007 First Light delivers cinematic gameplay, slick spy action and a fresh take on James Bond says our Games critic PETER HOSKIN

007 First Light (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)

Verdict: This diamond is forever

Rating:

It’s James Bond’s toughest assignment to date. How on Earth do you tell a new story about the priapic spy without getting in the way of the movies and, crucially, without annoying his new paymasters at Amazon, under their Blofeld-esque boss Jeff Bezos?

IO Interactive, the makers of the brilliant Hitman series, give their answer in 007 First Light. Their Bond – this Bond – is a younger model, just setting out in the service. Specifically, he’s 26 years old, which, given that the game appears to be set in the present day, raises the possibility that he was born in the year 2000. If you’ve never felt ancient before, consider the fact that James Bond is now sipping matcha lattes and listening to Sabrina Carpenter.

It’s a whole new Bond in First Light: This version of the iconic British spy is a Gen Z

The re-imagined origin story brings Hollywood to the world of gameplay

He’s so new to the job, in fact, that he’s actually in the Navy at the start of First Light. A propulsive prologue sees him crash-landing on some Icelandic island, where he ends up causing so much damage – a whole island’s worth of damage, let’s say – that it attracts the attention of spy-chief M, who’s on the lookout for fresh new recruits for the Double-0 Program.

What follows is effectively Bond’s ascent to Double-0 status. There’s a rogue former agent. There’s location-hopping. There’s lots and lots of sneaking around and consigning various flunkies to the baddie afterlife.

Expect to be dropped straight into the action as you get a chance to be the next Bond

All of which will sound very familiar to anyone who has played the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy, a series of masterpieces that presumably landed IO Interactive this job. Most of the things that defined those games also feature in this one – and to glorious effect. There is no better, nor more Hitman, segment in First Light than the one that deposits you in – yes – a pirate-king’s black market in Mauritania. There are hundreds of other characters and dozens of different ways of achieving your goals. It’s a wonderful sandbox to play in, particularly with the toys you get from Q Branch.

First Light is not all like that, however. Even though the Hitman games are pretty darn cinematic, this one is way more Hollywood – which, in some ways, is a good thing. The motion-captured performances, by the likes of Patrick Gibson (Bond himself) and The Walking Dead’s Lennie James (Bond’s handler, John Greenway), are among the most sophisticated I’ve ever seen. There’s even a proper theme song by Lana Del Rey, and there was a premiere at BAFTA HQ last week.

The Walking Dead’s Lennie James stars as Bond’s handler, John Greenway, in one of the most sophisticated motion-captured performances ever seen

In other ways, though, it’s not so good. The most disappointing parts of First Light are where it pushes more towards being a movie than a game – first into Uncharted-style action sequences, then into extended cutscenes that require you to do little but mash buttons in time with prompts on screen. Bond has never felt so emasculated.

But then, just when you’re thinking of handing in your gun and expensive watch, there’s another level straight out of Hitman to keep you going. Precise. Playful. Perfect. Much like our hero himself.

With First Light, IO Interactive have achieved something remarkable: Bond games are no longer just spin-offs from the movies; they’re now their own strand of the story. Bring on Second Light, I say. And Third Light and Fourth. And – I dare you – make the bad guy a bald, billionaire, spacefaring owner of an online mega-corporation.