"Everyone knows GoldenEye, it's a legendary game": 007 First Light boss says his goal is to make an all-timer James Bond game, even if the result is "very different" to Hitman

James Bond smiling and looking off to the right in 007 First Light.

007 First Light could have been a reskinned Hitman. Developer IO Interactive certainly could have pulled it off – there are few stand-ins for Agent 47 as tailor-fit as James Bond – but as our 007 First Light preview found, there's a lot more than meets the eye here. Sure, the studio's open stealth-sandbox formula carries forward, with a disguised Bond infiltrating a swanky hotel during the level shown to us, but there are also careening car chases and explosive airfield shootouts to contend with.

For IO, bringing the Bond experience to life meant pairing the studio's existing strengths with a willingness to venture into less proven grounds. Speaking to IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak at Gamescom, where a swanky red carpet-style booth has been set up for previews, Abrak acknowledges that Hitman alone couldn't lay all the foundations for First Light.