"Would you like to buy a mawnkee?" (No One Lives Forever (PC))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	No One Lives Forever (PC)
Date:	19/08/03 (93 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Funny story and plot, Variety of scenery and missions, Lots of fun

Disadvantages: Linear level design

With maybe the exception of Duke Nukem 3D, First Person Shooters (FPS) have always been fairly serious affairs where you're the only person who can save the world, one person alone against the odds and all that kind of malarkey and it's all played straight.

However, this changed with the release of "No One Lives Forever: The Operative" (NOLF from now on) where you play Agent Cate Archer, a fresh faced ex-thief turned spy. It's still only you against the world, but this time it's all done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, in a style very similar to the Austin Powers series of movies.

As Cate Archer, you work for an organisation called UNITY whose job is to keep world peace, and this time the bad guys are an unknown outfit calling themselves H.A.R.M. After a spate of incidents involving the deaths of Unity agents, you are given your chance to prove yourself in the field, despite the reservations of one of your superiors (the snide Mr Jones). So, along with the best wishes of Mr Smith (the other leading man at UNITY) and accompanied by your mentor, Bruno Lawrie, you set off to Morocco to find out what exactly is going on.

And, well, that's about it as far as the plot goes - it does get more complicated than that, but seeing as your job is to uncover this information, why should I spoil your fun by mentioning the good stuff here?

FPSs aren't particularly innovative games at the best of times with a few exceptions and the only real difference between the majority of them is the graphics engine used to create the game. The game engines used for the main games these days are split evenly between three different systems: id's Doom/Quake engines, Digital Extremes' Unreal/ Unreal Tournament engine and finally Monolith's LithTech engine.

It's this latter engine which is used to power NOLF, and has made leaps and bounds since the early versions which I didn't particularly like. This ne
w version (LithTech 2.5) has been seen recently in games such as "Aliens vs. Predator 2" and "Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza".

In this case, the LithTech engine creates something which still resembles the world in the mid to late Sixties, but much like the colour telly programmes of that era, the colours are just a little brighter than they should be, and gives the whole game a cartoon-y feel to it. The engine also creates the cut scenes between each mission and you do get a good idea of the film like quality of the game with the cut scenes being shown in the style of a film with a set viewpoint and limited pans around the "sets". In these, the attention to detail in the characters faces is still quite impressive after three years.

The power of the LithTech 2.5 engine is coupled with an advanced artificial intelligence system which makes your enemies respond to audio and visual stimuli such as weapon fire, footprints in snow, footsteps and even the dead bodies of their evil chums. Likewise, in a gun fight, the enemy will hunt out cover before returning fire or try and gain an advantage by seeking out higher ground. It's by no means perfect, sometimes I wonder how the guards know that the soft sound they heard was an enemy spy and not their fellow guard tramping around loudly on the other side of the door or wall, but this is only a minor problem.

However, it's not just the tongue in cheek plot and cartoon style which sets NOLF apart from other FPS games, although they are the main differences.

At the start of each mission, you are given a briefing by your superiors so that you are aware what you are required to do during each mission. This is then followed by a trip to see 'Santa' who is UNITY's gadget master and will provide you with the weapons, gadgets and necessary training to enable you to get the most out of your equipment. These are fun the first time through, but you can skip the
m if you wish by walking through the (short) level to the exit.

For the most part, the weapons are easy to use and don't require much in the way of introduction, but some of the gadgets do require you to have a bit of practice and I found that these training levels are very welcome for the first time player.

While we're on the subject of weapons, I feel I should mention NOLF's weapons selection. In the past, weapons have been known to greatly affect how a game plays and in some instances a poor choice of weapons can greatly diminish the playability of a game. Off the top of my head, the original "Unreal" and "Star Trek: Elite Force" both suffered from this. However, this is not an accusation which can be levelled at NOLF. There's a wide variety of weapons including two handguns, a few submachine guns, some larger weapons such as the AK47, some LASER weapons and the ubiquitous sniper rifle on top of your offensive gadgets such as lipstick grenades, sleeping gas perfume and other fun stuff.

You start the game with a few basic weapons, but as you find more during the game, they become available to you during your subsequent missions, and you have to make a choice of what to take into the field and what to leave behind (although there's a handy 'default selection' for the indecisive amongst you). Even if you take the wrong equipment into the field (for example, you need a code breaker and don't have one with you) then you'll find all the necessary equipment lurking around somewhere, you'll just have to hunt around for it.

This leads me on quite nicely to the level design. I'll mention the largest disadvantage first. The level design is quite linear, which means you are never in any doubt where to go or what to do. Some people might not see this as a problem (and on some of the larger levels, it is helpful), but sometimes it is off putting to have the game lead you by the
hand. On the plus side, there are many things going for the game. There are quite a few different level types: a level where you scuba dive a shipwreck, a sniping level where you protect an official from afar, a few driving levels where you get to operate vehicles and some stealth missions where you must avoid surveillance cameras and your enemies. This variety of mission types breaks up the game well meaning that every level is not simply running around killing as many uniformed henchmen as possible.

Another noticeable plus side to NOLF's level design is the wide variety of locations which make up the whole adventure (much like a James Bond movie takes in many locations), and this also helps to keep the game fresh as you progress through it as you aren't looking at the same scenery, mission after mission. From your start in Morocco you will, at various points, find yourself in UNITY HQ, Berlin and Hamburg, on a ship and a train, an alpine ski resort and a volcanic island to name just a few.

Other things to keep you occupied throughout the game are nice little touches such as the intelligence items. These are littered through each level and collecting a certain amount of them may be a requirement of some missions. If you're lucky enough, while sneaking around, you may also overhear some of the evil henchmen talking to each other. It's rare that the knowledge gleaned from these encounters will actually aid you in any way, but for the most part they're pretty funny with talk of other evil organisations, comparisons of pay rates or health insurance packages etc. If you go in with all guns blazing, you'll never hear these, and it would be a shame as I found them to be quite funny.

The sound is also worth hearing, the sound effects themselves are above average for a game of this type, but the intelligent music system is quite good and the music changes automatically to suit the mood ? if there is no danger, then it trund
les along with nice 60s type pop, but when danger is around, the tunes involving lots of brass come into play. It's very effective, even if it is quite a simple method of heightening tension.

The game has four level of difficulty ranging from Easy to SuperSpy, and you can alter this at any time if you find your current level is not to your liking. Couple this with the different ways of increasing difficulty by yourself, such as collecting all intelligence items or completing a mission as stealthily as possible, there's bound to be some sort of setting to suit most players.

This game surprised me a lot. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it all that much, partly because of the LithTech game engine, and partly because of the story line which I didn't think would work as a game (although I do like those spoof 60s spy things like Austin Powers or "Our Man Flint"). The reality was that I really enjoyed the game immensely, something I've not done since I played Aliens Vs Predator 2 nearly 2 years ago and found myself totally engrossed in it, sniggering away at the silly jokes and piss-taking elements.

The game comes on 2 CDs in a "Game of the Year" edition which has some extra levels included and is available on budget "Best Seller" range at around the £15 mark or less. At this price, it's almost a crime to overlook this game, especially if you're a fan of the FPS genre looking for something fresh. For those of you looking for a game with a sense of humour, then look no further!

Recommended specifications (although more is better, obviously):
Windows 95-2000/XP
Pentium 2 300 MHz (or equivalent)
64MB RAM
400MB free hard disk space
4x CD ROM
8MB 3D accelerator card
Direct X 7.0 or higher (Version 7.0 included on CD)

To be able to run the game more effectively though, I'd suggest at least a 600 MHz processor and 128MB of RAM and a 32MB graph
ics card.

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