007 First Light (2026) Review

Over the last few days, the gaming world has been taken over by the new James Bond game 007 First Light. I don't get the chance to buy and play new games all that often but I made sure that I picked up this game and lets just say I have played a lot of it since the release. So here is my review for the game. The premise of the game sees a young James Bond recruited by MI6 to take part in a new programme as he grows to become the ultimate super spy. 

Characters

Patrick Gibson takes on the iconic role of James Bond and I thought he was fantastic here. He just feels like a young James Bond, the tropes of the character ae there, but there is also some weaknesses due to his experience and youth. It is a great coming of age story and Gibson really excels here. 

Lennie James plays John Greenway and he adds some star power here. At first it felt like a generic grumpy mentor but as the game progresses, we learn more about him and his relationship with Bond is well realised and well developed.

The iconic characters from the films are here in M, Q and Monneypenny and I liked these depictions and their relationships with Bond. In particular, I really liked Q and having that older depiction with a younger Bond just really worked for me.

The villains are fine and there are a lot of them, they aren't amazing but did enough here to keep me interested. You get your bond girls as well and they vary in interest with a character called Isola who is the most interesting and the dynamic between her and Bond is pretty cool. 

Story 

As mentioned above, this is very much an origin story for James Bond and it handles it so well. It takes its time in telling its story and that made me really care about Bond and wanting to see him succeed. It has the twists and turns expected from a Bond film and even though it is sort of safe, I really enjoyed it and it is everything I wanted from this game. 

Side Activities

This game has some side content in the Tacsim missions. These are basically challenge scenarios, where you have to unlock outfits, gadgets and weapons. These are fun and provide you with different challenges to take part in away from the story mode. 

However, there just isn't enough of them. It feels like new missions will be added as DLC, but I definitely think there could have been more, I mean there aren't currently any driving challenges which feels like a missed opportunity. 

Gameplay

The gameplay is fantastic. The mix of stealth. hand to hand combat and gunplay is so satisfying and there are so many things to learn for this game. This game is hard and I died a lot, so you need to combine all of these things in order to thrive in First Light. 

Style

This game looks beautiful. All the game models look fantastic and the environments are totally breath-taking and make this game feel so huge. Travelling the globe as Bond was the right call and using the environment as weapons made it even better. 

Overall

Overall, 007 First Light is a fantastic game that really shows that single player story based games can really deliver and still have a huge place in gaming. I loved my time in First Light and I can't wait to play it again and find different ways to complete the missions. 

Rating - 9/10