The history of James Bond is curious on a multimedia level. You might think that the legendary spy character has only movies attached to his name, but he’s far more reaching. First off, he was based on the books by Ian Fleming. Then, the adapted movies, starting with Sean Connery and then new actors over the years, inspired everything from comic books to cartoons, and even several video games, the latest of which will be this year’s 007 First Light, which will be a vastly different title than anything anyone has done before with the brand. To that end, IO Interactive is doing its best to try and make the game feel better, more expansive, and more in tune with the franchise than previous attempts at replicating the movie magic.
IO Interactive senior licensing producer Theuns Smit did a chat with Radio Times Gaming and noted that while IO respects certain legendary titles that came out before, they’re doing something different from things like Goldeneye 007:
“I mean, obviously, acknowledging it is a fantastic game. There’s a lot of praise and a lot of nostalgia that goes with that. But for us, we’re focused on what we’re putting forward, which is in essence a third-person story-driven action-adventure game.”
That’s not the only difference. Other games from the series have focused on James Bond “at his peak,” when he was already well-versed in the spy game. However, 007 First Light will be about him BEFORE he became the legendary agent. So, that leads to new opportunities:
“[It] is a far wider and more expansive offering and gameplay experience that we’re bringing forward. So once people get their hands on it and get to play it, and get to experience that for themselves… I mean, there’s something really special we have on our hands here and we can’t wait for you to get yours on it as well.”
So, based on what we’re here, the game will be special, and that could lead to a new swath of titles showcasing 007 in more intricate and refined ways. We do know that the game will have some high specs when it comes out, and that’s part of the reason why the team decided to delay it a little bit, as they had some extra refining to do.
We’ll undoubtedly get a new trailer for the title soon enough, and perhaps that’ll shed even more light, first light, even, on what else to expect.
