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007 First Light is the most cinematic game I've played. I mean that literally: IO Interactive blurs the line between film and game in a way that few have achieved before. 007 First Light's tutorial is stylized as a slick training montage, while the broader game rolls fluidly from one moment into next. You're taken from a London basement to glitzy Vietnamese resort mid-conversation, a cutscene in lieu of loading screen, with pacing that feels more like watching Skyfall than moving between a conventional action game's levels.
Sprinkle in the sandbox dynamism of IO Interactive's Hitman series, and 007 First Light really does make you feel like James Bond – fast cars and shootouts one moment, mixing drinks and bluffing past guards the next. But this sophistication isn't spread evenly, and certain game design elements look stiffer in its company.
License to parry
007 First Light review: "Bond's greatest game to date, this is a well-oiled spy thriller machine"
Bond fights like a cornered cat. The spy can throw guns and coffee mugs alike, pummel baddies into walls, and use gadgets to exploit environmental hazards. Enemies, on the other hand, can either shoot Bond or opt for one of two signposted melee attacks – a golden glow if it can be parried, red if it must be dodged. Later in the game, the one-sided improvisation and lack of resistance turns close-quarters fights into punch-by-numbers, predictability robbing brawls of their excitement.
007 First Light mostly gets away with it because you're too absorbed with the cool things you're doing to pay attention to Bond's fodder. But there are other incongruously game-y tropes. Blue and yellow hues designed to signpost players through levels are often too heavy-handed, to the point where it can feel like you're seeing a film set through the fantasy. A number of ledge-climbing segments overstay their welcome – a pet peeve, admittedly, but the tapping X to hop between platforms is achingly dull in contrast to the rest of 007 First Light's snappiness.
To be clear, these issues are far from dealbreakers. Our 007 First Light review rated it four stars out of five, calling it "Bond's greatest game to date," and I agree. But IO Interactive distancing itself from game tropes in some areas but not others makes me more sensitive to the design shorthand it does use. I don't think stories should be written with prompts to turn the page, and would have loved to see the sophistication of 007 First Light's pacing applied to its visual language.
When 007 First Light does balance its action game stylings and screenplay ambitions, it sings. One particularly remarkable sequence ushers Bond from burning basement brawl to mountainside car chase, then a mountainside car chase, and finally a heavily-guarded airfield to hijack a plane as it takes off. In the same level, you can use your watch gadget to remotely control the plane's tilt – yawing it to knock enemies off their feet with loose cargo or even send them careening from bay doors, all while controlling Bond regularly. Elsewhere, the game's bluff feature allows you to talk your way through danger instead of chaining one sleeper hold after another, adding a new dimension to stealth.
007 First Light proves that as the visual language and structure of games continues to evolve, a one-size-fits-all approach is antithetical to their fantasies. Can James Bond's world of spycraft be kept entirely insular from the broader industry? Probably not. But for the love of queen and country – less parrying, yeah?
