No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way

aka: NOLF2, No One Lives Forever 2: Agentin in geheimer Mission, No One Lives Forever 2: Le C.R.I.M.E est éternel, No One Lives Forever 2: Szpieg na tropie ugrupowania H.A.R.M., Wu Ren Yong Sheng 2
Moby ID: 7391
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

A year has passed since Cate Archer foiled the plans of the terrorist organization known as H.A.R.M. The tension between USA and the Soviet Union has increased, and the two powers quarrel over a tiny, but strategically important island of Khios. Cate is once again recruited by the secret British organization UNITY, whose goal is to avert international conflicts and preserve the world peace. As Cate is sent to investigate a secret meeting, she meets new and old villains who, once again, won't stop until she is out of their way to world domination.

No One Lives Forever 2 is the sequel to The Operative: No One Lives Forever, casting the player as the super-spy Cate Archer in the 1960's. As in the first game, many different weapons and items are available to Cate, from pistols to automatic weapons, as well as her trusty lipstick bomb and other gadgets. The sequel introduces new weapons and gadgets, such as eye shadow that doubles as a tazer, a robotic bomb disguised as a kitten, and others. The game enhances the light role-playing angle from the original, as the player is now able to gather intelligence and upgrade Cate's sneaking and shooting abilities as well as equipment.

The sequel retains the humorous tone of its predecessor and takes the player to various exotic locations such as Japan, India, and a trailer park in Ohio during a tornado. Players may also go online and engage in deathmatch or cooperative mode, teaming up against the enemy.

Spellings

  • Никто не живет вечно 2: С.Т.Р.А.Х. ВОЗВРАЩАЕТСЯ - Russian spelling
  • 无人永生2 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

188 People (100 developers, 88 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 89% (based on 56 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 108 ratings with 7 reviews)

New adventures of the great Cate Archer

The Good
The original No One Lives Forever is one of my favorite FPS, and a truly underrated gem. When I heard about the sequel, I was very expectant. This second part offers some great improvements over the original. Although very similar at first look, the graphics are better. The best improvement comes in the terms of facial gestures and people's movements. The submarine level felt very original, like a new version of the spaceship level on the original game I liked also the possibility of searching your enemies bodies and the chance of improving certain abilities.

The Bad
On the other side of the coin I have to admit that this level felt very, very short in comparison with the first one. There aren't the great variety of levels of the original NOFL, and even worse, much of the episodes takes place in the same map (the one in Morocco). I would like more stealth levels, too.

The Bottom Line
Despite being very short this is a game that won't totally disappoint to those who liked and loved the original No One Lives Forever. Long life to Cate Archer!

Windows · by Emepol (212) · 2009

A worthy sequel.

The Good
No One Lives Forever is one of my all-time favorite games. Never before has such a linear game been so much fun that I would restart it and play through it again right after I beat it. Each level was fun, and the varied levels were just as great. Enemies came at you in large numbers and you even had to use a little strategy by hiding behind walls and knowing when to fire - also avoiding friendly casualties. The enemies even hid behind walls and ducked behind barrels, something I hadn't seen done very well until them. And of course, the humor in the game was the biggest seller. It took itself just serious enough. Every piece of intelligence you found had hilarious messages in it, and every conversation you overheard was enough to put you on the floor grabbing your side from laughter. It was, yes, my favorite FPS of all time.

No One Lives Forever 2 is a game I'd been waiting for since I beat the first level in No One Lives Forever and realized what a great game it was. The sequel, in most ways, is wonderful. It's a worthy sequel to my all-time favorite FPS. The new Jupiter engine rocks, capturing everything from the original and adding so much more to it. Animation is more fluid, and the in-game cutscenes are some of the best I've ever seen.

In NOLF2, you resume your roll as Cate Archer, superspy, working for UNITY and attempting to thwart the evil plans of H.A.R.M. Gameplay has changed a tad from the original. No longer do you have to sort through your inventory to find that pesky lockpick - instead you just hold down the "use" button and Cate will whip it out for you. Also, a lot of the "useless" gadgets from the first have been removed, and most levels are stricty run-and-gun. Good or bad? Perhaps good; those who didn't care for the "stealth" missions in the first one won't find a problem in the second one.

The humor is well-present in this game, even moreso than in the first. Every single piece of intelligence you find is filled with hilarious notes, and you might find several notes that all connect together to form a very funny exchange of hilarious quotes from two H.A.R.M. agents. And whoever doesn't think that riding on the back of a tricycle piloted by a large Scottish guy in a kilt gunning down fat French mimes is the coolest thing ever should check himself into a clinic. And not to mention the "angry kitty", a robotic cat that lures the enemy to it, thinking its a cute furry kitten and then explodes.

Levels are very well-crafted. In one particular level you fight ninjas in a trailor park in Ohio as a tornado rages through it! And another you journey into the depths of an undersea HARM base. Each location has several missions within them, all hilarious and entertaining.

The new skill point system also works very well. You gain skill points by finding intelligence, doing some optional "quests" (finding other intelligence items) or by completing missions objectives. You use these skill points to increase your attributes, such as ammo carrying capacity and marksmanship.

A lot of people don't like the "new Cate", but I found the new attitude of Cate to be refreshing. Instead of being a smug down-to-business girl, in NOLF2 she portrays an actual human being. Her dialogue sounds much more real and convincing and far less rehearsed than it did in the first one.

The Bad
Sadly, while this is a great sequel to a great game, it's not nearly as good as the first one was. That's not to say it's a bad game - not at all. Just not as good as the first.

To start, the difficulty is awkward. On normal difficulty, it's quite possible to make it through any level just by running through it, picking up armor and killing only those that you have to. The enemy is a horrible shot and they do very little damage. However, on "hard" mode, it seems like the damage you take per shot is multiplied by ten. Three shots you die - more realistic, I suppose, but not that fun when you find yourself surrounded by twenty fat French mimes with machine guns. So you'll probably be playing on "normal" difficulty the whole way through, which is far too easy.

The whole feel of belonging to UNITY is all but gone in this sequel. In the original, every chapter required you to go through some sort of training to see what kind of nifty new gadgets the labs had come up with. It was very entertaining, and very useful. One of the things I looked forward to after completing a chapter was what kind of cool neato gadgets I'd be able to use in the next, even if they weren't all that practical. Sadly, that's all gone in the sequel. In fact, you only go to the UNITY base once in the game, and even then it has nothing to do with a briefing or new gadgets. The gadgets you do get in NOLF2 aren't all that much interesting, either. Instead of having a lipstick bomb, you have...a grenade. You don't get any cool sunglasses that you can use to zoom in and take pictures with, either. They make up for it a bit with the angry kitty and blow-dryer blow-torch, but other than that, much is missing.

The "stealth" missions are also pathetically easy. In the original, I remember playing on stealth mission for hours because it was so difficult. You weren't allowed to alert your target at all, so you had to make your kills quick and silent, and make sure the bodies were disposed of. In NOLF2, however, stealth is almost completely pointless, since you don't fail the mission by alerting anyone. You can just run from everyone you're supposed to "elude" once they start chasing you, and they'll eventually get lost or give up looking for you. Boring. I would say that it's a nice feature that you're able to pick up bodies and drag them to a hidden spot, but it's a completely useless feature. You can also hide in the shadows, but for the most part, that was completely useless as well.

The levels also just weren't that entertaining. In the first one, there were nearly a dozen (heck maybe even more than a dozen) different locations you visited, each one unique and each one memorable. In NOLF2, the levels are somewhat dull. The outdoor levels are too cluttered with buildings and streets that only serve to annoy you as you "treasure-hunt" for an item. The indoor levels are a little better (such as the Indian theatre or the UNITY base), but pale in comparison to NOLF1's levels. Even the simpler ones in NOLF (like the Morocco hotel) just were more entertaining.

The Bottom Line
Despite all its shortcomings, this game is a worthy sequel to one of the best FPS' of all time. It has some great voice acting and incredible in-game cutscene animation, and all the humor that was in the first is in the second. Perhaps it's a little short (I beat it in two days...but I played it nonstop :P) and the levels aren't really as much fun, and the funky gadgets are all gone, but regardless, this is still one of the best first-person shooters I've played all year.

Windows · by kbmb (415) · 2003

Rewarding, but not as good as the original.

The Good
The graphics and the sound get a great update. Especially noticeable is the music, that has a much fuller sound that doesn't as canned like the original. (I'm a musician, I notice these weird little things.) Kate looks better than ever. The cut scenes show more nuanced and articulated models, with more lifelike features. Gone are the bricklike hands.

The return of the original baddies from Nolf make for some great scenes. I love the overheard dialog between bad guys. Its pretty much what you'd think that henchmen would be talking about while being bored and waiting for action. The incredulous gadgets that you can use to take your enemies out.

You can use experience points to modify and increase your skill levels, such as sneaking, medical, etc... It didn't make a huge difference in game play, but it did add some depth. More often than not, you can use non-lethal ways of taking enemies out.

The Bad
Near the end, the novel game design falls away and you have a more gun and run play. The ending is satisfactory, but the ending play is more linear and not as interesting. Some of the wild gadgets do not work very well, leaving you vulnerable unless you employ more conventional weaponry. A lot of backtracking through non-descript areas.

The humor is there, but not quite as brilliant as in Nolf. Its missing some of the laugh out loud stuff that made Nolf so much fun.

The Bottom Line
An excellent FPS with great graphics and sound. But the gameplay was much better in the original.

Windows · by Scott Monster (986) · 2004

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

German version

There are a few changes when playing with German language settings:

  • All blood, death cries and the sound after using the katana were removed.
  • Enemies can't be set on fire
  • Killed enemies transform into backpacks.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Online servers

The game's online servers were shut down on 1 November 2008.

Weapons

The Gordon SMG, the standard weapon of H.A.R.M. minions, is actually a Sterling SMG with a collapsed stock. It is a British weapon, which replaced aging Sten SMGs and it is still being used in some parts of the world (namely the Jamaican armed forces).

Awards

  • Computer Games Magazine
    • March 2003 (No. 148) - Game of the Year (Co-Winner)
  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – PC Game of the Year
    • 2002 – Best Music of the Year (PC)
    • 2002 – Quote of the Year (for a tape recording of Melvin Blitzny)
  • Golden Joystick Awards
    • 2003 - Unsung Hero Game of the Year (Runner-up to Viewtiful Joe)

Information also contributed by ApTyp and Sciere.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

Macintosh added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Rebound Boy, Unicorn Lynx, tarmo888, Sciere, Solid Flamingo, Zeppin, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, piltdown_man, Plok, FatherJack, R3dn3ck3r.

Game added October 7, 2002. Last modified March 16, 2024.