007: First Light Review

AAA gaming has been getting quite a bit of a pushback in recent times by certain vocal minorites. I say this because 007 First Light is the kind of game that they are rebelling against. As for me I do enjoy the game had an enjoyable time with it but throughout my entire playthrough, it was hard not to think of games like The Last of Us and especially Uncharted 4. Yes, it's been said many times that First Light resembles Uncharted but I'd argue the former has the most in common with the latter's 4th game.

I mostly enjoyed First Light's story even if it is carried by characters like Greenway, Q and Moneypenney especially the former. Greenway was especially a character I liked. I have a soft spot for archetypes like him and First Light does it well enough. How's initially distrusting of Bond due to his reckless and unelegant way of following protocal but then the latter slowly starts to earn his respect throughout the story. His backstory involving 009 was compelling he was once first with him and thought he was traitor but turns it out things aren't what they seem.

Q's interaction with Bond are also really fun in how the latter learns the ropes with his gadgets and bizarre antics. He also won't just hand all the information over to Bond.

Moneypenny's interactions with Bond are pretty fun and how she choosed to help him in spite of detriments in her own personal life or the way she reacts to what the former does during gameplay and in the field.

It was also fun to see the whole idea of the Bond mythos be reimagined in the modern age. Seemingly borrowing from the latest Mission Impossible movies regarding AI and computer algorithms in how it coincides with spycraft.

The game is also committed to being an origin story for Bond considering he doesn't start doing actual secret agent stuff until 3 levels in.

The only two big negatives is that the actor who plays Bond tend to make that same smile a lot the scenes he is in. Also Damien Webb somehow surviving Bond smashing him with construction equipment and later getting cyberized was when the story lost me. It felt like he only survived so we can have a final boss and Damien was the only in the story who knew how.

Gameplay in First Light is mostly good but it comprises of multiple different components. You got shooting, fist fighting, stealth, Hitman style puzzle rooms, car chases, and escape puzzles.

Stealth is similar to the recent Splinter Cells and Hitman Absolution. It's nothing standout. You got the bare minimum like decently wide open levels, cover system, reasonable guard detection rates, distractions, lures a guard over to you and a bluffing system similar to Instinct from the latter game.

What helps enforce stealth and I doubt this was intentional but fist fighting feels awful. Enemies have stupid amounts of health, Bond can only take two hits before dying, parrying and dodging feels stiff and awkward, you want to throw something at an enemy but Bond will throw them instead. It's all around not a very empowering system compared to the Batman Arkham, Insomniac Spider-Man or the Middle Earth games.

This is fine during stealth when you get caught and you want to quickly takedown 2 nearby alerted enemies. During mandatory boss encounters, the awkward stiffness reers it's ugly head and fights are infuriating partnered that with the long loading times which makes these sequences more frustrating.

Car driving and Hitman style levels while simplistic for the latter do a great job at being pseudo establishing shots when all hell breaks loose later on in the levels. Great example are Beyond the Grave and Wave of the Future.

Combat is the game's strong suit. I'm not used to an IO game having geniunely great combat but they should make a John Wick game. You have to cycle between two fire arms but ammo is scarce for both so you need to close the distance and get melee kills to pick up an enemy's gun. You can shoot an enemy's hands and legs stagger or use gadgets for distractions instead of wasting ammo, you can get a quick finisher kill on them. You got bullet time to help land some fast headshots. Destructible cover and grenades has you be on the move and you can get killed fast on normal so combine melee, shooting and bullet time for effective play.

You could possibly stealth when you get licensed to kill but gunplay is more far more fun than fist fighting.

With that said, combat might be maybe 30% of the game at most. You are better off playing Tactical Operations than the main campaign.

Remember the Uncharted 4 comparison? There's an excessive amount downtime. The reason why First light can be around 20 hours is due to this. I do like the story but it makes playing the campaign a rather uneven experience. I'm not someone who actively replays but these sections can be on the dull side even in the moment due to grinding the agency to a halt.

Overall, First Light is good but uneven in places.