Retrospective: The Operative: No One Lives Forever

By John Walker Published 22 November, 2009

I spy with my freakishly giant eye.

They say money makes the world go round, but this is somewhat inaccurate. Leftover momentum from the solar nebula makes the world go round. Money, in fact, is not responsible for rotation, gravity, nor indeed any number of other phenomena in the galaxy. It does, however, occasionally make games less interesting.

You simply couldn't make No One Lives Forever today. You couldn't because it would be too long, require far too many assets, and most significantly of all, risk all the cost of development on a comedy game - a genre that no longer exists. Its international scale, its enormous volume of content and its emphasis on making you laugh add up to something that feels like it's from another age - an age before an FPS lasted six hours and cost $250 million.

Set in the 1960s, Monolith's spoof of spy fiction starred Agent Cate Archer in the lead role - a female spy in a male-dominated career, fighting not only for her country, but also for some respect from her doubtful superiors. Her story in a game everyone has forgotten was called The Operative (the 'No One Lives Forever' intended to be a James Bond-style episode title) sees her trek around the world in pursuit of H.A.R.M., an evil organisation murdering UNITY operatives.

'Retrospective: The Operative: No One Lives Forever' Screenshot 1

You can't ask for a more Scottish baddie than this.

Built using Monolith's own Lithtech engine, it's dated enormously but survives well. If anything, the things that stand out as strange stood out just as much in 2000 when it was first released, including the utterly bizarre faces on all the characters, especially their giant alien eyes. Once you're playing there's not a thing to distract you, possibly thanks to its focus on a cartoon style - a design that always lasts longer.

NOLF learned the lesson that Half-Life had to teach, that almost no other games took notice of. It knew to be quiet at the start. The opening sequences, introducing characters, opening up the plot, and teaching you/Archer a series of spy skills in the training rooms, are laid out in the offices of UNITY. It's a day at the office. You get trained, talk to people, visit the Toy Shop to receive your first batch of gadgets, and settle in. The details here are surprisingly lovely - down one corridor, through a glass wall, you can see a secretary catching a nap, cartoon Zs floating from her head. Bang on the glass and she'll wake up. Completely unnecessary, irrelevant to everything, but there anyway.

Which makes it a pretty giant clanging shame that the first mission begins with a tiresome, slow and boring shooting gallery. Stationed at a window you're asked to protect a deaf, senile foreign consular from a series of potential assassins. Then you move to another location, and, er, do the same thing again. What on Earth Monolith was thinking to do this is beyond me, but fortunately it quickly snaps out of this idiocy and becomes a sneaky, stealthy shooter that remains an enormous amount of fun.

'Retrospective: The Operative: No One Lives Forever' Screenshot 2

Genetic freak, sure, but still sexy.

There's a genuine choice of how to approach the game. While some levels will fix specific completion criteria restricting your options, often you're left to decide if you want to go with all guns blazing or stealth your way through a mission. The weapons and gadgets you bring with you can determine this too - take lock-picks and silenced pistols and you can be a lot more subtle than if you're carrying lipstick bombs and machineguns. Often you're tasked with avoiding the eye of security cameras, which trigger level-wide alarms. But grow tired of this and you can just trigger them, and put up with the noise and attacks from all-comers.

While there are certainly a lot of missions built around sneaking past security, there's also an enormous amount of variation. Levels set on aeroplanes (finishing in freefalling without a parachute), on motorbikes, trains, even a space station. Each location seems to have been treated as a challenge to the developers: how can we make sure it's still interesting in this tiny space?

I'm always tempted to believe that NOLF and the way it pokes fun at the swinging sixties and accompanying spy culture came before Austin Powers. However, it was the other way around, Mike Myers' movie released three years before Archer first appeared on PC. Unavoidably compared, NOLF's approach is subtler than Myers' (although we're talking degrees of subtle here - Monolith wasn't exactly aiming for sophistication).

There are references to things being "groovy", and fantastic bad taste décor throughout, and most of all NOLF is a game that never shies away from a ludicrous national stereotype. Moroccans exclaim in horribly poor accents, "Bullets are not my favourite!" when fired upon, and the street vendors loudly arguing about the quality of their monkeys. Germans below "JAWOHL!" at each other, while being anal about details. Americans are loud, brash and stupid. Brits are posh, rude and stupid. And so on. Cate Archer is apparently Scottish, but Kit Harris' voice (replaced in the sequel by Princess Peach herself, Jen Taylor) only sounds awkward when attempting an "aye" in the middle of her plummy British tones.

The same sorts of deliberately crass attitudes are applied to women, Archer the constant recipient of abuse from her colleagues. At one point a fellow agent forgives her for an outburst, beginning his explanation, "Because you're a woman and therefore genetically unable to bridle your emotions..." But here the consistently brilliant script really shines, with smart discussions of feminism creeping in. And it's not the only subject to get a clever turn.

One of NOLF's greatest features is the overheard conversations. If you don't run in and kill everyone in a room, but rather hang out behind a corner, you hear so much fantastic stuff. Often these are brilliantly inane discussions about absolute nonsense, but occasionally things get deep. At one point a henchman explains to another the sociological nature of criminality, using his own path to his current career as an explanation, his ontological musing eventually analysing the conversation itself. Until you walk around the corner and shoot them both in the head. (Anyone who's played and remembered it will, however, be thinking of that goat conversation, but that's a surprise that should never be spoiled.)

'Retrospective: The Operative: No One Lives Forever' Screenshot 3

You can't ask for a more operatic baddie than this.

Another source of gags are the pieces of 'intelligence' scattered all over levels. Briefcases, envelopes, blueprints, films and so on each contain a one- or two-line gag to read. So rather than hunting them all down for the (sense of) achievement (in 2000 we'd yet to enter this ridiculous phase), you do it because you don't want to miss out on a joke. Then there's the game's obsession with sheep and goats (get poisoned and you'll see rotating green and blue goats all around you, to offer one of the slightly more savoury examples).

Amongst this, and I'd argue vital to the humour's effectiveness, are moments of pathos that are also successfully performed. Archer's relationship with the older spy, Bruno, is especially evocative. And even more so, the main plot is surprisingly downbeat, with a lot of death and failure. Your failure is emphasised to you throughout, in a quite unrelenting fashion.

Perhaps the greatest weakness of NOLF is that the extremely long cut-scenes between levels weren't woven into the game more cleverly. A conversation in the War Room between three characters can last over five minutes, with nothing other than their heads to look at. These could have been something you moved about during, or listened to as you played the start of a mission.

'Retrospective: The Operative: No One Lives Forever' Screenshot 4

It's very old, but the Lithtech engine can still pull off a scene like this.

Perhaps what I like most about NOLF, above and beyond its humour, smart level design and constant variety, is its generosity. Too many games attempt to starve you, forcing you to survive on scraps. NOLF throws ammo around like confetti, offers an abundance of weapons, and makes sure you never go too far without more armour. This is because it knew to do something that so few games ever understand: it's interesting rather than difficult. It's not about whether you can reach the end of the level, but how you choose to get there.

The thought of a non-Valve FPS this big, this well written, and this inventive, built today with today's engines, makes me sigh deep inside. Not even Monolith comes close any more, with its misery-guts Condemned and FEAR franchises. I cannot imagine how much it would cost, and certainly can't imagine the publisher who'd be willing to risk it. But I wish someone else would.

Picture of John.

About John Walker

Read more articles from John by visiting the John Walker archive page.

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Comments (76) 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • EmiliasHorse #1 2 years ago

    NOLF 2 was brilliant and although I shouldn't admit it I find Cate rather attractive.

    Would dearly love Monolith to stop with the depressing Condemned/FEAR and return to what they do best, NOLF and SHOGO.

    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 08:12

  • Nova1977 #2 2 years ago

    Love the article and loved the hell out both these games and I hope Monolith just please make another one I'm tired of real world setting and the nuclear whatnot - bring back fun and interesting. Have to confess I could never get my pc to play Shogo - they should make another Blood as well " when you get to hell tell them I sent ya, you'll get a group discount" - i know it's from AoD but heck it sounded a brazillion times better in that game :)

  • dacicus #3 2 years ago

    I remember getting both NOLF games at the launch day.

    The game was virtually unknown and almost unmarketed at the time of launch. But word of mouth made some small miracles. Monolith offered some amazing games, though they've never reached mainstream. The entire 60's atmosphere, the obscure references at shows as Get Smart, Men of the UNCLE, the 60's spy movies and a tremendously good level design and gameplay gathered to create a hell of a game. I remember losing myself in it, laughing to the overheard conversations, trying to find different ways to solve the same problem.

    NOLF wasn't your average shooter. It's like the devs put their entire soul in it and that shows. It's a pleasure to play it. It's a riot to look at it. Everything was brilliantly executed from the corny OST to the story. Now where are my damn CD's...

    Monolith's portfolio also includes some other interesting, but unnoticed titles: Blood serie, SHOGO, Captain Claw, Sanity: The Aiken Artifact and Get Medieval. As a publisher Monolith offered the excellent Septerra Core, Gorky17 and both Rage of Mages games. At their humble beginnings, Monolith was a company that was able to take a gamble....

  • grep #4 2 years ago

    I have just been on a lot of training away from home, so was looking for games to play on a net-book This and diablo2 worked great. Still a top game.

  • vx-chemical #5 2 years ago

    I would buy a seqeul in a heart beart

  • Alestes #6 2 years ago

    Shogo and the two NOLF games are probably my favorite FPSes. While I do find FEAR and FEAR2 enjoyable I think, unfortunately, they aren't close to those earlier titles as they aren't nearly as fun and the levels aren't as interesting either.

    Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is brilliant too with it's large epic levels, something that Raven Software didn't manage to capture with their Jedi Knight titles that were released afterwards.

    And then Deus Ex too, although I find it a bit hard to place it in the "FPS" category.

    Anyway, I wish Monolith could do a FPS again that gives me one hell of a ride and make me laugh, instead of doing scary stuff.

  • Lovemoose #7 2 years ago

    I'm going to throw in a special mention for the soundtracks, which were brilliantly done.

    I'd be first in the queue for another one, monolith.

  • UncleLou #8 2 years ago

    The first NoLF is one of my favourite FPS ever, and it's damn right to mention it in the same breath as Valve, like the article does. Didn't like NoLF 2 nearly as much, though it was alright I guess.

  • TheApologist #9 2 years ago

    Couldn't agree more - great games. I loved them in their day.

    Sadly I share John's pessimism - I think this kind of game is less likely these days, buried under a depressing mountain of military fantasies

  • Ged42 #10 2 years ago

    You look like you need monkey

  • MiY4MOTO #11 2 years ago

    Was I the only one who played the snowmobile section in the decidedly average CoD:MW2 single player campaign thinking Monolith did the whole Bond thing so much better in NoLF?

  • MiY4MOTO #12 2 years ago

    Loved both NoLF games. Totally agree about the misplaced shooting gallery section at the start. Many friends stopped playing it at that point dismissing it as rubbish, only to miss one of the finest FPS' ever made.

    If only Monolith would give us a sequel... sigh.

  • kentmonkey #13 2 years ago

    What is SHOGO?
    Oh and can you get this from anywhere like Steam or GOG?
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 10:24

  • OrgasmicMutton #14 2 years ago

    I remember enjoying the demo of one of the NOLF games but never got round to buying them. Probably should at some point.

  • gaselite #15 2 years ago

    excellent retrospective

    NOLF is one of my all time favourite games

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #16 2 years ago

    "a comedy game - a genre that no longer exists"

    Just what do you call Brutal Legend, then?

    NOLF was a flawed masterpiece, but NOLF 2 fixed pretty much all of those flaws as well as introducing a brilliantly effective RPG style skill progression system to the FPS genre. I think that game in particular is perhaps the most underrated of all time, and the stealth/action/story combination of the NOLF series represent the best attempt we've seen to build upon the single player gameplay of N64 Goldeneye.

    Stop this tedious special forces horror business, Monolith, and bring Cate back

    Edit: something horrible happened to my umlaut.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 11:20

  • drumbaby #17 2 years ago

    Monolith took the excellent scripted scenes of Half Life 1 and tried making games consisting of nothing but scripted bits. Hideous A.I., buggy netcode and gimmicky level design didn't help their cause much either.

    Yep, I hate 'Lith with a passion. Particularly how they managed to turn the AvsP franchise into unscary overly scripted tosh.

  • zoidberg #18 2 years ago

    NOLF is brilliant though. It was an age of gaming brilliance back then. Not running for profits through tried and tested ways...

  • makeamazing #19 2 years ago

    I agree the snow mobile level in this game was far and above the short/boring snow mobile level in MW2. But I do agree, with consoles as they are, they would have a big ask to make any money on a game like this today, which is a shame as this one of those games that will forever be a classic. (I wonder how take2 are going to make Xcom without ruining what is a perfect game, because todays players are not like we were in the day)...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 2 years ago

    NOLF was only a few hundred megs wasn't it? They should package it up for Live / PSN.

  • rhapsody #21 2 years ago

    I've enjoyed both games very much. I would definitely buy a Prestige Edition of NOLF3.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 11:14

  • Lankyn #22 2 years ago

    I'd disagree with the cut-scene comments - NOLF2 was a bit of a disappointment mainly because it had such short cut scenes - characters didn't have time to develop, not enough jokes, and it felt a bit rushed. I guess that's one of the reasons it was a bit of a flop - too much talking for some, I guess and that it featured a woman as a main character, and she had lipstick and stuff. And the first NOLF was an BBFC 18 cert - WHY??

    Favourite bits - sneaking into the office without been spotted, crazy interview with the baron, the club scene, falling from the plane, shadowing the baroness...

    I loved it, and still do (and NOLF 2 still looks fantastic to this day). Must stick it on again....

  • Windypops #23 2 years ago

    Always had rather mixed feelings towards the NOLF games, though I think I finished both back in the day. The problem with comedy scripts in games is that the joke's funny the first time you hear it, then starts to drag a bit after the third quick-load. Mind you, I can't think of many games in which you have a battle with a female ninja in a house that's been picked up by a tornado and is spinning around in the sky. Unless that's just my fevered imagination.

    Cate Archer, though: would.

  • munki83 #24 2 years ago

    I love the NOLF games and the first one is still good to play through today. Just a shame it will be a long time before we get another game of this caliber for a while.

  • khaz #25 2 years ago

    "Cate, Cate, wherefore art thou my lipstick bomb armed Cate?"

    I misses youz. :(

    Monolith, stop being boring gits. NOLF 3, SHOGO 2 and BLOOD 3 now pleasekthx!

  • tobsen #26 2 years ago

    Oh god this makes me so sentimental. Both NOLFs were so smart and soulful and simply enjoyable. It's so sad to realize that these kind of games are no longer feasible today because publishers have long found out that pandering to the lowest common deminator makes so much more business sense.

    I was also totally surprised and disappointed by Monolith's departure into this ultra-dark misantrophic stuff like Fear and Condemned. I can't believe that these are still the same people who came up with Cate.

  • zisssou #27 2 years ago

    Bring back NOLF!!

  • KillerMonkey #28 2 years ago

    The NOLF games are absolutely my most favourite and memorable games ever.

  • trip919 #29 2 years ago

    I enjoyed these games but never loved them. I always thought it was more style then substance.

  • Windypops #30 2 years ago

    Slightly off-topic, but weekends at Eurogamer are fast becoming its most interesting times. Thought-provoking industry articles, in-depth tech analyses and retrospectives like this one are the perfect accompaniment to a long breakfast and several cups of coffee.

  • Kluff #31 2 years ago

    Weirdly, I didn't think NOLF was that funny - maybe because I played the German version? Edit: As far as I remember, only subtitles were translated in the German version, so I don't think so...
    But I remember some great moments, the parachute level, the moment where you travel all over the world map per train (was one of the funniest jokes I think), the boss battle with the fat German woman, the conversations between enemies, like discussing The Beatles,...
    Even the shooting gallery wasn't too bad. Yes, gameplaywise it was trivial, but I guess Monolith wanted first to teach you how to shoot before you have to shoot and walk at the same time. ;)
    But, like you said John, the game is not necessarily difficult (though I think the level where you have to sneak through an office was), but interesting. And it was interesting how this nearly deaf and senile guy got always nearly shot and he never realized that somebody saved his life. It was a shooting gallery, but a funny one. And that's maybe the special thing about NOLF: even in its weaker moments it has character.
    I had a special edition that added three additional levels after the standard end of the game. Sadly, they totally sucked and were unfunny, and therefore left a rather bad impression.
    Edited by 2 at 22/11/09 @ 14:32

  • Krusty #32 2 years ago

    Ahh, one of the best games series ever.

    I'd jump all over a new version :)

  • Sharzam #33 2 years ago

    I still have both of them in the atic so thought get them out after reading this. However the first one doesnt work after some digging seams its a 16 bit application which that means wont work under vista and win7. As XP was the last to support 16bit.

    Any suggestions? i would love to play nolf again.

    update: i gave up on trying get installed on my windows machine, so installed it on my ubtuntu latop (via wine) and runs fine for the most part.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 21:02

  • kentmonkey #34 2 years ago

    Oh. Does NOLF not work on Vista then?

  • crizzy #35 2 years ago

    The turn of the millenium was indeed the golden age of gaming for me. The cd boxes of NOLF, Shogun: Total War, Outcast and Nomad Soul still occupy the place of pride on my shelves. I was so optimistic back then about what the future may bring, but 10 years later I've lost hope.
    By the way, the front page picture is of Cate from NOLF 2, which is already less interesting.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 15:20

  • dsmx #36 2 years ago

    Played through them again a few months ago and I was shocked how long the fist game was, I must of been playing through it for 15 hours and enjoyed every second of it. The second game was so much shorter than the first I was astonished what a difference a few years made sure it looked nicer but it was nowhere near as good or as long.

  • BuntyHoven #37 2 years ago

    I've been replaying NOLF 1 in Vista (32-bit), so it still works (win98 compatibility mode). There's a solution to get the music working properly in Vista here.

    I think it's aged pretty well, a damn sight better than Deus Ex which I've also been replaying (although, tbh, I was always more fond of NOLF).
    It's up there with Half-Life as one of my fave FPSs, I still enjoy the enemies dodging and ducking for cover - it was quite a novelty at the time.
    I'm looking forward to playing NOLF 2 as well because my PC couldn't run it back in the day.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 15:50

  • botherer #38 2 years ago

    Sharzam - I had the same problem getting it working in 64 bit Windows 7. It's easily fixed though - follow the instructions in the bottom post here:

    http://ww w.ntcompatible.com/No_one_lives...

  • Hantheman #39 2 years ago

    Come on GOG get it up!

  • mens_rea #40 2 years ago

    Fantastic write up! You've commented on everything I thought about this masterpiece too - one of the best FPS games ever, even better than GoldenEye 007. Huge, beautiful, fun and hilarious - a flawless video game that everyone should play :)

  • espy #41 2 years ago

    Just moved house and found my NOLF2-CD while unpacking today :D Nice coincidence. I'm pondering reinstalling it. Very special, charming game.

  • Caspar_Esq. #42 2 years ago

    What we need is a sheikh who loves games to come and save the industry, by funding things that could never work financially.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #43 2 years ago

    the level where you have to sneak through an office was [hard]

    It was obscenely frustrating, and almost made me give up on the game. Having no levels in which you couldn't shoot your way out of tripping the alarms was one of the main things I believe NOLF 2 fixed.

    Gamespot seem to have what is described as a 'megamix demo' of 1, by the way, if anyone hasn't experienced it.

    [link url=http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/actio n/operativenoonelivesforever/download_2697546.html
    ]http://uk .gamespot.com/pc/action/operati...[/link]

    I couldn't help but wonder how much the chipboard-and-glass-panel traning sections (as can be experienced at the start of the demo) were an influence on Portal.

  • Lobotomist #44 2 years ago

    Dont forget TRON2.0 Also by Monolith

    Ah they just dont do such games anymore...

  • mdixson #45 2 years ago

    These games were great- how many people played the follow-on "Contract Jack" ? I think it is the exact moment Monolith went down hill imo.

    Anyone else?

  • kevwinter #46 2 years ago

    The NOLF games were amazing. Somehow the long cut scenes with lots of dialogue made the first game much better imo. The story in NOLF 2 was quite straight forward in comparison and could have done with more twists and turns. Reading this has made me dig out nolf just to listen to the great sound track cd.

    Contract Jack was ok but didn't feel part of the series just a game tacked on to an established franchise.

  • urban #47 2 years ago

    bloody good games.

  • dacicus #48 2 years ago

    NOLF was in many respects similar to the first Splinter Cell. More stealth less shooting. Sure, you could go gun blazings, but managing doing things quietly gave you a lot more satisfaction.
    I miss games like NOLF, Splinter Cell1, Hitman or Thief. Acting more like a spy/thief/hitman and less like Rambo. And, yes GOG should acquire the rights to publish a Vista/Win7 version of the NOLF games.
    Edited by 1 at 22/11/09 @ 21:41

  • Azilis #49 2 years ago

    The 2 NOLF games are my all-time favorite shooters (I'm really not a fan of shooters, but you can't help but like No One Lives Forever). I've been waiting for years for Monolith to announce NOLF 3, but it hasn't happened.

  • TheComedian #50 2 years ago

    NOLF beasted its sequel in everyway. Seriously amazing game, in my top 5 of all time, certainly.

  • Collymilad #51 2 years ago

    Awesome game.

    We need more FPS's like this - most are too serious now.

  • Zephro #52 2 years ago

    This game was sublime. From the golden age when PC gaming ruled. All this piracy nonsense has made publishers pump out endless console games with the same pallet of grey, brown misery for years now.

    We'll never see another NOLF, or a Thief, or a Deus Ex etc. Where's my damn whisky I feel like mourning.

  • TheTingler #53 2 years ago

    Don't be silly. In 2000 people were saying the same thing, looking back at stuff from the 80s and early 90s and saying "no way a publisher would take a risk like that today". In 2019 will we be looking back at Brutal Legend and saying the same thing about 2009?

    @kentmonkey and whoever's interested in buying: while NOLF and many Monolith games aren't available (hell, even getting the first FEAR's a bit of a struggle), SHOGO is available on GOG.

  • gaselite #54 2 years ago

    the multiplayer was also idiosyncratic and wonderful. suck many hours of my youth into it and it was amazing fun.

  • gaselite #55 2 years ago

    the other great thing about it is that it was long. really long. uncommonly long for an fps. I think there were about 40 levels or something ridiculous (some admittedly very brief)? but, in a way that very few 'long' games then or since have done I was nothing less than totally compelled to see it all the way through, when usually I would just lose interest and move on to a new game. really excellent stuff.

  • kangarootoo #56 2 years ago

    Ah, I feel young again.


    "This is because it knew to do something that so few games ever understand: it's interesting rather than difficult."

    Truth.

  • Morgawr #57 2 years ago

    NOLF 2 is still my favourite FPS ever after all these years. They just don't make them like this anymore. Thanks for the retrospective. The point John made about how we used to collect things in games because we genuinely wanted to find them, not because we wanted to add to our gamerscore really struck a chord with me.

  • Plaz #58 2 years ago

    Loved NOLF and Shogo like a number of other posters these still rate as some of my favourite FPS games. NOLF 2 left me a bit cold to be honest but i would by a sequel to any of these games in a shot. Oh and i loved the hidden Shogo theme tune in both Fear and Fear 2. Best part of those 2 games i reckon :)

  • jonbwfc #59 2 years ago

    @Zephro
    "We'll never see another NOLF, or a Thief, or a Deus Ex etc. Where's my damn whisky I feel like mourning."
    <a href=http://www.thief4.com/> you think?</a>

  • Zephro #60 2 years ago

    The point was more we won't see such innovation, just re-hashing in a consoleified sort of way.

    See Deus Ex Invisible Wars or Thief Deadly Shadows. Thief 3 wasn't bad, I'm sure Thief 4 won't be bad. But 3 was definitely fare from the classic game 1 and 2 were.

  • Zephro #61 2 years ago

    You're kidding? Invisible War is near the top of my all time gaming travesties. The roleplay elements were overly simplified and rubbish, the unified ammo was awful, stealth just didn't work, they removed my lean keys and the freedom elements were fairly uninspired. Oh and the level sizes to fit into the original Xbox memory was a pain in the arse.

    But most damning of all the writing, characters and plot in 2 were just dire. I mean the first one pushed the illuminati conspiracy stuff almost to breaking point, the second was just unbelievable. The worst part being the opening where you see the scientists experimenting on you was pretty much screaming "LOOK THERE'S THE CONSPIRACY RIGHT THERE! LOOK! LOOK!"

    Oh and the daft technical requirements of pixel shaders based on the Geforce3 from the Xbox was far from standard and pissed off alot of fans.

  • killuminati2911 #62 2 years ago

    I remember a conversation in NOLF 2 between 2 russians guys, one was saying at the other that a collegue was fired having been spotted in the toilet looking at... a Financial Investiment Magazine! That made me laugh hard, and i felt a little bit sorry for shooting them both after :p And all the little notes with jokes on the Marketing department of the criminal organization, about the percentage of killing people to succed.. Brilliant game. I'd like to see a sequel, in this time of crysis we need to laugh not get scared to hell more than the newspaper do...

  • kangarootoo #63 2 years ago

    My 2p. I quite liked DE:IW, but it was step back for me. The unified ammunition might have looked good on paper, but it was rubbish in reality.

    And why, why, WHY did they decide to seperate grenades and mines? The combined item in DE1 made perfect sense, and then in IW they make them seperate weapons. In the same game that unified normal ammunition. Puzzling is putting it politely.

  • homerbert #64 2 years ago

    I loved SHOGO years ago, always convinced it was a lost classic. I tried playing it again last year and was hugely disappointed. Most of the best stuff in it has aged badly, as other people have done ti better since (story, moral choices, feeling part of a world) All the stuff that was incredible on first release has dated now and the poor level design, ugly design work and unsatisfying weapons are irksome.

    I've found that games with really simple solid mechanics age well, but the more innvative stuff ages badly. So while on release I preferred Duke and Jedi Knight to Doom and Quake 2, replaying the former pair was disapointing, while the latter paid hold up really well.

  • rudedudejude #65 2 years ago

    Tornado level was AWESOME.

  • Xeopuppy #66 2 years ago

    An awesome game without a doubt, I love it and still play through it now and again, if only I could get it to work in Windows 7 x64.

    NOLF 3 should be made.
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/09 @ 12:41

  • FTM #67 2 years ago

    NOLF2 was a superb game

    sneaky ninjas, crazy indians daft gadgets and an early game with different ammo choices.

    it even looked good!

  • botherer #68 2 years ago

    Xeopuppy - follow the instructions at the bottom of this thread: http://ww w.ntcompatible.com/No_one_lives... Solves all.

  • Doji_Star #69 2 years ago

    I have to admit that I ignored NOLF when it first came out. It was included with one of my video cards I bought once. I got horribly stuck on the early sunken ship level and wasn't motivated enough to lookup a walkthough for quite a while.

    I treated NOLF2 better. Put on a silk dressing gown and had a few gin and tonics while I played it all night. Yeah, baby.

  • ChaK #70 2 years ago

    I think I can say NOLF2 is in my top 5 games of all time.

    NOLF 1 was also awesome, but I gotta choose :p

    I miss people slippin' on my banana's peels :'(
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/09 @ 13:45

  • Ced_Flanders #71 2 years ago

    On a slightly related note, I wish Rare or someone else would start making James Bond games again. It doesn't have to be based on any movie in particular, just lots of exotic locations, boat chases in Venice, shooting people during fancy ballroom dances and lots of gadgets.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #72 2 years ago

    When I saw that Activision owned the NOLF name in this earlier post my first thought was, "oh, maybe Activision could make a new NOLF with the COD engine".

    But then I remembered they actually tried a James Bond game with it and it stank, so little hope there.

  • chischis #73 2 years ago

    Brutal Legend is "comedy"? No wonder the genre has died.

    NoLF was excellent, Monolith have a superlative back catalogue of games. Typical that they've gone "mainstream" with FEAR...

  • YourMessageHere #74 2 years ago

    I found the comedy elements of NOLF a bit wearing - not unfunny, but having to tolerate the same oneliners over and over if you found a hard bit that kept killing you was not so great. Nothing goes stale like jokes. Overall it did stand out for its superbly non-serious world, though, and I'd rather be bored by the same jokes a second time than bored by none the first time. Some of it was utterly fantastic, though - I particularly remember the space station level, with the colour-coded decks with ultra-pretentious names and all the intel items about the guy who fell out of a hole in the level.

    I can't quite agree that it was interesting rather than difficult - it was interesting and it was difficult. Have we all forgotten the alpine cable car level with its six attacking helicopters, and immediately following that the boss duel level where you start unarmed facing away from your enemy, with an underpowered gun lying in the open and you between it and cover, and have maybe three-quarters of a second to get to the cover or be instantly killed? Not to mention that appallingly nasty office stealth level. Also I have to take issue with the assertion that ammo was plentiful - if you liked SMGs, sure, loads of ammo, but as usual I liked sniping and ammo for sniping weapons was like hen's teeth. Thank god for the crossbow ammo bug, where not only did you get the bolt you fired back (note to all games: this is how to do crossbows, and why they are great) from the body, but two or three more besides.

    The thing that really impressed me with NOLF was the freedom it gave you to do things as you wanted to. Seriously, how many games are there out there even now that give you the choice of wading in and blowing everything up or being sneaky, and make good on that potential? I'm playing Far Cry 2 now, and that appears to give me the same choice, but then has enemies that instantly see me without me being able to try to spot them first, and all of them know where I am as soon as I hit someone in the back of the head with a machete or shoot them with a silenced weapon - the apparent stealth option ticks a box somewhere but is functionally useless. Playing NOLF, I could confidently expect to sneak around and pick people off one by one and not be thwarted by poor game design, or abandon that tactic, snatch up a submachinegun and blow people away as I felt necessary.

    I don't see any reason that a game like this couldn't be made now, really. Far Cry 2 is very close in terms of openness and choice, but lacking in AI and basic design elements. Fallout 3 had the same level of choice, and certainly had the potential to be interesting rather than hard, although it didn't always make good on that. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory was a little too prescriptive in its level design and of course had no provision for frontal assaults, but was full of different ways to do things, and amusing inane enemy chatter, not to mention letting you horrifically knife people or just knock them out. It simply needs thinking through - either give your players real choice, or don't, but don't offer them shallow choices that mean nothing, because that is invariably disappointing.

  • bionutz #75 2 years ago

    NOLF1 was awesome. I liked NOLF2 but NOLF1 was beautiful charming and perfectly executed. I don't agree that it couldn't be done now anymore, I think it's just a matter of time until the tools will allow easy creation of large worlds.

  • MrTeatime #76 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:59:18 03-01-2012