007: First Light "would not have happened" if it weren't an origin story, according to its creative director.
Speaking to Edge, Hakan Abrak expressed how pleased he was that his team at IO Interactive was entrusted to turn 007: First Light into an origin story for Bond, rather than an exploration of an existing interpretation of the character. That trust, he says, was so important that "otherwise, this project would not have happened."
IO, he goes on, "would never have done a game adaptation of a movie," because "we weren't interested in pushing pixels on, for example, how good we could make Pierce Brosnan look." I mean no offense [to previous Bond game developers], but putting our mark on the story and the creation process is extremely important to us." Ironically, many of the Bond games that put Brosnan in the title role were original stories, but I take Abrak's point.
Cinematic and narrative director Martin Emborg explains further: "Everyone knows how Bond takes his drink, how he dresses, what he drives. That stuff gets shallow very quickly. If you want to tell a story and bring the audience along emotionally, that's just not going to cut it." Instead, he says that IO is trying to create "an original story with a character who happens to become James Bond, rather than fulfilling some checklist of callbacks or whatever."
That's relatively easy, Emborg says, "because we have this body of work - all these interpretations that change with the actor - that invites you to find your own take." Because of all the books and films that have already brought Bond to life, he explains, "we never had to be 'are we doing it right?'"
IO's Bond does have a face to push pixels on - Dexter actor Patrik Gibson - and his status as a newcomer is a key part of the studio's focus on making First Light its own story. The Hitman devs have been keen to establish the game as its very own Bond story, pulling from all over the franchise rather than one specific book, film, or actor. The result is a greener, fresher-faced Bond who might help them appeal to a slightly different audience.
"Everyone knows GoldenEye, it's a legendary game": 007 First Light boss says his goal is to make an all-timer James Bond game, even if the result is "very different" to Hitman.
