007 First Light
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: IO Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $69.99 USD – Available Here $119.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
No name is more synonymous with spy thrillers than James Bond. Throughout the decades of films, we’ve seen various iterations of Bond take on the wildest of foes and accompanied by the most pun-named women around until recently where the series started taking more of a hard turn over the last two decades. Along those same lines, while there was practically a James Bond video game releasing almost every year for a while during the late ’90s and early ’00s, it has been quiet for quite some time for the familiar spy. So much in fact it seemed that it was time for not only a fresh take on James Bond, but also handing his care over to perhaps the best team to craft a game all about infiltrating, discovering clues, and even taking out targets if need be, IO Interactive. After a fourteen year disappearance the Hitman developers have brought forth a new James Bond in 007 First Light, looking to bring their own style to the flair that the suave spy has to offer. The question is, was this a perfect partnership or one leading towards a failed mission?
Story
Sent as a part of a recovery mission for an unknown asset, James Bond is the only aircrewman of His Majesty’s Special Air Forces to survive an ambush that downs both choppers in their mission in Iceland. With an MI6 handler taking over his comms and guiding James through the rest of the mission he manages to locate the target, a crashed satellite and a research camp now flooded with mercenaries and keeping its scientists captive. Defying the orders of MI6 and the statistically impossible odds, James manages to rescue the scientists and destroys the camp to prevent the asset from falling into the enemy’s clutches. Despite going off-books and destroying millions in equipment at the time, Bond is recruited by MI6 and fasttracked into joining the mothballed 00 program. Although he starts nearly a half year behind the other six candidates, Bond manages to clear the training much to the chagrin of his instructor John Greenway.
Finally, after being given a simpler field assignment, the real thing begins as the long missing 009, a believed traitor to the Crown, has resurfaced and is willing to contact MI6 after being off grid for over a decade. With Bond still not quite trusted with the level of espionage required for such a mission, he’s tasked with guarding the car at the event, only to find himself waist deep in an assassination plot with explosive results that not only kicks off the beginning of James Bond’s career but throws it into full throttle as he must deal with international assassins, countless waves of mercenaries, as well as levels of espionage and plots that far outstrip anything he could have imagined or been trained for. Thankfully, with a bit of quick wit, charm, and skills beaten into him through training it will be up to Bond to discover the truth.
007 First Light has all of the elements that fans of espionage and spy thrillers could hope for, especially when it comes to modern Bond films. Not only are all of the main characters presented in exceptional detail through their voice work and performances, which we will discuss later, but the numerous plot twists, reveals, and backstabbing throughout the game’s roughly sixteen hour long story is exceptionally well done. Every twist and reveal feels earned and nothing feels like a strange turn, making this journey of James Bond’s rise from a fresh trainee to the man known as 007 all the more thrilling and engaging. It also helps immensely that this fresh faced version of Bond is as charming and cunning as fans of the franchise could hope for, leading to some potentially great continuations down the line.
This is helped by the fact that the title is broken down into a rather uniquely paced structure. Players will go through an introduction of mechanics at sorts through the initial mission and training sections before tossing them into the deep end with a wider map designed for problem solving. This is then followed by more subdued talking events and sequences of driving broken up with quiet moments or interactions between familiar faces that generally make up a Bond story such as Q or Moneypenny, only for the next sequence to feature a bombastic car chase or firefight with explosions and more special effects than players can shake a stick at. There are even various collectables players can gather though these tend to offer very little in the way of actual storyline, and a number of them rely on players revisiting levels with more tools unlocked upon replay.
Gameplay
007 First Light does an excellent job of working through what the game expects of them and the various mechanics at play, especially since there can be quite a lot going on at times. The initial mission is almost entirely stealth based as a single gunshot will kill Bond, forcing him to crouch and sneak through bushes, throw bottles, turn on radios, or sabotage something to distract a guard, or sneak up and even takedown one of them in order to complete the mission successfully. From this stealth based introduction players are then put through a literal training course as James Bond is run through all of the elements of the game including how gunplay works, focus time, racing around a winding track, and of course brawling with enemies, all while trying to still climb around and reach the objective, in this case a flag.
Then it throws players into the deep end with the full field mission that puts them to the test and lets players get a feeling for how everything plays out in real time and for the most part it works rather well. The stealth and sneaking in 007 First Light is handled exceptionally well with enemy’s awareness being indicated by markers that players can break line of sight of or even bluff their way past if they are a low ranking guard. Similarly, higher ranking guards can see Bond fake surrender to them and nail them with a brutal takedown instead, though these can only be done so many times and cost “focus” to do so. Instead players will be able to use the “Q-Lens” and Bond’s watch and smartphone to do a number of helpful tricks thanks to the tools of espionage players can select to bring on every mission.
As a default players will always be able to “hack” things and cause distractions at the cost of battery but other gadgets (two to start with) can be selected as players progress through the story. Some of these include a poison dart that will sicken enemies and send them away from their post at the cost of chemicals, letting players sneak past or take them down easily, shoot out a laser to blind a foe or even blast apart a lock or piece of furniture, throw out a stun grenade in the form of ear pods, and more. All of these require batteries and chemicals as mentioned and players can refill these by traveling around the map and finding cleaning products and even things such as other phones or drills scattered around to refill their gadgets. Of course, stealth isn’t always an option but it also isn’t required either most of the time as Bond isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty or spill some blood when needed, though the latter is only when the “license to kill” is issued.
Fighting enemies in melee combat is a bit of a mixed bag especially since Bond is surprisingly fragile in melee combat, even more so than during an actual firefight which is a strange thing. Getting shot a few times? No problem. A few punches and he’s down for the count. Either way, players will fight enemies where they can chain combos together and even grab and bash them into walls or throw them over counters, railings, and even into the ocean in some places. Bond is an opportunist and players can even fling bottles or hammers at enemies to stun them for a brutal takedown. As for incoming attacks, players can block blows and parry attacks shown through yellow glowing enemies or dodge red glowing attacks. Unfortunately the brawls tend to happen in tight spaces if they do break out and the camera is less than generous in these battles, so players will want to pick and choose their fights if they can, or at least whittle down the amount of enemies first through stealth and gadgets.
The only time Bond can draw his guns and start shooting is when the enemy has a clear intent to do the same, triggering the “license to kill” state. Bond always has a starting pistol and can use a focus mode to slow down time and take deadly accurate shots at the cost of the focus meter. While in a firefight players will need to always be on the move as cover is destructible and enemies aren’t afraid to flank or toss grenades, though at the same time players can hack these grenades to disable them or blow up explosives and decimate the battlefield. Ammunition also comes at a premium so gathering enemy weapons to stay in the fight is essential. Players can shoot an enemy in their hands to force them to drop their gun, shoot them in the leg to disable them, as there are challenges for not killing foes in shootouts, and players can even literally throw an empty gun at an enemy to stun them, letting Bond perform a running takedown and take their gun at the same time. This makes firefights feel like a flashy and exhilarating experience, exactly what one would expect from a James Bond movie.
It also wouldn’t be the true Bond experience without extremely expensive cars involved in ridiculous chase sequences often involving shooting at the same time and there is plenty of that in 007 First Light, though it isn’t quite as enjoyable as some may hope. While the cars look great and racing down twisting roads and cutting through fields is as exciting as one would hope, these driving moments are also incredibly “handholdy” to the point that players cannot fail them outside of not driving at all. Outside of the main story players can also take part in various optional “simulations” that increase the player’s rank and gadgets as they improve and all levels can eventually be replayed using anything the players have unlocked, meaning they can revisit a mission that has numerous ways to complete a goal and solve it in a different manner or collect something they missed the first time through.
Audio & Visuals
It must be said that IO Interactive’s past experiences have made them the perfect developers for 007 First Light. Players will find themselves traveling through and visiting a wide array of different environments that are packed full of detail and while are simply enemy corridors or meant to be traversed through climbing and puzzle solving, other stages are absolutely massive puzzles brimming with NPCs. The immense number of NPCs walking around and doing their own tasks is quite impressive and the level of detail on even the NPCs is quite high. That’s nothing compared to the main characters that are involved in the story and cutscenes. The characters look exactly like the actors that voice them in many cases to the point that players can pinpoint exactly who they are. Combine this with flashy gunfights, tons of explosions, and some rather crazy car chases and this is a James Bond game that is truly a treasure for the eyes.
As mentioned before, the voice work for the game is handled so exceptionally well that it almost feels like movie quality at some points and there is a good reason for that. A large portion of the game’s cast features actors who play their roles perfectly here and help deliver the emotional punch that the game needs when it requires a poignant moment, a sign of desperation, or how intense a sequence can play out. The soundtrack is also filled with a collection of outstanding pieces of background music both new and familiar. Playing through a sequence only for one of the classic 007 themes to start playing in the background felt not only fitting, but like a return to form for a character that has spent far too long out of the limelight.
Overall
Putting 007 First Light in the hands of IO Interactive turned out to be an incredible fit as their work on infiltration and filling a stage with so many opportunities and NPCs transfers perfectly into the world of spy thrillers. While some of the melee combat can use some work and driving is a bit rough, the gunplay and stealth are exceptional especially when it comes to the way 007 First Light is paced. Slowly unveiling its twisting plot of espionage and secrets through a course of smaller and grander stages, the presentation remains stellar throughout and something that shows that James Bond is in good hands now, and hopefully will be in the future.
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