007 First Light

[al_infierno]

This game absolutely rules. Made by the team behind Hitman, it feels a bit like Hitman crossed with the Arkham and Uncharted games. The combat rocks so god damn hard. It's one of those stealth games where you secretly hope to get caught because beating the crap out of baddies is so much fun.

I think my favorite novel mechanic in this game is the ability to bluff bad guys. You can literally just walk up to a group of bad guys, hit the bluff button, and Bond will charm them into temporary passivity so you can walk on by or execute your attack.

Oh and, of course, you can flirt with bombshell women and get distracted from the mission!

[Jarhead0331]

How open ended is it? I've heard its very linear.

[al_infierno]

How open ended is it? I've heard its very linear.

I'm still early on, but so far it leans more toward the linear side. It's kind of a mix of scripted Uncharted-esque action setpieces and open-ended stealth/combat arenas that remind me of games like Arkham. It's definitely nowhere as open as Hitman.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

What's the cutscene to gameplay ratio like? 

[Father Ted]

I watched a Youtuber playing this and thought that it actually looked like a half-decent film, but a very irritating videogame to play (for me).

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I felt the same.  I was wondering if it changed after you got through the tutorials and exposition so that you got to spend more time playing and less time spectating.

[al_infierno]

What's the cutscene to gameplay ratio like? 

The opening hours are very heavy on the cutscenes, but after that I'd say it's like 30-70 cutscenes-to-gameplay. Nowhere near as bad as Last of Us 2, which felt like the other way around, or the most recent Mafia game which was like 90% cutscenes and 10% gameplay. Once you get into the game proper, you definitely spend more time running around combat arenas, beating up and shooting dudes and blowing stuff up than you do watching cutscenes.

There's also a mode called "TacSim" which is purely action gameplay in combat arenas with specific challenges and objectives, and stuff to unlock.