‘007 First Light’ Review: The Best James Bond Game Since GoldenEye
IO Interactive brings Hitman's patient sandbox design to a young Bond — a confident, cinematic 25-hour spy thriller.
The Bond game drought is over. 007 First Light is the most confident, cinematic and fully realised James Bond game since GoldenEye — a 25-hour single-player spy thriller that respects its license, its players and the medium.
Patrick Gibson's 26-year-old Bond is the most credible video game version of the character in decades, supported by strong turns from Gemma Chan and Lenny Kravitz. Lana Del Rey's title song and Hans Zimmer's score land the cinematic tone the series has always chased.
A Bond-flavoured sandbox
IO Interactive's Glacier Engine stealth-and-disguise loop translates beautifully. Gunplay is rationed, cinematic and decisive, and the globe-trotting campaign — Iceland, Marrakesh, Vienna, Hong Kong, the Pyrenees and the South of France — gives every chapter its own texture. The Vienna opera house and Hong Kong tower missions are among the studio's best levels.
The trade-offs
It is less freeform than Hitman: public spaces are mostly read-only, and breaking decorum can trigger hard mission failures. Enemy AI occasionally stumbles, and the mission structure is more predictable. But with no microtransactions or live-service hooks, it is a complete, polished package.