IO Interactive has forgiven me for calling 007 a smug tool

James Bond giving a cocky grin. — (Image credit: IO Interactive)

A couple of weeks ago, after spending a few hours with 007 First Light, I suggested that maybe James Bond—while pretty enjoyable on film—is perhaps just a touch too much an insufferable Bullingdon Club boy to be a tolerable videogame protagonist.

This was universally regarded as an excellent take, and absolutely no one got upset.

One particular group that wasn't upset? 007 First Light studio IO Interactive, who told Eurogamer recently that—so far as it's concerned—a few people getting annoyed by Bond means it's done its job right. "Everyone has their favorite Bond," said senior combat designer Tom Marcham. "If we made a Bond where no one had any opinions on them, it would be the dullest Bond ever made. So the fact that we've got a little controversy on that, I think it's a good thing.

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Plus, First Light's narrative and cinematic director Martin Emborg noted that, for IO's youthful take on Bond, a lot of the braggadocio he displays will go through the wringer as the game progresses: "He's a reckless young man. This guy hasn't seen death in the way that an older Bond has. When you're a young man, you feel immortal… and he'll definitely learn that he's not."

So IO is feeling pretty confident about its pretty confident young Bond. "He is as strong as those other Bonds," said Emborg. "In terms of the audience putting themselves into this strong character: it does help us that it's an origin story. We're starting with him and that's a great entry point for the audience for sure. But he's his own man. It's not like he's a vanilla person. He has strong impulses and opinions and ways of doing things."

Hey, I'm open to it. I was tepid coming out of my preview of 007 First Light, feeling that IO had moved away from what it's great at (open, systems-driven and clockwork worlds) to do something it's historically been more wobbly with (predominantly linear third-person action), but I'd love to be mistaken.

We'll know for sure when First Light releases on May 27, and I write something else that makes a guy send me an email where he gets so angry he inexplicably begins writing in Portuguese halfway through.

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.