When it was first announced that Hitman: World of Assassination developer IO Interactive was taking on the James Bond franchise with 007: First Light, it sounded like the perfect match of license and studio. The Hitman games focus on stealth, cunning, planning, and improvisation — a perfect fit for the legendary spy.
I recently went hands-on with 007: First Light across three missions, and saw first-hand how IOI has created a Bond game that combines action with a more thoughtful spy experience.
Bond from the beginning
Unlike the Bond film series, 007: First Light tells a new story, set in the modern era, that delves into Bond’s origins. When we first meet IO’s take on James Bond, he’s serving in the Royal Navy, a crewman on a mission in Iceland. Suddenly, missiles hit the two helicopters on the mission, and they crash on a nearby coastline. Bond makes it to shore and immediately finds himself sneaking past hostile mercenaries as they search for any survivors.
Before long, Bond is contacted via radio by an MI6 operative, and with no one else left, he’s pressed into service to retrieve some mysterious item. The mission gives a sense of Bond’s capabilities — even at this early point in his career, he’s able to keep his cool and analyze the situation thoughtfully, quickly donning a parka to disguise himself among the mercenaries and gather information.
But we also see that this younger Bond isn’t easily swayed from his convictions, and that he can be impatient and maybe a bit reckless. He eventually ignores his new MI6 handler and risks his life to save other operatives who’ve been captured by the enemy soldiers. After a harrowing trip through the camp to save the captives, the mission culminates in an action-packed chase as everyone escapes.
Welcome to MI6
Despite disobeying orders, Bond’s performance in Iceland got him noticed. After First Light’s take on Bond film opening credits, we headed to Malta for MI6 training.
Bond’s goal here is to make it past a group of soldiers patrolling ruins while his instructors look on. You can use stealth, staying behind cover or hiding in tall grass, or go loud with your fists and any weapons you find along the way. You’re also outfitted with Q gadgets, which provide lots of ways of dealing with enemies, both in and out of combat.
Holding L1 activates your Q Lens, which lets you see enemies through walls and highlights devices you can hack by hitting the X button to create distractions. Your watch can also fire a laser with Square to do things like cut ropes or explode devices to injure nearby enemies.
If you are spotted, you can take on enemies with Bond’s fists. Throwing punches is done with the Square button, and you can block and parry blows with Circle or sidestep with X. Timing those moves correctly is essential — even on the easier difficulty settings, First Light’s enemies are brutal fighters, especially when they gang up.
Luckily, Bond’s good at finding ways to gain an advantage. You can bounce enemies off hard surfaces to stun them, or grab nearby objects with Triangle to bash them. Holding L1 also gives you access to all your gadgets during fistfights and gunfights, so you can use your Q Watch’s laser to blind opponents or hack something to knock them off balance, before you come in with a haymaker. With an enemy off-balance, you can execute a takedown to finish them off by pressing X and Circle buttons together.
In the training mission, I felt Hitman’s influence on 007: First Light in its mix of stealth and action, its emphasis on improvisation, and its freedom to approach problems from multiple angles. But 007 stands apart with how many ways you can put together different actions to get out of trouble, and how quickly Bond can switch between all of them. The fun is in chaining together options on the fly to beat enemies down or just slip out of sight.
Practicing the craft
The third mission, Kensington, showed how you’ll need to use Bond’s fast thinking, spy capabilities, and charm as much as his fists and his marksmanship skills.
The level starts with Bond returning to his apartment after a mission, only to be attacked by assassins. After a tough fight, gunfire explodes through a window, forcing you to scramble over rooftops, staying behind cover and hacking distractions, to reach the shooter.
He escapes, but Bond manages to track him across London to a gala at a museum.
The gala is where 007: First Light drew most from Hitman in my preview, opening up into a “wide-linear” level with lots of options. To find a way into areas off-limits to guests, you can eavesdrop on conversations and talk to characters to gain information. You can also use your gadgets, including a poison dart that temporarily makes whoever it hits feel sick, to distract people so you can pick their pockets or sneak by.
I overheard a public relations director talking about a journalist she was supposed to meet and opted to impersonate him to get past security. But while Bond is a smooth talker, you still have to listen closely; the director had actually mentioned two names, and I had to choose one.
I picked the journalist she’d seemed less annoyed with, and she happily directed me past security to the press room — but when I used the same name at the press room, the woman handing out credentials said he’d already checked in. Bond smoothed over the flub with some flirting, and I used a dart to get the woman to leave so I could steal what I needed.
All kinds of improvisation
Tracking down the assassin in the museum’s basement led to an intense boss fight. Since Bond was unarmed, I stealthily used Bond’s gadgets to hit the assassin with traps, like dropping a chandelier on him. After some developments in First Light’s story, I spent the rest of the mission trying to escape the museum.
When machine gun-armed mercenaries streamed into one art exhibit with walls covered in display panels, I combined all of Bond’s tricks — stealth, fistfighting, gadgets, and improvisation — to take them on. I thinned them out by dropping more chandeliers and blowing up the panels, confusing and disabling them.
They eventually caught up with me, but a takedown on one let me grab his gun. I dodged from cover to cover as I shot at the mercenaries, before detonating a fire extinguisher with my watch laser to distract them as I slipped out the door.
The mission eventually ended with the 007 theme music ramping up as Bond hijacked a garbage truck, with mercenaries in hot pursuit. I plowed through buildings, ran mercenary cars into walls, and eventually smashed through a mall to escape.
The three missions in the preview highlighted how IOI’s combination of action, improvisation, and freedom captures not only the action of the Bond franchise, but the experience of being a smooth and savvy spy, too. You can earn your 00 status when 007: First Light hits PlayStation 5 on May 27.
