Review: 007 First Light - A Cinematic Experience

I don't think there are many more recognizable cinematic brands than James Bond, the famous British agent who is charismatic and brash, and that's not really surprising, because every age group had its own Bond - for me, it was naturally Daniel Craig who made me fall in love with the character, and look back to the previous films that built the character into what it really is today. While each Bond brought his own special flavor to the 007 character, there's no doubt that the common denominator always remained among them all, with the iconic character who found a way out of every trouble, always in a stunning cinematic fashion, one that I feel is slowly disappearing from cinema, which itself is slowly disappearing.

Leading up to the launch of the new game, I was worried - worried that like many other examples, the game would try to ride on the Bond brand and allow itself to aim for mediocrity, simply because it could, but to give one small spoiler here at the beginning of the review, mediocrity is the last thing you can say about this game. The new Bond is certainly not without flaws, but it manages to do the most important thing: take the cinematic experience of Bond, preserve it, and bring it into a game, without unnecessary pretensions, and with execution at the highest level.

Bond, James Bond...

If you're reading these lines, you probably, like everyone else, know Bond, and the general plot line that guides the new First Light, putting us in the shoes of the young agent at the beginning of his career in the world of espionage; arrogant, doesn't accept authority - but delivers results. The story of the new game is without a doubt one of the strong pillars of the new game, and it's the secret to what makes the entire experience feel exactly like our own private Bond film, with great emphasis on cinematic scenes in which we take an active part, with very successful execution by the game's developer, IO Interactive, which took the risk of not making the game feel too similar to one of the films, but tried, and succeeded, in incorporating into the game a bit of the feeling that each of the classic films brought.

Very quickly the game throws us into all the action, and without diving too deep into the plot itself - we'll find ourselves recruited to MI6, and going through the training missions of the secret 00 program, in a way that manages to teach us the game mechanics in a sort of montage that doesn't feel forced and doesn't repeat itself, at least not too much. This training montage perhaps most prominently demonstrates how much the game's developers knew how to take Bond's cinematic qualities and incorporate them into the game in a way that serves it without feeling forced. I'll admit that the opening stages, exactly like the closing stages, sometimes feel a bit "stretched," a kind of feeling of missing the point, but at least not particularly noticeably. In an ideal world I would say I'd be happy to trim a bit from those parts, or polish them more, but given that the game is relatively short anyway, less than 15 hours for the fast among you, it's good they stayed in any case.

Cinema Is Great, But How Does It Feel

Regarding the gameplay of First Light, even before the launch it was hard not to compare it to the Hitman games from the same developer, and there's certainly truth in that, but not exactly. Just like the combination of films into one story experience, the gameplay also feels as if it took a bit of the good from different places and combined all of these into one game, when the biggest similarity, as I've seen many already making the comparison online, is somewhere between the Hitman games and the Uncharted games, and that, by the way, is a big compliment in my opinion, and the most accurate description I can provide for the gameplay.

Among the interesting mechanics of the game are of course Q's various gadgets. These include, among other things, arrows that will make an enemy feel nauseous, the ability to sabotage electrical devices, smoke grenades, a laser beam that will allow us to cut locks, and more fun Bond toys. All of these, by the way, are very enjoyable, but in practice, perhaps partly because the game is relatively short and didn't allow me to explore all the different gadgets enough, I chose instead to stick to those permanent gadgets that felt suited to my play style, and only changed the choice when I explicitly received a recommendation for a specific gadget before going out on a mission.

And speaking of comparing to Hitman on the gameplay issue, while Hitman games want us to always be as quiet as possible, and direct us to play carefully, First Light actually doesn't, and it allows us to choose our own way completely. I still think that to maximize the enjoyment of the most challenging game is actually to sneak, and look for the smart way, whether with the help of various gadgets, planning a relevant route, or even the ability to bluff our enemies - an ability that by the way saved me more than once, but even if we fail, it's definitely not the end, it simply means that now we'll find ourselves in a fistfight that will raise the adrenaline, or heaven forbid - maybe even get a "license to kill," assuming the enemy initiates it. This way the game manages to combine the two gameplay styles and gives the choice to us players. Usually I say that when a game tries to do two things and doesn't stick to one thing, it doesn't always work, but this time - it just works.

Another element worth talking about and giving IO Interactive credit for is the excellent level design. Each mission we go out on is essentially a new level that will take us to a different place, I won't spoil but I will say that each level feels very different from the others and presents different atmospheres and areas we can explore. As with the freedom to choose a method of operation, there's also complete freedom to choose how we'll progress through the level and in what way. In one of the missions we'll need to obtain a relatively large sum of money and the game simply tells us "walk around the world and find opportunities," something that pushes the player to eavesdrop on people, pick up various items and explore every corner of the level to find all sorts of different ways from one another to obtain money in this case. One of my favorite missions in the game by the way that felt like a small Sandbox and felt very special compared to the rest of the missions. We also see the freedom to explore in the various items scattered in each level that can be examined and read about when they give us more depth to the story or the place we're in, a torn page in an ancient book in the first act, will reveal itself as the building plan in the third act.

Heavy On My Computer

The right way to watch a successful Bond film is on the big screen, and in reverse correlation, I actually think the game is best experienced on PC. If anyone had any doubt, First Light is not a "light" game, and will definitely challenge your computer if you planned to play it on high settings, so let's talk some numbers: I experienced the game on my personal computer, with an Nvidia RTX 5070 card, Intel Ultra 5 245K processor, and 32GB RAM while playing on High settings, without DLSS active, at 3440x1440 resolution and managed to squeeze throughout the game on average about 60 to 70 frames per second, relatively stable and without noticeable drops, even in the more demanding sections of the game.

For comparison, when activating DLSS on balanced mode, I managed to get a significant jump, to the area of 100 frames per second, which also remained stable throughout the game and didn't show leaks or significant drops, and allowed me to play at a pace that felt much more natural to me, without feeling like I was giving up anything from the experience, maybe the opposite. In this specific case of course there are opinions, there are those who will prefer a "real" and sharp image as much as possible even at the expense of a lower frame rate, but I personally feel that the jump in game pace thanks to enabling DLSS allowed me a much more enjoyable and smooth gaming experience. First Light also supports Dynamic Frame Generation capability so that DLSS actually changes the amount of frames it generates at any moment according to the scene in the game and to reach the frame target of my screen. And if I'm returning again to the point about preference for a real image versus a DLSS one, I invite you to see the comparison here that shows the accuracy and amazing visibility that DLSS 4.5 has reached.

The Bottom Line

The new Bond is not just an excellent game, it's the best James Bond game (yes, I said that), and it completely feels like it could have been a film itself. The story is nothing short of excellent, the new mechanics it presents manage to innovate enough without trying too hard, the characters feel authentic like I haven't seen in a long time in a game, it looks great and runs great on PC, and it manages to appeal both to Bond fans as it preserves the brand and does it a great service, but also to be interesting and enjoyable enough on its own merits to appeal to all those who didn't grow up on Bond and don't hold any special value for the brand. Despite the length, and despite certain points that feel unpolished at times, I recommend it to everyone, and if you had any doubt, you can dispel it. There are games you play to pass the time, there are games you play and forget, and there are games you wait all day to play, such is First Light.