As I shipped off my Nintendo Switch to an eBay buyer in 2018, I swore that was it. My brief attempt to re-enter the world of video games had ended with a whimper. When the ads for the Switch first came out, I was taken with the hybrid design and the clever marketing shots of young professionals loving the console whilst catching flights or coming home to their swanky apartments. I hadn't gamed since I put down my N64 controller in 2001. But suddenly I was tempted to give it a try again.
Long story short, it didn't work out. I'd enjoyed Mario Kart for all of five minutes before getting bored, and been completely turned off by Zelda with its lotions and potions and recipes. I just wasn't cut out to be a gamer anymore.
This year, one game has changed all that. It has made me believe that video games can finally offer an entertainment experience on a par with the cinema, and, most importantly, made me empty my wallet and buy a PS5. The (game's) name's Light. First Light.
If ever there was a game that was going to bring me back, it was a James Bond game. Not only am I a bonafide (Bondafide?) fan of the books and films, but some of my absolute fondest childhood gaming memories involve playing Goldeneye 64 in the late nineties. But despite this none of the (apparently terrible) Bond games between then and 2012's 007 Legends managed to turn my head. I just wasn't interested in gaming anymore. And when the first trailer for 007 First Light was released, I wasn't particularly optimistic.
Everything changed when I attended the world premiere of 007 First Light at BAFTA in London last month. Hearing the creative team and cast talk passionately about the process of making the game, and most importantly, getting a chance to play it, had me suddenly hooked. When the first ten minutes of gameplay were shown on the BAFTA cinema screen, I didn't want to end. I was engrossed in a way I've never experienced when playing a video game. It was, in short, like watching a film.
It dawned on me that video game technology might have finally reached the point where it can offer a truly rich and cinematic experience. That sentence might cause a seasoned gamer to scoff, but having only ever been a casual gamer (and, for the last decade, a non-gamer), I've never been able to lose myself in the plot or visuals of a game – the graphics just didn't cut it. But when I watched gameplay of 007 First Light, I truly believed I was watching the same cast that was sitting in panel chairs under the cinema screen.
I'm not the only one who was surprised. In the subsequent panel session, several cast members expressed disbelief that they were performing for a game, so authentic was the acting experience. And since then, I've seen Bond fans wax lyrical about how the game captures the 007 cinematic universe in a way no video game has ever come close to.
So, I've been tempted back. My new PS5 is in the post. Time will tell if 007 First Light can turn me back into a gamer. But for the first time in years, I'm excited to pick up a controller again.
