Double O Heaven
HIGH Earning the number.
LOW Some awkward controls.
WTF Is that Lenny Kravitz?
Videogames owe more to James Bond than we often realize.
In August 1997, Rare released GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. A runaway success, it proved not only that home consoles were viable platforms for first-person shooters, but that Bond could thrive in pixelated form as readily as he did at the pictures. The result was a digital gold rush, as developers and publishers scrambled to capitalize on the license. That momentum produced several more entries based on the franchise until Bond went to ground after 2012’s 007 Legends, a greatest-hits first-person shooter.
Thirteen years later and with new developer IO Interactive in charge – the acclaimed Danish studio behind the Hitman series – expectations couldn’t be higher. Thankfully, after decades spent refining their own elite international operative, they’re arguably better placed than anyone to deliver the definitive Bond game.
007: First Light puts players in the suave and sophisticated shoes of the youngest Bond we’ve seen to date. Following a compelling introduction, players are deployed into the field fresh from training, ready to schmooze, mingle, and manipulate their way through the world as they – and Bond – see fit.
As fans of Io’s World of Assassination will no doubt recognize, missions unfold in dense, puzzle-box environments that reward observation, intuition, and cunning. Unlike Agent 47 though, Bond is not bound by a rigid code of conduct. Where Hitman rarely allows for anything less than the perfect silent assassin, First Light encourages improvisation.
When discovered, the new ‘bluff’ mechanic allows Bond to talk his way out of trouble with a hastily assembled excuse, buying players time to slip back into the thronging masses to plan their next move. While it’s essentially a get-out-of-jail-free card, it’s one that feels perfectly aligned to the character that the player inhabits. More importantly than that, it’s cool as heck.
Of course, when words fail, fists are a viable replacement. First Light’s brutal melee combat lets Bond swiftly overwhelm his accusers with a flurry of savage blows, wince-inducing throws, and more than a few bottles to the head. And when diplomacy and discretion are no longer options, ‘licence to kill’ status grants me carte blanche to eliminate my pursuers with lethal force.
By affording players this hierarchy of responses – from bluffing to brawling to bloodshed – missions feel faster, messier, and more unpredictable than those of Hitman. In other words, it feels more like Bond. But First Light isn’t solely concerned with social stealth and sandbox problem-solving. When the situation calls for it, IO is more than willing to hand over the keys to a full-blown action spectacle, delivering the kind of bombastic set-pieces fans of the films will instantly recognize.
This blend of IO Interactive’s sandbox design and cinematic spectacle feels like a natural fit. Add in the gadgets, glamour, and guile filmgoers will expect, and everything is in place for a 00-fantasy worthy of the number.
It’s all delivered with the utmost confidence, and this extends to the story. Without spoiling anything, I came away genuinely impressed by how deftly IO revitalizes the world of 007 for modern audiences. Familiar faces return, but each has been reimagined in a way that makes them feel grounded, lived-in, and believable.
That confidence also extends to Bond himself, who is brought to life effortlessly by Patrick Gibson. While certain incarnations of 007 haven’t aged gracefully, First Light presents the character at his most appealing. Gibson’s Bond is charming without feeling antiquated, funny without becoming a caricature, and charismatic enough to win over even the skeptics – no small achievement given that I’ve always found the character to be more than a little bit corny.
First Light also looks every bit the blockbuster. Whether navigating a dingy London nightclub or checking into a lavish Slovakian hotel, the experience is consistently striking, often filling the screen with dense, bustling crowds for players to lose themselves (and their enemies) in. Bond games have long excelled at this kind of digital tourism, but First Light takes it to another level, making each location feel rich and worth lingering in.
If it looks the part, it also sounds it. IO’s commitment to the Bond legacy extends to its audio design, with a score from The Flight and a title track penned by Bond veteran David Arnold and performed by Lana Del Rey. The result is smooth, sultry, and unmistakably cinematic, reinforcing the sense that I wasn’t just playing a game, but inhabiting the role of 007.
My only real criticism lies in the controls. Despite spending time in the settings to tune the gun feel, I could never get things to feel quite right. The default sensitivity is overly loose, often sending my aim drifting off target with even the slightest input.
There’s also the cover system, which never feels quite as dependable as it should. Rather than adopting the rigid stick-and-snap approach of something like Gears of War, First Light maps both cover actions to the right bumper — tap it and Bond snaps into cover, hold it and he’ll dash to a new position. When it works, it feels fluid and intuitive. When it doesn’t, it can leave the player exposed at precisely the wrong moment, a flaw which becomes particularly apparent during chaotic late-game encounters. However, these amount to minor quibbles when weighed against the scale of IO’s achievements elsewhere.
For decades, Bond games have lived in the shadow of GoldenEye 007. Some chased its success directly, while others borrowed from the trends of the day. First Light succeeds by going its own way. Through its blend of social stealth, player freedom, blockbuster spectacle, and a genuinely compelling take on the character, IO Interactive has supplanted the 1997 classic as the definitive Bond experience. The thirteen-year wait was more than worth it.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
— Jack Bray
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by IO Interactive. It is currently available on PC, PS5, and XBX/S. This copy was obtained via paid download and played on PS5. Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the game and it was completed.
Parents: 007 First Light is rated T for Teen by the ESRB with Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. Also includes In-Game Purchases. The site reads: This is an action-adventure game in which players assume the role of an international spy (James Bond) during his time as a young recruit. From a third-person perspective, players use pistols, machine guns, rifles, melee attacks, and gadgets (e.g., smoke devices, dart phones, hacking watches) to stun and defeat enemies. During an interrogation sequence, a character is depicted tied to a chair and hit repeatedly. Cutscenes also depict instances of violence and/or blood: characters stabbed and shot; a character stabbed in the eye; a man impaled—blood-splatter effects sometimes accompany these scenes. One cutscene depicts a couple kissing then lowering to a desk surface—the sequence cuts to the woman in bed; one female character wears a somewhat revealing swimsuit (e.g., partially exposed buttocks). The words “sh*t” and “a*shole” appear in the game.
Colorblind modes: This game does not offer colorblind modes.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game provides subtitles, with options to change size, background opacity, background color, and subtitle text color. There are no audio cues required for successful gameplay. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game’s controls are remappable.
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