With Daniel Craig’s final outing as007in theaters, Bond’s cinematic swan song (at least, for the near future) is ending the tenure of one of the greatest cinema depictions of the iconic British spy.No Time to Dieis a bittersweet departure forJames Bondfans, who may be waiting several years until a new actor takes over the titular Ian Fleming character. Gaming fans at least have some hope with the upcomingProject 007, a newJames Bondvideo game adaptation in development at IO Interactive, the same developers behind theHitmangames. Given the studio’s development history, this meansProject 007will likely be a third-person action adventure game.
Nowadays that’s not an unusual thing, and considering the resurgence in popularity ofHitmanwith its reboot, it makes sense thatProject 007will follow a similar gameplay style. However, some of the best and most popularJames Bondgames were originally FPS titles, with the iconicGoldenEyeoften pointed to as a revolutionary first-person shooter for the whole genre. WhileGoldenEyewas a very formative title for games in general, one occassionally overlooked title that’s arguably one of the bestBondgames of all time is007: Nightfireon GameCube, PS2, and Xbox. Not very many games since have captured theJames Bondexperience to similar success.
RELATED:No Time To Die’s Safin Is The Perfect Throwback To Classic Bond Villains
007: Nightfire Was The Last Good James Bond FPS
UnlikeGoldenEyebefore it,007: Nightfiresought to bean extension of Pierce Brosnan’s007, rather than a licensed video game adaptation loosely based on an existing film. There were plenty of originalJames Bondgames both before and afterNightfirethat focused on original007stories, butNightfirewas particularly exceptional as aBondgame. It may have been a FPS that heavily borrowed fromGoldenEye’s foundation, butNightfirefor the most part iterated on and perfected its predecessor’s gameplay, visual design, and narrative. Despite being developed by Eurocom instead,Nightfire’s gameplay was heavily reminiscent of Rare’s interpretation of a Bond FPS.
YouTuber Raycevick has a fantastic video that highlights a lot of the strengths ofNightfire, and why fans who did play it back in 2002 still hold reverence for it today. Even though Eurocom is long gone after several other middling licensed games (including additionalJames Bondtitles),Nightfirestill stands out as one of the best and highest-rated games in the studio’s history. Even thoughNightfirereleasedalongside Pierce Brosnan’s 007 filmDie Another Dayin the same year,Nightfire’s Metacritic scores (the console releases, specifically) far outpaceDie Another Day’s Rotten Tomatoes score, which is genuinely a testament to a licensed game’s quality and reception.
The only caveat is the PC version of007: Nightfireis nowhere near the same as the console release of the same game. Development of the PC version was outsourced to Gearbox Software, which means the game was drastically different from its console release, and not in a positive way. Multiple missions were left out entirely, and the PC version utilized a completely different game engine that was far less refined.
RELATED:007: Everything or Nothing Was Basically a Fifth Movie For Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond
Future 007 FPS Games Should Borrow Inspiration From Nightfire
While severalsubsequentJames Bondgamestook on a more third-person action-adventure design influence, none quite matchedNightfire’s gameplay design. Even its FPS successors likeGoldenEye: Rogue Agent, 007: Quantum of Solace, or007 Legendseither didn’t receive nearly the same critical or commercial reception, or sought inspiration from other popular FPS titles likeCall of Duty. None of theseJames BondFPS games quite nailed the delicate balance of open-ended/sandbox mission design, alongside the intelligent usage of gadgets and unique equipment, among other criticisms. There’s a reason why there hasn’t been a properBondgame in almost a decade.
The upcomingProject 007from IO Interactive is perfectly valid and frankly encouraged to borrow inspiration from the latestHitmanreboot.Hitman’s “World of Assassination” trilogy ended up reinvigoratingthe iconic Agent 47’s franchise with a modernized interpretation on the classic video game character that fans enjoyed. In that same vein,Hitman’s developer seems like the perfect fit for aJames Bondgame, especially considering the similarities between the Agent 47 and James Bond. At least from a gameplay perspective, the potential in an exciting IO Interactive-developed007game is certainly there, even if that means no moreBondFPS games.
It’d be interesting to see anotherJames Bondgame take on the FPS genre once again, but it’d be hard to pinpoint what studio might be ideal for that role, especially given the so-so history ofJames Bondfirst-person shooters. A greater criticism of the more recentBondFPS games was that they were often too reminiscent ofCall of Duty’s brand of FPS, which has subsequnetly influenced many popular shooters in the last decade. The Initiative is potentially running into similar concerns developing thePerfect Darkreboot, which is ironic consideringMicrosoft’s studio is partnering with Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raiderreboot)to assist with development.
While most still recognizeGoldenEyeas the only greatJames BondFPS game,Nightfirewas easily just as memorable and exciting, even if it wasn’t nearly as formative for console first-person shooters. Perhaps afterProject 007, the right studio may be willing to take a crack at bringing back the007FPS game.
007: Nightfirereleased on July 25, 2025, for Nintendo GameCube, PS2, and Xbox.
MORE:Why Now is the Right Time for IO Interactive’s James Bond Game
