Game Review: 007 First Light

If you’re looking for a game that feels like playing through a James Bond movie, this game has absolutely got the sauce. If you’re looking for a game that has excellent combat mechanics, I fear you may be without sauce.

First let’s look at the good. In fact, let’s look at the great; whoever was in charge of writing this game gets James Bond. It’s extremely hard to take such a coveted IP and do it justice while also remembering how to make a video game fun. In this case, it was done super well. Bond is just as charming as ever (sometimes edging into hacky but I digress), but it’s still a spy thriller through and through. I think this game tees up a very long and successful line of games, especially considering their new Bond, Irish actor Patrick Gibson, embodies the character so well.

Mechanically there’s a lot to have fun with, and a lot that fans of the Hitman series will find familiar. Chief among them are the hints or opportunities that come in a level. These are set-ups by the game that pretty much spoon-feed you the objective with a fun little side quest. Some people might not like how it takes out the human element of planning, but I like it because it’s often a fun little diversion to break up the classic stealth game fatigue of trying the same route over and over until it works.

Another mechanic I really enjoy is bluffing. I thought about a million times when playing Hitman; how easily he could get by security with a white lie, which is exactly what you can do in 007: First Light. You’ll say something like, “coffee machines broke, they sent me to fix it,” and then you have about 10 seconds to haul ass before the guards realize they don’t have a coffee machine. It’s a fun little touch and a perfect capture of some of those Bondisms.

Listen, I love everything that IO Interactive has done thus far; my absurd hour count on Hitman: World of Assassination should prove that. If that doesn’t do it for you, I remember playing Kane & Lynch with my brothers on the PS3. I’m an IOI diehard, so everything I say after this comes from a place of love.

The combat needs work, especially the melee combat. There’s a certain rhythm that games like God of War or Arkham Knight capture really well, where combat feels like a drumbeat that adapts to the tempo of the fight. In this game, it can feel very stiff, lacking the fluidity of an exchange of blows and instead being an absolute dogpile of punches until you or your enemy dies.

That said, a lot of work went into the environment and how that factors into the melee combat and it works very very well. If you throw a guy into a bookshelf, glass shatters and books fall, and if you throw him into a wall, a painting might fall askew. Just gorgeous if you ask me.

Another thing that you need to understand fairly early, this is not an open world game the same way Hitman is. It’s an experience on rails, though the rails are very fun.

Overall, this game rocks. It’s a great adventure game with sequel potential out the wazoo. There are a lot of mechanics here that you’re going to see copied into future games, and a certain optimism to the fact that the adventure game genre is not dead.

Once this title works out its kinks, it has potential to be an absolute crusher of a series, and honestly even if they don’t, I’ll probably buy it either way (IOI diehard, remember?)
All that said, pick this game up if you have some walkin’ around money — and if you enjoy it, that’s great! You can email me, Cameron Elliott, about how much you liked it. If you hate it and feel like it’s a waste of money, you can email me, Alton Barnhart, and say mean things. — Cameron Elliott

Read more reviews from Cam below:
Secondhand Screenings Presents: Guilty Pleasures
The Music is Hoppin’ at Hopkins

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