It took me a decade after this game came out to finally pick it up and give it a try and boy am I impressed and angry at myself for not getting it sooner. If I had to justify myself I would say its because I played Quantum of Solace and while it was cool for what it was, it was just a little too close Call of Duty for my liking so I thought Blood Stone would be the same causing me not to rush to play it but boy I couldnt have been more wrong.
A welcomed change is the return to 3rd person as it really compliments the chase sequences and takedowns and just he overall fast pace that a Daniel Craig Bond game needs. And although it is a faster paced game it still has some strong stealth elements that are not exclusive to this game. Take downs and silencers are your main tools to staying silent so if you've played any other Bond games you are familiar with the stealth in Blood Stone which im not gonna say its a bad thing because I'd rather that than shitty forced stealth sections that go on for half an hour with little or no checkpoints in between.
I would certainly rank Blood Stone among the creme of the crop in the Bond games simply for the way it captures the feeling of the Craig films and as I play this game I cant help but feel more and more excited for IO Interactive's upcoming Project 007 which I hope will breathe new life into the James Bond video game market with recent game technology and developers that we know actually care about the quality of the games we could be in for perhaps the best Bond game since Goldeneye or the biggest letdown since the Goldeneye remaster. Only time will tell.
