This Review will Self-Destruct in 5…4…3…
Bond. James Bond is his name. The dashing and debonaire gentleman from the spy movies, is back. The sneaking, shooting, gadget wearing, Aston Martin driving, ladies’ man is back with a new story that is sure to wow you from the start. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s been a long time since the gaming world has had a Bond game, let alone a good Bond game. The last one was 007 Legends in 2012, and judging by the review scores, it was not a well-received game. With most of the scores coming in at around 4/10. The last Bond game to come out with a decent score was the 2010 re-release of Golden Eye. So, what has the old spymaster been doing? Well, I guess you could say he has been re-inventing the series. Or rather, the folks at IO Interactive. The people behind the Hit Man series. The people that make a game about sneaking and assassinating targets make a 007 game? That makes sense. But does that mean there is going to be a ton of stealth missions? Nope. Does that mean the story is going to be simple? Definitely not. What they did bring over from the Hit Man games is some of the stealth mechanics and the gorgeous set pieces, making this a beautiful game to play. So, let’s buckle up in our Aston Martin and take a ride.
From the moment you load into the game you are hit with instant nostalgia on the title screen with a quick hit of some Bond styled music, and you can’t wait to start. The game starts you off with a cut scene to get the story moving showing a very young James Bond before you are even part of MI6. Before long, of course the mission goes sideways, and you are thrown into the action and given very little instructions on what to do. But very quickly you are contacted by an operative that feeds you information so you can navigate the early mission. By the end of the mission, you are treated to an action cutscene that is something out of a Michael Bay movie complete with the music and all the Bond glory. After that is when you get to enjoy the tutorial.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $69.99
Other games need to look at this one with a magnifying glass and do tutorials more akin to the one in 007 First Light. After the first mission and cutscene that follows you are whisked away to a training facility where you meet your team for the first time and learn to be an agent in the best way possible. Instead of just going from station to station learning new abilities, you are treated to a montage of activities that are woven into a cutscene which make it seem more like part of the story rather than just something to do. There is even a moment where I genuinely laughed out loud. I wish more games would take notes and continue this trend. You are not too long after completion of training where the wheels fall off and the story starts to ramp up and move along a winding path of spies, espionage, and action. That’s all the story you are going to get out of me. You will have to experience it for yourself if you want to find out what happens next. The characters both good and bad and some that even seem bad which could be good and vice versa, are really fleshed out and the voice acting is spot on. The characters are interesting and there is even a cameo with Lenny Kravitz playing a particular character as well as another easter egg cameo from a viral Tic Tok influencer.
The story of the game is fantastic and hits all right ways. Even though the game is linear, you have enough ways to approach situations where you never feel like you are being shoehorned into an area with a few exceptions. Most of the missions you are presented with a goal and then it leaves it up to you on how you want to best accomplish the task. That is one of the things that they seem to carry over from the Hit Man franchise. But where it differs is that if your initial approach doesn’t work, it’s not an insta-fail. A lot of times you can just fight your way out of a situation to an extent. Which leads me to one of my first complaints about the game. However minor it may seem, it does detract from the overall experience. The fighting and gunplay in the game feel a little off.
The shooting feels very loose and while you are trying to aim and hit an opponent, they have managed to hit you several times before you can even get one good shot off leading to mission failure. The hand-to-hand combat from time to time seems to work well…But there are moments when it doesn’t look and feel natural. They tried to adopt a fluid fighting mechanic similar to the Batman Arkham style of combat. And while it seems to work for Batman, it can sometimes look awkward when James Bond slides from one enemy to another. Also, when facing multiple enemies, it is easy to get stuck in a hit animation and get tossed from enemy to enemy and then get killed because you are stuck between enemies beating you down also leading to mission failure. And while the checkpoints are generous, is can still be frustrating when forced to use these mechanics and then die because of the poor gameplay. Fortunately, these areas are not as often as you would think. The game kind of adopts a Uncharted pattern of, traversal sequence, puzzle sequence, fight sequence, mixed with cut scenes to give the game more flair, but in my opinion, this game does it a little bit better.
Aside from the story mode, there is a TAC Sim mode offered that allows you to hone your spy skills and complete challenges to earn XP and items for you to wear. Although you cannot use the items in the game. I didn’t spend a lot of time in the TAC Sim mode because, as mentioned before, if you have problems with combat this won’t be as much fun as one would think. And I couldn’t help but think that the mode somehow felt a little “tacked on” to make the game a little more robust.
My time overall with the charismatic James Bond was a very well written spy story that will have you guessing who the bad guys are and who are the good guys for many hours. The cinematics are outstanding and visually the game looks amazing albeit with a few glitches here and there. The gadgets were fun to use but could have had more variety. The driving sequences could have been tighter, and the combat could use a tweak. But for the most part as a first installment in a long time for this storied spy master, I think it hits its target. Hopefully they will continue and grow this franchise in the future.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.