Will there ever be another James Bond video game like GoldenEye 64? The short answer is probably not, but that might be okay because as much as I love James Bond and that game, I don't know if it's the best embodiment of what a James Bond game could be. And a big part of the reason I'm saying that is because last week I was invited to a preview event for IOI's upcoming 007 First Light, the first Bond game we're getting in 14 years and I'm pretty sure it's the first IOI game based on a pre-existing IP. First Bond, first IP, first light. >> >> Scaramanga. Anyway, I got to play over 3 hours of the game across three missions and I have thoughts. But James, you don't do video game reviews. Why should I care what you have to say? It's the new what people shout at me in New York, but I've been pretty open about my love of the franchise. I think James Bond is really cool. I've been watching it since I was a little baby kid. I'm really excited about this game, so I guess you have to deal with it or you could not watch this, but I'd rather you deal with it. I'm going to try to avoid as many spoilers as possible because in the preview was kind of upset that I had to see some spoilers and also they asked me not to spoil anything for you, which is funny cuz like I'm probably more excited than you are, but who knows? Either way, I'm going to avoid as many spoilers as I can and just kind of talk generally about the vibe and the things that I experienced gameplay-wise while going through these missions. The game itself follows a young James Bond and normally that would give me like the and anything else because the last thing I want to see is a plucky young chap making constant references to things that will happen to him in the future because we've seen it in other pieces of media, but James Bond has never kind of fell into those trappings because its lore is very liquid. It's not so much about who James Bond is, it's more about what James Bond is and the expectations that come with the franchise itself. Namely nail-biting actions, state-of-the-art spycraft, and men talking to women in ways that'll probably age poorly in like 5 to 10 years. Either way, it's a license to start however you want and end however you want, so a young James Bond is perfect. Though thinking about it now, I guess they could have done a James Bond Jr. thing. Why aren't they making a James Bond Jr. game? You realize in James Bond Jr., James Bond is not the son of James Bond, it's like his uncle. But then they still call him James Bond Jr. I go, "What's that relationship like?" I want to have a conversation with my father's brother about why I am named after him and Jr. I feel like there's something there. I'm not going to talk too much about the opening mission because it doesn't really feel like Bond and that seems intentional because he isn't Bond. He's kind of just a guy who has these glimmers of elite super spy potential and happens to be named James. I could be talking about myself right now. Listen carefully. You have less than 1% chance of success. Now stand down. I'll take those odds. >> Bond, I will mention though that there is an opening title sequence and a Bond theme that are pretty great and honestly it was while I was watching it that I realized I probably wanted to make this video. The preview then skips ahead to another mission where you're kind of playing as James Bond learning how to become a super spy and it's a thinly veiled tutorial for you learning how to become a super spy and I think that's really clever, but we got into the bangers and mash of the preview as it were. I think when people heard that of Hitman were making a Bond game, everyone went, "Oh my gosh, yeah, that makes perfect sense." And it does, but I think what makes me most excited about this game is how it isn't limiting itself to a Hitman-like game. They could have easily just reskinned the character and said, "You're not Agent 47, you're Agent 007." and just let you run wild in the world and I think people would have had a great time with it, but this game doesn't just do that. This game feels like a Bond video game and that's what makes me really excited. So Bond ends up in places where he has to do investigations and some of it feels a little bit more linear than maybe you're used to in a Hitman game. Oh, you can kill your target by dropping a chandelier on them or you can kill your target by pushing them off a skyscraper or you can kill your target by running into a room and throwing a grenade at their feet and then running away. There's so many options. This game has more guardrails to keep you playing and feeling like Bond. The constraints that the developers have introduced in this game actually make it more fun for me. There's plenty of times where you walk into a room and it's filled with people and there's tons of entrances and tons of exits and plenty of places to go, but it feels like there are a handful of paths that Bond would take and that's where the game tries to guide you. It doesn't demand that you take those paths. I actually played this big third mission twice and both of the times I chose different paths to try and get to restricted areas and bypass security and find my way to different objectives and on the second time I realized there were also third paths that weren't even marked in the HUD. I'm trying to think what about it feels so Bond to me. The giant populated Hitman levels that were used to seem like they've been divided up into gated sections to keep you feeling like Bond the whole time. So in section one, maybe you pretend to be a cameraman so that way you can get press credentials so you can get past a security checkpoint. Then in the next section, you might have to decide between sneaking through some vents to reach a server area, fighting your way through, or bluffing and oh my god, I love bluffing so much. As a fan of the Hitman franchise too, I always appreciated the fact that Hitman could raise his hands like he's going to give up and then start fighting again. I always thought that was really funny. Being James Bond and this goes back to the fact that I really think they thought about what a fun James Bond experience would be has the ability to bluff. This is him tapping into his inner charisma. You can walk into a room, almost any room in the game and you can tell someone, "I belong here for X, Y, or Z reasons." And you know what? If they're stupid enough, they'll believe you. You only have so much energy that you can do this for and if you try it with someone who has more authority or someone who knows that you're lying, it's not going to work, but man, it's so great to diffuse those situations and just walk through like you belong there because it feels so Bond. Ultimately, that's not going to work for every objective, but when it does, you really feel like you're playing a James Bond video game. Like he feels cool and that's hard to do because I'm playing as him, right? Again, this does feel like a game with guardrails, but it's guardrails that keep you in the Bond experience. You can still do all kinds of crazy sandbox BS. You can blow out air conditioners, you can explode electronics. Oh yeah, you got a watch and you can explode a bunch of stuff. You can dart people. You can run into a room and just start beating the hell out of all the security guards until you're the last one left and then go pick up whatever it is you needed to pick up. All those options are viable, but I feel like when you have the tools to be Bond, you're going to want to use them to be Bond. But James, you haven't mentioned killing anyone. What's up with that? Yeah, Bond can kill people. He has a license to kill, but he is technically an MI6 agent. Unlike Agent 47, he just can't run into a room and kill anyone he wants to. That's like not cool, I guess. So there's certain sections that limit you to non-lethal methods and other sections where they go, "License to kill approved." This could seem frustrating, but it genuinely seems to work. When it's time to go guns blazing, you can do that. It feels like a James Bond movie where James Bond isn't going to just roll into a room and pull out his gun. That's not how he gets things done, but when push comes to shove, now it's time to do some cool action stuff. That being said, there is a section in this preview that I played that the first time I tried to shoot my way through and quickly found out that the better strategy was to hide, bide my time, maybe a couple stealth takedowns, and get the hell out of there as soon as possible. I think there's going to be a lot of people that come from the Hitman games and say, "Whoa, there's a ton of restrictions about what I can and can't do as James Bond." But for me, I felt like it was the hand of a game director wanting to take me through a really compelling and interactive Bond story. You can't just go anywhere you want. You can't just do anything you want to do, but all the things you can do are the kinds of things Bond would. Ultimately, I'm very excited for this game. I got goosebumps at one point because I set a trap for one guard, took down another, jumped out a window as an explosion went off, landed in a bush, hopped out of it, and then was immediately flirting with a woman at a party all while the Bond theme was playing. Like I've never felt more like Bond in my whole life and it felt like a moment that I created. So no, I don't think that we will ever get another game like GoldenEye 64, but First Light might be a better Bond game. Also, if I could compare this Bond to any of the other actors who've portrayed Bond in the past, I would say George Lazenby and the people that know Bond know he's slept on. As someone who loves Bond and someone who loves video games, I'm pretty excited for 007 First Light. So screw you, New Yorker guy that shouted at me earlier. I'm also aware of the irony of wearing a Bruce Lee shirt while talking about James Bond. Agents have very short life expectancy. >> >> And if you do get caught, we will deny ever having heard of you. How does that sound? When do I start? Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, or maybe you want to see more videos like it, let me know down in the comments. Um I probably won't though, because not all games are James Bond games, and that's kind of just what I'm into. But maybe, who knows? I don't know. I'd love to hear your thoughts. And thank you to IOI for providing the B-roll and inviting me to the event in the first place. Obviously, I'm a huge James Bond fan, so just getting to go and play the game early, it was really cool. I had a good time. If you hated this video and wanted something completely different, then I've got great news for you. Uh Alyssa and I do a podcast. It's called Answer For It. It comes out every single Tuesday. It's a comedy trivia podcast, where she finds a bunch of cool trivia questions. She asks myself, Zach Anner, and AJ Locascio those questions, which we're generally too dumb to know the answers to, so we come up with funny ones on the spot. We go off on all kinds of diatribes. We talk about movies you don't care about. It's a blast. So, I hope you check it out. As always, thank you so much for watching. Thank you so much for supporting the channel, and I'll see you for the next James Bond preview event video, I guess.