007 First Light Review – The Best James Bond Game Yet

I remember playing the opening of Hitman 3 and watching Agent 47 drop from a plane onto the tallest skyscraper in Dubai, navigate its exterior, climb through a window, effortlessly swap his gear for something more formal, and seamlessly blend into the crowd as he hunted his targets. The only feeling I had during that sequence was assurance.

Assurance that IO Interactive could not only nail an involved James Bond experience, but also apply everything it has learned from its rich catalog of stealth and action games to create something truly special. 007 First Light is exactly that: a fantastic game that leverages the studio’s many strengths to deliver one of the best titles of the year.

007 First Light has a fairly extensive prologue and training sequence that introduces us to James Bond before he earns his 00 status. It may feel a bit overlong, but I think it’s necessary for establishing the key players, including young Bond himself and the fellow recruits he forms deep connections with as he learns the ropes of spycraft.

There’s an entire training montage that cuts seamlessly between hand-to-hand combat, infiltration, shooting, and driving, with no pauses or loading screens. It’s a technical feat that leaves a lasting impression, making an otherwise standard tutorial feel cinematic while remaining engaging in all the right ways.

After the training, you’re assigned your first mission. From that point on, the game becomes a globe-trotting adventure filled with twists, larger-than-life villains, uneasy alliances, and plenty of betrayals along the way. It’s a quintessential James Bond story that still feels fresh, thanks to the earnest effort from IO Interactive to honor the franchise while leaving its own mark on it.

James exhibits qualities seen in past iterations of the character, but Patrick Gibson manages to make the role his own without resorting to impressions or emulating a particular portrayal. Beyond the recklessness, occasional immaturity, and willingness to throw himself into danger, his Bond is defined by an unwavering loyalty to his friends and a desire to do what he believes is right, regardless of the consequences. He’s charming, likable, naive, decisive, and foolhardy, but above all, kind, which makes him incredibly easy to root for. And he has no shortage of witty remarks even when he’s being pummeled by psychopaths.

IO Interactive went to great lengths to ensure that every part of the game feels like a necessary piece of the larger narrative, with nothing that ever comes across as filler. Each area is packed with the studio’s signature attention to detail, a staggering number of NPCs, and plenty of opportunities for exploration.

The structure of missions can vary, but most of the larger ones have an ever-evolving quality. You’re constantly switching between gathering intel, charming gullible characters, taking out enemies, sneaking into restricted areas, bluffing your way through conversations, light platforming, using gadgets to hack devices, and driving fast vehicles. Whenever a particular activity starts to feel prolonged, the game smoothly introduces something new into the mix. It’s a masterclass in pacing that remains remarkably consistent throughout each mission.

Unlike Hitman, where stealth is the primary form of engagement, it isn’t the end of the world if you’re spotted here, because James turns into the Terminator the moment “License to Kill” appears on screen. You can shoot guns out of enemies’ hands, throw weapons at them, and slow down time for the perfect headshot. The gunplay is a major improvement over the arguably stiffer version found in Hitman.

Guns aren’t everything, though, because James also has access to a limited but versatile set of gadgets. You can use a dart phone to secretly incapacitate enemies, hack into practically every electronic device to create distractions, use the laser strap to cut through locks and blind enemies, and deploy a few more that I won’t spoil here. Rest assured, the game fully leans into the gadget fantasy the films are known for, and your first visit to Q-Lab is especially memorable.

The Q-Watch and Q-Lens aren’t just optional tools, but serve as extensions of your moveset, and you’re constantly relying on them for traversal, combat, and infiltration. It all feels seamless, and the level design consistently gives you opportunities to experiment with the gadgets, especially hacking. All of this is done without any leveling system, skill trees, obtuse currencies, or crafting systems. The core mechanics and James’ default moveset are enough to carry you through everything the game throws at you.

For me, the hand-to-hand combat is a bit undercooked. It’s simple on paper and really hard to mess up, but I don’t think it ever feels like you’re doing anything particularly special, or getting creative or better over time when it comes to fighting enemies. It mostly comes down to parry, dodge, and counterattacks. You can even finish most fights by simply throwing enough objects at enemies, including bosses. It’s serviceable and inoffensive, but feels underdeveloped compared to everything else in the game.

This extends to the boss fights as well, which never pose a serious challenge. There was a hint of something like the Mr Freeze fight from Arkham Asylum when I took on a highly capable assassin, but it was over before I could really experiment, and the boss simply doesn’t react in creative or meaningful ways that would encourage different strategies.

Visually, 007 First Light is a treat, and IO Interactive wastes no opportunity to show off its incredible level design skills. Each location you visit is packed with detail, unique NPCs to follow, and interiors worth exploring. Everything feels slick, modern, and when you eventually walk into the room of a supervillain, you can rest assured it feels absurd, stylish, and grounded all at once. Character models are a major improvement over Hitman, and the lighting in general feels more consistent between environments.

Performance on PC has been excellent on my end with a Ryzen 7 5700X3D paired with an RTX 4070 Super. There are occasional instances where the game straight up pauses for a long duration. I can’t quite figure out what causes it, but you can also recreate a similar extended stutter or hang if you take a screenshot on Steam. Either way, it’s rare enough that it doesn’t become too annoying.

Verdict

IO Interactive’s take on James Bond is confident, stylish, and effortlessly absorbing. Patrick Gibson’s James Bond is charming and memorable without leaning on familiar interpretations, supported by a cast of likeable characters. The blend of stealth, action, and gadget play brings out the best of IO Interactive’s design strengths, resulting in an expertly paced, all-killer-no-filler experience that rarely overstays its welcome. It balances careful infiltration with more bombastic spectacle when needed, always encouraging improvisation over perfection. Hand-to-hand combat is a weak point, but First Light compensates with encounters that encourage experimentation and creative flow. This isn’t just a great James Bond game; it’s the best one yet.