A few years back when IO Interactive makers of the excellent murder puzzle simulator games from the Hitman series announced they had gotten their hand on the 007 license ... to kill / make video games it seemed like a good match to their skill sets. They've spent the past 30 years perfecting their immersive sim heavy assassination games of stealth and subterfuge a key element of the bond films. There were some doubts there too while they have the assassination spy stealth aspect down like noone else they are not particularly known for action (although they did make the kane and lynch game a while back which was more action oriented) with the Hitman games mostly treating combat a fail state where more than a few enemies engaging you quickly becomes game over so it's something you very infrequently do in those games and usually only when you fuck up. Still it seemed like a good fit and I was cautiously optimistic.
Fast forward to now and the game 007 First light is the fruit of their labors but how does it stack up. It takes the approach to not follow any of the movies or use any of the existing bond timelines instead going for a reboot and focusing on Bond at the very beginning of his spy career something the films haven't really done before. Even in some of the soft reboots like the Daniel Craig bond in Casino Royale where he theoretically isn't a 00 at the very start of the film he still was an established spy man, this game starts with baby bond a mere airman who stumbles into the world of espionage and is subsequently recruited by M into MI6's 00 program which has been just recently been restarted after being shut down for years and is now training up a new set of 00 operatives.
So bond is shipped off to 00 school in Malta where he must prove himself seen as a bit of an unproven outsider by the existing candidates perhaps someone who hasn't earned their place and also as a unpredictable insubordinate loose cannon by the head of the training program John Greenway. These first missions are both training on how the various games systems work and introduction to the characters and setting. We get to know the other recruits and also greenway.
We get trained in close quarters combat which has a pretty well put together system with your standard attacks counters unshockable all indicated by different visual cues. It has this contextual environmental element that I enjoy where if you hit a person against parts of the environment either with a punch or the shoulder barge attack or grappling bond will use that in the attack like smacking their head into a wall or bashing them into a bit of furniture or tossing them over a railing. You can also quick throw things like cups or hammers or other small objects into an attackers face that briefly interrupts or stuns them some of the various environmental aspects like electrical boxes or pipes will also have effects like electrocuting them or causing clouds of steam that obscure vision. It's a pretty good system although I sometimes had some trouble getting the rhythm of it against the harder boss type characters it's about learning the attack sequences when to counter and how many times dodging the unblock able attacks grappling when they block and using the environment.
Then there is gun combat, bond being a gentleman won't go round offing his opponents unless they have already engaged in shooting at him first. At this point the little contextual indicator at the top of the screen that lets you know if you are in normal uncontrolled areas or trespassing in a secure area or being actively chased switches to red and says the license to kill indicating you can start going all guns blazing. The shooting is a combination of using the environment cover stealth and the close quarters combat to your advantage. Bond also has a slow time focus mode that allows easier head shots or leg shots to slow enemies down or shots to their weapons to disarm them. You can also hit pipes or explosive barrels or other elements of the environment to blow up enemies in cover. You have limited ammo and when you empty a gun you can throw it at an enemy to stun them and then engage in hand to hand to get their weapon off them or grab a gun off the ground from a previous enemy. It's a very mobile system where you are dodging in and out of cover the enemies push you and will flush you out by destroying your cover or throwing grenades at you. You can bounce around use stealth or run and gun engage in a bit of hand to hand then dive back into cover and as you get access to the gadgets later in the game use those for a very flexible and fun combat system.
The there is the driving a fairly competent vehicle system that is used in some of the set pieces at various points in the game. The training takes the form of a track you race round but in game its more often a linear chase type sequence where you are either escaping or pursuing someone in a variety of vehicles and the "track" is mostly linear with a few parts you can pick a slightly alternate path off the main one. They make for a fun set piece every now and then with my favorites being driving a bin van through the streets of london or a massive earth moving truck through a quarry.
Then there is the stealth aspects most of this involves keeping in cover or occasionally hiding in long grass or foliage and dodging around enemies using environmental distractions or lures to either move them out of your path or to take them out. You can traverse the environment climbing up and down sneaking through vents and on ledges to get to your objective it's not a full freedom go anywhere parkour type environment but its fairly flexible. Unlike the hitman games where fucking up getting caught is generally a complete failure here you can use a "bluff" or sometimes a "comply" action that will either trick the enemy into thinking you should be there or if its an non combat area you just leave and try again. You have limited charges of these in a mission and most of the time I never used them. You can also just go straight into combat at these point and if you beat up everyone who saw you without attracting notice of others or letting them call for backup you can reenter stealth and continue on. It makes these stealth sections relatively forgiving.
It also allows you to use the gadgets for distractions or to temporary incapacitate enemies depending on what of the various toys you have equipped. The gadget system gives you an q-watch with three configurable slots you pick ahead of a mission. Sometimes you get a fourth during or for some specific use case later in the game. You also have the Q-lens a AR contact lens that is the equivalent of hitman vision shows you if an npc is an enemy if they are actively chasing if they are a watcher (someone you can't bypass with a disguise) and also highlights all the various options you can use your gadgets against.
My generally preferred load out was the phone dart that makes enemies sick causing them to go to the nearest bin and try not to vomit great for repositioning someone guarding something, the laser strap that can blind enemies or be used to destroy some locks break some environmental elements, and then either the mini grenades or later the explosive pen for a bit more combat potential. There are a few others each with their own particular uses and the watch also has the ability to trigger certain items in the world like turn on some devices to distract or sometimes move them about. Plus there are are occasional special use functions like late in the game there is a section where you get to order around a giant robot wrecking ball that rolls around to places you highlight like a giant more destructive hamster ball or a plane section where you cause the thing to bank left and right and all the internals and enemies get shoved around as a result. The gadgets have a charge or a use of generic chemicals which are two dials you deplete as you use the gadgets but it's easy to refill them with either batteries or chemicals you find littered all through the game world. It's almost never a case of running out unless you are using it a lot of times and not just grabbing refills as you go.
The training finishes with a more proper mission in a club where you are tasked with located certain targets and use all the tools above to navigate the level and achieve your objective. These sorts of section of the gameplay are more like the hitman levels where you navigate the sometimes sprawling environment to get to some target and there are often multiple ways of reaching it. the so called immersive sim elements. Here they borrow the "opportunity" system from hitman where you will overhear npc's talking and that will reveal a possible path forward, a door that doesn't lock a platform you can climb or some such. Here they are very clearly signposted with an eavesdrop icon when you get close to one of them. You then find the place indicated where Bond fiddles with his phone or something listening in to the conversation. This will then populate a hint in your journal and a next step. Often levels will have several of these with different sets of options for proceeding. Lends a little replay ability. The levels also have various thing strewn around that allow you to distract enemies or make them reposition (like setting a bin on fire or turning on a vacuum cleaner or sabotaging a laptop) some of these you can do remotely with the Q-watch you can also sometimes "lure" them by making noise deliberately. You can also sometimes disguise yourself to access a certain area or even talk your way through some of the encounters.
These sections are pretty much just your classic hitman levels but maybe slightly less complicated. The disguise element very rarely gets used with hitman you are constantly swapping outfits stuffing some new body in a laundry basket and stealing the better outfit to access a new more secure area swapping back and forth or getting the more special outfits that work with some specific opertunity to get to your target. Here its something that happens one or two times I think. Also its a lot more forgiving than hitman you have the bluff get out of jail free card if you get spotted or the gadgets which can just be used in plain sight or the environmental distractions that likewise Bond can go set a bin on fire in plain view and then wander off without alerting everyone. In the hitman games the distractions had to be triggered when not observed and things like the coins that could be used to lure enemies by throwing them only worked if you were unobserved. I've heard it described as immersive sim lite which is a pretty good description and you always have the option to just fist fight your way through. It's still pretty fun but I wish it was a little more restrictive in some of its elements maybe have a few more gadget options for specific things here I think I picked out those options and for 90% of the game didn't change them.
The gameplay on one of the proper levels once you get out of the tutorial is generally of this sort of pattern. You get dropped in an area with some objective to reach these are large heavily populated places like a nightclub an event at a museum an exotic resort hotel various bases and offices. They are full of npcs going about their business and you navigate them looking for opportunities eavesdropping on various groups to see what possible options there are. Often there will then be some parkour or stealth or some manipulation of some other npc to get to the next objective and generally as you move deeper into the level you get into secure areas that require more stealth and sneaking to access the next part of the objective chain.
For an example one of the options on the museum level you are trying to get into the security office you could sneak your way in but there are also press about and you overhear some agent saying a photo journalist is running late. You can wander up say you are that guy and then the agent will tell you you need a camera and to pick your press pass up from some other npc. So then its about finding and stealing a camera and then getting the pass which then lets you get into the area where the security office is. Typically there will be more parts after that that where you need to get into the cctv room in the security area but since its an area thats off limits you need to sneak/fight your way to get to this objective.
The game will often then have a more combat themed section sometimes a driving set piece some shooting and then a few cut scenes every now and then. The driving set pieces are quite fun lots of destruction and jumping vehicles smashing through debris.
It keeps a nice balance of calm thoughtful stealth puzzle sections, more frenetic combat either with fists or guns, driving set pieces, and sections of story. It doesn't grab the camera for cutscenes often most of the story points and dialogue is Bond talking to Moneypenny over his earpiece or some walk and talk sections with Greenway. It was pretty well handled I think fitting in with the gameplay.
The story was pretty good a fairly classic bond type story its two fold exploring bonds journey through to becoming 007 his interactions with the supporting cast M, Q, Moneypenny, the other trainee 00's, and their teacher Greenway. Then layered on top of that is the main story a grand plot with themes of AI replacing human spycraft and obviously some big bad working behind the scenes gradually revealed. It also hints at other elements possible future plots for more games it feels very much bond like the tone the storytelling the gradual reveal as each level moves the plot forward its nothing that will really surprise you if you've seen one bond film you will see a lot of its points coming a mile off but I did enjoy it. I think the character work really elevates the storytelling, IO have done some work on the facial animation for this game to supplement the excellent voice acting since a lot of the Bondian attitude and storytelling is carried by a smirk or raise eyebrow. Bond himself played by Patrick Gibson is just the right mix of confidence charm and humor with the occasional hints of vulnerability to be a compelling lead he carries the Bond character with the right balance not to tip over into arrogance. The supporting cast are also pretty good with Priyanga Burford's M in control and taking none of Bonds nonsense but also supporting and guiding him. Alastair Mackenzie as dapper older gentleman Q mostly there to intro Q department and their wacky gadgetry but occasionally getting some story points. The voice in your ear Kiera Lester's Moneypenny often a vital element to allowing the exposition that moves the story forward and occasionally being present for a sequence or two of a level. Then Lennie James as Greenway your reluctant teacher he plays a major part in the story and does a fantastic job he's a grumpy old man though rally pissed off with bond and his shenanigans but gradually through the course of the game becomes more of a mentor and father figure he did a really good job some of the best moments in the story include him.
There are a load of other more minor characters the other trainee 00's the various villains minor henchment and the masterminds and femme fatals I wont spoil who is who. There are supposedly also a few cameos by internet people I didn't really notice any so either I missed their sections or I didn't know who they were.
The story while not particularly surprising or complicated worked pretty well for me it was a bond story in tone and execution it has a lot of fun elements and emotional moments Bond's progression and relationships with the supporting cast get explored and as I said his time with Greenway was a standout for me.
One thing I think this game really does well is nail the bond atmosphere, they put time into matching the pace and energy of a bond film crafting a story that works with that world and creating characters that feel like they fit. After the initial introductory mission they move into a proper bondesq intro sequence complete with theme song by Lana del Ray and David Arnold with the familiar dancing silhouettes it was so much like a bond film that when they released it a lot of people who didn't know there was a game in the works thought this was from a new upcoming bond film it matched the tone so well. The music is pretty well executed the bond themes are there the blaring brass heavy orchestra matching the John Barry sound so synonymous with the films is replicated here with the occasional piece of environmental music that evokes the hitman games.
The story is about 15 hours and is a linear narrative with a few of those alternate paths in the immersive sim parts. I had a lot of fun with it, while its sneak murder puzzle is not quite as indepth as the hitman games there is more there with the driving the set pieces the story excellent voice work action gun play running around with gadgets. beyond the story there is a virtual training mode that is akin to the world of assassination missions from hitman where it will reuse assets with some particular goal and depending on the mode do things like escalate the mode so adding in more requirements to pass. Not sure I'll spend much time with that but does mean there will be something beyond the campaign.
I think IO did a pretty good job here, it's definitely the best James bond video game ever made (but low bar) and the hitman elements combined with a solid combat system the occasional driving segment and a fun story and excellent voice acting make a very fun package which I really enjoyed. I hope they build on this solid foundation and maybe up the complexity of the immersive sim sections but all in all a very solid game.