When a trailer appeared last year at Summer Game Fest for 007: First Light, fans breathed a sigh of relief when they realized that studio IO Interactive was behind it. Gamers thought that IOI’s popular Hitman entry games would provide a good basis for a game about the world’s most famous spy. And you know what? They were right — at least three hours of 007: First Light I got to play.
In an Art Deco-themed Los Angeles restaurant, I tried out three chapters of the game, which gives me an idea of what curious gamers can expect from the first James Bond game to come out in 14 years. While the 1995 GoldenEye game was hugely popular, subsequent Bond games haven’t been as successful in turning the spy adventure into the mainstream. From the preview, 007: First Light looks like it could be a confident and inspired take on the James Bond franchise. We’ll know for sure when it launches on May 27.
Bond’s hand of gadgets has various uses depending on the situation.
A lot of that comes from how 007: First Light draws from the Hitman gameplay it’s built on, to the point where it feels like a spy story wrapped around games IO Interactive has already made. That’s not inherently a bad thing, but there were a few times when I felt like Bond was just another disguise worn by Hitman protagonist Agent 47. Much of 007: First Light’s break will depend on the power of its all-encompassing narrative — not just to set it apart from the simple Hitman games of the story, but also to live up to the globetrotting, high society and high-octane adventures of the James Bond films and books.
And as a completely new version of Bond, complete with a unique origin story, 007: First Light has a lot to prove. I’m not surprised then that the first of the three chapters I played started at the beginning of the game, with Bond serving as a Navy aviator. That was followed by a peek into his training as an MI6 agent and finally a plot twist (and disaster) kicking him into high gear at a lavish gala.
What I played probably didn’t represent the entire game, and there are plot twists that I’m forbidden to write about. But I can say that it looks like it’s going to be a different 007 adventure that doesn’t retread the premise of any of the films. It gives something they don’t: In this game, Bond has close friends, and their influence on him changes the story. Maybe he’ll grow up to be the lone wolf agent of the more knowledgeable fans, but at least at the beginning of 007: First Light, he’s more social — and human — than we’ve come to expect from the superspy.
How 007: First Light retells the James Bond story
As the game begins, we are introduced to a young James Bond, portrayed by actor Patrick Gibson, as a Navy crewman on a routine mission about to have a terrible day. On the way to a training ground near Iceland, his helicopter was shot down over open water. He can’t even get to the beach. Exhausted and cold, Bond — a humble assistant in a flight suit, for now — flees to guard the unknown gunmen and turns off the radio to call for help.
An MI6 agent responds, relays instructions and pressures an unarmed Bond to recover what turns out to be one of the British intelligence agency’s secret research facilities that has been hijacked by a mysterious mercenary outfit. Part tutorial and part introduction, the first mission shows the seeds of a young pilot’s potential for skulduggery. He launders vital information to identify contractors, outwits gunmen and sneaks up on imprisoned MI6 researchers, guiding them to safety during gunfire before blowing up the base. Like any good Bond introduction, it’s followed by the story’s signature theme song, “First Light,” sung by Lana Del Rey.
The second part I played was freeform. After such a promising performance, Bond is put through MI6 agent training on the sun-drenched Mediterranean island of Malta, leading to a mock infiltration obstacle course to test each spy’s intelligence. Like Bond, I slyly pretended to be the teachers who tracked my performance and the other trainees who cheered me on or lightly mocked me as I passed.
This is where I learned the basics of 007: The First Light entry system, very similar to Hitman. I crept through the tall grass and shadows, sneaking down the guards as I headed for the exit. I also got my first taste of the game’s simple but important gadget system, using the watch to disable cameras and other electronics, then recharging by tapping the batteries on the occasional phone or car battery I came across. (Later, you can pick up chemicals to distract and remote-targeted drugs.) When I accidentally alerted a guard, Bond’s trusty fists — and an in-depth combat system that includes parries, dodges and throws — helped manage enemies. Of course, guns will do the trick, too.
The third stage was when things went sideways — and Bond became 007.
007: First Light offers Bond a relationship he doesn’t run — for once
Sometime after graduating, Bond heads into a mission that goes awry and his entire team is put on hold. Recovering, he returns to Kensington, London, to the flat he shares with the other 00 agents he has grown close to. Going from room to room, Bond thinks about the silly little things that happen when you share a home and a life with close friends: restaurant menus and little notes that talk about socializing. It felt like a bold move 007: First Light makes. Young, orphaned Bond has his own little family.
And as he realizes after finding a fake suicide note in his room, he has enemies. Bond fights several assassins and runs across rooftops while trying to escape the shooter, using his gadget watch to distract them and buy time. He traces the latter to a gala thrown by a techie — which, naturally, goes in.
Hitman fans know what’s coming next, and the objective plays out just as it would in those games. Bond packs the ticket, and must ride the path to the top to track down the last killer. How you do it is up to you: Are you posing as a photojournalist for an interview? Are you getting past the guards? Stole a security pass? This part of the preview — finding a way through the glittering gala attendees and tricking or fighting my way past the security layers — felt like the perfect combination of Hitman and James Bond.
Little by little the next boss fight with the final assassin, as Bond’s gadget vision reveals enemies on the walls, draining me as I sneak up to ambush my enemy again and again until the end. I then ran through the boring back rooms before returning to the gala to find Agent Roth, the beautiful and mysterious woman who appeared at the beginning of the game, casting her as a classic Bond Girl style femme fatale. Before long, both he and Bond are locked up in the game’s rivalries (which I also can’t reveal).
After dodging death and sneaking around for a while, Bond rushes to the climax through a video art gallery — a long hall where screens glow a vibrant red as dozens of armed and armored gunmen charge through. Here it is: Bond’s prime time. While previous encounters felt like quizzes on how to use your many guns, combat tools and gadgets, this was the ultimate test. I hacked an electronic art installation to create a smoke screen, confronted guards, stunned enemies and shot them dead. I went out and blasted more enemies, stole a garbage truck and took care of the roads as the 007 theme played. Fin.
007: First Light is promising, though not flawless, with issues like erratic footwork and voiceover noise pointing me in the wrong direction as enemies sneak up on me — something important for a stealth game that I hope will be fixed before release. Hitman fans may be divided on how much of their favorite game is repackaged into a Bond adventure — a nice tonal match that may sound all too familiar. Those new to IO Interactive games will probably enjoy it.
But regardless of how sophisticated the gameplay was, it depends a lot on the structure that IO Interactive is building, which marks a departure from other Bond narratives by telling a story before the spy is very good, however it will be difficult to fix. We’ll know soon when 007: First Light comes out on May 27th.
