A clever rebuke to the FPS genre (No One Lives Forever (PC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	No One Lives Forever (PC)
Date:	05/09/09 (2 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smart, stylish and addictive

Disadvantages: None

Given how so many first person shooters are very self serious, it's refreshing to see a game that really doesn't take things to heart. No One Lives Forever, a very unsubtle spoof of the 1960s spy thriller genre (building on the success of recent parodies such as Austin Powers, no doubt), has a very apt sense of humour, and is a very special outing for those who like their action with a dash of laughs too. This is quirky, fun, and important gaming.

You play Cate Archer, a spy whose speciality is stealth - thus, each mission can be completed either almost entirely through stealth, or simply busting in with all guns blazing and just shooting until everyone around is dead. The game's plot is typical spy thriller cheese - an organisation called UNITY that is charged with preserving world peace has had several of its team members murdered over the last few days, and so Archer is sent to investigate.

This game really gives the FPS genre a rather neat twist, and in an almost postmodern manner, deconstructs the overly complex and sophisticated weapons that have plagued more recent games. Instead, Cate has some truly absurd gadgets at her disposal, such as a shake-and-vac like substance that will dissolve any corpses lying around (the AI will otherwise call an alert), and there are other numerous ones that I simply won't spoil, and because you wouldn't believe me even if I told you!

A stylistic triumph that blends the mood, tone and atmosphere of the 1960s, No One Lives Forever is a cult classic that perhaps hasn't ever really achieved the audience it deserves, but has a faithful fanbase and was a critical success. Superbly presented and with impressively open-ended gameplay, this is a clever FPS that deconstructs the tropes of the genre with wit and panache.

Summary: Not serious, but seriously good!