007 First Light

[h2]Strong foundation, simple mistakes. [/h2] I completed the game 100%, https://steamcommunity.com/id/Alesta/stats/3768760/?tab=achievements but around 7 achievements are currently unobtainable because they're bugged on Steam.(The Clearance Level 3 achievement and collectibles.)They'll probably all pop up at once when Patch 1.02 arrives.Update: Fixed with patch 1.02 I’m someone who has watched all the movies. My favorite film is Casino Royale. I’ve also finished GoldenEye and James Bond 007 – The Duel (Sega). I like the character so much that I even applauded the screen like a gorilla during Gunbarrel Sequence. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-s1gSKvkbY] Square Escape [/url] The game's strengths are already obvious. If you're a James Bond fan, this game delivers almost everything you'd want from a Bond experience. Because of that, I'd rather focus on the things that are currently missing or problematic. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3733495371 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3737532001 [h2] Menu Design, Chapter Select & Aim Assist Toggle [/h2] The aim assist settings are oddly named and confusing. There is no simple option to completely disable aim assist. Additionally, if you want to check which collectibles you've missed, you have to load into the game and view them from there. The menu only lets you view challenges. A Chapter Select feature exists to help with this, but it's just a list of text. Even a small image or screenshot for each chapter and checkpoint would make it much easier to understand where they actually take place. The collectibles menu also has its own issues. It doesn't clearly show which area a missed collectible belongs to, and the items appear to be sorted randomly. For the final files, I had to search for the names of the collectibles I had already found and use that information to track down the ones I was missing. [h2] Forced letterboxed cutscenes.[/h2] I had to use ReShade to remove the black cinematic bars during cutscenes. I also removed long startup logos with a mod. The game now reaches the main menu in about 3 seconds. [h2] DuaIsense Controller Bugged Features on PC [/h2] Half of the features randomly stop working on their own and start behaving abnormally. [h3]I solved the problem in time using a method I remembered from Jedi Survivor. If anyone's curious: [/h3] Go to Control Panel → Sound Settings → Show All Devices. Right-click the DualSense speaker device, select Configure Speakers, then click Next. On the following screen, check both boxes and save the settings. After doing that, the haptics and audio worked properly. You can also increase vibration intensity and set it to Mechanical in-game. Switching the USB port or connecting it directly to a Thunderbolt port can also sometimes help. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3736141317 [h2] Audio crackling issues. [/h2] I've seen reports about this on IO's website as well, so I assume it'll be fixed eventually. [h2] Sound and SFX[/h2] Early in the game, I turned on the field radio to use it as a distraction and immediately recognized a copyright-free military radio sound effect I also use on YouTube, which was pretty amusing. Sound effects such as bullet casings and suppressors feel very weak and are almost barely noticeable. [h2] Unstable Frame Generation & FPS Drops [/h2] Frame Generation is unstable, and there are massive FPS drops during explosion and fog effects. [h2]Equipment selection is oddly restrictive.[/h2] Once you confirm your loadout from the equipment van, the menu closes and you can't make adjustments without backing out. Chapter Replay suffers from the same issue. [h2] Don't use DLSS or FSR override/swapper mods.[/h2] They conflict with the game's implementation and can create weird floating artifact clusters, especially around vegetation. [h2] Hitbox / collision issue and weak ai [/h2] I frequently got shot through cover despite being completely behind walls. Smoke grenades also seem broken in many scripted encounters. If you throw one near yourself, enemies continue shooting you as if the smoke isn't there at all. The smoke grenade issue is annoying, but the wall penetration problem absolutely needs to be fixed. [h2] He Had Him… Then Left [/h2] Another major issue is how often the game relies on the classic "villain doesn't kill the protagonist when they have the chance" trope. I've watched every Bond movie, so I know this is basically a franchise tradition, and I normally don't mind it when it's used sparingly. For example, in No Time to Die, something like this only happens once or twice. In this game, however, it's used way too often. After a certain point, Bond is practically walking around enemy strongholds with his hands in his pockets while the villains constantly choose to talk instead of finishing him off. It happens so frequently that the antagonists stop feeling threatening. [h2] Lecturing the side character 10 seconds before taking out four enemies with clean headshots from a suppressed pistol [/h2] As for the story, there are several moments where the dialogue and the actual gameplay completely contradict each other. For example, James talks about being careful regarding taking lives, and then literally ten seconds later we're mowing down four enemies. Another example happens near the end of the game. Earlier, the game foreshadows Bond's ability to hold his breath underwater. Later, when [spoiler] James and Damien fall into the water, I expected Bond to survive using exactly that skill. Instead, he loses consciousness after what feels like ten seconds underwater. [/spoiler] [h2] The overall UI and the lack of a dynamic interface feel weak for an AAA production. [/h2] The lack of dynamism in the UI and its overall design make the game feel somewhat cheap. For example, even in situations where they can't be used, prompts for Q Watch, Bluff, and Lure remain permanently on the screen, constantly displaying which buttons to presseven while driving. [h2] Expectations and Reality [/h2] In the promotional campaign, names like Lenny Kravitz and Gemma Chan were announced with great excitement, and some players even expected villain performances on the level of Raoul Silva. However, these characters end up saying little more than a single line before disappearing from the game entirely. It felt as though the celebrities were included mainly as a marketing tool to attract players. Bawma’s backstory, in particular, is reduced to a single brief explanation and never properly explored. [h2] For the next game, [/h2] I hope IO keeps the storytelling style from the early sections instead of shifting it midway like in this one. I’d also like to see them introduce more varied mechanics and ideas beyond the “shoot, move forward, listen” structure and something closer to the chapter-based, long-form storytelling style of [b] Casino Royale.[/b] [h2] And start the second game with a 15-minute chase! [/h2] At the beginning of the game I was thinking of giving it around a 9/10. After encountering all of these issues, I've settled on an 8.5/10 for now. I know they probably can't completely fix the weak AI or some of the engine's limitations, but if they deliver the promised path tracing update this summer and address the gameplay problems listed above (the game doesn't even have a UI scaling option), I could easily see myself raising that score. [b] + Absolutely nails the James Bond atmosphere + The early mission design and intro sequence are fantastic + In the early sequences, the studio’s Hitman vision has been carried over into this game in the best possible way +Slow,Skyfall style Gunbarrel Sequence! - Technical issues - The freedom in the early sections almost gradually fades away after the second half - Weak AI - The relationships between the characters feel extremely rushed [h2] Review Score:85/100 [/h2]

brought me back to the old days of single player ass whoopin fun.

I could not imagine any better studio to make a game about bond than IOI. You can see very clearly, how decades of creating Hitman were put to use in making First light, while making it a very diffrent game than Hitman. One of the fears before the release online was "hopefully its not just british hitman" and it really isn't. While having constant easter eggs and nods to hitman franschise (which were amazing). It never made me feel like im playing some htiman clone which is a huge plus. And im saying that having 1000+ h in WOA trilogy. It looks like bond game, it feels like bond game and it plays like bond game. Characters are great, story is very good, shooting system is IOI's best one yet and feels amazing. Bonus note - Game has many moments when i was thinking: "Am i playing uncharted 5 - among spies?" which as a fan of te series made me just smile from ear to ear. I can't remember the last time i had this much fun and joy in a single player linear game.