by Danreb Victorio
When IO Interactive announced it had the rights to the 007 IP, many people, including me, thought it was a match made in heaven. It does cause some pause, though. First of all, Bond isn’t Agent 47, and while Hitman definitely has more than mainstream gamer appeal, it isn’t really a blockbuster franchise in the way 007 is. Luckily, there shouldn’t be any worry about any of that. 007 First Light is one of the best games of the year and might even be the best 007 game ever.
The best thing about 007 First Light is that it doesn’t try to be GoldenEye 007. Not only is trying to catch that same lightning in a bottle a fool’s errand, but the devs at IO Interactive know that pursuing a first-person adventure would be pigeonholing it into a genre where players can easily make the choice if the game is for them or not. The other great thing about 007 First Light is that, while it’s obviously a Bond experience, it doesn’t even really try to be that early on, either.
Other than the sultry title sequence with the game’s theme performed by Lana Del Rey, both James Bond and First Light earn their stripes.
That’s what First Light is actually about. We meet a young James Bond as he joins and gets acclimated to secret intelligence life as a part of MI6. From ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, to getting recommended for the “00” program, and proving his value with his excellence at combat and quick wits, the beginning of First Light is an impressive montage to get us up to speed with this story’s James Bond, played immaculately by Irish actor Patrick Gibson, as well as its gameplay mechanics that really sing and lend itself well to future DLC packages and perhaps the high possibility of being a fun franchise down the line.
Its gameplay is one part Uncharted, one part Hitman, with a little bit of gray area from both franchises in between. The Uncharted comparisons will be uncanny, since this version of James Bond is about as athletic as Nathan Drake, and, aside from surviving a shootout, Bond is also capable of the same parkour seen in Naughty Dog’s games.
The Hitman comparisons are a little more open-ended. If you haven’t played a Hitman game, it’s second to none when it comes to stealth, and if I were forced to make a direct comparison to what it feels like, it would be more Splinter Cell than Metal Gear. Outside of simply being out of sight from guards or enemy operatives, Bond will have nearly unlimited opportunities to use his surroundings and wits to his advantage. From whistling to get attention to messing with nearby circuitry or devices to get people out of their spots, being truly stealthy is a valid option. One cool thing, though, specific to 007, is that if you are caught, you can bluff your way out of a situation, or pretend to surrender before disarming or putting the hurt on enemies. Either of these actions will depend on the amount of points you’ve built up doing your secret agent stuff. Seeing Gibson’s Bond be so confident with total bullcrap lines to get out of a sticky situation was definitely more hilarious than engaging in hand-to-hand combat for no reason.
Another cool thing Bond will have access to are abilities he can perform with his watch. His watch can make people’s phones electrocute, fire a dart that’ll stun them, as well as other maneuvers you’ll unlock in the game that are so cool it’s almost sad that you actually do end up resorting to such treachery in your espionage. Still, if you wanna go out guns blazing, you’re also free to kill everyone in a room with a weapon or your fists, and there’s no need to hide the bodies either. That certainly was a choice, but I respect it because, if that was necessary, the game would easily be twice as long because of the time needed to move carcasses.
I do have one gripe about aspects that affect gameplay length, though. When you die, and you will die, the load screen takes forever to get back into action. I thought we were beyond this stuff this generation, but respawning in First Light really felt like I was back on the PS2. To make matters worse, there was a point in the game where I was forced to fight in a combat arena, and I kept getting killed by the last guy. I must’ve spent an hour just there, dying and loading. Alas, it wouldn’t be Bond if everything were totally clean.
Cleanliness of the game’s story and characters is something that the game’s narrative handles extremely well. Again, we’re using Bond in his infancy. He’s a total newbie at MI6, and while he has the ability to make the right decisions, it won’t always be the right ones, especially when it involves his team. First Light gives us a chance to see Bond as something other than the lone wolf we know him to be. We get to see him work with other operatives as equals, even call them friends, and the cast in First Light is wonderful.
Along with Bond, we get to see newly realized versions of M, Q, and Moneypenny, each with their own relations with him–no, not those kinds of relations, but yes, it’s 007. Some sexy times will happen with other characters. But aside from that, we also have some original characters in the game and story, played by Hollywood talent. Outside of Patrick Gibson, Lenny Kravitz plays the charismatic and antagonistic Bawma, who you just don’t want to mess with. There’s Lennie James, who plays Bond’s mentor, John Greenway, who definitely will pull his cheers and bravos as you get invested in the story. Finally, Gemma Chan also plays Dr. Selina Tan, who, if you so choose, leads Tactical Simulations, which adds more value to the game from both a gameplay and storybuilding perspective.
As far as Tactical Simulations go, they’re optional, but they also represent a lot of the enjoyment you’ll have in standard gameplay outside of the game’s 16-or-so-hour campaign. At first, they’ll act as refreshed tutorials, but as you do more of these simulations, you’ll start to pick up moves and outfits you won’t find in the normal story. While I appreciate this brash, young version of Bond’s persona, I did miss him in action in a tuxedo, and this is one way to make that happen. You eventually start to see some character development with more of the people at MI6 too, especially with Dr. Tan, and it’s all a nice way to just play for the vibes of being on top of an online leaderboard.
I really enjoyed 007 First Light, and it’s a wonder that I did because, for the most part, I’m not particularly fond of Bond stuff, both in video games and film, but I’m enough of a media consumer to have a great appreciation for the experience the game offered. Still, I’d be remiss as a games journalist not to express some displeasure about how late review codes were delivered. For those unaware, review codes for 007 First Light didn’t go out until the Friday night before Memorial Day Weekend, leaving many reviewers from other publications much less time to play the game and write their reviews. As the Executive Editor for the site, knowing this, I was never going to impose such a harsh deadline, but since it’s also me handling the review, this is why it came so late. Throw in the fact that we’ve all been preparing for Summer Game Fest, and that’s why we’re only talking about it now. All this said, usually when this happens, the game isn’t good, but that’s not the case here. 007 First Light is absolutely fantastic.
It’s a good thing that we hadn’t reviewed the game so quickly, too, because we just learned that new missions are on the way in the form of DLC, and I can’t wait to get back into Bond’s shoes. If you’re even remotely a fan of James Bond or secret agent flicks, you owe it to yourself to play 007 First Light. This game made me a fan, and now I’m considering exploring all of the 007 media to see if there’s anything I can predict, now that this game has set a new standard for future Bond experiences.
007 First Light
