007 First Light didn't need to be so violent

In most games where shooting is a core part of the gameplay experience, you’re often handed a gun and told to shoot first, worry about an alarmingly high body count later. Not so in 007 First Light. The game restricts Bond’s firearms usage to very specific scenarios when Bond is in mortal danger; a very dramatic “License to Kill” alert then appears on the top of your screen highlighted in red. It’s an interesting flip on what we’ve come to expect from a third-person shooter, though 007 First Light could have been even more restrictive with its approach to lethal violence.

Image: IO Interactive via Polygon

Much of 007 First Light’s gameplay is of the non-violent variety. Bond has to use its wits, charm, and confidence to advance the story. Take the luxury Vietnamese resort level for example. Plenty of it is spent solving social puzzles, manipulating the environment via gadgets, and bluffing your way toward targets to help save them.

Bond must also sneak his way through areas filled with henchmen, like the hallways and offices of a major tech company. Depending on your ability to stay out of sight and your skills with Bond’s trusty gadget-filled Q Watch, you can bypass those guards without needing to resort to violence. If you’re like me, however, these sequences probably devolve into bouts that make you feel like Batman from the Arkham games afterward. I swear, I didn’t kill them — I just broke all their bones and gave them concussions!

Still, even in these sequences, Bond can’t simply whip out a gun and channel his inner Danny DeVito, despite how easy it would be to headshot unsuspecting guards loitering in your way. Lethal violence is only permitted when Bond’s foes are out to kill him; he won’t be the one who shoots first. During one of the final levels, Bond is accompanied by a mysterious frenemy who kills an unaware guard. Bond chastises his companion, saying, “That’s your way, not mine.” Killing is always Bond’s last resort, which makes him stand apart from most other adventure game heroes.

Image: IO Interactive via Polygon

Of course, because this is a big-budget, AAA video game, there are plenty of opportunities for Bond to, well, start blasting. Numerous areas find Bond exploring a beautiful locale, like that resort, and end with him shooting his way through waves of bad guys. While I love third-person shooting as much as anyone — and it’s excellent in 007 First Light — it feels like there’s a bit too much here, given the emphasis on the restrictive license to kill.

Bond racks up a body count (and a body count winkwinkwink) throughout the game, but at least his lethal force makes sense in the context of the story. Spy stuff, and all. It’s in sharp contrast to a series like Uncharted, which 007 First Light definitely borrows from; the fight-for-a-parachute-while-flying-through-the-air set piece easily feels like it could fit into Naughty Dog’s longstanding adventure series.

Image: IO Interactive via Polygon

Lethal violence in Naughty Dog games like the Uncharted and The Last of Us series has generated a lot of chatter around ludonarrative dissonance, or the discord that can arise between gameplay and a game’s narrative and characters. Uncharted’s Nathan Drake is a charming everyman… who also just so happens to slaughter thousands of foes during his adventures without thinking too much about it. But in 007 First Light, Bond doesn’t want to kill yet is justified for doing it, by both the narrative and his 007 status.

The game’s restriction of violence flies out the window in 007 First Light’s final level, however. Without spoiling too much, Bond uses everything available to kill dozens and dozens of goons. While thrilling and narratively justified, it feels at odds with IO Interactive’s restrained approach throughout the rest of the game. One has to wonder what a final level full of armed-to-the-teeth bad guys would look like if Bond couldn’t access firearms or gadgets — probably a lot like the exciting, stealth-filled opening level in Iceland.

Image: IO Interactive via Polygon

007 First Light has a lot going for it over the course of its tightly paced 20-hour campaign, including plenty of great gunfights. But some of the game’s best moments are found during dialogue in a nightclub and bluffing Bond’s way through a fancy shmancy hotel hosting a chess tournament.

The game’s ending perfectly sets up a sequel. While there are many questions left to be answered, the one I’m most interested in is how IO Interactive and James Bond will approach violence in a potential sequel? Will the license to kill be even more restrictive, or will the series grow to become more like the Uncharted games that 007 First Light is so obviously inspired by? For now, we’ll just have to enjoy the Year One Content updates heading to 007 First Light, including a mission centered around Lenny Kravitz’s Bawma.

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