007 First Light
Review
Let the Skyfall
by Alex Moretti
reviewed on PC
After crash landing on an island during an ambush, novice military grunt James Bond manages to infiltrate his way into a camp where enemy militia has abducted a handful of scientists. After using his stealth skills to save them, he charges some bombs laying around the area, and gets a hold of a detonator that he uses to blow up the island right before escaping and we are treated to a beautiful original score and intro made to mimic the intro of a Bond Movie
TOMORROW NEVER DIES
Afterwards, Bond is recruited by MI6 to be an agent for them. After making friends at the academy, and learning how to fight, drive, and use gadgets and firearms, Bond is sent out on a series of missions that require him to rely on his wit as much as his arsenal.
Missions can be tackled in many ways, you can try to sneak into places by climbing on walls and shimmying around to get to a current objective. You can also try to use James' charm to convince armed guards and civilians that you have a reason to be in areas where you are not supposed to be. Combine this with the gadgets that scientist Q manufactures, and there are a good variety of ways that you can approach each mission.
Stealth is a great option most of the time, though at times players will have to resort to using fists to beat enemies into submission when they spot you. When enemies show murderous intent however, you are granted a license to kill. This will allow Bond to use whatever firearms are available to kill the people who are trying to kill him.
This all sounds good on paper, but when you take the time to peel back the layers, there are things that feel like they are either out of place for a James Bond game or were just stupidly designed.
A VIEW TO A KILL
The platforming is solid, however for some reason when an enemy is directly above Bond, he can't pull them off a ledge like Nathan Drake in the Uncharted games. I'm assuming that the reason for this is because pulling enemies would kill them, but I say, so what? You're fighting terrorists. Who cares if they don't see you? Players should be allowed to pull them off a ledge and have them fall to their deaths.
Another thing that makes little sense is that when confronted by armed men, Bond is not immediately allowed to shoot them. There was this one area in the game where I was trying to be stealthy and take out some terrorists who had abducted Bond with machine guns on their backs. I messed up causing me to enter melee mode, and I had to fight them off with my fists. Despite them clearly being terrorists, and armed to the teeth, Bond still was not allowed to use firearms.
Why the hell not? Just because they aren't shooting at him? They are clearly showing murderous intent. God knows how many people James killed on the island that he blew up at the beginning of the game. Yet we are supposed to believe he has a problem with killing armed terrorists just because they don’t have their guns pointed directly at him.
Melee combat is also kind of scruffy and inconsistent. When you are fighting with your bare fists, the dodge, block, and attack features work well. But for some reason whenever an enemy had their back turned to Bond, I wasn’t able to attack them as they became intangible. The first time this happened was in a bathroom at a nightclub, I got into a fistfight with a guy who thought that I was trying to seduce his girlfriend. After hitting him a few times, he turned his back to me for about five seconds. I tried to hit him, but none of my attacks landed a hit on him.
At a later stage, as I was fighting a group of soldiers, one of them tried to pick up an item to throw at me, they turned their back to me to pick up said item, and I tried to land a hit on them, but they became intangible. For some reason, the game doesn’t want you to attack enemies when their backs are turned to you during a fight. But then during a different fight later, I was able to land a hit on an enemy from behind, so It’s not clear to me what the rules are. Am I allowed to attack an enemy from behind during combat or not?
HE STRIKES LIKE THUNDERBALL
The game also has some missed potential with the abilities that it gives Bond. While shooting, players can use 'focus' to slow down time similar to Max Payne. Using focus drains energy which can be acquired by killing enemies, beating them in melee fights, and performing stealth takedowns. However you can't use focus to slow down time during melee combat. Players are encouraged to use gadgets during fisticuffs to make the game easier. Why not do what Grand Theft Auto 5 does with its weapon wheel, and slow down time while you have your gadgets open? This would certainly add a new layer of depth to the combat, as being able to slow down time during a fist fight to select which gadget you want to use to stun or incapacitate an enemy could make you feel more super human, like James Bond is supposed to be.
As for the gadgets themselves, there are a total of seven, and players can pick between four of them at the start of each mission. Players start off with two, but as the game goes on, you will acquire more. Each of the gadgets are fuelled by items scattered around the environment, such as batteries for your watch, alcohol for your poison darts, and many others.
NO TIME TO DIE (BUT PLENTY OF TIME FOR LEISURE)
007 First Light also has some chill down time where James and his friends can banter in their luxury apartment provided to them by MI6. I found these moments to be mostly inoffensive, they don't take up too much of the runtime, and it's fun to just relax sometimes and get to know the backstories of James' teammates.
Players are also encouraged to scavenge the areas that you traverse for cool little secrets and knicknacks, though collecting them doesn't offer you anything tangible outside of some Steam Achievements. Also, after completing the main story, players are given the ability to return to whichever mission they want from a menu, allowing you to bring in all your upgraded gear into that mission.
The final bit of entertainment First Light has to offer is a Tactical simulation. In this mode, Bond will be given smaller missions to complete under the guise of it being a simulation. This mode entertained me for a few hours, and I'm assuming the developers will add more missions later on, as it is, it is a nice little bonus.
While it has its fair share of problems, and it is certainly not the masterpiece Bond fans were hoping for, 007 First Light did manage to entertain me throughout the majority of its runtime. The issues I mentioned with the game's design weren't necessarily gamebreaking, just really stupid. Having said that, I'm glad that we finally got an adventure with James Bond that felt as though it came from a place of passion. Let's just hope that passion is spent on a sequel that sparkles as bright as Diamonds Are Forever, because when it comes to James Bond, You Only Live Twice.
Alex is the author of The Lost Decade, the story of wheelchair bound 12-year-old Akira Arisaka who is a talented artist in Japan in the 1990's
7.8
fun score
Pros
A unique modern take on James Bond. Gadgets are fun to experiment with.
Cons
Combat feels clunky at times. Not being able to fire your gun in most combat scenarios makes no sense.
