Why 007 First Light is the best James Bond product in many years

There’s a scene in the 2012 Bond film Skyfall where a still-injured 007 sits among works of art feeling depressed, tired and past it. He contemplates the scars, the bruises and the deep trauma of his job, but his malaise is shattered by a young whippersnapper who arrives to snap him out of his sad trance and show him the future.

In the film, it’s the new Q, played by Ben Whishaw. In 2026, it’s Danish video game developer IO Interactive who are bringing billions of Bond fans out of a shared depression and into the light.

The 2026 quagmire of Bond is a deep old swamp. Things haven’t been as up in the air than this since the opening skydive in Moonraker.

While the director for Bond 26 is firmly in place (Dune’s Denis Villeneuve), the casting process remains a closely guarded secret and there will surely be no news on anything until his Dune 3 has left the screens and its marketing has died down. The bad news for those who want to move on from No Time To Die is that Dune 3 does not open in the UK until December 18.

It’s just not been an easy road liking Bond and all Bond-related things these past few years. It’s been stumbles and falls both on the big screen, the small screen (with whatever the hell that appalling Apprentice clone with Brian Cox was supposed to be), and on the small gaming screen too.

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Starting back in the early 1980s, Bond games have for the most part been the red-headed stepchild oof the 007 Family. Sure, there’s been N64 Goldeneye and James Bond: Everything or Nothing, but there’s also been rancid old skips filled with bad Bond detritus. Miles of tape, cartridge and disc nightmare inducing film adaptations appearing with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season, sending shudders through sad gaming fingers, and tears into joysticks.

But as a Bond fan of well over 40 years, I can safely say that 007 First Light is the finest achievement to ever fire down the barrel. Not only is it a triumph of a Bond adventure/romp – maybe the best overall Bond product for many, many years – but also as a standalone game, it is a rip-roaring joy to behold.

While the previous title holder of most beloved Bond game was the first-person shooter Goldeneye, which was all about putting Bond in your hands, 007 First Light is about putting yourself in Bond’s shoes, and that is where it truly shines.

Set in the modern day, you begin as Airman Bond, who in a time of crisis stumbles upon a chance to shine. He does just that, impressing MI6 so much that they offer him a spot on the “rebooted” 00 programme, giving him a chance to earn his stripes at a training base in Malta, and also to prove to the big brass that the 00 programme is still a necessity, with AI now posing a threat in the world of espionage.

The positives are there from the start: training missions in games are usually designed to set up the plot, while also getting the player familiar with the controls and moves needed to be the man from Universal Exports. Usually, they send sighs of boredom bellowing from the lungs of most players.

However, the designers of 007 First Light took the brilliant decision to make the training stage as an actual playable montage. It is just so fun, funny and almost a work of genius.

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You zip along as you learn how to fight, run, drive, shoot and climb and by the end of it you feel like you’ve driven the story along, not just put the brakes on to learn how to drive a car. As a side note, I loved that the car is the 2006 Aston Martin. A nice nod to the last time Bond had a reboot.

Set over 10 thrilling chapters, the name of the game is starting from scratch in order to earn your licence to kill; working your way up from the brave but reckless serviceman, and becoming the world’s great super-spy. You also get to save the world from a rogue agent in the process.

None of this great game design and clever writing would work as well without central performances to match. Bond is played by Irish actor Patrick Gibson, and played very, very well. The trailers had me briefly worried he’d be far too smug and give off deeply annoying vibes, however he just nails the fun, supreme confidence, suave and debonair charm of 007, while also maintaining the strong (ish) moral compass that is needed when donning the Walther PPK. There’s also the added bonus that his real-life dad is Herr Flick from Allo Allo (Richard Gibson), a fact I just adore and one that means future games of “Six Degrees of Allo Allo” can now have a Bond twist.

The rest of the wonderful cast help to sell the illusion that you are taking part in a living Bond adventure. Priyanga Burford as M (who herself briefly popped up in No Time to Die) is a joy, as is the cantankerous Lennie James as Greenway, who plays the “he’s not ready” card from minute one, driving Bond’s ambitions to prove him wrong.

There are countless moments where you just catch yourself enjoying the character interactions and acting play out, like having the best seat in the cinema, and that is truly the sign of a game well done.

The stellar cast are matched by stunning graphics, inventive gadgets, thrilling car sequences, combat scenes and fun touches and flourishes that truly live long in the memory banks, such as kicking a gun from the floor into your own hand, or breaking objects while you beat a baddie up around a room. The game, much like the films, is stuffed full of egregious product placement, including a moment where you have to pick your nice new Omega watch out from a luxury display box, but rather than feeling like a cheap money-maker, it helps you feel immersed in Bondworld.

As well as fighting, you have ample opportunity to stealth your way through missions, not only using your ears to listen out for clues and pointers, you can also utilise brutal takedowns by luring guards into an area to take them out with a well-aimed gadget. There’s just so much here to play with and enjoy, and surely the lesson to take from this for all future films that emerge is that Bond is always at its very best when it’s fun. It’s really not moon shuttle science.