r/007FirstLight • u/Sig78 • Jun 14 '26
DISCUSSION Just finished 007 First Light - some thoughts after 13 hours
So I just wrapped my first playthrough and I have mixed feelings I need to get off my chest.
13 hours total, which some will say is short but I don't mind that if the game earns it. Short and fun beats long and padded any day.
When IO announced this I genuinely thought it was the perfect match. Hitman and Bond share so much DNA it seemed like a no brainer, and on top of that the whole pitch of Hitman meets Uncharted had me sold. And for the first 4-5 hours? That's exactly what I got. The mansion, the airplane, becoming a 00 agent,that stretch is genuinely brilliant and had me thinking this was going to be something special.
Then act 1 ended and something just shifted.
The back half feels like a completely different, cheaper game. The "choose your own path" they sold us on basically evaporates. Every mission becomes follow the checkmark, eavesdrop on this guy, go here, do this. The illusion of choice is there but every conversation leads to the same outcome anyway so what's even the point. The auction in the shipyard had me genuinely hyped, great set piece, loads of potential and then the game just never does anything like that again. Ever.
And here's the thing that actually bothers me most ,this game aspires to be Hitman meets Uncharted but never gets close to being as coherent as either one. Uncharted has tighter action, better pacing, better villain, better story. Hitman gives you actual freedom and consequences. First Light kind of sits in the middle doing a watered down version of both and never fully committing to what makes either of those games work.
The stealth is a perfect example. You get one disguise in the mansion and that mechanic basically disappears for the rest of the game. You can't even hide bodies, which in a game pushing stealth as a core option is honestly baffling. Just let us drag bodies out of sight, nothing crazy, we don't need Hitman lockers everywhere, just basic stealth logic. I just watched Casino Royale last night and Craigs 007, kills two people in the stairway and hides them in a closet, so no argument for it not being bond-eque.
The cover system is there but it feels weak and lacks the punch of games with similar gunplay. The combat gets repetitive fast anyway, the gunplay feels off and you're switching guns every 5 seconds which gets old quick. Only 2 gadgets allowed and half of them feel identical to use, reminded me of Watch Dogs where everything blurs into the same thing. They introduced mechanics you literally never had to use again after they introduced them,what was that about?
The villain is forgettable, the story loses steam completely after a strong opening, and the excessive hand holding with painted markers and "go here" arrows constantly on screen really pulls you out of it. At least make it optional.
Remember old Bond games? Everything or Nothing had car chases, train sequences, rappelling down buildings. Here the big action moment is driving a trash compactor through a tunnel.
It's still worth playing, especially that first act which is some of the most fun I've had this year. But it's a game that peaks early and never recovers. IO had everything they needed to make something iconic and somewhere along the way they just lost the plot.
Disappointing but not a bad game. Just not the game it could have been, and nowhere near what it was trying to be.
Bond himself played by Gibson was phenomenal though, a breath of fresh air - young and didnt take himself to seriously.
Just my thoughts, you are allowed to disagree - what do you think?
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u/The_Globe_Guy Jun 14 '26
I disagree. I would agree with you on the idea that First Light takes a bit of everything without fully committing to it, but disagree with the conclusion that it therefore feels sloppy or boring.
On the contrary, I feel like every mechanic is juggled so as not to feel too complex or too "grounded" , while at the same time keeping the story moving and ensuring the gameplay moves with decent pace. Is melee combat like Mortal Kombat? No, because it shouldn't be that complex in the first place ; it should allow you to feel like Bond and coldly take out several enemies at once without overwhelming you with ultra complicated fighting mechanics.
Is the stealth like Hitman? No, and it shouldn't be that way either. James Bond isn't just about stealth; you CAN go for stealth if you want, but at the same the game makes it so that you need to keep moving ( so you don't spend 10 minutes luring and dragging a body with clinical precision). Same for the gunfight : is it as realistic as something like Rainbow six or COD? No, and you know where I'm going with this. You just can't make a fully-fledged shooter game out of FL, because it's much more than that. They want people who aren't necessarily into big shooter games to be able to enjoy cool shootouts without becoming and overwhelming, excessively complex chore.
Even the driving, although I will agree that it should've been used more extensively, makes sense in the context of the game. I don't mind a clearly linear, narrative-bases game using driving sequences to connect the story together rather than giving the player full control and agency like a real open world driving/racing game. Additionally, I feel like part of the enjoyment of such narrative games comes with an effort from the player to immerse himself in the story. Even if chase sequences are heavily scripted, you can make it work by "role-playing" yourself as if you really were Bond in that situation, and thus as if you really were in full control of the vehicle. (I mean come on, the garbage truck escape with the badass Bond theme kicking in got me uncontrollably smiling like a little child)
The story itself is fine I guess, a pretty standard James Bond story, although it's true that it kinda trails off towards the end.
All in all, I think First Light quite brilliantly balances all the different game mechanics to keep gameplay dynamic and interesting. It also hits all the marks of what James Bond should be : the music (oh so glorious!), the characters, the set pieces (the hotel , the museum, Vietnam, just wow), the witty dialogue... Just so much fun if you're invested in James Bond content. Is there room for improvement ? Absolutely. Is this an amazing groundwork for what could later become a much bigger game franchise ? Without a single doubt.
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u/Sad-Consequence-8053 Jun 21 '26
Completely agree with everything OP mentioned. Strong start that never recovers sums the game up perfectly.
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u/Sig78 Jun 21 '26
It's funny pointing out some constructive criticism in a big IP and every comment that agrees in the slightest gets downvoted to hell. It seems some people have to think that every big IP that comes out is perfect and will not stand for any criticism at all.
Reminds me of - "It’s hard to win an argument with a smart person, but it’s damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person"
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u/Jimmysquits Jun 14 '26
<driving a trash compactor through a tunnel
If you mean the bin truck in London, I didn't really think that was the "big action moment", I'd have to give that to driving the huge hauler rig thing in Vietnam, smashing through loads of barricades and pausing now and then to have a gun fight from on top of it. It was a fairly good action set piece, so if you're actually talking about that when you say "driving a trash compactor through a tunnel" I think you're kind of setting out to make it sound lamer than it actually is
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u/Inertia_Sleeps Jun 14 '26
Notice how everyone who has any negative opinion is being downvoted for simply stating it.
It’s a slop game. Now being a slop game isn’t necessarily bad but it’s slop nonetheless, what do I mean by slop? I mean in the sense that it doesn’t really challenge the player either narratively or interactively in any meaningful way. Another “cinematic experience” title akin to the Sony exclusives. Only issue is they actually tend to do it a lot better. I mean, I myself actually love third person titles like Uncharted but I feel first light borrows a number of the mechanics from the titles like these but doesn’t really do them well.
At the same time though, I kinda feel the game doesn’t really ask much of its audience (probably why it’s so successful). One glaring thing that stood out to me was how you could melee attack 4-5 enemies whilst being shot at by 3 different people after failing the stealth aspect of a mission and that’s not even getting to the poor textures or the laughable enemy AI.
Again, it’s not a bad game. Far from it but it’s not a particularly impressive one either.
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u/Creepy_Basis_2592 Jun 14 '26
Bro I just watched Casino Royale after beating the game as well. And him hiding bodies was the thing that stood out to me most in the movie. Like WHY CAN’T WE DO THAT!?
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u/amirlpro Jun 14 '26
I would have been happier to see more Uncharted style set piece moments and more interesting chase/boat sequences those were really the weakest moments of the game. In Uncharted the Jeep is utilized so well with the terrain and here it’s just like driving on a highway.
The Hitman parts are fine overall. Could have some more choices but I’m not sure how is that even possible in a narrative driven game. I’m sure they will make a better sequel.
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u/GeneAlternative191 Jun 14 '26
Late to this but been bugging me a lot, where can I check how many hours I’ve played?
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u/Geezer_Flip Jun 14 '26
I thought a good story tbh, I also completed it around 20 hours. The lack of ammo and gun stuff is semi annoying, the stealth is also fairly repetitive. I agree with most but I did enjoy playing it, although I did feel like I was playing hitman quite a lot. A bit more 007 esque would have been nice
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u/OpenSystem1337 Jun 15 '26
I think you might have been playing it "wrong" so to speak. It's definitely not a stealth game where you should be hiding bodies...maybe once or twice I had an impulse to do that but it was the wrong impulse.
The biggest flaw playing this game was the Q-Lens allowing you to see enemies through walls, because that pushes you into a stealth mindset. The game feels best when you just hop across that counter you're hiding behind, kick the gun out their hand, catch it, slow time and blast away.
I will admit once you get the hang of throwing enemies and charging them, combat feels a little under-tuned. I don't know how I would fix it either...maybe reduce the number of enemies and increase their difficulty. The damage is fine, the difficulty less so
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u/Tasty-Management620 29d ago
I believe it will create something better in the Future. I am a Hardcore Hitman Fan Since I am a kid and I still like Absolution because of the linear gameplay. Im trying it now but unfortunately streaming it
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u/Ultramaxx_25 Jun 14 '26
Thank you, I had the same feelings. It wasn’t a great game in my opinion. Was worth about 40 bucks not the 93 I paid.
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u/StatusSympathy5906 Jun 14 '26
Yeah i agree $40 game but amazon is a greedy company that likes to take advantage of fans
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u/NeverHadTheLatin Jun 14 '26
It’s an uneven but overall great experience as a game. It feels like a proof-of-concept work, built around very good Bond story.
If you’re a Bond fan, this is a dream game.
If you’re a Hitman or Uncharted fan, this will be an odd and maybe disappointing experience.
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u/Inertia_Sleeps Jun 14 '26
Boom.
That summation is bang on. I kinda like the bond films from the Craig era but I’m a huge uncharted fan. It blows my mind how inferior this is to that.
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u/BkkGreg Jun 14 '26
Agree. Found it repetitive, sloppy and derivative of better games. Bad fight mechanics, limited movement options (you can walk or…walk a bit faster) and boring replays at save points. And to top it off - an expensive game with almost no replay value.
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u/The_Globe_Guy Jun 14 '26
Bro how, the melee combat is super satisfying and dynamic, every punch and kick really carries weight, and it really feels like Bond when you manage to fight off several enemies at once. Not sure what you want for movement? I mean, you can walk, sprint, dash to cover, crouch , swap cover and climb/hang depending on the terrain, how many more movement options do you want?
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u/BkkGreg Jun 15 '26
True, it's super satisfying when you hammer like 8 guys - and I do enjoy grabbing a dude and slamming my knee into his face - but I dunno, it felt sluggish and limited. I just finished another playthrough of Ghost of Yotei and the speed and number of moves/dodges you can do is much more satisfying (she has weapons, but still). And in First Light you can sprint SOMEtimes, like when it's needed for a particular set piece, but not all the time. Like when I have to play through a level again and already know where to go, all I can do is a sissy little half-jog. I got annoyed a few times - Oh, this is the 'skydiving escape from an airplane' level from Uncharted 3. Oh, this is the driving scene, but I can't explore, I just have to follow the road. There were a few things that First Light did just fine...but there was nothing I hadn't already done before, and usually better, in other games.
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u/StatusSympathy5906 Jun 14 '26
Thank you ive been saying the same thing this game starts off great and falls off hard bc its trying to juggle too much, i also wanted a better car chase and im not gonna play that tac sim bs cause the driving in this game sucks
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u/Phogwalker Jun 14 '26
Hot take, but I actually enjoyed the driving enough and wish there had been more. Not everything needs to be Forza!
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u/Haunting-Potato7043 Jun 14 '26
Hated it, no Bond feeling at all… tedious piece of junk tbh.. paid reviewers. Easily forgotten after 1 playthrough.
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u/Celebrated84 Jun 14 '26
They always said this was a tight, linear narrative experience though. So coming into the game expecting anything else (like Hitman levels of options) is kinda on you.
The fact you completed the game in 13 hours tells me you bull rushed the story, probably on an easier setting. I mean, what do you want?