Bizarre Creations’ studio art director, Neil Thompson, talks to eu.playstation.com about Bond, Blood Stones and working with Daniel Craig.
Bizarre Creations has been linked to a James Bond game for some time now, and most fans and gamers assumed it was actually going to be just a racing game...
It's been in development for a couple of years now, actually. And yeah, most of the rumours were that the game was just pure racing, so it's really satisfying to come out and reveal that Blood Stone is not just that.
In terms of the storyline, did you develop it or was it brought to you by Activision to flesh out?
Activision asked us to work on the title and the script was already written [by GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies writer, Bruce Feirstein] at that point, but as the development has gone on, the script has evolved.
How did Daniel Craig take to playing Bond on PlayStation 3 rather than in front of a camera?
He had a really good understanding of the script and knew what was going on. I think he delivered a performance that's very definitely Daniel Craig.
007 Blood Stone features a device you're calling Focus Aim, where time slows down allowing players to pull off quick attacks on foot and in vehicles; can you elaborate on how this feature fits into the game?
It really encourages you to engage in more hand-to-hand combat, which in turn helps you build your Focus Aim, and play the game in a more stealthy fashion. We want players to be more like Daniel Craig's James Bond because he's a very physical, very hand-to-hand Bond.
You can go into a level all guns blazing but I think it's more satisfying to play it with more stealth and the reward for that is to pick up Focus Aim tokens.
Is it possible to play through the entire 007 Blood Stone campaign using just stealth attacks?
No, you will get killed if you try to do that, especially if you play the game on the hardest setting: 007. You're not going to be able to survive solely on stealth attacks!
Will there be consequences to some of the actions that you make during the game that could affect the storyline?
It is a linear narrative, in much the same way the James Bond movies work; a start, middle and an end, but you can learn more about the backstory of the characters that can inform how you play through the game.
There's a device that you get in one of the later levels that allows you to pick up information and details about the back story. The consequences of this are that if you learn more about the characters and the set ups, you can potentially complete them in a different way.
So does that mean Bond will have an array of gadgets at his disposal throughout the game?
It's actually gadget light, which is very much in keeping with the theme of Daniel Craig's Bond. There is space in the Bond gaming world for a Roger Moore gadget led game but not this one. You do get one, but it's not ridiculous and doesn't turn into a hang-glider!
There is obviously a steady mix of on foot combat and vehicle combat, what's the percentage ratio of both in terms of gameplay?
It's about 70 per cent on foot and 30 per cent driving. The driving is actually much shorter, but it's very intense and really good fun.
From what has been shown to date there is a lot of action going on; fighting, shoot-outs, speedboat and car chases, will the rest of the game unfold like this?
It's got to have pacing. I don't think it would be satisfying to players if it was all out action all of the time. I think it has to have peaks and troughs. Every level has some kind of climactic ending. It's not always just a massive explosion; we're trying to make it more than that. We've been very keen to pace it like that for players.
Will 007 Blood Stone feature any multiplayer modes?
Multiplayer is there, but we're not talking about that aspect of the game just yet!
Keep an eye on eu.playstation.com for more 007 Blood Stone news in the coming months!
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