007 First Light review – IO Interactive's Hitman formula fits Bond like a glove

007 First Light has been on my mental wishlist for years. IO Interactive – creators of the Hitman series – is taking on the world’s most famous spy, using its very specific brand of ‘hiding in plain sight’ cloak and dagger operations, and applying it to James Bond. It’s a match made in heaven, really.

If you don’t know already, James Bond isn’t just a spy; he’s the spy. Ever-present in both cinematic and literary forms since I can remember, he’s a sweet-talking, no-nonsense MI6 agent who, quite simply, gets the job done. It’s usually all tuxedos, martinis, and niche gadgets, with missions being dragged across the line with charm and panache.

While Bond may not sound like IO’s former protagonist, Agent 47, their modus operandi intersect somewhat in execution. 007 First Light takes the feel of a Hitman and narrows it, sanding off the rough edges and tightening the scope. Blending with a crowd, being in places I shouldn’t be; it all feels similar, only with a personality at the helm.

Patrick Gibson is the latest in a long line of actors to pick up the Bond role, although this time it isn’t the full-formed Bond we know. He offers sincerity, charm, and insubordination in equal measure, and I buy this being the lump of clay that one day becomes the unflappable 007. There are green shoots of the smooth-talking lothario, with a sense of improvisation and bluff underpinning the entire thing. Fake it ’till you make it, as they say.

First Light is a third-person action game at its heart, which is where I think it differs from IO’s other releases. It tells the origin story of James Bond and how he becomes a 00 agent, from his humble start in the Royal Navy, through his MI6 training, and ultimately to becoming a field agent as a full-fledged spy. These aren’t disconnected jobs; there’s a narrative through-line, an almost on-rails sense of progression here that is needed to tell a cohesive story.

Before being funnelled into whatever the current mission requires, levels are rather open affairs, which is where I think First Light shines. Casing the joint, finding contacts, larceny – proper spy stuff. I’ve been everywhere from a beautiful countryside mansion to a black market pit inside a beached oil tanker, with each sprawl needing to be unravelled and organized so I can get on with the job at hand.

There’s a point in the black market level where I need to raise funds to access another area. I weave through the bustling crowds to various vendors, taking on shooting ranges and bluffing my way into an art deal to get what I need. It was probably more prescriptive than it felt at the time, but belonging in that place without the immediate threat of violence, using something other than firearms and my fists to achieve my goals, felt rewarding in a way that shooting never did.

I’m given more tools than ever to avoid conflict, despite First Light essentially being an action game. I’m able to talk my way out of some situations, bluffing enemies, and distracting them with environmental triggers to get where I need to be. Setting a trash can on fire with my wrist-mounted laser so they look the other way, that kind of thing. First Light is at its best when I have to solve the puzzle that’s in front of me, rather than ploughing my way through it.

Infiltrating a crowded space is a thrill, and ingratiating myself into a group so I can operate in plain sight feels very Bond – and very Hitman. First Light does a fantastic job with these open areas, and while it leans heavily on the gadgets, there’s still a lot of intuition and planning needed to avoid bloodshed.

These open areas aren’t quite on the scale or as deep as in a Hitman game, and there are often only a few, very specific options available to me when it comes to achieving my goals. The scope is narrowed, and while I didn’t get to think completely outside of the box, there is enough wiggle room to feel like I had an impact. Staying undiscovered and free of bruises was always my plan A; when things kicked off, however, I found it much less engaging.

The nature of Bond requires violence; there’s no two ways about it. It can’t be cocktails by the pool all the time, sadly. I’m thrown into combat scenarios with waves of faceless goons more often than I’d have liked, with the finesse of the open areas devolving into Uncharted-style shootouts, and the nuance of being a spy dissolving into a hail of bullets and generic barks.

These gunfights feel like violent punctuation in the beginning, the quick snap of a full stop, but eventually they take over much of the late-game runtime. As things get more serious, the encounters are more numerous, and instead of doing something smart, I end up being forced into pulling another trigger.

Although the balance is slightly off, it’s obvious from the first minute that First Light is an incredibly well-made game; a curated experience that’s tight from top to bottom. From the voice acting to the cinematography, it was a genuine pleasure playing something as well-formed as this, with a story more than worthy of propping it all up.

The score deserves a shout-out here, too. The Bond theme is one of the most iconic pieces of music ever made, and it would be easy to litter his journey with that well-known bassline and call it a day. What happens here, though, is fascinating; the theme evolves with Bond, unrecognizable at first, forming slowly over the course of his development. We hear a sting here and there, coming in strong over acts of heroism, then fading away, like it was barely there. He ‘earns’ his theme one mission at a time, much like his 007 moniker.

If Hitman is a blank canvas, then First Light is a coloring book; everything is planned out, it’s just up to me to fill out the details. I can choose whatever colors I like, in theory, but in the end, the picture looks the same. I’m always improvising a route from A to B, and while it doesn’t feel as free-form and creative as IO Interactive’s previous jaunts, it’s a perfect fit for Bond.