The Operative: No One Lives Forever

The Good
NOLF is a very fun, highly engaging first person shooter. Essentially, NOLF is a Bond parody, much in the same vein as Austin Powers, Casino Royale, Flint etc. The main character, Cate Archer, is a spy in training who is thrust into the thick of things early on. Accompanied by some fellow agents, well supplied by Santa (NOLF's version of Bond's Q), and directed by Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith, Archer uncovers a plot that threatens the world. Would you expect anything less?

Actually the plot is about as silly as a Jackie Chan movie although there are some interesting twists. What makes this a great game is, that like a Jackie Chan movie, there are some incredible action scenes. You will freefall out of an airplane and engage enemies midair, scuba dive through a sunken ship that implodes around you, and duel with some of the wackiest terrorists ever imagines.

Also incredible is the enemy AI. Enemies will assault in groups, run for cover, flip over tables, and change weapons depending on range. Even better dead'uns tumble down stairs and fall over balconies, some even become shark bait.

Graphically this game has its limitations, but there is great music and sound effects. Some areas are populated by civilians, which lends an element of risk to getting into firefights. One great feature is the ability to pick up intelligence during missions in the form of briefcases, microfilm, etc. This is a seldom required activity but does increase your spy rating and is both humorous and fleshes out the storyline. One particular piece of intelligence makes a sequence much easier.

Finally, similar to Thief or Deus Ex, stealthy players can eavesdrop on conversations. This would be a high point for the game, as many are hilarious. Guards will philosophize on the banality of evil, compare notes with other criminal organizations, wonder why so many crates are around, and so on.

The Bad
If this game has one major failing, it would be how the developers chose to advance the story. Most gamers have a love/hate relationship with cutscenes. In the early days of gaming, cutscenes almost acted as rewards for completing a particular level. They were of much higher quality than the rest of the game and often used impressive special effects. Now with the graphics quality being what it is, cutscenes are no longer that impressive and some gamers would rather have the story advanced through gameplay. Okay how does this relate to NOLF? NOLF not only uses cutscenes but some are unbearably long. Minutes go by, and eventually I felt like I was no longer playing a game but watching a movie. Ever worse, one particular cutscene thrusts you back into gameplay with a enemy at pointblank range.

So that's the major failing, minor gripes: intelligence items add flavor to the gameplay but you are unable to review them after you pick them up you cannot use weapons or equipment on vehicles- while largely not that important, there is a sequence when it is almost necessary at the end of the game I would have liked the option to see combined mission stats, etc and the ability to replay certain levels and finally, while stealth is encouraged enemies seem to have bat-like hearing; the ability to lean around corners would have helped.

I do believe later patches correct some of my minor gripes.

The Bottom Line
One of the best games I've played in a long time. Great level design and varied objectives keep this game exciting till the end. Hope there'll be more!

The Good
This is the first time in years that I have been so engrossed in a game single-player campaign. The average shooter right now pretty much works like this: Walk into a warehouse, shoot all the bad guys, walk back out, walk down the street to the next warehouse, and so on. No One Lives Forever lets you explore a beautifully detailed variety of locations including night clubs, hotels, exotic countries, airplanes, sunken ships, and even a space station! And the best part of all these neat locations is what you'll get to do inside them, such as where you jump out of the plane to steal the parachute on a diver below. Between each mission you'll get very well-done, in-engine cutscenes that advance the story, give you your briefing, and, most of the time, are really quite hilarious. Plus, No One Lives Forever has one of the best, most fitting soundtracks I have every heard in a game! This is the kind of game that literally makes hours seem like minutes!

The Bad
There's only one complaint I have about this game, and that is the multi-play. While it is definitely above average, it doesn't quite compare to the online play found in other shooters.

The Bottom Line
A funny, classy, incredibly fun game that no gamer should be without.

The Good
There is really no other fps out there that can compete with NOLF in terms of quality. Sure, such game may offer better multiplayer modes, such other better graphics, etc. etc. but no other shooter game offers such a carefully polished and beautifully crafted experience as this one.

Throughout 60 fully detailed missions you'll be taken in a gameplay ride that combines superb shooter action, a solid sneaking angle, a light pseudo-rpg system (get shot a lot and your health gets boosted, go around sneaking and you become better at it later on, etc.), a well made spy feel that has you collecting intelligence items and using gadgets that later open up new areas in old missions, and exceptional action set-pieces like sniping sequences, snowmobile and motorcycle sequences.

The action itself is fantastic, with dozens of realistic weapons and an impressive set of enemy animations, your opponents fall from buildings, roll down stairs, and react to every shot and situation (like discovering a dead buddy) with a series of great motion-captured animations that take the whole experience to a new level, I never realized how dull other games where in the animation department until I checked this one out! And the AI is really impressive too, enemies attack with their brains most of the time, and they remain alert whenever they detect a disturbance.

The levels are incredibly well designed with a real posh 60's feel that lampoons the decade and it's cultural icons, furthermore on a game this long, it's important to avoid the Halo syndrome and provide a lot of variety, and NOLF delivers to a degree that none of the missions ever manage to feel old or repetitive. Express trains, space stations, terrorists facilities, underground headquarters, jungle outposts, executive buildings, cargo freighters and more await you in this game, and there's even a level where you free-fall off a plane and try to snag a parachute in mid-air!!

Of course, all those missions would be merely acceptable if they were just thrown loosely at you, but the game ties them up in a cohesive and entertaining storyline that has a unique comedy edge. One may initially think that it takes the Austin Powers route, but instead of focusing on gags and token catchphrases the story takes a more ironic route and wins by it's use non-obvious humor and it's dead-on take of the 60's super-spy movie genre. In fact, half the fun of NOLF's story is the fact that it could actually have been (save for some over-the-top touches) an actual 60's super-spy movie!!

Of course no review of NOLF would be complete without a nod to what has to be the game's crown achievement: Writing. This game has the best comedy writing in any game ever bar none. Each conversation in the game is funny in a truly smart way, with characters that trail off and start talking about seemingly mundane things and turn them into excellent comedy bits (sort of like a super-spy version of Seinfeld). The conversations you overhear during the game can go from guards asking each other about the medical plans of their terrorist organizations, the problems they have with their wifes at home, or discuss more serious issues such as how good was "Our man Flint" or if alcohol leads to a life in crime. In a word: priceless.

The Bad
There are very few flaws in NOLF, but I feel I have to point them for the sake of objectivity: First of all, while the writing may be wonderful not so is the editing if you will. Most cutscenes are of the "talking heads" type, and this is not an oversight since they are made with the game engine.

The other thing I could mention is that there isn't a proper graduation in the way equipment is given to you, you aren't properly eased into their use and as a result you will find that you just won't use a lot of those things... like the robotic poodle. How many people out there actually used it? Or what about the exploding lipstick? Did you actually judge when to take the timed, proximity, or impact detonators??

The Bottom Line
Do you like great shooters? Then pick this one up, because it's the grand-daddy of them all. In a genre so prostituted and overpopulated like the fps genre it's very hard to tell one that manages to be a jewel of a game and also raise over it's competition as "the one" but this one does. Does that mean that it's the best shooter ever? That's not for me to say, but I can assure you that no other fps has the level of quality and dedication this one has, and it is one hell of a game!

And don't fear it because of it's swinging-60's feel! Most people missed out on this masterpiece because of that ignorant prejudice!