007 First Light Review

There are certain moments in life when it’s difficult to refute the existence of destiny, or a similar guiding phenomenon. As an example, during the last few months, I’ve been consuming different kinds of espionage-themed media, be it via playing Secret Agent Clank for an article series or finally checking out Kingsman: The Secret Service after years of procrastination, only for the biggest name in the business to drop on my lap with IO Interactive A/S’s stealthy thriller, 007 First Light.

Now, I admit it has been a while since I last saw or played anything related to the franchise, so the game being an origin story for the suave spy certainly made things easy to approach.

Taking place in an unspecified contemporary-ish setting, First Light follows the early days of air crewman James Bond as his unit is sent to Iceland on a support mission. As with any videogame opening featuring helicopters, things go awry, and young Bond is the only survivor. Finding a working radio and being contacted by a mysterious woman who works for MI6, our hero infiltrates hostile forces and manages to impress the intelligence agency.

From there, James is tasked with enrolling on the newly resurrected 00 program, having to both prove himself to other candidates and catch up with months of training. As in any rendition of 007 media, basic training quickly evolves into thrilling, globetrotting adventures filled with car chases, gunfights, suave social engagement… and oh, so many one-liners.

The narrative is great, hitting all of the key notes one could expect from a Bond thriller without seeming too formulaic. We visit exotic and varying locales, get to pretend to be socially adept in expensive suits, fiddle with cool gadgets, and I can confirm that fast cars go vroom. Sure, it’s not exactly difficult to see some plot beats coming, but the game does have a few interesting twists to pull! I do, however, have some scruples with the decision to have the game be a prologue of sorts.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s the right decision to get new fans into the franchise, but not much is done to work on our beloved Bond as a character. He basically starts off as a highly skilled combatant with a strong sense of morals and a knack for both getting into and out of trouble… and that doesn’t really change much, if at all, during the runtime. I have the same issue here as I did while playing the Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy: the games focus more on a character becoming the iconic hero than on actually being them.

This is definitely not a deal-breaker, as the narrative is fun and action-packed, but your mileage may vary depending on your expectations. MILD SPOILERS: [As the game is obviously setting up for a sequel or even a franchise, it gets a pass. I will be very disappointed, however, if we spend another trilogy “earning the number”.]

Moving on to the mechanical side of things, First Light’s narrative is mission-based, which is split into open-area stealth sections, action setpieces, and the odd vehicle section. As one can expect from the Hitman developers, the first is where they absolutely excel.

Taking up the majority of the playtime, these sneaking sections may seem familiar to fans of the studio's works: the player is given an objective, some tools, and a few leads to follow, after which they are unceremoniously plopped into a tidal wave of people and locales. As the area is explored, James may uncover additional hints and routes to achieve his goals. Often, these boil down to sneaking in, causing a distraction by blowing something up, or using Bond’s endless charisma to bluff his way through.

Thankfully, this being a 007 story, Q-branch has whipped up some nifty gadgets for our rookie spy. Among the most used are the Q-Watch and Q-Lens, which are a mandatory addition to James’ repertoire regardless of the mission. The latter is basically a high-tech contact lens which lets our hero see enemy locations and status, highlights interactable objects, and shows where one could possibly find threads or clues to follow.

The watch, on the other hand, pulls double duty by both being a hacking tool and acting as a central HUD element for James. In the former role, the device can be used to interact with electronic devices from a distance, usually to distract or eliminate guards, though it can also open the odd window or door. In the latter, the player is shown the watch’s face on the bottom-left corner of the screen, which displays the current number of resources (more on that in a bit) as well as the alert status of enemies.

Outside of these lovely gadgets, James is given a few options from the series’ history, such as the Laser Strap that can cut wires or melt locks, the Dart Phone for making a target feel ill, and even some Smoke Pods for those wanting to channel their inner ninja. James has small pockets, however, so the player is limited to up to three gadgets (alongside the aforementioned watch and lens) per mission.

Now, about those resources. Even though Q-Branch does its best to create long-lasting devices, they do eventually run out of juice. Thankfully, they are advanced enough to use just about anything as a replacement. Each gadget uses either electricity or toxins (colour coded blue and green for our convenience), with a single use often taking up a third or even half of the available pool. To gain more, the player simply needs to find something electronic, like a battery or a phone, or something toxic, like cleaning supplies.

Having spent long minutes hunting through every nook and cranny for rat poison in Hitman, I much preferred this system, as it made refuelling much simpler. Having a great plan be foiled by not finding a single item is always frustrating, after all.

The third resource at Bond’s disposal is a bit more ethereal: Instinct. This innate trait is measured in points and is used in a few different ways. First off, a single point can be used to trigger a slowdown effect when aiming with a weapon, making it easier to hit a moving target. Second, Instinct can be used to both Lure and Bluff enemies at the cost of multiple points, with the former doing what it says on the tin.

The second use is a bit more complex. Unlike a certain barcode-bearing boogeyman, James isn’t a fan of changing outfits and prefers to use his wits to get out of sticky situations and into restricted areas. With the use of a solid Bluff, Bond can trick a group of enemies into believing he is exactly where he is supposed to be, allowing the player to simply walk through. The effect is limited to a few enemies at a time and is temporary, but it’s often enough to keep out of trouble.

As a side note, I often enjoyed the little lies Bond tells whenever the skill is used, as they do often make sense. Only once did I hear the same fib being used twice, and that was probably my own bad for being caught so often.

Much like the other resources, Instinct is finite. To get it back, Bond must either succeed in tricking a foe or get his hands dirty in fisticuffs, which brings us to the combat.

Fist fights are pretty basic in terms of mechanics, taking inspiration from the Batman: Arkham games. James has a solid combo of hits, and he can also grab, tackle, or throw enemies around. Certain foe’s attacks must be blocked, and others need to be dodged, all telegraphed by a flash of yellow or red light. It’s pretty basic, but it gets the job done.

What I will praise is how visceral and kinetic the fights are. As the player both flings enemies around and is themself sent flying, chairs will be broken, items will fall to the floor, and metal doors will be dented. It’s hard to put into words, but the way the environment reacts to the bare-knuckle brawling is impressive to say the least.

Being part of an intelligence agency, James is bound by some general rules of conduct, the eponymous License to Kill being one of them: if Bond is not being actively shot at, he is not cleared to take a life. As such, stealth takedowns and brawls are the more common types of battling the player will be doing.

As is traditional in stealth games, there will come a time when a mistake is made, the alarm is raised, and weapons are drawn, which brings us neatly to the gunplay… which is a bit awkward. When done with small groups, it works fine. Guns have a satisfying feel, and a few well-placed shots can take a foe out, no problem. Where I feel the game struggles, however, is in the action setpieces where James (and the player) is forced to take on a horde of weapon-wielding baddies.

The whole experience is a bit of a cavalcade of little annoyances. The enemies are surprisingly accurate with their guns, and poor Bond can only take a few shots before dropping. Most of the available cover is destructible, so getting a breather and reorient can be hard, and the weapons the player can pick up seem to always be half empty.

Playing through these sections makes it feel like the engine and gameplay simply are not suited for all-out firefights. The segments seem to only have one correct approach, with any other attempts being rewarded with bullet hell levels of projectiles. It makes sense to approach them more like a puzzle than a classic shooting gallery; however, this doesn’t quite match the gameplay.

Thankfully, the few vehicle sections are much more relaxed and simple. Often on the shorter side and acting as a bridge between other segments, driving around the desert in a Land Rover or racing through the streets in a Jaguar is about as fun as it sounds. I admit, I felt like the vehicle bits were added more to align the game with the 007 image than as coherent sections of gameplay, though they do serve as effective breathers.

The main story of First Light took me around 15 hours to complete while playing at a relaxed pace and giving myself time to explore and find collectables. The game also offers a Tactical Simulation (or tac sim) mode, which is very similar to the mission structure of the Hitman games. Players can either play through short tutorial-esque missions with multiple goals to complete or take on larger open-area maps. With each success, their Agency level will increase, opening up new loadouts and options.

First Light does a very good job of feeling like a 007 movie in videogame form. I did have my issues, as it tended to drag some sections on a bit longer than I’d have liked, especially near the end. However, for what it is, it is an excellent bit of spy thriller.

My biggest issue with the game was that it felt like it was a bit front-loaded with goodies. The first few open-area missions were spectacular, with inventive routes to follow and a bunch I probably didn’t even find. Regardless, as the game went on, it felt like less and less time was put into the design of the stages. Even the clues started simply pointing at the thing you needed to do, rather than giving some vague direction.

In a similar way, First Light has the same bad habit many AAA games have in that it is deathly afraid of the player being stuck. As such, either James himself or a support character will constantly comment on what needs to be done or the next step in the mission, which can be annoying when all I want to do is explore the area in peace. I wish there were an option to either turn these hints off or at least increase the idle duration.

In terms of visuals, the game is phenomenal. IO Interactive is an absolute master at creating living, breathing locations. The sheer amount of dynamic NPCs is astounding to say the least, and the way James himself interacts with the environment is amazing. The sound design is equally impressive, sounding distinctly like a 007 film without being too much like an individual Bond era. The score also tends to crescendo into the Bond theme at key junctions, which always garnered a smirk from me.

Between missions, James is allowed to bum around the MI6 office and chat up the employees, which is a very unnecessary, but oh so appreciated touch. Not only is the building chock full of easter eggs and call-backs to spy media, but it also does a lot to make the game feel distinct.

Now, since this is a 007 game, I’m honestly unsure on how deliberate the product placement in the game is… but it is heavy. Be prepared to drive Land Rovers, drink Coca-Cola, and ogle your Omega watch. It didn’t bother me, as it’s pretty standard in any visual form of Bond media, but be warned that it is egregious.

The game performed relatively well on my machine, with only a few cases of slowdown or frame drops even in the midst of heavy firefights. It did, however, crash to desktop a bit more often than I’d have liked. Most damning of all were the few bugs I encountered in the open-area sections.

As an example, in one section, I was tasked with breaking into a room with a CCTV console. I chose to steal the two required key cards to get in. The first one was easy enough, and I quickly overheard a guard say they would store the second in their office. Upon reaching said office, I saw the item on their desk clear as day… only to be unable to interact with it. Sure, I simply backtracked and found an alternate way in, but the damage was done.

Despite my grumblings, 007 First Light is a fun time. It manages to carve out its own identity while using much of the studio’s past experience for its benefit. The narrative is interesting, the one-liners are funny, and Bond’s interactions with his supporting cast are always a joy. Sure, the firefights could be annoying and the bugs here and there were a damper, but as a whole, the experience was very positive. If you have a hankering for some thrilling espionage or (for some reason) want a violently British game, this is one for you!