When I first heard the devs of the lauded Hitman series were making a James Bond game, I was pretty excited. So imagine my delight when it comes out and it’s actually good!

First and foremost it does a great job of doing Bond Stuff. Here’s a probably incomplete list of things featured in this game:

  • A swanky hotel
  • A posh parties
  • Bond in a tux
  • Villain lair in a remote location
  • Many explosions
  • Copious one-liners

It also has all the characters! M, Q, Moneypenny, and of course Bond himself are here. Each is at least a slight twist on the classic formula, but they are recognizably themselves. Q in particular being well dressed as a main attribute is a fun way to differentiate this version. Bond is also younger and his self-assuredness comes off a bit as cockiness, which works well for this iteration. M is the closest to established canon other than being played by a woman of color.

My favorite part of the gameplay is perhaps unsurprisingly the stealth portions. We’ve got all the modern standards like tall grass, chest high walls, and vents big enough for a human to fit inside of. My favorite twist we get here is Bond’s arsenal of gadgets. Each one functions with a kind of fuel: either energy or chemicals. This means that you can’t just spam them, nor does running out mean being permanently without their use for the rest of the level. So you mostly are using these gadgets in concert with more basic tactics like positioning and timing. I think this is an excellent balance.

Another really neat idea is the concept of bluffing. You can reveal yourself with a bluff to make the bad guys think it’s okay for you to be in the area for a time. This feel very in line with the character while also being a fun twist on the stealth formula.

Once you break stealth, the most likely situation is going into hand-to-hand combat. Overall this is nothing to write home about: blocks, dodges, grabs, etc. The most fun aspect is if you are within reach of some kind of object (e.g. mug, keyboard, wrench) you can press a button to throw it a nearby enemy to stun them, leaving them open to a takedown. You can even break stealth this way to gain a momentary advantage.

Gunplay of course also abounds here. A neat wrinkle is that due to your rules of engagement as a spy for a sovereign government, you can only kill someone if they pull a gun on you. So you can’t just start popping heads with your silenced PPK.

But once the shooting starts, it’s pretty fun. There’s less uniqueness here than in some other aspects, but I do like how they tailored it to Bond’s style. For example, you can shoot guns out of enemy’s hands. When your gun runs out of ammo you can throw it to stun enemies. They also have copious explosive barrels and the like in the environment so it feels a lot like a Bond film in that way. Also, since you typically only start with only a sidearm, most of the time your other guns will be gotten from felled enemies. Strategizing around picking up a new gun is an important and fun aspect of these sections.

There is a fourth pillar to the gameplay and that is when you are in a public setting. In these cases you can walk around freely (for the most part) and attempt to solve puzzles. These are almost entirely bespoke, but they do often involve doing stuff like using your gadgets to distract people so you can pickpocket them. Most puzzles have 3-4 possible solutions so you can decide what style or type of challenge you want. These are a bit railroady, but since they fit the theme so well and are well constructed I don’t really mind.

The plot is decently classic Bond, despite its framing. Bond is recruited out of the Navy to become a new generation of 00 agents. This part sets up a bunch of character stuff, but also has one of the coolest tutorial sequences I’ve seen a video game: an honest-to-goodness montage while teaching you the relevant mechanics. Once the plot gets going, it hits all of the classic Bond stuff. Not shakespeare or anything, but it gives us all the thrills needed. There’s even some character arcs which are well done enough to make me feel some emotions. One other aspect which is I really like the femme fatale character. I honestly can’t remember if Bond has ever has a proper one of those? But she does a great job and is an excellent foil for Bond.

Overall, probably the best James Bond game in years if not ever. I would love to see some aspects improved, but it’s a unique enough experience to make it well worth the price of admission as is.