IO Interactive's 007 First Light strikes every summer blockbuster itch you could hope for, at a time when games are rejuvenating franchises better than movies. As someone who grew up in the 1990s, I’m accustomed to movie tie-ins being average (at best) experiences you fall for during moments of weakness. I might defend Toy Story 2 on the original PlayStation, or the genuinely great Peter Jackson’s King Kong, but otherwise a retrospective look back at games based on major IP prior to 2010 is like staring across a tepid sea of mediocrity.
The Rise of Triple-A IP-Based Games
Fast forward to 2026, and while there are still shiftless mobile tie-ins, the landscape for IP-based triple-A games couldn’t be more different. In fact, right now, triple-A games are propping up many legacy franchises. I’ve already written about how games are the most promising arm of the Star Wars franchise, but as we’ve seen with Hogwarts Legacy, Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, video games are at the point where they’re fulfilling blockbuster fantasies better than their movie counterparts.
This idea has only been reinforced by 007 First Light, a young James Bond origin story which pulls off that unappealing concept far better than any movie or TV show is ever likely to. Mechanically, it is a diet version of developer IO Interactive’s Hitman games, but it’s propulsive, witty, and bombastic in a way those titles aren’t. In my view, more so than Uncharted, it’s the best distillation of a summer action blockbuster in video game form – anchored by Patrick Gibson’s excellent turn as 007 himself.
Writing and Tone Elevate the Experience
In 007 First Light’s case, it’s mostly elevated by the writing, an area video games have historically lagged behind compared to other mediums. It’s still a traditional spy adventure plot wise, but tonally it knows when to pop the self-seriousness with comical lightness and endearing, smarmy one-liners – a juggling act many film blockbusters struggle to reconcile today, without undermining the stakes at play.
007 First Light might be a unique case in that respect, but games are increasingly proving the superior choice for continuing decades long franchises, and not just because their characters never grow old. Alien: Isolation, and likely its upcoming sequel, is the best piece of Alien media over the past century because it replicates the atmosphere of the film’s universe wonderfully, while managing to be one of the scariest games ever made. It still has its flaws, but they’re not nearly as fatal as the recent movies and the Alien: Earth TV show.
You could point to RoboCop: Rogue City too, a seemingly dead franchise which got its best sequel in decades by spinning its sci-fi satire into an admirably faithful first person shooter. In fact, since 1987, there are now more good RoboCop video games than there are movies. We’re at an interesting point where the baseline sophistication of games has started to encroach – and as noted above, surpass – the experiences many big blockbuster films provide.
Summer Blockbuster Season Comparison
Sure, there will be outliers (we see you, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey), but in a summer season headlined by limp offerings such as Supergirl, Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, and a live action Moana, 007 First Light is a refreshing, more invigorating tonic from every angle.
This trend seems likely only to accelerate in the years to come. There’s more reasons to be hopeful for Marvel’s Wolverine than Avengers: Doomsday, and Hogwarts Legacy 2 will at least offer something new compared to HBO’s TV remake of Harry Potter. Throw in the upcoming Halloween game, Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, and a Lord Of The Rings RPG from the makers of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and it’s hard not to feel like we’ve shifted into a new era where licensed games are propelling franchises forward rather than acting merely as low effort tie-ins.
If movie adaptations of video games are dominating Hollywood today, between the success of A Minecraft Movie, Sonic, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, an inverse rebirth is happening with modern video games based on popular IP. And with the added benefit that the video games are actually good. The world might be waiting to see who the next on-screen James Bond is after Daniel Craig, but after 007 First Light, Patrick Gibson might hold the most exciting licence to kill.
