an aircraft before being shot down, fighting his way to Ruk’s aircraft for the final confrontation with him. This fight is really annoying as the pilot keeps knocking Bond backwards and it ends with a quick time event.
The last mission has an on-foot section as you fight through the final villain’s massive house before they escape in a car, resulting in the final car chase and the final speech at the end being different to the main version – although it still has the same cliffhanger.
Blood Stone on DS is a fascinating conversion. The gameplay itself isn’t very good (especially if you don’t get on with the control setup), but there’s something oddly charming about the whole bundle and how it was adapted to the graphics of the DS.
Like the home console version, Blood Stone on DS is a third person shooter with cover based mechanics and vehicle sections.
The cutscenes in the DS version are adorable. Instead of using recordings or screenshots from the main game, the cutscenes are recreated using the in-game graphics, and I absolutely love them. They’re also fully voice acted, even with lines not in the original. That said, there are a couple of moments where Daniel Craig talks so fast that you can’t understand him.
The boat level introduces you to the controls, starting with the aiming as Bond parachutes onto the boat. Unfortunately, there are no options to use the buttons to aim, the touch screen is the only option, which is a nightmare for left handed people like me that don’t get on with southpaw setups. Getting into cover uses the action button on the touch screen, so I found myself using cover without actually using the “cover” option.
The boat chase has unfortunately been turned into a turret section, as the boat moves on its own and you just aim and shoot. The level on land has also been reduced, with a single shootout and then the first driving section replaced with Bond using a rocket launcher to destroy a truck full of explosives, although the acropolis looks like a model.
After the simplified intro (using the Bond theme rather than the song made for the game, which gets relegated to the credits), it skips past the catacombs to Bond finding the missing scientist. You never hear the password the tortured scientist whispers in the main version, but here he shouts out “it’s my phone number”, and you feel really sorry for the guy as it highlights that he’s just doing a regular job.
The chase scene introduces objects you can hit to take out groups of nearby guards, and the game informs you one is nearby with a golden 007 – a lot like Bond Moments in previous games.
Here we get the first car section. Bond is using his new car rather than randomly finding a classic Aston. The controls are a bit odd (but at least uses buttons) and the car never feels like its turning, but rather just sliding around. Without the action set pieces, you really miss the cars having weapons in this version.
After dodging trains in a subway, You follow the guy escaping with the information a bit more on foot until a boss battle where he becomes a bullet sponge and you need to shoot him a lot.
Sneaking into the casino, we now have the first stealth section. You can take guards out instantly by using the fire button up close. Bond automatically melees when close to enemies, although if an enemy is aware of Bond, you get a really annoying quick time event needed to finish them off. If you get spotted, enemies will call for backup, but luckily it means just a few more guards turning up. Interestingly, the silencer is more realistic than other games, as nearby enemies will still hear it if you use it.
In this version, Bond actually speaks to Pomarov face to face (although I have no idea why Bond needed to sneak in when he was invites) and you get to play a simplified form of poker with him. Luckily, Pomarov is a terrible poker player with extremely obvious tells. Still, it’s a very nice addition, one missing from any of the Casino Royale segments of Quantum of Solace.
After this, you have to make your way to Pomarov’s safe to find the information you need, with more optional stealth and a “Bond moment” using a crane. Then you need to get into the safe which is another touch screen addition. Unfortunately, this is not friendly to colourblind people, so I had a nightmare with it.
Heading to Pomarov’s site in Serbia, you fight through his facility to find out what he’s up to. The level design of all the levels in this game are completely different to the main version, made much simpler and straightforward to suit the DS. You make your way through the roof and fight a helicopter, which then takes out his factory instead of Bond sabotaging it.
The train chase is probably the most impressive vehicle section in the DS version, with debris and broken cars to avoid, and a helicopter shooting at you along the way. You fight trough the docks and make it onto Pomarov’s plane before he leaves. The stakes of this level are raised as the plane is on a collision cause to the coast to release the virus there, so you have a bullet sponge fight with Pomarov before Bond swerves out of the way and crashes the plane elsewhere.
Now we get a section exclusive to the DS version. Bond investigates the initial call that led MI6 to the scientist, but instead of it going straight to a Chinese agent, he needs to do some actual investigation. You need to sneak past the guards (you can’t even knock them out) and use CCTV to analyse people in a meeting. A chase breaks out and in some parts of the game like this, I found it much easier to run past all the enemies. After killing loads of his bodyguards, Bond discovers tat they’re on the same side and their boss arranges a meeting in an aquarium in Bangkok. Story-wise, I like this little added bit as the jump straight to Bangkok was a bit jarring.
The aquarium is a much more traditional design than in the main game, but you get to explore it a bit more and it’s really nice on the DS. You have to figure out where Ping is based on some clues by taking photos of secret markings on the glass. I looked at the map showing where the clues are and saw there were none in the shark tunnel, but Ping wasn’t there.
After taking photos you have a surprisingly difficult tile jigsaw puzzle to reveal: a shark. He gets killed by a sniper two feet away and you get to chase Ruk himself, with Ruk escaping in a dump truck (much smaller than the colossal one in the main game) and Bond giving chase via car.
Ruk flees to a small dock and you fight through his goons to continue the chase via boat, another turret section. You pump Ruk with enough bullets but he still escapes back onto land before he knocks Bond out and takes him to be tortured in Bolivia.
Bond escapes with another annoying “safe cracking” minigame, with this level also encouraging stealth, but making it optional. You’ll sneak through flooded ditches and hide behind trees to avoid guards and trucks. The outdoor environment looks really good on the DS. Bond escapes in an aircraft before being shot down, fighting his way to Ruk’s aircraft for the final confrontation with him. This fight is really annoying as the pilot keeps knocking Bond backwards and it ends with a quick time event.
The last mission has an on-foot section as you fight through the final villain’s massive house before they escape in a car, resulting in the final car chase and the final speech at the end being different to the main version – although it still has the same cliffhanger.
Blood Stone on DS is a fascinating conversion. The gameplay itself isn’t very good (especially if you don’t get on with the control setup), but there’s something oddly charming about the whole bundle and how it was adapted to the graphics of the DS.