No One Lives Forever

Bond, Jane Bond

When I was growing up, the only movie franchise that came close in stature to the Star Wars movies in my mind was anything James Bond. Connery, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan (hey, I’m still growing up), heck, even the lamentable George Lazenby, if Bond was in the movie, I was in the theater. In fact, I’ve always been a fan of good spy movies. A sub-genre of these movies was the spy-spoof. While most of you reading this will think that Austin Powers was the first film of this type, the tradition actually goes back a long ways. The Peter Sellers vehicle “Casino Royale” (based loosely - and I do mean loosely on the eponymous Ian Fleming novel), and the James Coburn movies “Our Man Flint” and “In Like Flint,” are just a few examples. Today, in this grand tradition, and cashing in not a little on the popularity of the “Austin Powers” movies, Fox and Monolith have brought us No One Lives Forever (NOLF). Oddly enough, it was 20th Century Fox that produced and distributed the Flint films…

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Now, before I get going on this review, let me first say that the LithTech game engine from Monolith has suffered from a series of rather average games, and as a result does not hold a lot of respect in the community. Get ready to drop your preconceptions - this game absolutely rocks, and it looks fantastic while doing it. You play the part of Cate Archer, a.k.a. “The Operative,” and your job? Why, it’s to save the world, of course. You are the first female agent for UNITY, a top-secret spy agency (UK branch), the sole purpose of which is to prevent megalomaniacs intent on world domination. Over half of UNITY’s operatives get murdered in a one week span, and they turn to you. The time is circa 1967, and woman’s lib has yet to catch on with the old fuddy-duddies at UNITY; not only will you need to solve the problem of who’s killing all the other agents, but you’ll have to deal with a superior who has absolutely no faith in your abilities. In the game’s intro, you learn that it is suspected that a new terrorist organization named H.A.R.M. is most likely behind the murders. But the question begs to be asked: what is H.A.R.M.? Who runs it? What do they want? And what the heck does H.A.R.M. stand for, anyway?

Live and Let Die

Aiding you in your quest to save the world (not just the free world, but the whole shebang), is a cast of supporting characters and a list of gizmos that would make any super-spy drool. Your mentor, Bruno Lawrie, guides your early moves, and an American partner, Tom Goodman, helps you through the mid-game - now, if only he’d lose the loud shirts. Messrs. Smith and Jones take the place of ‘M’ from the Bond films, and they play the “good-cop/bad-cop” routine to comic perfection. A ‘Q’ equivalent is here as well; ‘Santa’ gives you all of your mission briefings, as well as a whole toy-box full of cool items. From a barrette that doubles as a lockpick/poison injector, to a lighter/blowtorch, to a perfume sprayer filled with various noxious substances (I especially like the acid gel), he’ll give you a gadget for every occasion (and most of them make for fine fashion statements, as well). While NOLF looks like any other next generation first-person shooter (FPS) on the surface, there is so much here that makes it truly unique, and makes it difficult to easily classify.

Nobody Does it Better

NOLF is, in my opinion, the first FPS to come down the pipeline that is actually better than Half-Life. I do not make this statement lightly. Half-Life is, and will continue to be, on my Hard Drive, as it has been since it was released. The greatest improvements made by Half-Life over previous FPS games were the huge seamless levels, a plethora of realistic weapons (and cool alien artifacts), and an excellent back-story. So what does NOLF have? Huge levels (while not seamless, they are easily the largest levels I’ve ever seen in an FPS), tons of realistic weaponry (and cool British spy gizmos), and a back-story that puts not only Half-Life, but just about any other game I’ve ever played to shame. In case you’re wondering, yes, I’ve played System Shock (1&2), Deus Ex, every Ultima title, every King’s Quest title, heck, I’ve played just about everything since Zork was only available on mainframes. The story told to you while playing NOLF is full of plot twists, murders, betrayals, close calls, and a surprise ending that will have you salivating for a sequel. And that’s not even taking into account the ‘spoof’ part of this title. The humor is very well written, and not all of it is dialogue driven. There is a scene during your very first tutorial that had me laughing out loud - I won’t tell you what it is so as to not spoil your enjoyment, but suffice it to say that this is the best piece of physical humor I’ve ever seen in a game (well, intentional physical humor, in any case). Imagine taking all of the coolest scenes from every spy film you’ve ever watched, combine them with hip 60’s sensibilities, add a dash of suspense and an ounce of humor, put them in the absolutely gorgeous LithTech 2.5 engine, and you have NOLF.

License to Kill

Some of the weapons available to you include:
the Shepherd Arms P38 9mm;
the Gordon 9mm SMG;
an AK-47 Assault Rifle;
an M79 Grenade Launcher;
and my personal favorite, the Bacalov Corrector, a massive single-handed weapon with explosive shells and a nifty sniper scope.
There is more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to complete your missions as well. While there are nearly twenty unique weapons and five distinct ammo types (plus grenades, rockets, crossbow bolts, and speargun darts), often it is not through direct confrontation that you will find success. Mixing in elements of stealth, ala Thief, there are many times when one of your objectives will be not to set off any alarms. In addition, it is often to your advantage to not do so even in missions where it isn’t a requirement, as setting off alarms tends to bring huge numbers of enemies down upon you all at once. In order to ensure you have the right tools for the job, before nearly every mission you get a chance to choose what weapons, gadgets, and extras you’ll take with you - and don’t worry: if there’s an item that is essential to completing the mission which you forget to take with you, you’ll find it hidden somewhere within the level. You’ll come across missions that require you to operate underwater, in freefall, use vehicles, and work in environments that I won’t even mention here for fear of spoiling some of the plot elements for you. Suffice it to say that it is this great variety, combined with an excellent back-story that places NOLF amongst the top FPS games of the year.

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