Nothing gets me quite like a training montage. The hero levels up here. Inspiring music plays in the background. It’s also a great way to illustrate the passage of time as the characters grow and develop. I’m a huge sucker for it. And you know what’s even better than a regular ol’ training montage? A playable training montage, which is exactly what 007 First Light does in its opening hours.
007 First Light serves as an origin story for James Bond, the legendary MI6 agent. While I initially had my reservations about playing such a young version of Bond (who also looks a bit too Nathan Drake-y for my liking), those doubts were dispelled as soon as I got to the aforementioned training montage and saw how everything came together. Our story begins with Bond as an aircrewman in training on a mission that goes terribly wrong. After a tutorial-riddled prologue — which, frankly, drags on for way too long — we’re greeted with Lana Del Rey’s First Light and a killer opening credits sequence that could put a lot of other subpar Bond openings to shame.
After that, it’s off to the races as IO Interactive shows off exactly why they’re the best in the business when it comes to stealth games.
I’ll be frank; while I could certainly recognize the brilliance and careful detail that had gone into IOI’s Hitman games, I was never a big fan of those. The main reason? Well, I don’t find Agent 47 particularly compelling, and Hitman‘s story had never done anything for me. Because of that, no matter how great the stealth and infiltration mechanics are, I could never get invested in those games.
With 007 First Light, however, IOI finally hits the sweet spot for me. After getting through that painfully slow and bland tutorial, Patrick Gibson comes into his own and brings Bond to life. He never quite manages to completely shake off that Nathan Drake-ness I’d alluded to earlier, but he also captures the charm and charisma that Bond is known for. Aside from being able to seduce the pants off virtually anyone, Bond leans into his roguish side in First Light too, often disobeying direct orders when he believes he’s in the right, yet also capable of displaying humility when the situation calls for it. I tell you what, if nothing else, I was surprised at how well IOI has managed to nail down Bond’s character, especially this younger version of him.
The supporting cast is no slouch either, with Lennie James’ Greenway serving as an excellent, authoritative foil of Gibson’s Bond, and Jessica Rhodes and Chris O’Reilly backing him up as fellow double-0 agents Cressida and Monroe. The latter two, in particular, serve as the emotional core of 007 First Light for a good chunk of its runtime. While I’m used to Bond as a largely solo operative, I found myself getting heavily invested in the friendship between this trio.
Monroe plays the role of the classic tough guy who makes you think he might be Bond’s big rival initially, but he’s really more of a giant teddy bear when you get down to it. Cressida is the stone-cold ice queen who knows she’s smarter than everyone else, and she lets them know it. The three of them bounce off each other remarkably well, which helps to raise the stakes as the story goes on. The playable training montage I alluded to earlier? Fantastic for building the bonds between the trio too. In a series of clever cuts, the sequence puts you through various parkour, shooting, and melee combat challenges in quick succession. If IOI was trying to take “playable movie” to a whole other level, they really nailed it with this sequence right here.
Going back to the characters, Q and Moneypenny round out the supporting cast by supporting the agents with suitably cool gadgets, while the legendary Lenny Kravitz exudes terror and intimidation as the antagonistic Bawma.
So, the cast is stellar. And you’ll be glad to know that actually playing the game feels pretty good for the most part too. As you might expect, 007 First Light truly shines when you’re simply given a giant set piece to work with. The first main mission plops you into the outdoor carpark of a grand hotel where a chess tournament is taking place. While Bond is ordered to watch the perimeter, unsurprisingly he decides to disobey orders when he sees something worth investigating. From there, you have multiple ways of infiltrating the hotel and completing your objectives.
You might talk to the bartender for more information on your target, or you might check in with your fellow agents for help. These early stages, in particular, feel very vibrant and lively because Bond is constantly bouncing off ideas of his fellow agents, which makes the situation feel like it’s always live and developing. For my part, I was eventually able to complete the mission by weaving in and out of restricted areas, stealing keys off the housekeeping staff, and zapping security with a toxin from my Omega-branded Q-Watch to make them sick.
I was floored by how dense and sprawling the levels were in 007 First Light, and the Tactical Simulation mode that unlocks partway through the campaign will allow you to enjoy all of that infiltration goodness without any of that story nonsense.
Where 007 First Light does fall short, though, is in its combat. The melee combat itself is simple and serviceable, with different colored indicators letting you know how you should respond. Yellow means you can parry that attack, while red means you should dodge. The gunplay, however, often felt floaty and unwieldy to me. The big action sequences where you’re forced to shoot your way out of a situation also marked First Light‘s weakest moments.
Really, it’s the gadgets that help to elevate the experience, which makes sense, considering they’re often the highlight of the Bond movies too. To the developers’ credit, IOI does do some pretty interesting things with the gadgets. Most of it comes down to the Q-Watch, which you can load up with batteries and chemicals to pull off all sorts of gnarly tricks. There’s the usual stealth stuff, like overloading an electrical appliance to draw attention, or shoot a dart at an enemy to make them sick. Then, you’ll start to unlock more interesting things, like a camera that also produces a shockwave that blasts enemies backwards.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a James Bond game if you weren’t at least able to kinda talk your way out of situations. While it may be tempting to simply sneak around all your enemies, I found it a lot more fun to just straight up walk to a group of enemies, pull off a bluff about their boss looking for them downstairs, then continue walking to wherever I needed to go. It’s impressive just how many tools IOI gives you to play around with, and I can see players have a ton of fun replaying missions just to see how they can do things differently.
007 First Light represents IOI at its peak. While there are still some clear areas for improvement, I’m happy to report that First Light takes all of the slick charm and espionage goodness we love about the Bond movies, and successfully adapts them for the video game format.
A review code for the game was provided by the publisher. You can check out our review policy here. Reviewed on PS5.
