Image credit: I/O Interactive / Rare
It’s been such a long time since we’ve seen James Bond in a new video game. The introduction of 007 First Light marks the character’s return to the medium in over a decade, backed by the Hitman development team, IO Interactive, and featuring a wholly original look not tied to any of the Eon Productions movies. While there have been certified classics featuring everyone’s favorite super spy, there have been just as many poor releases, too. I’m going through a brief history of Commander Bond’s lesser-liked releases, and how the upcoming shooter can rectify them.
The rise of James Bond games
In a similar fashion to how Casino Royale wiped the slate clean for James Bond in the movies, so too does 007 First Light for the globetrotting womanizer in video games. Just as Daniel Craig was a younger, fresher take on the character, we also see a rookie Bond (played by Dublin’s Patrick Gibson) in IO Interactive’s game, eager to earn the number as a double-0 agent.
007 First Light is unlike any other James Bond game that we’ve had before. Primarily (but not exclusively), the license is most well-used for first-person shooters. Chief among them is Rare’s iconic N64 title, Goldeneye, which popularized four-player split-screen FPS action; however, Brosnan-era games also came out, with the Drogheda actor’s likeness used for licensed and original games in this area.
We also saw video game adaptations of Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough, developed by Black Ops Entertainment and Eurocom, respectively. Just as the movies were a step down from Goldeneye, so too were the games. Still incredibly enjoyable, sure, but not on par with the genre’s landmark releases. It was the original titles that forwent a novel or movie that fared better; Nightfire and Everything or Nothing proved that Brosnan was the best Bond for the format, with stellar gameplay and unique plots making them well worth experiencing even to this day.
Movie-licensed James Bond games continued into the mid-2000s, with the surprisingly excellent From Russia With Love, which saw a returning Sean Connery in the lead role more than two decades after Never Say Never Again. Three years later, we received a video game adaptation of Quantum of Solace, just like the movie it was based on, it left a lot to be desired. Like with Brosnan, we saw an original storyline featuring the MI6 agent in Blood Stone, a step up, before everything would come crashing down with 007 Legends in 2012.
The fall of James Bond games
Everything about 007 Legends sounded excellent in theory. It aimed to showcase the best of what the secret agent had done across all eras of the character on-screen in the medium. An important distinction to make is that only Daniel Craig’s likeness was used here as the current Bond. We saw something similar when Goldeneye was remade for the Wii in 2010. If you were hoping to see Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan make a comeback, you’re out of luck here; sorry.
While 007 Legends attempts to recreate scenes from Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Moonraker, License to Kill, Die Another Day, and Skyfall into a first-person shooter, it failed to capture the spirit of those films. What’s immediately apparent here is the questionable choices of movies to adapt into games in the first place; Moonraker is far from Moore’s best outing, and Die Another Day ranks as the worst Brosnan flick by far. Given how much Eurocom had to work with here, it seemed doomed from the outset, but that’s not its biggest glaring flaw.
That being that 007 Legends was a painfully generic first-person shooter that didn’t even get the basics right. For whatever reason, Eurocom abandoned (or seemingly forgot) how to develop a proper FPS game, instead trying to take on Call of Duty. Unfortunately, this miserable mess of mechanics had more in common with Call of Juaraz: The Cartel. Just in case you don’t remember that game (lucky you in that case), this is not a compliment.
The gunplay in 007 Legends is god-awful, as are the graphics, the enemy AI, controls, and mission structure. It’s supposed to evoke the feel of some of the greatest movies put to film (and Die Another Day), but it instead ends up being a six-hour waste of time, which desecrates the memory of the actors, directors, and writers, easily ranking among the worst pieces of extended media that Commander Bond has ever been associated with. There is one saving grace: it’s not available on current-generation consoles or PC, so you’ve likely never played it.
What does this all mean for 007 First Light?
A massive gap between James Bond games means IO Interactive has free rein to reimagine the license; everything I’ve seen from the current crop of trailers showcases not only shooting but also stealth and a healthy dose of gadgets thrown in for good measure. We also see more of Bond’s silver tongue in 007 First Light gameplay. When caught trying to infiltrate an area, the young spy makes up a story on the spot about being a safety inspector and continues to slip through. The prowess of the new Hitman trilogy is shining through, and the results seem encouraging.
As with some of the best Bond games, such as Nightfire and Blood Stone, 007 First Light tells a wholly original narrative. The villain is Bawma, portrayed by Lenny Kravitz, who is a charismatic black-market arms dealer. He’s a dark foil to the younger Bond, seeing the secret agent up against his toughest match to date. It’s clear that IO Interactive has placed a particular focus on its villains as a highlight, similar to how Ubisoft’s Far Cry series progressively positioned its rogues front and center.
After all, Bond should be all about the villains and the iconic actors who bring them to life. There’s no shortage of all-star performances even in less-than-stellar movies. You only need to look as far as Christopher Lee as Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun, Christopher Walken as Max Zorin in A View to a Kill, or Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies. IO Interactive seems to have understood the assignment here; even if the plot ends up being somewhat generic, we will (likely) still remember Bawma.
007 First Light appears to take clear influence from not only IO Interactive’s Hitman series, but Uncharted and Watch Dogs, too. Tense infiltration scenarios, cinematic gunfights, and a wealth of hacking to do. In other words, we could be back on track with the upcoming James Bond game when it’s finally released on May 27, 2026. It’s not movie-licensed, isn’t a first-person shooter, and looks like the innovative breath of fresh air the agent has sorely needed in video games. Hopefully, we’re welcoming back Commander Bond on top form; we’ll see.
FAQs
No, 007 First Light is not exclusive to the PS5. It’s also coming out for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.
Patrick Gibson is lending his voice and likeness to the role of James Bond in 007 First Light. The Irish actor is best-known for Dexter: Original Sin and The OA.
Somewhat. While 007 First Light is developed by IO Interactive and shares a few similarities, it is more of an action shooter than a stealth game.
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