007 First Light PS5 Review

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Fast Facts

The Name’s Bond….. James Bond

I have not played a James Bond video game for a long time. Probably not since I played Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64, slapping my brother about in split-screen chaos. Not many people knew about First Light and when it came out to rave reviews, suddenly, people noticed. Grab your gadgets, sip your Martini and let’s Bond!

Bond, Before He was Really Bond

First Light covers the timeframe before Bond was, well, Bond. It spans from the origins of James’ story as a Navy Aircrewman all the way to him earning his ‘00’ status. He goes through training, annoys people, drinks and entertains the ladies. All the while, joking and quipping as James does. He may have his ups and downs but all the while remains the loveable, cheeky secret agent we all adore.

While I enjoyed the story of First Light, touching on AI, technology and false information, it was just your standard Bond narrative. I did not mind this at all but I am a massive Bond fan. If you are not a fan of Bond’s stories or the genre in general, I do not think First Light will change your mind. I, however, thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish, especially when you pair it with fun, varied gameplay and a classy presentation. I did really enjoy finding out about a young Bond and how he got to where he was, as a massive Bond fan, my knowledge of this part of his life was sparse at best and filling in some of the blanks was a worthwhile endeavour.

An Uncanny Cast

I thought the cast of First Light was brilliant. Believable voice acting and lovely character models combined to make every character in this game relatable and kept you grounded in the narrative. I got really attached to Bond’s friends and people he came up through the ranks with and the game is also littered with the characters you expect. M is here, as is Moneypenny, and of course, Q is tooling you up with an all manner of exploding goodies.

Run, Gun, Drive and Spy

I knew nothing about the gameplay of First Light before I played, but I had some preconceptions of what I thought it would be like. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. The game is split into chapters, which are split into investigation sections, combat and driving sections. The game has a smooth flow to it as you transition from hacking and eavesdropping to shooting and brawling. It’s very well done and keeps everything fresh and entertaining throughout.

The investigation sections are where you will be flexing your spy muscles. You will have to get in somewhere, hack something and use your gadgets to achieve whatever your current goal is. I enjoyed these sections more than I thought I would and found the hint system very well implemented. It offered you help when you needed it but you could completely ignore it if you wanted to free-wheel it.

The number of times I hit someone with my dart gadget to remove them from their post or pickpocket them was insane. It was always rewarding to work out how to solve each of these sections; they often had multiple solutions and routes and were always enjoyable. It really brought to the fore that Bond is, first and foremost, a spy.

Licence to Kill…… and Punch in the Face!

Combat sections were equally well made. The gameplay reminded me of Uncharted, with cover shooting and stealth, with a sprinkling of a few set-pieces thrown in. I really admired the stealth mechanics; while the AI was a bit dumb at times, the non-forced stealth was very pleasant. I don’t mind stealth as long as it’s not insta-fail and when the brown stuff hits the swirly-thing, you can just shoot your way out of trouble. Which happened to me quite a lot.

The shooting felt weighty, with satisfying headshots and environmental considerations, and the hand-to-hand combat was unexpectedly tactile. It had counters and dodging as well as different movesets depending on the situation you were in or what objects you were next to. You can throw stuff, smash heads on tables and the whole system, while not being overly difficult, is just difficult enough to make you think about what to punch or slam your adversaries into.

There are also a few driving sections, while I will not spoil them, you get to drive some wacky vehicles through some unconventional terrain and they often had me smiling from ear to ear. It’s not Bond if you have not jumped over some stuff in a vehicle and caused an obscene amount of damage.

It’s so shiny…..

I found the entire First Light presentation package a joy. The graphical design was very clean and attractive. I loved the menus and the UI system. It was very minimal, very tidy and well designed. Every chapter was started with a small crisp chapter number in the middle of the screen blended into the action, tips screens were informative and unbusy and studying items in the world was easy and uncluttered.

The character models in First Light were also very on-point. Both in gameplay and seamless cutscenes, they looked lifelike and never once broke my immersion. I found myself really gelling with some of the characters and really being dragged along by Bond and his uncanny crew. The voice acting was fitting, the dialogue and writing were very apt and the whole thing looked and played like a modern-day Bond movie. I don’t mean a Daniel Craig one either, a more modern one that has a plucky young protagonist with a new, fresh take on the series.

Shaken, Not Quite Stirred

While I found this game to run extremely well, I did have a few technical niggles. It froze my PS5 twice. Once was a full hard reset, and once I had to reload the game from the PS5 main menu. Along with that, I had a little texture pop in here and there. Bear in mind, I have a PS5 Pro, which has more grunt but my experience was certainly not flawless.

These issues were very few and far between and they did not detract from what was a very pleasurable experience. Everything else was smooth, ran well and even in heavy action scenes, apart from what was mentioned above, I had zero issues. Hopefully, these things can be patched out but they should not put you off giving this title a go. First Light is in a much better state than a lot of big releases I have played recently. I am nitpicking a little.

A Brilliant Surprise

As you can probably guess, I thought First Light was a triumph. Not only was it one of the best games of this ilk I have played for a while, I also think it may just be my favourite Bong game ever. The characters are great, the story, while being normal ‘Bond’ fare, was entertaining and following a younger Bond find his feet was awesome.

The gameplay, from its investigative segments to its full-throttle action scenes, flows beautifully. It has a perfect mix of slower, spy sections and rip-roaring, gadget-filled set-pieces. Every chapter was a joy and I am really looking forward to returning and mopping up my last few trophies.

If you like Bond, action games or even working out light puzzles to hack your way into locations, you will love First Light. Even if you don’t like these things, First Light may just surprise you, it never outstays its welcome and will have you gripped to its conclusion.

First Light has reinvigorated my love of Bond and I hope the movies follow suit, looking at the series with new eyes and taking it in a fresh, modern direction.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4.5 out of 5

4.5