By Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye was the first James Bond movie I ever saw, and since then, I have been obsessed with the character.
The style, gravitas, and aura this character exudes are still unmatched, even though Hollywood has desperately tried and failed to replicate them multiple times.
As a fan, I played, or at least tried to play, the James Bond games. I just couldn’t get into it. Every title was missing that iconic vibe of a James Bond movie, and yes, I’m not a huge fan of the classic GoldenEye video game either.
When 007 First Light was announced, I was skeptical. Is this going to be another Blood Stone disaster?
I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t the case with 007 First Light. Thanks to IO Interactive’s Hitman formula, this game feels much more like a true James Bond game. And the key to that is following its own unique story, rather than building off of already existing movie characters.
So TLDR, is 007 First Light worth playing? The answer is an enthusiastic YES! Why? Well, even though it’s not the most perfect game, for a James Bond experience, First Light delivers well beyond expectations. I’ll explain.
IMPORTANT: 007 First Light is a story-based game. To avoid spoiling the game for you, I’m not going to cover anything about the story and mission details in this review.
What Is 007 First Light About?
007 First Light is an action-adventure game that comes from IO Interaction, the same folks behind the Hitman franchise.
When I first read about IO taking on a James Bond game, I was half expecting it to be a reskin of a Hitman game. While there are some glimpses of Hitman that can be seen in First Light, it’s a completely different experience.
Unlike previous James Bond games, 007 First Light follows a unique storyline with its own new characters. First Light is an origin story of the character and features a very young and ambitious James Bond, excellently portrayed by Patrick Gibson.
The story revolves around a timely topic, artificial intelligence, and a rogue double-0 agent. I’ll just leave it at that because First Light’s story campaign is something you need to experience yourself from start to finish.
Smooth, Flowing Missions
Every mission flowed naturally from start to finish. There were times I lost track of time and played several hours of the game in one sitting.
Especially the beginning tutorial sequence of First Light is something that game developers should consider studying because it was impressively crafted to make it feel like a part of the story, rather than something players are forced to complete.
In each mission, players are presented with different environments and locations with various challenges to deal with. The story and the characters do a work coherently to make you feel immersed in each location as well.
Character animations and voice-overs blend perfectly, especially for Patrick Gibson’s role of Bond, which makes the game feel just like watching a movie. Even the supporting characters are crafted well to offer a memorable experience.
Streamlined Stealth Gameplay
Stealth is a major part of James Bond movies. Going undercover, but in a stylish way, is the whole charm of being 007.
First Light does a good job of integrating this aspect. Whenever Bond is caught sneaking around, he would bluff his way out of the situation with a clever remark.
However, when it comes to actual stealth gameplay, it seemed a bit too streamlined. In almost every mission, the path is completely laid out for you. You just can’t make up your own path and sneak in wherever you want. You have to sneak in through an exact window by distracting that exact guard.
In those situations, I just had to remind myself that I’m not playing a Hitman game. This is a James Bond game designed to make you feel like you’re playing a movie. You’re following a pre-crafted story, and in this story, some decisions are made “for you”.
Engaging Combat & Gunplay
Thankfully, the engaging hand-to-hand and weapon combat more than makes up for the lack of good stealth mechanics.
Fighting bad guys with melee combat in First Light reminded me of the combat system in the Batman Arkham series. It’s punchier and more engaging than most other games. You can feel every punch you hit, as well as when you get hit.
You can block and counter moves, throw enemies at walls and desks, and use objects around the environment, like bottles, to hit them as well. These fights were like actual real-life fights.
When things heat up, you get to go all-in and head-on at enemies with guns. You get to handle several different types of weapons in the game, and they also feel satisfying to shoot bad guys with.
Cool Gadgets To Experiment With
James Bond wouldn’t be iconic without the gadgets. In First Light, you get to work with a few different gadgets. But there’s a catch: you only get to take a couple of them on missions.
Although in my playthrough, I didn’t feel the need to choose because I was more than capable of completing missions with just two gadgets.
The main and most effective gadget is the one that allows you to shoot a dart that makes people feel sick. This is the best way to distract people and to get around obstacles. The other gadget can hack electronics to cause a distraction.
These two got me through missions without a hitch. Of course, there are other gadgets to choose from and play around with. I’ll probably challenge myself to choose different gadgets in my second playthrough.
Vehicles & Driving Mechanics
It’s a known fact that in every James Bond movie, you see 007 handling land, water, and air vehicles. This has been the formula for Bond movies since Goldfinger in 1964. I was excited to experience that same formula in First Light.
Vehicular gameplay is a part of almost every mission. But they aren’t as impactful as I’d imagined. The driving and chase scenes mostly feel cinematic and don’t have any impact on the mission, whether you drive faster or slower.
These scenes do feel awesome and do a great job of making you feel like a badass, though.
Tactical Simulations & Future Updates
Tactical Simulations is a replayable game mode in First Light that lets you enter a virtual environment to learn, practice, and engage in various types of combat scenarios.
It includes two sections called Escalations, which include various challenges, and Operations for replaying parts of the story campaign missions.
In Escalations, you get to complete dozens of different scenarios to earn XP, which then allows you to unlock better gadgets, weapons, and suits. You can also set the difficulty to up the challenge.
It’s sort of like the endgame content for you to test your skills and grind for after finishing the campaign.
IO Interactive has announced content updates for First Light and maybe even some DLCs. But we are yet to find out what they actually are. It’s safe to speculate that most of the upcoming content will likely be based around the Tactical Simulator system.
Performance Issues
During my playthrough on PC, I encountered slight stuttering and performance issues. I played the game after release and two patch updates. And I was surprised to discover frame drops even after these patches.
In some occasions, the frame rate dropped below 15. According to feedback from other players, this is not an isolated issue. Hopefully, a future patch will fix this as it severely impacts the immersiveness of the game.
Is 007 First Light Worth Buying?
As a huge Bond fan, I can’t recommend First Light enough. It’s a must-play for Bond fans, and even if you’re new to the franchise, this game deserves a playthrough for its engaging storytelling and immersive gameplay mechanics.
First Light captures the essence of a true Bond story, and it manages to tell an origin story better than any movie could have done. Even though I couldn’t relate to the Bond character in the beginning, since he was immature and reckless, by the end, I was convinced he’s a great addition to the James Bond roster.
I hope IO Interactive will continue to develop more Bond games and turn this into a series. This is a solid foundation to build a great franchise of games off of. First Light is a title I can recommend buying even at full price, which I rarely do.
