Thought it time to create this as spoilers are starting to crop up in the other thread.
Having just finished First Light, I can honestly say it’s one of, if not the best, Bond game ever made. The story is excellent and is very current. Patrick Gibson is fantastic as Bond, to the point where I could see him actually being cast in the films. The game is one of the best looking games out there, especially on the PS5 Pro. Across the board, the cast is superb with Q being one of my favorites. Exploring Q Lab is one of the most fun parts of the whole game. All of the easter eggs are fun and unintrusive. I particularly like the flyer announcing “KM” performing a cello concert and the director of the museum being “Director Hamilton.” I’ll post a full review once I’ve had time to properly digest it, but 007 First Light is a masterful return of James Bond.
I just finished it as well. What a crazy finish too. I like that the devs kept the villains under wraps the whole time. I correctly guessed that 009 was not the main villain. I also like that they didn’t make Theia a rogue AI like in Mission Impossible, but rather the villain scheme is in the misusing of AI.
A bit to go with the story for me but I really like how 009 being killed diverges from the expected 006 storyline. Greenway’s demeanour grows on you and I love the wealth of experience he brings. The training crew being killed and crippled leaving Bond as literally the last man standing is a great touch, making his ongoing service in tribute to them. Like TLD PTS, Bond has a touch of luck and magic that separates him from others.
Plenty of cool references to be found. Monroe getting the “all the time in the world” statement applied to him. Transworld Consortium on side of the ship in Aleph. FRWL’s briefcase lock mechanism with explosives. CR’s stop touching your ear issue is addressed. The GE key design used in the opening Iceland mission. The inflatable jacket from TWINE. And I’m sure much more.
The old, returning MI6 agent and use of technology and robots make me this the story at least, in part, took inspiration from Dalton’s cancelled 3rd movie. From what we know of the script, an old, returning MI6 agent was to be the villain and the villain’s plan involved robotics, I think.
I absolutely love the treasure trove of easter eggs. My favorites that I’ve found so far are the DBS being used as the training car, the flyer for a cello concert from “KM”, the head of the museum being "Director Hamilton”, and Loelia Ponsonby finally making an on-screen appearance.
Not being a games person this is likely to be my only post on the matter but one question (and I suppose it applies to any James Bond game) - if one doesn’t complete a stage of this successfully, James Bond dies?
Technically yes, but then you just reload the checkpoint or the level and start again. It wouldn’t be a death in canon, the way Bond dies in NTTD. The canon story is the playthrough where Bond survives. The Bond franchise actually used to do something interesting with the death animation in that you would see the blood flowing down the screen like in the gunbarrel sequences.
First Light, as of right now doesn’t have permadeath in the way you can play Watch Dogs Legion or Batman Arkham Origins. Kind of curious to see what one would be like though.
Oh, its what they call it when a video game has a mode that means if the character dies they dont respawn. For Watch Dogs Legion that means you have to use a different character you’ve recruited, in Arkham Origins you have to start again from the very beginning of the game.
Just finished the building infiltration mission, Knightfall. The villain’s scheme of correcting bad AI with framing and murder is excellent. Love how it applied to 009 and how that revelation affects Greenway. I’m adept at the combat now and when you get used to it it’s really fun, similar to the scrappy brawling of Connery and Craig. Love the explosive pen and the exit by the helicopter during the last mission, with the landing platform area resembling the YOLT volcano base to my eyes. This is already one of the best Bond experiences I’ve had, and I’m coming up to the part I’ve been anticipating the most: Vietnam.
It’s not really a spoiler, it’s just someone doing a very impressive run in tacsim, but to say where the map is in the actual story would be a spoiler so I thought I’d put the video here.
