The game 007 First Light attempts to translate the cinematic experience of a James Bond film into an interactive format, drawing inspiration from titles like Shenmue and Heavy Rain for its Quick Time Events and narrative pacing. One notable moment involves a lengthy QTE where the player must guide a young James Bond through tying his first bow tie, a scene designed to humanize the agent amidst his action-packed duties.
First Light openly acknowledges its influences, with its opening level mirroring Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes and a subsequent mission closely resembling the Paris level from IO’s Hitman trilogy. While these sections hint at a potential seamless blend of stealth, gadgets, and social puzzle mechanics, the game ultimately does not fully realize this ambition.
The game’s primary model appears to be the modern Prestige Cinematic Game, prevalent on PlayStation. It centers on a young James Bond recruited into MI6 to combat the resurgence of a former 00 agent. The narrative unfolds through extended cutscenes and varied gameplay modes, interspersed with elaborate setpieces. These sequences, such as an exhilarating gunfight inside a dynamically banking plane, are often brief and not revisited.
Compared to games like Uncharted, First Light exhibits distinct gameplay modes that shift audibly, moving between adventure, beat ‘em up, and third-person shooter. Unlike Uncharted’s seamless fluidity, First Light struggles to integrate its mechanics, leading to a less cohesive experience. However, the individual gameplay components are often more interesting than those found in similar genre titles.
A significant flaw of First Light is its inconsistent narrative tone, attempting to blend the gritty post-Daniel Craig era with the lighter, more absurd elements of the Roger Moore era. This tonal dissonance is exacerbated by escalating action sequences and plot points that abruptly shift in tone, such as a public gunfight in London followed by a somber conversation in a park.
Character writing is a mixed bag, with the standout dynamic being the relationship between the cocky young Bond and his surly instructor, John Greenway. Despite predictable story beats, this duo delivers genuinely strong moments. However, the main villains are underdeveloped, and the primary Bond Girl lacks significant characterization, serving mainly as a plot device and a romantic interest.
The game’s length and structure, spanning approximately fifteen hours, feel stretched. Mysteries that would typically be resolved quickly in a film are drawn out over extended gameplay. Furthermore, as games strive for greater cinematic fidelity, the differences between game mechanics and filmic storytelling become more apparent. The absence of establishing shots of locations like London, for instance, highlights the game’s limitations in replicating the sense of place found in films.
First Light’s attempt to emulate films closely results in downplaying IO Interactive’s strengths in creating systemic, replayable sandboxes. Despite this, these strengths still surface in individual gameplay modes. The game features four primary modes: adventure with exploration and social puzzles, stealth-based exploration, beat ‘em up combat, and third-person shooting. The adventure mode, akin to ‘Hitman-Lite,’ is considered the strongest, offering open-ended objectives and a vibrant cast of NPCs. However, the game often over-directs players with objective markers.
The other three modes blend together, forming the core gameplay. Combat encounters are improvisational, with limited ammo and gadget uses. While the combat can be satisfying when elements align, the rollout of Bond’s abilities is slow during the main story, making much of it feel like a tutorial for the post-game VR TacSim missions. Hand-to-hand combat is initially a weak point, with simplistic inputs, but becomes more functional as Bond gains abilities, allowing for improvisation to acquire weapons.
Ultimately, 007 First Light’s greatest challenge is its scale and chosen format. The game leans into a cinematic format that can obscure the developer’s strengths and magnify weaknesses. While it occasionally tries to appeal to a broad audience, its best moments occur when it embraces its unique elements. Despite its flaws, it offers a fun experience, comparable to watching a movie, and successfully delivers a playable James Bond film.
