007 Bond First Light Review – Licenced Troubleshooter

by

I’ve always enjoyed playing as Agent 47, even though I often triggered alarms and ended up in chaotic firefights. Those situations never worked out well – it’s much more satisfying to be careful and strategic. That’s why I’m so excited to try IO Interactive’s new James Bond game, as Bond and 47 have a lot of similarities despite being different personalities.

Adapting James Bond into a video game felt like a natural fit for the studio, as it allowed them to focus on key elements like detailed investigations, sneaking around undetected, using disguises, cleverness, and the freedom to improvise – all things video games can handle well. And now, 007 First Light delivers on all those expectations, providing a great and authentic Bond experience.

Let’s start with the story – I was really interested to see how the creators transitioned from the serious, often gloomy character of Agent 47 to the daring and naturally charismatic James Bond. Patrick Gibson delivers a strong performance, bringing a lot of emotion and personality to the role and making his Bond stand out among so many previous actors. This younger Bond has a confident energy, but also shows glimpses of the strong willpower and self-control that define him as a cool and collected agent.

Bond is surrounded by well-known and beloved characters like Miss Moneypenny, John Greenway, M, Q, and Dr. Seline Tan. The film does a great job of developing Bond and his MI6 colleagues, crafting a compelling story with the perfect balance of action, suspense, and satisfying conclusions. It’s all presented in a visually stunning and stylish way, making it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The cutscenes in this game are remarkably well-made. IO Interactive could have easily skimped on cinematic storytelling, considering their background, but First Light shows they’ve truly mastered it. The level of detail is outstanding. When you first enter Q’s lab, it feels incredibly immersive and alive. The game also includes dialogue choices and talkative NPCs, which really bring the world to life and make it feel special.

If you’re familiar with cricket star Stephen Fleming, you’ll appreciate the way Bond is first introduced to the organization where he’ll become a legend.

Thankfully, the gameplay is just as strong as the premise, letting you experience life as a fresh-faced, aspiring James Bond: self-assured, skilled, and sometimes a bit impulsive – just as you’d imagine. The story naturally leads into how you receive and prepare for missions. You start as a new MI6 agent, getting briefed before customizing your gear, and this system grows as you progress. This makes sense within the story and cleverly encourages you to think about how the iconic agent would approach each situation. It really feels like you’re developing alongside the character, which makes the game incredibly captivating.

To be honest, this game feels a lot like Hitman, and that’s a good thing. It’s great to see IO Interactive building on what they’ve done before. The levels are designed to let you be creative – they’re spacious and offer many different ways to complete objectives, giving you a lot of freedom in how you play.

I know the tutorial might seem a little lengthy, but I really enjoyed it. It felt like the start of a James Bond movie, putting me in control as he first joins MI6. I won’t give anything away, but if you’re familiar with the early days of Bond – like knowing about Stephen Fleming – you’ll appreciate how his connection with the agency is established, setting the stage for his future adventures.

The game’s main story missions really get things going, and you’ll be constantly searching for new possibilities as you explore large, detailed environments. It’s designed around finding creative ways to approach situations and experimenting with different tools and strategies. This encourages you to be observant, deceptive, and adaptable – whether you’re listening in on conversations, pretending to be someone else, or just trying to blend in. Using gadgets makes everything even more effective, particularly when you’re aiming to stay unnoticed.

James Bond moves with a natural grace that Agent 47 lacks. Bond’s fighting style feels smooth and flowing, reflecting a raw energy reminiscent of his earlier, less refined self, before he developed the polished skill of his later years.

You can harm enemies with various tools like sickness-inducing attacks, electric shocks, and smoke bombs. You can also set traps and use the surroundings to your advantage, catching opponents off guard. The game really encourages you to use everything at your disposal – gather information, plan your attacks, and enjoy the unpredictable results. It all works together seamlessly and feels incredibly rewarding.

This is where the game truly sets itself apart from Hitman. Bond is much more agile than Agent 47, and his combat feels fluid and aggressive, showing a younger, less refined version of the character. Fights are brutal but realistic, letting you use punches, kicks, and grabs to overwhelm enemies. You can also use the environment to your advantage, slamming opponents into walls or using nearby objects as weapons – it feels very similar to the free-flow combat system in the Arkham games.

What really stands out is how the environment plays a role in the fights. Both Bond and his opponents can interact with everything around them, which reinforces the idea that Bond isn’t invincible and has physical limitations. This makes the combat feel realistic and encourages you to learn new skills and improve – it’s a really satisfying system, and the emphasis on physical interaction makes each fight feel impactful and engaging.

While nearly flawless, the game has a bit of a learning curve with the controls and the camera can be awkward during close combat. However, once you get the hang of it, the action feels great and adds a lot of style to the exploration and stealth gameplay. There are also a few too many quick-time events, which feel unnecessary in a modern game. As expected, your ability to eliminate targets freely is important, and the shooting mechanics are well-done. It doesn’t aim to be like The Division 2, but First Light delivers a satisfying flow to its cover-based shooting.

The game looks beautiful, with impressive graphics that combine perfectly with the voice acting, creating a truly immersive experience.

The enemy AI felt a little uneven at times, and wasn’t always very smart. However, it wasn’t a huge problem – it worked well enough. I was hoping for something as sophisticated as the AI in Metal Gear Solid 5, but that might be asking too much. What really stood out were the set-pieces – they were truly memorable, and we’ll be discussing them in more detail soon. They reminded us a lot of the Uncharted series. If you’re unsure whether to play, and you’re a fan of the series, First Light is definitely worth considering.

The game consistently delivers high-quality visuals, which are among its strongest points. The graphics are beautiful and combine seamlessly with the voice acting, creating a truly immersive experience. From detailed characters to impressive atmospheric effects and excellent art design, the game really captures the feel of a James Bond adventure.

The game’s sound design is excellent, effectively building and releasing tension throughout the experience. It was particularly immersive during stealth sections – I even found myself subconsciously holding my breath! On our test PC (an RTX 3080 Ti, AMD Ryzen 9 5950X with 16GB of RAM), the game consistently ran at 4K resolution with DLSS set to Quality. We used mostly Ultra settings, with only shadow quality, volumetric fog, effects quality, and global illumination turned down to High.

With my RTX 3080 Ti, I was getting between 35 and 50 frames per second, though the frame rate would dip during large explosions. I also had one strange issue where the game slowed down a lot just when I opened the menu to choose my gadgets, but restarting the game fixed it. Performance seems to struggle during intense scenes, and your experience will likely depend on your computer’s specs.

Any small issues I had quickly disappeared while playing this game. It’s as engaging as its main character and a really fun adventure around the world.

If you’ve been following our coverage, you likely already know we love 007 First Light. It’s a really well-made Bond game that captures the spirit of the franchise and delivers a compelling stealth-action experience for today’s gamers. The developers, IO Interactive, smartly avoided simply recreating a Hitman game with a different skin, and instead created something unique with fantastic stealth, combat, and gameplay that feels dynamic and unpredictable.

The gameplay feels fantastic and perfectly complements the story, particularly during the beautifully crafted set pieces. The game’s presentation is top-notch – even a classic James Bond film would be impressed! While not perfect, any small issues I had were quickly forgotten thanks to a confident and thoroughly enjoyable adventure around the world, complete with a delightful British wit.

007 First Light is a great beginning for what could become a successful series of films. As an origin story, it’s remarkably strong and sets things up very well!

This game was reviewed on PC.

Note: Varun Karunakar contributed to this review.

Read More

2026-05-27 16:50