The James Bond franchise has brought gamers many ups and many more downs. Obviously the pinnacle of the franchise was the N64’s GoldenEye, while the low points are too many to name. James Bond 007: Blood Stone hopes to capitalize on the lack of a James Bond film any time soon and continue the adventures of this era’s Daniel Craig Bond. A new trailer sees Bond travelling to Istanbul to stop a bio-weapons trade between a rogue researcher and an arms dealer.

Check it out below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZ76ZngmOY&feature=player_embedded

If there is one thing to be said about this game it’s that it varies the gameplay up quite a bit. You have your hand-to-hand combat, third person shooting, and driving missions all set within one level. The animation of Craig’s face feels a bit too “Blue Steel” for my taste, but I am sure you will spend most of the time staring at either the back of Bond’s head or his license plate.

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To me this feels like a retread of the same territory explored by all of the previous Bond games.  There doesn't seem to be a revitalization of the franchise happening here, but rather an “if it aint broke, don’t fix it” philosophy at work. Bizarre Creations must have felt that getting big name actors from the film franchise should have been motivation enough to put forth more effort than is shown on screen.

The James Bond franchise is popular enough that this game will surely move units, just like the new Goldeneye for the Wii will. But, like the dying film franchise, I would prefer some evolution on the part of the creative teams, taking James Bond out of his stale treadmill of mediocrity and into a game we can all be excited to play. For now, the stone has been bled dry.

What do you think of this new trailer, Ranters? Will you play anything with James Bond attached to its title, or are you feeling like you have had one too many martinis shaken, not stirred? Let us know in the comments below.

James Bond 007: Blood Stone suits up in November on the Xbox 360, PC, PS3, and DS.