I had some high expectations for this game, and now that i finished it, and reflect, i feel a little sad, of what could have, should have been an amazing title. I'm trying to work out how thjs game has a metacritic score in the high 80s.
If you've been gamer for some time, and played the likes of uncharted series, hitman, deus ex, splinter cell, and accustomed to greatness in gameplay, innovation along the way in stealth, action , shooting , platforming etc, they set a bar / level of standard. With a new generation of console, you would expect something that feels a little evolved, some fresh ideas, new gameplay or scenarios that couldn't be done before .
First light feels like a game from around 2010. It's as though the developers went out to make an uncharted like game, with elements from hitman, throw in the 007 name. Maybe they rushed it out. Stealth is average and done before. The set peices in this game, the ones that are interactive, are far fewer than expected. I was expecting a cinematic blockbuster title. A game from 2009 does it much better. Enemy Ai is dumb for the most part. Boss fights, forgettable. The shootout encounters are pretty much the same, isn't varied. The shooting itself is ok, nothing special. Haptic controls would have helped if they did a good job with it, but it feels been there done that. Melee combat is limited to a few moves. You experience it once and repeats. Would have been nice to upgrade move sets through game progression .
In this generation of gaming, it would be good if they did something great with the physics and animation, AI reactions to damage that affects gameplay, but it's standard affair.
The driving , chase sequences, again done without much flair. It's james bond, they should feel exciting to play , but they're not. You don't get that sense of speed, excitement, danger.
There is also alot of boring walking in the game. The investigation parts of the game are just all too convenient for it to be taken with any sense of believability. Who were the writers/game director?
All the signs were there from the opening game mission. I got a bad feeling from the start, but i held judgement. I think what saved the game from disaster was the two melee encounters, its always fun to toss someone off a ship deck, and tackling someone off a top level onto the ground. Also this game has a Cutscene featuring the most amazing character model design, that's hard to keep your eyes off. Highlight of the game.
6/10. Good game for those who have never played a solid action adventure /stealth game before. Don't know what other reviewers were smoking, or what they got paid. This definitely isn't a 8 of 10 game for accustomed gamers of this genre.
