James Bond, who became younger with Daniel Craig in the cinematic universe, takes us to his heyday with 007 First Light. Let’s see together whether IO Interactive, which is going crazy with the Hitman series, can hit the nail on the head with the game developed in Istanbul. James Bond’s gaming adventure is not bad at all, anyone knows. GoldenEye 007, Everything or Nothing and The World Is Not Enough, released in 1997, are etched in memory as one of the best games of our charisma agent.
First Light can easily put its name among these names thanks to its efforts, let me make a note in advance. I’m skipping everything, First Light also shares a very special secret with us; We learn where Bond’s special love of Martini comes from. What more could you want, right? James Drake, Is That You? You must have noticed that 007 First Light was compared to Uncharted as soon as it was released. First, let’s talk about this analogy thing so we can get it out of the way.
We would be upset if we compared any game that attaches importance to cinematic narrative to Uncharted, so I don’t think it’s a very fair comparison. Nathan Drake’s adventure is superior in every respect, even the graphic quality is surprisingly stronger, even though 10 years have passed. So ignore this comparison and think of First Light as a Hitman that pays attention to narrative and pacing, it’s better. First Light tells a complete Bond story; Evil forces that set their sights on the integrity of England and the world, beautiful women, snobbish environments, secrecy and action.
It brings all these together in a modern story, placing artificial intelligence and the threats that may come from it at the center of the story, like the movie Mission: Impossible. Don’t think that we are only fighting against digital enemies, we also have well-drawn and realistic evil characters. Our story begins in Bond’s period before he became an agent, and his heroism in a developing incident attracts the attention of MI6.
Of course, it is not that easy to get into MI6, the UK’s intelligence service, First Light officially has a training sequence that lasts 1.5 hours. The production team made a good choice. Instead of a quick training given with instructions appearing on the screen throughout the games, you learn everything and all the dynamics incorporated into the story during Bond’s MI6 training. This is a design choice that integrates everything into the story and conveys the training part to the player without being boring or even revealing, applause!
As the training ends, we meet the rebelliousness in Bond’s character; He never listens to his superiors, objects to decisions and does whatever suits him. Of course, this stupidity causes trouble and Bond encounters early losses. The story also gears up and accelerates with his internal development. It turns out that THEIA, the artificial intelligence that directs all of MI6’s operations, is actually a threat, but it is not easy to get rid of it.
Anyway, there is no need to explain further. It’s up to you to experience the rest, I can recommend that you be ready for the tight twists and high moments in the story. I’m Bond… 47 Bond… 007 First Light borrowed many things from IO Interactive’s popular series Hitman and adapted it. All the sneaky things you are used to doing with Agent 47 are also tried to a certain extent by Bond. I can say that you start almost every mission in the game with the Hitman structure.
You calmly start tasks in places where there are crowded people, such as a club, auction or holiday resort. These points are perhaps the places where the game has the most pacing problems, no lie. The reason for this is; Hitman games give you a really tight latitude, you’re flexible in how you complete missions. We wouldn’t be wrong if we say creativity is at its peak. 007 First Light, on the other hand, restrains itself and offers you only 3-4 different possibilities in each scenario to progress.
Since you discover at least one of these right away, you don’t bother researching the others or have the urge to act creatively. Moreover, since the balance of good and bad among the choices is very blurry, it does not matter what you do. This not only does not offer game moments that will tickle your mind, but also seriously slows down the tempo because it does not force you. There is a more linear structure here than in Hitman, and conflicts come to the fore.
Here too, we encounter both good and bad sides. The melee combat system is being compared to the Batman Arkham series, which is very unfair. The fights in the Arkham games rely on the player’s timing, but they do not leave you in a blind spot and are player-friendly. Here, in wild hands, there is a situation called mixed bag. While enemies attack you with their fists, they come with moves that you can or cannot swing.
When fighting in narrow and closed spaces, the camera can get stuck in such strange places that it is very difficult to understand where the blow is coming from and how it is coming. Yellow attacks are blocked and if you are fast, you can counterattack. Red ones are attacks that do not accept blocks. You should avoid these too. When fighting with 3-5 enemies in a narrow space, the above problems naturally become annoying when they come to light.
Things are fine and pleasant in the open field or when the camera cannot find a place to hang out with great desire. Reading enemy attacks and making punches speak is entertaining, even if it doesn’t develop throughout the story. The freedom to use the objects around you is of a quality that you will see in very few games. You can grab an enemy and throw him to the shelves, grab the bottle next to you and hit his head, and then hit the shield hanging on the wall and eliminate him.
The firearms section is more enjoyable. Taking cover and shooting are things we love anyway. There is a detail here: Bond can’t pull a gun when he wants to. First, he will turn into the threat he faces and use his gun, and then our Bond brother can act as a last resort and pull the trigger. It seems restrictive, I know, but thanks to this choice, the essence of the 100-year-old character has not been betrayed. By the way, First Light is trying to challenge you here too.
Even your main weapon becomes useless when you run out of bullets. You have to collect the weapons of the enemies you knocked down. Sometimes, when you throw bullets carelessly, you can be left without ammunition and become a fish out of water. This means jumping under fire and looking for weapons, do not forget to act strategically so that you do not get into trouble. Hello, I’m Marcus Aiden Bond… This is my Talented Wristwatch…
One of James Bond’s things is that he uses devices that seem to be related to daily life as technological weapons. We had the chance to experience the devices developed by Q and his team in charge of the MI6 Technology Unit at First Light. First of all, the watch, which has always been our friend, draws attention here as the home of all technologies. The watch called Q-Watch is like a stand-alone radar, showing you the location of missions, alternative routes and information about enemies with a single touch.
As if that wasn’t enough, you can assign 3 additional features to it. Poison arrows that stun the enemies, bombs, smoke bombs and the hacking feature you will use most are at your service. The hacking dynamic is seriously reminiscent of the Watch Dogs series. You can activate or break electronic devices with a single button and divert the attention of your enemies. It is a feature that gives free space to the player and it is used very well.
By the way, you cannot use all these features unlimitedly and carelessly, so there is no turning on God mode, friend. These features are defined in green and blue colors, and their energy runs out when used. In this case, you need to collect parts from the electronic devices and chemical products scattered here and there. When you do this, you have the chance to use the features again. Although it seems restrictive, it is a feature that adds tactics to every moment.
In addition to the watch that gives you an advantage, Bond also has skills such as bluffing and can manage to get out of awkward situations with his tongue. You can distract the enemy by bluffing and reward him with a swift beating. With this tactic, you can deceive NPCs who are not hostile and do not let you into prohibited areas and continue on your way. Frankly, I can’t say that I use this tongue-in-cheek dynamic very much, or rather that I need it, but its existence is important, and I rarely use it.
How Can I Get to TacSim? “Story mode is over, what do we do now?” My mortal friends who ask, I present to you TacSim. Thanks to this mode, which I mentioned as if it were my own invention, you can play the missions you have completed with new difficulty levels, time restrictions and new scenario dynamics. I’ve only tried this mode, which also has an online leaderboard, once or twice, but it’s hard to say that it offers fresh content.
TacSim will upset those looking for a constantly updated live service similar to Contracts in Hitman, but this is the way to unlock extras. Thanks to the experience points we earn in TacSim, you can unlock new costumes and weapon skins specific to Bond. It’s cosmetic-focused, so no crazy scary content can come out of it. If IO Interactive invests here and constantly throws out original scenarios in the future, TacSim will also make sense.
The graphics of 007 First Light are quite clean. Let’s leave the Uncharted analogy aside, I felt like there would be people asking again. Apart from this analogy, the location designs and diversity, and character animations are quite successful. NPCs seem to be a little slow, there is no dialogue-lip sync, but don’t worry about these, just look at the handsome aspects of the game. There are no problems such as FPS drops, skins are delayed from time to time, but they are not annoying.
Bond’s character modeling is very successful; I think this is the correct manifestation of our agent, who was created as a gentleman in his time, in the new generation. James Bond is a very strict new generation agent with a scar on his face, his endless sarcastic side and his charm. The theme music sung by Lana Del Rey is so successful, you can spin it many times. The use of music throughout the game is also well above average.
Depending on the dynamics of the episode reflected on the screen, the compositions, sometimes dark, sometimes mischievous, and generally brought to life by the orchestra, will delight your ears. The sound effects are also very good. The bullets raining down on you during clashes will tickle your heart, and you will love the harmony of the high-pitched sound of an enemy’s head breaking on the glass table with the image.
The voice acting is also very, very good. Patrick Gibson, who plays Bond, reflects all aspects of the character completely. Lennie James, who is a very good actor and you may remember from The Walking Dead series, brings our mentor Greenway to life perfectly. You understand how important attention to detail is in high-budget productions, as well in 007 First Light. It is our natural right to see Turkish language support in a game whose production team is IO Istanbul studio, and this right has been given to us.
Thanks to the excellent subtitle support, we can play the game in our native language. We haven’t seen a Bond game in a long time, and that’s why we have an important game in our hands. 007 First Light is a clean game with its dynamic story, clean visuals and overall playability, although it loses pace from time to time. It has flaws, some of them are even annoying, but the power to ignore them is in your hands. Those who enjoy stealth and action games with a strong cinematic language should definitely experience 007 First Light.
It may not be the game of this year, but its power is hidden in its name. 007 First Light Review Story / Presentation – 8.5 Graphics – 8 Playability – 7.8 Sound / Music – 8.5 8.2 A solid Bond game that misses the opportunity to become a classic due to some handicaps, but offers a clean journey. Who can say no
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