IO Interactive's James Bond game is a capable spy who can smoothly adapt to overcome obstacles in the field, but its first level is a poor representation of the game's true potential.
IO Interactive's James Bond game is a capable spy who can smoothly adapt to overcome obstacles in the field, but its first level is a poor representation of the game's true potential.
The level begins with Bond crash landing on a beach and having to avoid mysterious armed soldiers. To stay hidden, players are forced to take refuge in moderately dense patches of waist-high grass, which may as well be as concealing as absolute darkness. The level is incredibly linear, with players being guided by the nose and not allowed to experiment much. It almost feels scripted the way players are pulled around by the heavy hand of the designers.
The level wraps up with an explosive set piece that, while bombastic, isn't much more complicated than running forward. It is essentially a tutorial, but it still is, at the end of a day, a full level, one that paints a picture of a game that's incredibly linear.
However, the next few stages hint at a more open game, with each one being more open than the last. The superb training montage opens up more, as does the nightclub level that succeeds it.
However, both are still quite constrained and it still feels like the game is holding back. It's not until the Slovakia mission that the game truly opens up in a more spectacular fashion, with players getting to roam around lavish floors and crowded halls, search for ways to complete their mission, and engage in fist fights and shootouts.
Later levels only build on this more and more by throwing in new scenarios and levels that change things up and demonstrate the level of freedom and variety that the game has to offer. Essentially, the first level makes for a poor vertical slice for the entire game, but it does establish a unique intro to Bond.
Ideally, IOI would have given players more freedom in this level and not immediately have them shimmy across stone walls and crouch walking through tall grass (and mashing through quick-time events later on). All of this put together implies that a creative team sacrificed a key part of itself in order to dumb things down enough for a more mass market franchise. It's not a disaster of a level by any means, it's just discouraging.
The game's later stages explore all sorts of mechanics and tempos and masterfully bounces players between them, a dance that becomes its biggest asset. Missions may start with a cinematic introduction before transitioning to an open hub and then to a firefight or a bare-knuckle brawl before wrapping up with a vehicle chase or boss fight.
It's even possible to pave some of these paths, too, as players can sneak past scenarios, lie through them, shoot their way out of them, punch through them, or a mix of all four - the latter of which is the most rewarding. This spontaneity is at the heart of the game and is why it's such a consistent blast. It's just a little annoying its introduction doesn't reflect that
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