007 FIRST LIGHT REVIEW | A Bond Fan’s First Look (SPOILER FREE)

The release of 007 First Light hit the Bond community like a brick through a plate glass window. This had been the most anticipated release of anything Bond for years, which also says a lot about how starved we Bond fans were from anything Bond releasing. Anyway, I got the game on its release date as well as the exclusive golden controller. I already had two PlayStation 5 controllers, but I figured it was probably illegal to not get the exclusive one as a Bond fan. So, I'm about four evenings into the game and I am still yet to complete it. I am a completionist when it comes to games and definitely want to share my platinum journey in a compilation, too, really soon. So, hit the little bell if you want to be notified when that gets uploaded. But, for this video, I just felt I wanted to share my first impression of the game so far, and I can immediately state I am currently enjoying the living daylights out of this. And it definitely exceeded my expectations. And given how well the game had sold within the first 24 hours, already more copies sold than the last 007 game managed to do in its entire lifespan, it is safe to say I am not the only one. IOI Interactive had the daunting task of creating a fresh Bond game in an era where we currently still don't even have a new James Bond actor. They decided to gamble on an original Bond origin story featuring a young Bond, something I was initially skeptical about, but boy, can I already safely say that from what I played so far, they knocked it out of the park. 2006 Casino Royale is about as close to an origin story as the movies ever got, but even there, Bond got his 007 title pretty much within the first 5 minutes. Here, the developers centered the game around Bond earning the number. It is literally their tagline, "Earn the number." And I never dreamed I would say this, but not only does First Light succeed in creating an extensive origin story of how Bond became 007, but they did it so well I almost wish the films would feature something along these lines, too. Before I get into the gameplay, let's dive a little into what the game is about. In this game, Bond goes from a former SIS soldier to an MI6 recruit, where Bond starts the game in training and later gets involved in an overarching globe-trotting plot. And I haven't really seen this mentioned yet, but the early part of the game reminded me somewhat of Kingsman: The Secret Service. Bond is like the Eggsy character, the promising new recruit that seems out of place and people doubt his abilities. There's even a rival that does not initially get along with the main character, reminding me of Charlie, and there is a young female recruit that Bond befriends that reminded me of Roxy. Even the part where the recruits are in a nightclub and are given a sudden mission there as part of the training also really reminded me of that movie. Whereas a later level in the game totally reminded me of the opening of Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Make no mistakes, though. These are just similarities. 007 First Light does not feel like it's ripping off other franchises. If anything, it feels like an absolute love letter to Bond fans. The amount of subtle references only die-hard Bond fans would catch are off the chart. Those not in the know will surely catch on to the cheek scar being a feature of the original Bond in the Fleming [music] novels, but the more obscure references will easily fly over the casual fan's head, like this one. >> Don't tell me. Tea and cucumber sandwiches. >> You wish. >> Which is a reference to a beloved line from Moonraker. >> May I press you to a cucumber sandwich? >> Or that one of Bond's fellow recruits is named Nash, which of course is a direct reference to the identity of the agent that Red Grant poses as in From Russia with Love. How about Bond taking the alias of St. John Smythe, which was Bond's cover name in A View to a Kill? >> St. John Smythe, my dear. >> St. John Smythe? Immensely, immensely. St. John Smythe. >> I just love that cover name, St. John Smythe. Or what about the subtle mention of a director Hamilton, which is an homage to Guy Hamilton, director of four Bond films. But there are countless more of these tiny nods to us fans that immediately puts a grin on my face the entire time while playing through the game. And it's reassuring to see that the developers have done their homework, while at the same time coming up with something that feels original and fresh. I initially was afraid that a game centered around a young Bond might feel a bit too James Bond Jr. And that I wouldn't connect with a younger Bond that is yet to become the character we know. But if anything, I identified with Patrick Gibson's younger version. The part where you have to go through a modern nightclub and he's dressed in a white t-shirt with the sunglasses on there, totally reminded me exactly of the type of places you could find me in in my mid-20s, likely sporting a white t-shirt with a pair of sunglasses on there all the same. It makes sense that the younger Bond moves around in different circles compared to the more sophisticated character we know he's going to grow into. At the same time, the quick remarks and the one-liners as well as Bond's natural instinct is exactly there as we know James Bond. He's vastly different to the movies, yet you totally recognize the character. But for a younger Bond, I think Patrick Gibson did a stellar job in the game. The game, of course, features a cast of real actors and they are each given distinct personalities and feel very much part of a James Bond video game. There's the sort of banter between Bond and Moneypenny that you would have come to expect, an exciting and modern Bond girl, and a uniquely updated M and Q. Whereas the filmmakers went with a younger Q in the Craig era, reasoning that a tech expert in the modern day should likely be a younger man. But the developers of First Light went with the traditional older Q that feels entirely unique in a vastly different way to anything we've seen in any of the movies. >> I already have a watch. >> Oh, you do? May I see it? Now you get a new one. >> It's all great fun. First Light offers a great variety of gameplay, where you feel very much as though you're playing through an original Bond story in linear fashion. And what stands out is how the developers allow you as the player to make your own choices as to how you're tackling certain situations. There are always several roads that lead to Rome. I decided to distract the guards so I could sneak past over the ledge here, climb up the drain pipe, and make my way into the building through a window, but there would have been other ways to sneak in. That's exactly what you want with a good game. You want to have replayability and want to explore multiple options the next time you play this level again. On first glance, the game doesn't spell out where you need to go. There's no gigantic digital arrow giving you directions. But yet, the developers did sneak in a conscious choice of hinting you possible pathways through blue objects. Usually blue carpets or arrows on the floor or whatever other blue things you could think of. It's a nice subtle way of showing you where you could possibly go. Stealth is also a major part of the game and for a large part, I think the developers did an excellent job in making you feel like a secret agent in the making. Lots of levels revolve around finding clues, following trails, sneaking around, and shadowing villains. Of course, it wouldn't be a Bond game without any shooting or driving. The shooting is a lot of fun, but it isn't just spraying bullets mindlessly everywhere. I am personally used to games that give you more than enough ammo and I found myself having to be a bit more tactical in First Light because that definitely isn't the case in this game. In some levels, ammo is definitely a lot more scarce. So, you have to use Bond's instincts to slow time and aim for enemies carefully to kind of spare your ammo or find clever ways to spare bullets by using your gadgets or blowing stuff up in typical video game style or to take out more enemies in other ways. The developers implemented a license to kill mode that only activates as soon as a hostile has drawn their gun and you're allowed to defend yourself. Before that, you usually have to resort to hand-to-hand combat, something of which the game offers a decently deep fighting system that I personally like. There's definitely enough depth to it that allows for a bit of a learning curve before you fully master this fighting system, and that's something I always appreciate in video games. Driving is a part of the game, too, and while I haven't completed the game yet, the driving sections that I did already pass were a lot of fun and offered a type of gameplay variety that I welcome. If I have to nitpick some of the game design choices, there are a few minor ones. I personally think it would have been welcome if Bond could swim in the game. Here I was hanging over a ledge with water underneath while enemies were coming up to me, and I just wanted to escape through the water so I could get to a better vantage point, but that's not possible. In this level, I felt like I should have been able to sneak through this giant hole in the wall to sneak away from the enemies and continue there, but that also wasn't possible. Over here, I simply wanted to jump over the railing so that I didn't have to go past the booby trap, but that simply wasn't possible. Again, these are just some minor nitpicks, and they certainly did not take away any of the fun that I'm having with the game. I love how gadgets are a major part of the gameplay, too. Bond has the Q lens to locate points of interest. You also have the Q watch to hack into systems as well as use a laser to either temporarily blind enemies or open locks. You can also hack many tech objects around the environment and use it to your advantage, but you do need to keep track of your battery gauge and refill that by picking up batteries scattered around the environment. The same holds for the liquid gauge that you can use for poison-tipped darts and such. Bluffing is also a big part of the game, and it's a pretty cool mechanic that allows you to bluff your way out of situations by pretending you're someone else and it's so typical Bond and it's a feature I never would have thought of but it's ingenious. It's not something you can use all the time though. If your instinct meter is too low then you have to use other measures to get yourself out of there. The levels are all vastly different and well designed never feeling repetitive and have a real sense of immersion. Visually it also feels very much of today's standard and is definitely a lust for the eye in a lot of areas. I purposely kept myself in the dark for the story avoiding playthroughs on YouTube of parts of the game that I haven't reached yet and I'm so glad that I managed to do that. Every time I play again I'm just so intrigued into where the story is going to go into next and what twists and turns await me this time. The last time I felt that for a new game was with Mafia the old country. So while my review is spoiler-free for the most part, I would definitely appreciate it if the comments in here could remain spoiler-free, too. As I'm still on the verge of completing the game myself. So far though, the game is an absolute blast and while creating this video, I already can't wait to turn that PS5 on again to continue my journey which I think sums up exactly what I was hoping for with a good Bond game. Great immersion, an intriguing story, stunning visuals, interesting characters, and that awesome fantasy element of feeling like you are playing as James Bond but this time from a vastly different new angle. I was born in 1990 and by the late '90s I was already a big Bond fan. So of course I grew up with Agent Under Fire, Nightfire, and Everything or Nothing. But I can honestly say that for me, 007 First Light has already become my favorite Bond game for just how sheer original it feels. At least so far. I am definitely curious if you guys are having as much of a blast playing this game as I am. It's such a good feeling, isn't it, to have something new again within the Bond community? Something new to experience, something new to discuss within the community, and simply enjoy. It truly is a great time to be a Bond fan again. And we can only celebrate that, right? If you've liked this video, be sure to like and subscribe, and I see you guys in the next video. >> [music] [music]