Euro Event Report – James Bond: Blood Stone for PS3

Activision and Bizarre Creations unveiled their latest Bond game at an event in London (of course!) recently. Luckily, we had our own debonair English secret agent covertly in attendance. Here’s what SCEE’s Keating – Barry Keating – observed at the reveal James Bond: Blood Stone for PS3.

While we may have to wait a little longer for the next installment in the James Bond series, gamers and Bond fans can take a quantity of solace in the fact that the suave super agent is getting the videogame treatment from blur developer, Bizarre Creations with James Bond: Blood Stone, a wholly original 007 epic penciled in for release later in 2010.

While much of the plot – from a script by Bruce Feirstein, the writer behind GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough – is being kept under wraps for now, we do know that Blood Stone’s globe trotting thrills and spills are set against a backdrop that involves the diamond trade, a missing scientist and a new Bond Girl: Joss Stone. Yes, Joss Stone. The lovely Miss Stone, who was in attendance at the announcement, has also co-written and performed the games’ theme song ‘I’ll Take It All’ with former Eurythmics man, Dave Stewart; it’s a catchy one!

At the swanky event, Activision and developer Bizarre Creations showcased the game’s opening mission, a self-contained pre-credit sequence that owes much to the way the movies are structured. Consider it a whopping great teaser for the level of wanton destruction that’s about to ensue as you hunt the bad guys across a slew of gorgeously designed locations in true Bond style.

Set in Athens, this sequence sees the fledgling agent with a license to kill hot on the heels of a bad guy holed up on a yacht. Parachuting from the back of passing plane, Bond quickly descends to the yacht taking out a few henchmen in quick succession with a combination of hand-to-hand combat and pistol action. As the action ramps up the pursuit turns into a speedboat duel as Bond guns it towards his goal, shooting bad guys in slo-mo and dodging collapsing buildings, before switching once again into a high speed car chase through the streets of Athens.

Then BAM! It ends as Bond rams his target off the road and the theme song kicks in. Although it was only a ten minute demo, the intent of which was to highlight the varying gameplay elements, I was hugely impressed – it’s just a shame that I didn’t get to play it; strictly hands-off at the moment.

What I did glean from the event was this: it’s a 70/30 split between on-foot and driving missions (there are six according to the developer). By performing melee attacks through a simple button tap you can earn up to three Focus Kills, which allow you to mark and execute villains in quick succession – ideal for sticky situations, then!

There was no mention of multiplayer, but being that this is a Bond game, and Bizarre Creations are known for weaving superb multiplayer components (check out Blur and The Club and you’ll see what I mean) into their titles, I’m assuming it’s a given. I’m definitely excited to see where this one goes, and what kind of missions Bizarre and Activision will reveal before the game arrives later in the year.