An elusive killer stalks a vast palatial estate buried deep inside Europe. He’s a calculated assassin prowling among the rich and powerful and discretely executing the souls unfortunate enough to be on his hitlist. Constant wardrobe changes and an intimate knowledge of the grounds make him a slippery bastard. Developer IO Interactive is used to letting players live through that fantasy through its Hitman games, but the first real mission in 007 First Light flips the script; instead of being the hitman, players are trying to stop one. It’s not a rebuke of the team’s past, though, but a cheeky nod to it, as James Bond’s latest interactive outing benefits immensely from its Hitman-esque design and demonstrates IOI’s impressive versatility.
However, this glowing comparison isn’t immediately apparent. First Light kicks off with a painfully linear intro that immediately has players hiding in waist-high grass, shimmying across convenient rock handholds, and having to exactly follow signposted tutorials. Trading in unbridled freedom for a grab bag of played AAA tropes is disappointing — a shrunken sandbox almost always is.
But the game, thankfully, grows slowly from that restrictive opening through a slick interactive montage that has players learning mechanics alongside Bond. After a couple hours of setup, IOI, finally, lets players loose and demonstrates how First Light is not some spy-themed Uncharted knockoff.
Rating: 5/5
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Kinetic combat loop gets players to move, shoot, punch, and improvise, resulting in a unique action movie-esque tempo | TacSim mode, while a great addition, currently lacks a decent amount of scenarios |
| The lengthy yet well-paced story provides a solid mystery and prescient commentary on current events | |
| Killer performances and snappy dialogue give each of its main characters an endearing personality and further highlight the narrative’s other strengths | |
| Campaign missions consistently move between linear set pieces and open Hitman-esque levels often enough to always stay fresh |
007 First Light Balances Its Various Tones Well
Levels, starting with the huge aforementioned European estate from the first act, are busy spaces crowded with chattering NPCs with silly stories to overhear and all kinds of different rooms to pilfer through. Objectives can often be handled in a handful of ways, many of which are dependent on the player’s loadout and ability to explore the environment. A door lock can be lasered off or nifty agents can slip right on through a blockade by impersonating someone else.
First Light is not as open as the recent Hitman games, though. Bond cannot break decorum in public spaces; axes and homing briefcases cannot be used to eliminate a stubborn guard or bypass a roadblock. The mission details are also always pinned to the corner of the screen and icons hover over the objective and important conversations, and there’s sadly no option to turn these settings off or tone them down. But First Light doesn’t come across as an inferior Hitman game because these options are presented in a more traditional action adventure game. It’s a key bit of context that turns the game into a linear experience with a wider-than-normal array of options as opposed to a half-baked immersive sim.
First Light’s ability to meld its more linear segments with its open hubs is crucial to its impeccable pacing. Stages often cycle between styles and tempos: a calm cutscene and setup at MI6 headquarters will lead into an open, multi-objective environment before shuffling players into a backroom brawl that segues into a stealth segment-turned-shootout and then a car chase and another bombastic set piece. Because players are never doing one thing for too long, First Light is able to sustain itself phenomenally well, despite being a lengthy 17 or so hours. Even the set pieces hardly repeat themselves and often cleverly implement the game’s existing mechanics. One has players directing a massive wrecking ball, while another has them controlling a falling plane while shooting the goons too stupid to grab a parachute and jump out the airlock.
007 First Light‘s Combat Plays Out Like an Action Movie
Its set pieces are more playable than set pieces seen in other games and fit First Light’s wider mission of making its gameplay play out like a choreographed action scene. Cover crumbles after just a few shots and scavenged guns only come with a couple bullets, both of which punish immobility. Enemies can be disarmed by blasting their hands, which causes them to dramatically toss their weapon and get opened up for a melee takedown. Switching between fisticuffs and shooting is also seamless, a luxury that encourages players to not rely on the same strategies.
The kicker here is that both its gunplay and melee combat are strong in and of themselves. Bond’s brawling expertise gives players enough tools to use the arena to their advantage, as skilled fighters can shove enemies into hazards, slam them into their buddies, or throw handheld objects at them for a quick stun. Smooth aiming controls, an array of gadgets, and litany of explosive canisters scattered around even make gunplay more than a simple shooting gallery.
Even though they both work well in isolation, exclusively favoring one over the other misses what makes this combat loop such a blast. First Light is at its best when players are scrambling across the battlefield and improvising with each step. Shooting an armored stooge in the hands, snatching his gun from midair, firing off two slow-motion headshots, throwing that gun at his nearby friend to stun him, moving in for a takedown, blowing up a fire extinguisher for a makeshift smokescreen, and then capping it off with an impromptu four-man fight club is just one scenario that illustrates a mere sliver of what’s possible. First Light empowers players by giving them a wealth of options and rewards them with chaotic encounters that never play out the same way.
The Tactical Simulator challenge mode is designed in a way for players to experience these combat sandboxes free of any narrative threads. With a suite of unlocks and ability to flex its mechanical muscles, it’s a welcome addition that gives the game a way to live on past the campaign, but it’s let down a bit by its paltry offering of scenarios and long load times — the latter of which is persistent across modes. More sequences are coming down the line, yet that doesn’t completely absolve TacSim for launching in such a meager state, especially given its potential.
007 First Light‘s Story Is All Too Relevant
TacSim’s ability to focus purely on gameplay doesn’t mean First Light’s story is lackluster; it’s actually a surprisingly well-written tale. The first act revolves around a mysterious rogue agent and is fairly typical, if decently spun, spy thriller fiction. However, a few revelations in the second act ratchet up the intensity and turn a fairly rote story into an incredibly relevant one with a lot more to say than what it initially lets on.
First Light delves into the follies of relying too heavily on flimsy technology, the self-serving vultures who lie about it, and the feckless officials who let corruption spread in order to maintain the status quo. Even with a spy-tinged patina over it all, its ubiquitous themes are relevant to today’s world where some of the most lecherous psychopaths are forcing artificial intelligence on the public in an effort to inflate their egos and pockets (which is ironic, given the company that owns the James Bond IP and its relationship with AI). First Light’s ability to specifically comment on these modern conflicts gives it a narrative heft it might not otherwise have if it had just focused on the traditional slate of espionage stories.
However, this strong story is still bolstered by its cast. The younger take on Bond works out well, as he’s not a walking collection of tropes and dated clichés and is instead a charming lad with a respectable moral center who feels like a totally original character. His witty silver tongue is endearing and highlights the game’s sharp dialogue that playfully balances its dry comedy and more serious moments. Similar to how its variety of gameplay styles each benefit one another, its ability to tell silly jokes means its surprisingly dark moments are more poignant. Even though the Hitman games were rather comical at times, IOI has upped its game here and unexpectedly risen to the occasion by telling a more well-rounded story for First Light.
“Always do the unexpected” is a theme explicitly stated several times in 007 First Light and evoked in many of its narrative beats. It grants the game an alluring amount of spontaneity, but it’s more than a catchy saying; it’s a mantra for First Light as a whole. It would have been expected for IOI to stick to its Silverballers and immediately pump out another Hitman, yet the team swerved by making a Bond game with its own take on the classic British agent. This willingness to take a different path has led to a fresh 007 experience that beautifully marries the liberating sandbox elements of the Hitman series with explosive set pieces typically found in more linear action games. First Light, as a title, has a dual meaning, too, since it’s not only an origin story for this rendition of James Bond, but also hopefully a new dawn for IOI’s ambitious interpretation of what a 007 game can be.
A PS5 copy of 007 First Light was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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