I’ll be honest: I’m not really much of a James Bond fan. I’ve seen a couple of the Pierce Broson films that mainly bored me, and that one with Christopher Lee and an extra nipple, but that’s about it.
However, like any 90s kid who had a Nintendo 64, I adored the Goldeneye 007 game, and some of my fondest gaming memories involve crouching in a (virtual) toilet and shooting any friend that tried to find me.
Apart from that, though, I've about as disinterested in James Bond games as I was the films. However, my interest was piqued by the announcement that IO Interactive, the team behind the fantastic Hitman series of games, was making 007 First Light, Bond’s next digital adventure.
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Die and let die
Hitman’s fancy globe-spanning locations and large, detailed levels that allow you to complete objectives in a variety of inventive ways, seems like a perfect fit for the world of Bond, but the cold ruthlessness and moral ambiguity of Agent 47, the titular hitman of the series, doesn’t match up to the wisecracking, and fundamentally good, Agent 007 of the films I’ve seen.
Of course, just because IO Interactive is making 007 First Light, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be the same as a Hitman game - the devs are obviously talented enough that they could make a completely different type of game, but I think we’d all agree that would be a missed opportunity.
At a special preview event held in a very fancy hotel that would make a perfect Hitman level, I was given a few hours to play some carefully-selected parts of the game. As 007 First Light is a far more narratively-driven game than any of the Hitman games I’ve played (which could sometimes feel like a series of set pieces loosely tied together, which the episodic release schedule of Hitman 3 didn’t help with), I’m going to be very careful and not spoil any twists and turns, lest IO Interactive send a bald guy with a barcode neck tattoo after me.
In case you missed it, 007 First Light is an origin story, so the first level, which acts as a tutorial for some of the game’s mechanics, introduces us to a young James Bond who has yet to join MI6.
From the little I had seen about the game beforehand, I have to say I wasn’t totally sure about this version of Bond. He isn’t based on any particular movie Bond, and the impression I got from the cardboard cutouts that were dotted around the banks of gaming PCs where we previewed the game, this Bond appeared to be a bit generic. Now, I’m certainly no Bond fan, but one thing I do know is that Bond should never be generic.
Bond starts this level crawling out of the freezing sea and finds a mysterious series of labs patrolled by foreign-sounding enemies. Finding a radio, you’re then guided by a mysterious Agent Roth to get somewhere warm and figure out what’s going on. This early part of the level has Bond suffering from hyperthermia, which is a realistic touch, but it does mean Bond’s trademark quips and charm are replaced with chattering teeth and stutters.
While trying to avoid patrols and find warmth, you’re introduced to basic stealth gameplay, which out in cold Icelandic terrain (where this level takes place), mainly involves crouching and dashing between hidden spots. About two minutes into the very first level, I was spotted by a torch-wielding underling and riddled with bullets.
My incompetence made a nearby IO Interactive team member, who was watching me play, laugh. Are you supposed to die in a tutorial? I certainly managed it, and I felt more James Pond (a reference for the older gamers amongst us) than James Bond as I flopped around the frozen beach.
After another embarrassing death, I found a way to sneak past the bad guys, and snuck into a building where I found a nice, warm, coat. With this James Bond warming up, I was quickly warming to him as well, and the banter between Bond and Agent Roth started clicking as I explored the mysterious buildings.
Investigating, finding weapons and getting into fights all felt similar to Hitman (and not in a bad way), and after rescuing hostages, blowing up the base and mounting a thrilling escape that involved climbing perilous cliffs and being chased by vehicles in a cinematic set piece that you still have control over, I wasn’t just reminded of Hitman, but also of Naughty Dog’s excellent Uncharted series. I absolutely love those games, so that’s a huge plus for me.
Best of all, with a final wisecrack and sly grin on his face as the level ended, I was fully on board with this version of Bond as well - especially as the screen fades to black, and Lana Del Rey’s Bond theme, “First Light”, which was recorded for the game and co-written with long-time Bond composer David Arnold, kicks in.
Lana Del Rey - First Light (Lyric Video) - YouTube
I then played a bit of a later level where Bond is now a new recruit in MI6 and is taking part in a training exercise. This level introduces you to more of the game mechanics, including using various gadgets, such as a watch that can be used to distract enemies and hack nearby devices. Sneaky gadgets that can get you into places you shouldn’t be in, as well as getting you out of sticky situations, are mainstays of both Hitman games and Bond movies, so it’s here that the combo of Bond and IO Interactive begins to really shine.
It also introduces you to some of Bond’s fellow recruits and offers multiple ways to complete objectives, preparing you for the larger sandboxes to come. Like Hitman, 007 First Light is an immersive sim, which means most levels are large and detailed, you’re given some objectives, and then you’re left to reach those objectives in pretty much any way you like.
This approach was exemplified in the last mission I was shown at the preview event, which takes place somewhere in the middle of the game (again, no spoilers here). The checklist - a fancy location, an objective to get inside unnoticed and a target to track down, will again be familiar to anyone who has played a Hitman game, and it’s also a fantastic example of how this type of game fits seamlessly into the world of Bond.
Distracting someone and carefully swiping their invite gets me into the event, and eavesdropping on conversations, while also flirting with a mysterious woman at the bar (how very Bond), opens up some potential leads. Seeing the scope of the level and getting an idea of the many ways I could complete the objectives, and trying a few out, gave me the kind of thrill I used to get when starting a new level of Hitman 3. One option that I couldn’t use, however, was lethal force. Unlike Agent 47, Bond isn’t a ruthless killer, which is why IO Interactive have introduced the ‘Licence to Kill’ mechanic.
This means Bond can’t pull out a gun or kill people until someone first tries to kill him. Once that happens, Bond’s Licence to Kill becomes active, allowing you to use whatever force is necessary until the threats are dealt with. It’s a neat way of making sure the gameplay and Bond IP gel together (something I was initially worried about), and while you can certainly complete parts of level (as, I’m sure, with almost all of the others) in a stealthy and non-violent way, if you’re playing Bond, as I was, as a clumsy buffoon, inevitably your cover will get blown.
Now, you can try to bluff your way out of a situation, with Bond coolly coming up with a lie about why he’s in a restricted location, but that doesn’t always work if there’s an NPC nearby that can see through your lies. If the bluff works, you can continue your stealthy ways, but otherwise, it’s action time.
No, Mr Bond, I expect you to hit me on the head with a mug
The good news is that fights, both hand-to-hand and with weapons, is a lot of fun.
You’re able to use various objects lying around as improvised throwables, sort of like Dead Rising, and that leads to some entertainingly scrappy fights. At one point, I was accosted near a snooker table, which led me to grapple with a guard. After smashing his head on the side of the snooker table a few times, I picked up a snooker ball and hit him across the head with it.
This whole fight, which could have been easily avoided, flowed together brilliantly, and while it sounds violent, it’s relatively bloodless, preserving the feel of Bond (especially the pre-Daniel Craig eras) movies.
Other times, I could throw books, laptops, and pretty much anything I found lying about when things got tight. You can even throw your gun once you’ve run out of ammo. Gunplay feels good, though as with many a third-person shooter, you’ll spend a lot of time hiding behind tables, desks and other makeshift shields, popping up to take out baddies before you get surrounded.
Sometimes, when an enemy goes down, they’ll throw their gun up into the air, allowing you to catch it and continue firing. This, along with the environmental melee combat, really makes you feel like you’re in a Bond film. That feeling also crops up while you’re sneaking around and using your watch (I assume given to you by Bond mainstay Q) to drop chandeliers on unsuspecting guards, or setting off fire extinguishers to distract them.
This level also has some more Uncharted-esque cinematic fight and chase scenes. By the end of my time with 007 First Light a similarity with another game popped into my mind: Arkham Asylum. Not because of any gameplay similarities, but because Arkham Asylum did such a good job of making the player feel like Batman, and from what I’ve seen, 007 First Light does a similar job making you feel like Bond.
This all bodes extremely well for 007 First Light, and I came away from the event very impressed and eagerly awaiting its launch. One remaining concern, however, is that you might have noticed I’ve compared 007 First Light to a lot of other games - I hope the final release stands up on its own merits, rather than just being an amalgamation of other titles.
I have faith that IO Interactive will deliver.
And you shouldn't worry about the performance
There have been some concerns based on early footage, that 007 First Light might be a little rough around the edges, but I’m pleased to report that the build I played ran extremely well, though I did encounter a bug where an NPC’s dialogue kept repeating itself. Certainly nothing game breaking.
I played 007 First Light on a gaming PC supplied for the event, and while I don’t know the exact specs, I do know it has an Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card.
This is currently the most powerful gaming GPU you can buy, so it’s little surprise that the game ran well on it - I’d be very interested to see how it runs on more affordable hardware, as well as consoles (there’s even going to be a Switch 2 version later).
The game itself looks fantastic, with each contained level allowing for a huge amount of detail that would be impossible if this was a large open-world game.
The ray traced lighting was utilized extremely well, giving environments an extra level of realism, and that will be further improved at launch with the addition of path traced lighting - though this will be a PC-only feature for people with compatible Nvidia graphics cards.
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