007 First Light | Star Wars: Resistance, Season 2, Episodes 1-7

Exceptional highs, frustrating lows, and one very promising future for 007.

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Here's what I've been watching and playing over the last week...

MOVIES

No movies watched or re-watched over the last week, which I blame on getting heavily addicted to The Witcher 3 again after finishing off 007 First Light.

GAMES

007 First Light

Game summary: Follow James Bond as a young, resourceful and sometimes reckless recruit in MI6's training programme, and discover an origin story of the world’s most famous spy. (Steam)

I was really looking forward to 007 First Light from the moment it was announced and especially with it being made by the developers behind the World of Assassination trilogy.

Hell, those games became more and more spy-like as they went on and could've been a much slower-paced Bond game in their own right at times.

Then the reviews came out and generally agreed that, while not perfect, First Light was still a very good game indeed.

However, for me, the downsides were too big to ignore, with a surprising lack of polish at times considering just how slick World of Assassination had become by the end.

Combat in the game is generally great, constantly pushing forward and switching between shooting and beating the shit out of people as needed, while stuff blows up all around you - fun, fun, fun, fun.

However (treading carefully to avoid spoilers here), there is a sequence in the game where taking that approach to combat - the approach the game wants you to take everywhere else - will just see you killed repeatedly.

Then there are the encounters with the identical twin assassins: you have four fights with them, the first two being back-to-back, and three out of those four fights are just a case of beating them down until a cutscene kicks in or they're dead.

For the third of the four encounters though, you have to use objects in the environment to hurt the twin you're up against, with zero story or gameplay explanation as to why you can't just attack them.

I'm also not sure if my game was bugged or not, because I was given absolutely no indication whatsoever that I needed to use the environment to win that fight - but two later encounters that are similar both flash a message up on screen and have Bond mutter about needing to use the environment.

It just seems really bizarre to give the player that information in the second and third encounters, but not the first.

And it doesn't stop there, with the penultimate level seeing the game turn into a sci-fi action puzzle platformer as you spend more time fighting robots, pressing switches, activating control panels and jumping around areas than feeling like you're playing James Bond.

I'm really not joking here, but there were points in that level when I was reminded of the Cerberus base you attack towards the end of Mass Effect 3 - why and how is a James Bond game reminding me a space opera?

There are other niggly little issues with some poor level/environment design leaving it confusing about where to go next, Bond getting caught on the edges of surfaces, the camera going crazy and so on.

First Light is very much not a totally polished product, but there is still more good than bad here to ultimately enjoy the game.

It looks great and it sounds incredible, with famous pieces of Bond music used extremely well until you finally get the full Bond theme over the end credits.

The cast are great, and the performances are exceptional, with the highest praise deservedly reserved for James Bond himself, played by Irishman Patrick Gibson - and I agree with some who have been suggesting he should just flat-out be the next live-action Bond too.

The story is also pretty good for the most part, although it does go on a touch too long, and I really appreciated the efforts of the developers to try and make each location feel distinct to play through (well... apart from the penultimate level, obviously).

I think the most difficult thing for players is how aggressive you should try and be in combat - the game wants you to be an action movie star, so simply 'turtling' behind cover will most likely see you dead pretty quickly.

You really have to push forward as much as you can, occasionally taking the exact same kind of risks you'd fully expect to see Bond take in one of the movies, and it feels incredible when everything clicks into place and you take down a dozen bad guys by switching between weapons, gadgets and fists without taking a hit.

In the end, 007 First Light is a decent start to what I believe is a planned trilogy (Midnight for the middle one and Last Light for the last one maybe?) and fully expect each game to outdo the last.

007 First Light is great for the most part, but some truly terrible moments of game design and what feels like a step down in polish and quality of life from Hitman: World of Assassination drag it down. [6/10]

TV

Star Wars: Resistance, Season 2, Episodes 1-7

Season summary: After escaping the First Order aboard the mobile space station Colossus, Kaz and friends search for a new home while avoiding pursuit, rescuing former friends, and gradually becoming an active part of the wider Resistance.

Episode 1, “Into the Unknown”

A good first episode picking up right after the end of the season 1 finale, although I hope Tam doesn’t keep getting so much screen time. [7/10]

Episode 2, “A Quick Salvage Run”

A fairly decent episode – appearing to be set during the events of The Last Jedi – although not that much substance to it. [6/10]

Episode 3, "Live Fire”

An okay episode showing pilots on both sides training… and that’s about it. [5/10]

Episode 4, "Hunt on Celsor 3”

Another so-so episode that isn’t particularly memorable or important. [5/10]

Episode 5, “The Engineer”

Not on Disney+ in the UK? Why? [?/10]

Episode 6, "From Beneath”

An episode focusing on a tertiary-character’s family – why? [3/10]

Episode 7, “The Relic Raiders”

An episode spent almost entirely in a Sith temple and I think the first mention of the First Order having a Supreme Leader? Decent regardless. [6/10]

A shaky start to the second season, but the episodes are short enough that I'm still willing to see how it all plays out.

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